Tree of Many Branches
…There is such a thing as sensitivity to the one student, no matter the numbers of students the master teacher teaches, and it is precisely in the progress and development of the one that the many will be taught."
Tree of Many Branches
…There is such a thing as sensitivity to the one student, no matter the numbers of students the master teacher teaches, and it is precisely in the progress and development of the one that the many will be taught."
What is a master teacher? A master teacher is one who has achieved a great degree of skill and understanding of the arts as a whole, has internalized these and has come full circle in application and comprehension. His depth of understanding encompasses not only his present knowledge and extensive skills, but – and this is essential – he recognizes the beginner. In essence, a true master is one who has come full circle and, in so doing, is able to embrace the white belt or the beginning student at any level. In fact, you could even say that, in a very real sense, the master will always strive to be a beginner even without relinquishing the knowledge he has already attained and made, to a great extent, his own.
It is in this manner that a master teacher knows how to challenge his students with a clear-cut degree of precision. There is, for instance, an enormous difference between the teacher who can demonstrate technique, and one who can teach conceptually. And this difference is marked, most notably, in the teacher’s ability to make a real – versus a superficial – connection with his students. Without exception, the master is able to recognize weaknesses and strengths in individual students, and can put each student to the test, so-to-speak, based on that student’s individual abilities. This is, after all, what I believe the martial arts should do: challenge the student to face his weaknesses – his own personal and intimate obstacles – all the while encouraging the student in the development of his strengths. And the expression of a master’s competence is, in my view, indisputably associated with his ability to achieve this.
In effect, it is implicitly incumbent upon the master to recognize that every student in his or her care will have his own physical, mental and/or emotional limits, and indeed a true master will be sensitive to these. He has to be, not solely because of logistics such as student retention, but because foremost in the teacher’s mind must be that student’s growth and development as a martial artist. Therefore, because the master teacher is the one who sets the standards, he must know too that these standards apply individually to individual students.
An understanding of this is key because, although I know that martial arts are taught to large bodies of students at a time, I truly don’t believe that any of the Arts were meant to teach the masses en masse. There is such a thing as sensitivity to the one student, no matter the numbers of students the master teacher teaches, and it is precisely in the progress and development of the one that the many will be taught.
When this is understood, then you have a teacher who is virtually a master teacher, and though one is not always easy to find, the truth is that there are those that are at this level of teaching proficiency. You see, the master has internalized his art. He doesn’t just perform his art or practice his art, but he has grown to personify his art. He is his art. There is not a part of his life that the application of this art does not touch, and it is this teaching that he brings tothe martial arts as a whole, irrespective of the discipline he imparts.
Therefore, to put it in simple terms you could say that a master teacher is one who uses his heart when teaching, just as he would be so inclined to do in the balance of how he leads his life. When you look at it, this is saying a great deal because, if you must isolate one indispensable factor to a true teacher – that which embraces everything I have described above – it would be that one fact: the master of the martial sciences draws upon the wisdom and sensibilities central to his heart when teaching. And this is a feat which is not always easily accomplished because in order to teach from the heart, the instructor must open up and drop his guard – something which is usually easier said than done. The fact remains, however, that power can be gentle, and tenacity can be compassionate. A master teacher fully comprehends this.
To so perform, in fact, is to accept your sense of purpose without foregoing your sense of commitment, and any true teacher of the Arts would know this. A master teacher does not have to be aggressive as a display of his martial prowess. This is, in actuality, a common misconception, and one I have found to be pervasive.
But I can assure you that it is not necessary to beat your chest or hurt your students in order to win acclaim or earn their respect. Quite the contrary, indeed. People are awed by a teacher’s sense of compassion, and students should readily see a master as one who sets the example for this type of comportment. A master who expresses any less than the utmost of quality in his teachings and the highest of standards in and of himself is one who is quickly setting both himself and his students up for failure.
As in my case, my title of grand master was given to me. More importantly, I can tell you that, to me, grand master is not something you call yourself. It is what others call you, and it is in how they reveal you that you are known or not as a grand master. Ultimately, this is the greatest legacy you can leave behind – to have others say, “This martial artist was truly a grand master.” And to work this way is to set a standard; it is to raise the bar in a manner that helps to build the martial sciences. It is true that I believe that we, as martial artists, are called to recapture this true spirit once more, for without it, we are off the mark and the martial arts stand only to suffer the consequences.
A master teacher will always understand the subtle difference between a student who must overcome his fears, and one who will never do so because he is in fear of the teacher himself. And it is in this reality of this context that the martial arts as a whole will continue to evolve through the decades and as a gift to posterity.
