The True Meaning of 'Kung Fu'

@Tony_Jeffries

Big thanks to Ian Lee from United Martial Arts in Lubbock,
Chris Heintzman at 7 Star Kung fu in Chapel Hill,
Imari Colon from East Cloud Kung Fu in Raleigh,
and @KevinLeeVlog !!

[calubras]

The fried rice analogy goes in line with what Musashi wrote "Once you understand the way broadly you see it in everything"

[scandisamurai]

"Kung Fu lives in everything we do, Xiao Dre. It lives in how we put on the jacket, how we take off the jacket. It lives in how we treat people. Everything is Kung Fu." -- Jackie Chan

[SS.LiuRyan]

I'm at Pan Americans for Wushu representing team USA's Sanda team right when this came out lol

[ittokaos]

Kung Fu essentially means "Hard work done over a long period of time." Yes, it can apply to most any skill that one has achieved a high level with. However, it became associated with martial arts because the martial artists of the day were known to constantly train in order to gain higher levels of mastery. Often even into old age. They became seen as ones who had good kung fu. Today, Kung Fu, while it still means the traditional meaning, it is commonly used for Chinese martial arts.

[Merco]

I'm not sure how accurate this story is, but it's something I heard a while back...

When Bruce Lee was blowing up in Cinema and people marveled at his abilities in film, there was an interview where he was asked how he was able to do such amazing fight stunts, etc.

He replied "Kung Fu" with the intention of it to mean "hard work".

Media at the time took it to literally be the martial arts he practiced and the name stuck.

Again, this is hearsay so I might just check up and see how accurate that story is.

[billbill]

I think this is what that mocked scene from the "karate" kid remake was implying. Jackie Chan was trying to impart 3 different lessons at once: 1. Having him memorize the forms under the guise of everyday chores much like the OG Karate Kid movie 2. Teach Jaden Smith proper respect for his mom and his home 3. Impart that kung fu is about hard work and mastery, how you move about the world with intention. He wasn't saying "any movement you can make with your body is a martial art technique" as if the way you comb your hair or brush your teeth will help you fight, but that Smith's laziness, inability to engage with the idea of adapting to his new surroundings, and his thoughtless disrespect for his mom were anathema to the philosophy of kung fu.

_Everything_ is kung fu, master how you go about the world, how you train, how you treat people, how you respect the people closest to you.

I also think it's important to remember during Bruce Lee's time representation of Chinese people in cinema was very racist and unflattering. It's what he helped push back on with his movies, why he wanted to be remembered as an actor instead of as a martial artist. It's why scenes like him kicking the "No Chinese Allowed" sign or beating a room full of karateka and going "we are not sick men!" were so iconic (Chinese people at the time were often referred to as the "sick men of Asia" even by cinema from other Asian countries). So when he said "this is the power of Chinese Gung-Fu" he probably wasn't just referring to the martial art, he was saying that was the strength of Chinese hardwork and spirit, which allowed his character those superhuman feats.

[HappyHitman]

Kungfu is the art of mastery. This included cooking, fighting, art

[J.JackJackieson]

Kung Fu translates literally as Great Skill. It's kind of like the word "finesse." And in some parts of America today, "finesse" specifically means to use a clever or sneaky method that brings you success, especially in the context of cheating in a game. But the word Finesse just means refined technical skill. So we have our own version of the same phenomenon happening with English

[TheArchersArms]

I teach kids traditional archery and there is such a deep history, multiple styles, ways of shooting, skillsets and mindsets to the martial art of archery.

People don't tend to think of it as a martial art, until they have to pull an 80 longbow, or speed shoot multiple targets. 😊

[jeremykiahsobyk]

The best translation/interpretation I have encountered: "kung" meaning "time" and "fu" meaning "energy." Kung Fu is anything you put time and energy into, and have pushed your abilities forward.

[juantlopez]

When explained to me by my sifu it's simply hard work..

[bruno]

kung fu = great skill acquired through time and work, and this applies to any activity in life.

kung fu is not the process, it is the result.

[Purwapada]

wait i need the bagua episode. hope seth releases it soon

[p.o.]

