Simple, Not Easy

Wing Chun, Keep it Simple

You’ve probably heard Mike Tyson’s statement that, in effect, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. We’ve all heard it (at least those of us in the martial arts) and remember it because, truth be told, it’s as obvious as saying it always helps to have a little bit of money. It’s nearly self-evident, for crying out loud. 

But whereas it’s certainly true, it’s actually deep when you think about it. We mean to say that it’s quite easy to, well, forget the obvious fact of it in the pursuit of martial skill. 

So you see, this is the whole thing about Wing Chun in the first place. The truth about it is so simple - like Tyson’s statement - but it’s simple to forget too. Wing Chun isn’t just built around the centerline and contact reflex. You don’t beat people with stuff like that. You beat them by using those qualities to, you guessed it, punch them in the nose. Often. And hard. It’s the simplest of simple truths. 

All the great truths in life are like that. 

For example, don’t forget to tell your family that you love them. Every day, in fact. And don’t forget to show them too. 

And relax. No one looks back and wishes they were more uptight. 

Oh, and don’t spend or eat too much. 

Yeah…stuff like that. Life really isn’t complicated. The great truths are simple enough to know but, and here’s the thing, they’re no picnic to pull off. In fact, it requires Herculean strength and discipline to stay simple. 

Okay, that said, back to Tyson and that punch in the beak. 

Right from the get-go Wing Chun teaches us to do exactly that: intercept the nefarious bad fella with a knuckle sandwich. It’s Jeet Kune (a rather famous dude named a whole method after it you might remember). He tries to hit you, but you hit him first. Yep, it’s the straight punch at the very beginning of the Siu Lim Tao form that gets everything rolling. The idea is to do the simplest thing very well. Don’t try and do anything complicated because life or death situations are no time for fancy stuff. Just punch him in the face. Straight hits delivered swiftly and powerfully are the key. It all starts with that, and if we’re truly adept at it (which is to say, we develop the attending footwork and timing to deploy that Wing Chun straight punch) we rarely need much else. 

Herein is the problem, though. 

It’s twofold.

There’s a complexity bias we fall prey to that leads to the seeking of more complicated procedures. It’s human nature not to be satisfied. David just had to have Bathseba. With everything he had, a kingdom, tons of women, wealth, power…it wasn’t enough. He had to sleep in and then go watch a hottie taking a bath on a roof. You see, this is process we need to be on guard against. By eschewing the basics of personal discipline, King David went from taking some time off work, sleeping in, to lusting after another fellas girl, to plotting that fellas murder. 

Things can get complicated fast if we aren’t careful to stick to the basics. 

Napoleon, who had it all too, just had to invade Russia. Everything was going swimmingly and then its winter and not just any winter but winter in Russia and you may as well be on Mars. Next thing you know, he’s down a few hundred thousand troops and he’s not so

popular anymore. 

Old champions like Louis and Ali have to come back and try one more fight. Once unbeatable, they go for the glory one too many times, and the next thing you know they’re getting pounded on and you’re shaking your head in dismay.

It’s hard, hard, hard to stay simple. It’s hard to stay disciplined. Again, it’s human nature. The courage and confidence that makes good warriors can easily lead to the pride that complicates life and washes away our success in a terrible instant. Staying with the basics is the stuff of the disciplined soul that recognizes the fine line between courage and pride and studiously stays on the smart side of it. 

The second conundrum is staying focused on truly perfecting a basic punch and not going off after the fancier stuff. It takes tons of patience and dedication to develop a masterful straight punch that’s delivered with snappy power right when it needs to get there. Most of us just don’t have that kind of persistence. 

The combination of these two bugs of human nature conspire to destroy our Wing Chun. There are really cool techniques in the system and we want to try them out rather than spend hours and hours on a punch we already sort of know. In this way we’re all a little like a child on Christmas morning who, sitting there with a pile of super cool gifts to his side, nevertheless gets preoccupied with the next one. What else is there? What’s next? 

Wing Chun’s advice? Stay basic and simple. Master that punch as if your life depends upon it because it does.