The articles in these sections have been written by Sifu Zopa Gyatso. They remain the copyright of Yun Hoi Wing Chun.
Zopa writes,
like he teaches, with a totally disarming logic. He is unlike any
contemporary Wing Chun writer. His mind and teachings are the product
of a rich multi-cultural background and experience tempered by a truly
unique range of educational experiences and qualifications. His
insights are those of an imagination moulded and tempered by a blend of
both Eastern and Western education and thinking. Involved in depth
over decades in Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese cultures, both with
respect to his Buddhist philosophy, martial arts and the general
cultures Zopa is also a qualified teacher, and psychologist
specialised in several areas and has written hundreds of articles on
numerous topics related to aspects of management psychology and
education.
Zopa takes a refreshing view of Wing Chun freed from any slavish
personality cults, marketing myth and the hype tragically so prevalent
in commercial gwoons and Wing Chun business empires. He is constantly
vehemently impressing that true traditional gung fu can only be learnt
in an honest two-way sifu-student relationship as opposed to a
commercial transaction. He writes with a passion and conviction born
from a position of undoubted mastery of both the pen and his art.
Those who love him, and those who may not, do so for a similar reason:
he pulls no punches and engages in a straight-forward “no-nonsense”
exposition of his art of Mainland Wing Chun. Zopa certainly doesn’t
suffer martial arts fools gladly and though polite with them he often
also finds himself having to be firm and straightforward with them.
Zopa’s Wing Chun is decidedly not that of the common commercial
Western versions. It is a profound error to think that all Wing Chun
is the same as that presented publicly in the West. Any similarities
between the Wing Chun Zopa passes on and that in popular martial arts
media publications are, at best, superficial. Zopa has studied and
passes on the traditional Yuen Kay San and Koo Lo Pin Sun systems
untainted by Westernisation, commercialism or any populist trends.
Agree or disagree with his views, it can’t be disputed that he knows
what he is talking about. Zopa can undisputedly “talk the talk” and,
as those who train in his art will readily attest, can definitely also
“walk the walk”. No authority or fashionable modern trend other than
the time-tested traditions of his lineages and his own logic dictate
Zopa’s judgments of real world combat sense. In any clash between
tradition and logic, Zopa asserts that logic will, and must, always win
out. He is always insisting his students look at the art, without mind
conditioning, as the founding fathers of Wing Chun would have.
Zopa’s writings on this site, both those in the public area and
those in the members’ section, range across an incredible diversity of
aspects of Wing Chun and related issues. Some relate to esoteric areas
and go into incredibly honest depth. Thought provoking; challenging;
informative; and, perhaps even confronting to some, all these articles
provide food for thought and often reveal rare information unavailable
elsewhere.