I love it that few youtubers have taken a deeper look at kung fu.
I started practicing Tai Shin Mun kung fu when I was a teenager. The discipline of it really calmed me down and since then I've tried to talk about the benefits of practicing the traditions. All this MMA-stuff seem to skip the deeper stuff and just focus on the functionality.

[miqvPL]

I wish we had some more time in Poland to discuss this and the whole energy thing.

You nailed it with saying that kung fu is personal. A lot of styles have substyles and it's common for students of some styles to perform some moves within forms differently than they were taught by their masters. And it doesn't mean they are bad students, bad students don't remember which move should be done in a pattern or do them badly. Good students can adjust a form to suit their needs and understanding of it. A lot of moves in kung fu have different applications depending on the situation or range.
I don't know the chinese names but since a lot fo moves were later adapted in karate- take mawashi uke. It can be a completely passive block, staying safe from punches redirecting them to the side, it can be a block and a grab at the same time or it can be a very close range grab and a takedown, there are probably more applications I don't know. It's the same in kung fu. You need to stick to the pattern and do all the moves within the form to do it correctly within the style/substyle, but how you do them is a different story, it allows much more creativity and freedom than hard procedure oriented arts like karate or taekwondo.
Does it mean it's better? Nah, absolutely not, good structure of karate and taekwondo allow to judge skills of practitioners so much better, kung fu would benefit greatly from some more structure to it, the lack of it is why we have more frauds at this point than skilled practitioners, and why kung fu has laughably bad reputation worldwide.

But back to the topic for a second- you know as a sumo wrestler that a lot of martial arts is based on a feeling, sense of touch, instinct, some slight precognition like "I knew he's gonna go for this move and not the other, I could feel it" ? It's the same in kung fu. When you do the same fucking form for n-th time to the point where you are both sick of it and you can do it with your eyes closed, backwards, when dead drunk and in Spanish- you start to "feel" it. You can call it muscle memory but it's a bit more than that, since it goes outside of you- you can recognize it within others as well, watching them perform. Like Sifu Rantoni Pepperoni said- skilled recognizes skilled.

To close the topic- it can sound cool but it's a huge time and effort sink. I would never recommend diving into it to any hobbyist unless they are like mad passionate/obsessive about martial arts. I have a slight read on your character by now and for you personally I'd focus on competing, growing your channel/business as long as your are healthy, able and strong. When you eventually "calm down" and satisfy your needs for success- that's when it's a cool thing to dive into, adding some philosophy on top of it too. I'm as far from being a taoist as possible when it comes to my personal view on life, but reading taoist books was very eye opening and I highly recommend adding some reading for, say, when you are recovering from an ankle injury for 5 fucking weeks. Huh, I wonder why I was so specific here.

[mambutuomalley]

I could listen to Imari for hours. She's got such a pleasant way of speaking.

[ProductionsFromBeyon]

I’ve been training traditional Kung fu for a year. Still quite new, but it’s a journey I’ve enjoyed.

[mikedeegan]

I’ve been doing 7 Star Praying Mantis for many years now. My Sifu told me to read some books earlier in my training to help understand Kung Fu. One is “The Sword Polishers Record” by Adam Shu. The other is “There are no Secrets”-about Sifu Chen Man Ching. These helped my Kung Fu tremendously!

[mehmeh]

To add as a native Chinese speaker and culture, if someone says your kung fu (功夫) is good, its not just praising your skills, its acknowledging your hard work and effort in training, cultivating and improving your art, a much higher praise than just saying you're good. Most likely you'll hear "I can see the kung fu in your xxx skill".

To that end I say: The kung fu in your YouTubing is top tier!

[modernchow]

great video about your research!

it can be easier when things can be clearly categorized but i like that in this case something like the term Kung Fu is so imperfect it kind of becomes flexible enough to include new things, new ideas etc.... maybe?

I think this is all also a very good look into chinese culture in general and a peek into a society that created such an interesting concept and how they express it.

also makes me want to rewatch Jessie's trip to china to look for the origins of karate and bubishi etc

great job Seth