Wushu vs MMA

The real science of efficient unarmed combat is the science of street survival, where the law will allow you to do whatever necessary to stop the threat if it is a justified threat. The rules of MMA are minimal when compared to other combat sports but for someone who really studies the science of efficient combat on the streets, those minor rules will make huge differences. Look at people in the Olympics run the 100m dash, what makes the difference between first and 2nd place is a matter of milliseconds.

I'm sorry to say but MMA does not have the top athletes of the world, because they are not focused on any specific discipline but claim to be the competition for all disciplines, they essentially are rounding up the 2nd hand athletes of all disciplines.

MMA has not provided any answers on what really works in a real fight because MMA is still not a real fight. Real fights occur on the streets, not in the cage. Real street fighters will test their abilities on the streets, Real Wushu Artists will conduct their own research and studies in their own controlled environments and come upon their own discoveries.

How can anything possibly be real when you are only fighting people of your own weight class, how can any fight be real when it is all planned out and prepared for, real fights are spontaneous and clearly there are no weight classes. Even though the gloves are smaller than boxing gloves, the gloves they wear make a huge difference than fighting with bare fists. Having no mouth guards will also make a huge difference. People fighting with shoes on will make a huge difference. The fighting surface whether or not it is no the streets, sidewalk, grass, gravel, or snow will make a huge difference. Fighting outside or indoors will make a huge difference.

There are many spontaneous variables in a real fight that are not exemplified within that cage and people who truly study the methods of real survival will know this. One eye jab can make a huge difference, one kick to a persons knee can make a huge difference. Like a gun fight or a knife fight, in a real fight with someone who is highly trained, there is no room for mistakes. That is why Bruce was studying fencing before he died, he knew how real efficient combat is. You can try to grapple all you want, but if you are getting demolished by someone who has perfected his kicks or straight jab, you have no chance.

MMA rules are designed to make it appear that ground fighters are more effective than they really are. MMA is not the combination of the most effective fighting techniques, they are the combination of the most effective techniques specifically for fighting within that octagon. An eye jab for example is an extremely effective technique, but it is disallowed because apparently it is too effective. Hitting someone with your bare fist that is highly trained in iron fist is an extremely effective technique, but it is disallowed because apparently it is too effective.

MMA will have the ground and pound as long as the law will allow. If these law makers end up seeing many deaths occurring in MMA and even one of the lawmakers children ends up dying in MMA, then you can be certain that they will eliminate the ground and pound and potentially ban MMA across the nation. It's all about what the law will allow and will not allow. Laws change, so you can never say that things will never change.

MMA thrives off of the brutality in order to set themselves apart from Boxing, Kickboxing, San Sau, and Thai Boxing. But just because they allow ground and pound, it does not mean that the athletes of that sport are more talented, all it means is that they are more dirty, that they cannot fight clean to win, they have to fight dirty to win against the clean fighter. A truly great fighter can demolish anyone in any field. You wrestle with him, he wins, you play judo with him, he wins, you play boxing, he wins, you play kickboxing, he wins, you play thai boxing, he wins, you play tae kwon do, he wins, you play dirty fighting, he wins, you play street fighting, he wins, you play paintball, he wins, you play chess, he wins, no matter what you come at him with, he wins, he is a true Master because he has mastered everything. He never needs to fight dirty, because he can always win fighting clean, but if you fight dirty, then he will respond and beat you anyway. That is a true Master.

True Wushu Artists would never need a referee to intervene, they know when enough is enough and they stop out of respect and compassion. Masses of people are not meant to see this whole sparring session occur, no Master of the Arts is meant to be humiliated the way these fighters are being humiliated. This entire spectacle is a disgrace to the integrity of the Martial Arts. Imagine if your own father trained you to become one of the best in the world, would you beat the shit out of your own father for the whole world to see to get some more fame and fortune? Will you almost kill your father for fame and fortune? Everybody gets old and will eventually lose their physical abilities, people who take advantage of the old and weak is not what Wushu is all about. Wushu is about honor, respect, integrity, peace, love, and compassion, and absolutely none of that is being displayed in that cage.

