I have pondered for a long time on the differences between knowledge and understanding in relation to the arts martial. Many people go through life acquiring an awe-inspiring collection of techniques and styles. They have studied karate, judo, jujitsu, kungfu , pencak silat, tai chi , baguazhang, xing yi, western boxing, graeco-roman wrestling etc. etc.... They know a huge amount about entire fighting systems but what is it that they have been trying to really find ? Why was it necessary for them to acquire this vast array of knowledge ?
Many people are very impressed by Mr 10th Dan This, 8th Dan that, 6th Dan the other but are they impressed merely by the honorifics, the length of time spent studying, the depth and breadt of knowledge or by actual ability and understanding?
It is easy to learn applications and follow a syllabus to acquire the next grade in the simplified achievement orientated systems of today, it is an altogether different proposition to gain the sufficient understanding of the application so that it can be used appropriately and correctly against anybody and not just a classmate in the dojo. Thus it is commonplace for many students of the martial arts to attain their coveted black belts, knowing all the moves, but unable to apply them in a freefighting situation.
My students are as guilty of this as anybody else, and I have tried many times and in many ways to engender the understanding of the techniques. Even a simple application such as Step Back Repulse Monkey has taken an age for me to transfer the understanding. Part of the problem is that it seems to be such a simple technique that everybody thinks that they can do it without any trouble but even after a year of practising the same misunderstanding occurred.
When performing the application in a standard self-defence format they had relatively little difficulty in performing the technique because the scenario was fixed and they knew what to expect. The opponent was attacking them in a predefined way and all they had to do was to react appropriately.
However in the format of spontaneous practise when attempting the technique in a grappling situation they always stepped forward to apply the technique and thus were easily countered and thrown themselves. It did not matter how many times I had told them not to do this they still insisted on doing it the wrong way. Eventually understanding dawned on me as to the true nature of the misunderstanding. The difficulty was that their opponent was in front of them and they were attempting to perform the technique in an offensive instead of a defensive way so the problem was how to step forward and step backward at the same time - a nice little paradox.
I formulated an exercise so that they could practise it in a manner that did not leave them vulnerable to the counter and thus resolve the paradox of stepping back while stepping forward. After having this explained one of my students commented "of course, the clue is in the name Step Back to Repulse the Monkey, but what about the Monkey?".