Formosa Neijia

Two interesting threads on masters, inner circles, and keeping secrets from students can be found here and here.

I’m linking to these discussions because this is a pet peeve of mine. Teachers are all the time telling students that the only “secret” is to train hard. But then some people say that basic training is just BS used to test students to see if they are dedicated. Other teachers say they teach style X but secretly substitute watered-down style Y and take student’s money for a few years until they have “proven themselves” and can be allowed to receive style X. Additionally, several foreigners who are studying in China are defending such actions. Be VERY careful who you trust if you decide to study in Asia.

On the one hand, you naturally can’t teach high-level material to people who aren’t ready for it or who don’t deserve it. Rude, obnoxious people should never be shown anything other than the door. Beginners may be ambitious but they aren’t ready for high-level stuff yet and giving it to them too soon can actually hurt them physically or prevent them from building actual skills.

But on the other hand, I know of people that do keep secrets, even from honest, hard-working students. For example, I know of one teacher who long ago stopped accepting new disciples because he feels that he’s passed on his knowledge to several disciples already. Of course, he hasn’t bothered to make that clear to the current crowd of students. How would you feel knowing that you put in a hell of a lot of time and money only to have some things permanently unavailable to you no matter how hard you work or how respectful you are?

I know of another teacher that teaches stuff that he just makes up. When students get wise (some never do), the teacher says that he won’t teach the “real stuff” until you do baishi and become his disciple. Price tag: US$2,000. The real secret? This teacher doesn’t know anything! That’s a pretty steep price to pay to find that out.

All the good teachers I know have enough material that they don’t need to keep secrets. They give students what they are ready for but don’t hold back from deserving students. For them, the secrets really are in the basics, regardless of what students think.

This topic is not discussed enough IMO. Perhaps these threads can serve as a warning to others who are thinking of coming to Asia to study.