You have left many lengthy comments to defend MMA and really there needs to be no defense, you are free to watch and participate what you choose to as long as it is allowed by law. I am not the law, I'm not here to tell people what they should do and should not do, I just want to share my perspective and connect with people who share my ideas so that we can grow together.

You seem like a very intelligent person that is capable of making his own decisions. I'm not a Sifu to anyone online here, so I have no say on anyone's choice of development. But I will say for my own children and for my own students, they will need to understand my perspective otherwise they will not learn Wushu from me. But as for everybody else, it is their parents jobs, their Wushu Master's job to make sure that they are representing Wushu with integrity.

I do not approve of Boxing, I do not approve of MMA, I do no approve of Football, I do not approve of Thai Boxing, I do not approve of Wrestlemania, I do not approve of any forms of unhealthy competition, I don't approve of many things. But these are the standards that I live by and the standards that I will hold my children and students by, but as for all others, they need to establish their own standards and guidelines.

I'm sorry for all the disrespect that I have done in the past, now my aim is not to criticize but to simply share my ideas in a respectful way. Take it for what it is, if I'm not an Expert, if I'm not a Master, then who really cares what I say? Nobody needs to prove to me that MMA is positive contribution to this society and the Martial Arts community, my heart feels the way it does and I do not see that it will ever change. I do my best not to speak about MMA, but that's like telling a Master chef not to comment on what can be improved upon in a certain dish. I just see a lot of room for improvement in regards to how the "Martial Arts" is currently being expressed here in America and other areas of the world.

Arguing towards the justification for MMA can be the same justification used to legalize prostitution across the nation. Women can get paid to have sex, so why not? All women of this nation can aim to become prostitues, they don't need to go to college, they don't need to get an education, all they need to do is have sex for money. Sure it is a dangerous occupation but they know the risks that are involved. But with these same arguments, why haven't the government allowed this to occur? Well, there just seems to be something wrong with that, something where we are heading backwards as a humanity and not forwards.

Not only is MMA bad for ones health but the fact of them mass producing it to children and young adults to follow in the footsteps of these Fighters is part of the overall problem that I see. It is like encouraging a young child or man to deal drugs for a living, not just privately encouraging them but blasting it all over mass media in which to push that lifestyle onto them with maximum effort.

In my opinion, MMA fighters are not true professionals, Mayweather is a true Master, not many boxers that have ever lived will ever compare, ameteur boxers get destroyed in the ring, Masters just don't get hit. A true Master, if he did fight in MMA would not take much damage, there cannot be true Masters if already there are 194 or so UFC fights already logged. True Masters don't come back often, a Michael Jordan, Mayweather, Ali, Tiger Woods, Bruce Lee, they just don't come by often. Mayweather has been boxing his whole life, none of these MMA Fighters will ever compare, it is completely different. A person who has been practicing Wushu his entire life would never even go inside the cage, so the cage really will never see a Real Wushu Artist, unless you force him into it with a UFC video game!

Well it seems I am set in my ways and you are set with yours, lets just respect that. When I think about it, I may not be an expert or Master but the fact of me taking so much time to write about this and make videos about this shows that I really do care about Wushu and what it is meant to represent according to my eyes, and I just wish to share these ideas with the public.

It really depends on the fight, I can say that clearly not all fights respect is being shown. RR for example didn't even want to touch gloves with HH. Any time anyone is fighting out of Anger, that is not respect, and I know for a fact a lot of these fighters are fighting out of anger. Beating someone to a bloody pulp while they are laying on their back is not respect. If this is considered a sport, I will say it will be the sport that has the least amount of respectful athletes out of all sports, because the more violent you are, the less respect you will have.  Respect and anger do not really go hand and hand.  

