詠春拳學
The study of 詠春拳 is quite broad...I find...the more I study it, the more I learn that it is not just about fighting...although I remind myself that it is a method of fighting, and as a 詠春 man goes around the world, the words of Wong Shun Leung ring true..."詠春 is a hidden knife..."
詠春黐手 is a practice in sensing the enemy's force, enabling the 詠春 man to always react accordingly to the opponent, and later on to be one step ahead, stopping the opponent's intention as it just starts.
But later on this practice no longer remains to be a simple sensing of the enemy, because it demands immediate response. 黐手 becomes a practice in conversation with the enemy, through his own force. And pretty soon, the conversation is no longer just in the force, but in the intent as well. Intent conversation is then possible through the hands.
The principle of 來留去送，甩手直衝 outlines the basic requirement of 詠春拳法。 Receive what comes, follow what goes, attack when the hand disengages. When an attack comes in, receive it, accept it, let it pass, and as your hand is freed, attack. And when he starts to retreat, follow, do not relent, press on, finish it, never let him recover. But as this requirement is drilled in 黐手, the concept of 來留去送，甩手直衝 then becomes applicable to conversations with people, and soon you find that you have acquired the skill of conversing, and not conversing, with people. There is an art to discovering people's intents from their words, and leading their thoughts with words, and this is quite useful in leading people, inspiring people, or sometimes just explaining yourself.
But to press on when the person is losing, is that not the same way to carry on with work? That is, when your work starts getting finished, you press on, you don't relent, you finish it. When an obstacle comes your way you don't get rid of it, because that can take more time and effort. You work your way around it, you find little "cracks" in the obstacle, and this skill then transforms in seeing opportunities even in the most troublesome of situations. And when an opportunity presents itself, take advantage of it! It rarely comes.
And then this skill then teaches you to cope with life and all its hassles and stresses. Your skill grows, and soon you develop "the calmness of a sage, the suppleness of a child." While others are stressed, frustrated, and unhappy, your life is bright and happy.
Then you begin looking back at who you were when you began...how you were before...and then become amazed with how far you've come, and awed with what got you there in the first place, because there is just so much disparity, yet you before and you now are the same you. This realization, then, compels you to use this skill for vrituous purposes, and to share it with others because you feel happiness is worth sharing, because it's one thing you share without losing any. Everybody wins!
And then you look back, and wonder how all of this came from a fighting method where you try to stand with toes pointing towards each other!