The Wing Chun kuen kuit: “Fa chuk dui sau chi lien juk bat ting lao” is very important to my way of allowing my art to “come out of me”. It translates as: “explore changes by continuously and incessantly sticking with a partner”. What this means in condensed form is to learn to flow. It teaches us to train with a co-operative partner and to focus on how he can move and transform. It admonishes us to learn to respond to our attacker and his positioning seamlessly and to stick to him as we do. Then we can flow with an uncooperative partner. So, there are three concepts here: train with a partner to acquire this skill, learn to adjust to changes (flow), and learn how to stick.
Whilst it is possibly commonly thought to mean this kuen kuit ought to be operationalised through the chi sau exercise, as all my more advanced students will have been taught, we do the chi sau exercises neither for their own sake nor to excel in the chi sau exercise in its own right but in order to understand and apply the key word - “chi” (stick) in realworld self defence. We do it so that we can feel movement better. I’m always noting when I teach chi sau that we definitely do not learn to fight through chi sau - that’s nonsense. We learn aspects of sticking through chi sau - that’s all. Wing Chun is not, contrary to what I hear some others saying from time to time, equated with chi sau. Wing Chun is not chi sau and chi sau is not Wing Chun. That’s a trite generalisation put out by those who apparently don’t know how to teach students to fight in a Wing Chun fashion from non contact - in the san sau mode - and to fight against attackers who aren’t trained Wing Chun fighters. Chi sau is but an exercise. It’s an important one - but not the be-all and end-all of the art. Sticking is vital – but you can do that without interminable chi sau dominating your mindset! Anyone who believes Wing Chun is chi sau and vice versa is deluding themselves and has a static and limited Wing Chun. Sum Num himself once said to me that you gain far more from san sau utilising the sup yee sik than you do from chi sau in terms of realworld self defence. I’ve certainly found that to be very true! In fact, most, if not all of my senior students become quite proficient at realworld self defence through san sau before they ever encounter chi sau exercises. And - they become proficient Wing Chun fighters prior to even learning chi sau! They can stick! Sifu Sum Num introduced chi sau last in his traditional curriculum in order that the student would be able to employ all they’d learnt in the exercise.
Hence, knowing how to change one’s deflections and attacks according to circumstances has to be learnt not only in chi sau but also in san sau and then applied in any realworld self defence encounter we may happen to have. This kuen kuit admonishes us to do that - explore changes.
I think that the “flow” implied in “fa chuk dui sau chi lien juk bat ting lao” can be considered as a principle of Wing Chun: flow. A principle is something that is a fundamental professed rule governing our actions that is integrated through the whole of Wing Chun. It is something that defines the art and distinguishes it. Whilst each of the principles of Wing Chun considered separately may not distinguish Wing Chun from all other arts, but considered together I believe that they do. (You can read about each of the Wing Chun principles elsewhere on this site). Our principles can be seen to always be present in everything we do in our art. A concept is an idea that is elaborated into a procedural pattern - like train with a partner. It is not always present in everything we do. Sometimes one concept will operate, at times, another. Several may even operate simultaneously. But, they are not integral to the art in every set of circumstances as principles are. For example, we don’t always have to do all our training with a partner. Although I am presenting this kuen kuit under our “concepts” series, I believe that the underlying notion is the Wing Chun principle of “flow”. Kuen kuit can present a number of aspects of Wing Chun. Sometimes they present principles. Sometimes they present concepts. Sometimes they comment on techniques or other aspects of the art.
The key points this kuen kuit make are we need a partner to properly train Wing Chun and we have to become proficient in reacting to changes (flowing) and sticking during realworld self defence.