They have competed in the Olympics in other sports, not in MMA, because MMA is not in the olympics. They are great athletes in other sports that have been suckered into fighting for money and fame through the expression of excessive violence, they have fallen from grace.  

A Mayweahter who stops being a Boxer and becomes an MMA fighter has fallen from grace. A Bruce Lee who stops being an Actor and becomes an MMA fighter has fallen from grace. An MMA Fighter to stops fighting in the cage and starts fighting in the streets has fallen from grace. Somebody who is in the NBA who quits and joins an ameteur Basketball Association has fallen from grace.  

There are people who move forwards and there are people who move backwards in life. Those who train in the Arts and then turn into just another MMA Fighter are Martial Artists who have fallen from grace. Like a Police Officer who becomes corrupted, he has fallen from grace. 

Actually I see a lot of corruption in the sport, they are not really genetically gifted in my eyes, they are simply dehydrated, on steroids, and performance enhancing drugs. In my opinion it takes a lot more skill to compete in Football, Basketball, Boxing and pure Olympic Wrestling, those who cannot make it in those fields end up settling for MMA.

Real Combat

To me, real combat is life or death. Real combat is survival. Like the animals in the wild, they fight for survival. If a deer is getting hunted down by a lion, he is running for his life, it is not a game, it is life or death. Like a Police Officer on the streets who's getting shot at, it's not a game, it's life or death. Like a soldier in war, it's not a game it's life or death. Gang members whom shoot each other on the streets, that is life or death. The shooter's in Paris killing innocent people, that is life or death. That to me is real combat. Anything that does not involve real death, is not real combat, it's a game or its a sport.

Sparring is fine, sparring is important for your development as a Martial Artist, but sparring needs to be safe, sparring needs to be intelligent, and sparring needs to be healthy. Like the way fencers spar, that can be done safe and healthy. Like the way people train in paintball or airsoft firearms, that can be done safe and healthy.  

But fighting out of competition, like how Boxers, Cage Fighters, or Street Fighters fight, that is not safe, that is not healthy.

If you are a scientist, you conduct safe experiments to discover truth. A Master in the Martial Arts is like a scientist, he conducts safe experiments through sparring to discover the truth. You never spar with real guns, real swords, or real knives. If you did, then it's not really sparring anymore, then it is a real fight for your life.

People who practice combat sport, they are not really sparring, they are not really fighting. They are in between. A Kung Fu Artist is not in between, he either spars intelligently and safely or he fights for real when necessary.

Loyalty in the Martial Arts

Loyalty in Martial Arts

The Martial Arts comes from the East.  The foundational teachings of Buddha, Tao, and Zen is what makes Martial Arts.  The spiritual teachings of the East is what turns something basic like self-defense training into Martial Arts.  In the West, Martial Arts does not exist within the commercial industry.  The west only knows about sport, but not Art.  Anybody who lives in America can only claim Martial Arts when they are grounded in the Martial Arts teachings of the East. 

A Chinese-American can claim the Chinese Martial Arts such as Tai Chi, Gung Fu, Wushu, because that is where is foundational roots come from.  A Japanese-American can claim the Japanese Martial Arts such as Karate, Judo, and Aikido, because that is where his foundational roots come from.  A Korean-American can claim the Korean Martial Arts such as Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido because that is where his foundational roots come from.  A Chinese American who promotes the Chinese Martial Arts is essentially promoting his own culture through the Martial Arts. 

It makes no sense for a Chinese-American to claim the Korean Martial Arts and represent Korea over his own Chinese heritage.  It is a like a Chinese-American who can speak Korean fluently but yet he cannot speak Chinese at all.  It does not make sense; he is not grounded in his roots.  Many Chinese-Americans can be so Americanized that they only know how to speak English and they cannot speak Chinese at all.  This is common because if they are Chinese-American, and they are American born, then their language has adapted to their environment and surroundings. 

It would make sense for a Chinese-Korean to possibly promote the Korean Martial Arts.  His roots could have originated in China but he was born and raised in Korea.  While assimilating to his environment, there is a likelihood that he would promote the Korean culture.  This to me is understandable. 

Where your roots come from will dictate which culture you wish to promote.  But an American who has no roots in the East, has no loyalty towards any culture.  One week he can promote the Chinese Martial Arts, another week he can promote the Japanese Martial Arts, and the week after he can promote the Korean Martial Arts.  Because his blood is not grounded in any Eastern culture, he is easily susceptible of being disloyal towards any Martial Art “style” he wishes to represent.  He can just be guided by profit, rather than being grounded in his being.  He is more likely to exploit the Martial Arts for profit, rather than being a representation of a specific culture and its Ways. 

When you come from the East, you cannot deny your roots.  The Martial Arts is in your blood, it is in your heritage.  But when you are a Caucasian American, you have no roots in the Martial Arts.  You must study the ways of the East to gain that knowledge.  But simply studying the ways of the East does not create any sort of loyalty towards any specific way.  You may begin to feel that you study all ways, that you are a “Jack of All Trades.”  But that provides no stability in your teachings; you will forever be a student that is constantly learning, never having mastered anything in order to be truly qualified in teaching. 

You cannot enter into college with the intension of majoring in every course of study imaginable and then expect to graduate in which to teach everything.  If someone is going to claim “no style” and that they teach “all styles” then you would have to go under the broad category of “Martial Arts” and that you are an instructor of the Martial Arts, you have your own personal expression to teach that is not grounded upon any specific culture or way. 

But if you plan to approach it from this direction then you should not be claiming titles and labels from the East in which to exploit the reputation of those labels when you have not earned the right to use those labels rightfully or at least be grounded in the culture of which the labels have derived from by being a part of your blood family history.   So if you are to claim your own expression of the Martial Arts then you should not be using labels such as Kung Fu, Karate, or Tae Kwon Do, unless those labels are grounded in the roots of where you come from. 

Essentially “Wushu” is the same meaning as “Martial Arts”.  If you are an American, it would be right to say that you teach the Martial Arts, but it would not be right to say you teach Wushu, when you have no grounding in the Chinese culture.  As next week you can easily also claim that you also teach Karate, and Tae Kwon Do, and Tai Chi. You end up being loyal to no specific culture and its ways, you end up not truly promoting any culture and its ways, you end up just promoting yourself, to make profit off of the labels and ways of the East of which you do not even understand or may not even have respect towards. 

If you claim yourself to be a “human being” that you are free from all races, that  you have no race, ok that makes sense, that is understandable.  But don’t claim the Chinese Martial Arts, the Japanese Martial Arts, the Korean Martial Arts, and so on and so forth, when you have absolutely no grounding in any of the cultures and its ways.  Don’t believe that you are a Master of “Jeet Kune Do” because you have seen one of Bruce Lee’s films.  Don’t believe that you have achieved a Ph.D out of a certain university simply because you have seen a TV commercial of that University. 

How many residencies can you possibly claim?  You cannot claim that you are a citizen of America, Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Korea, Africa, France, etc. all at the same time.  If you wish to claim yourself as a human being that is free from all citizenship, ok that is fine, but either way, the law, will still impose it’s rules upon you and label you as a human being that is a citizen to a certain country.  You may not believe in countries, citizenship, and social security numbers.  But regardless of what you believe, you will be born into a certain country and you will be issued a social security number. 

If you are born in America, it is not proper to tell people that you were born in China.  If you wish to say that you were not born in America, but you were born into this world, ok, I understand that.  But if you end up choosing one country to represent and acknowledge as your birthplace, then you should be specific and honest with where your roots are.  You might be a Japanese-American and you have your Martial Art roots from Japan but you do not wish to claim these roots because you are ashamed of the history.  You might wish to just say that you practice the Martial Arts as a whole and that is what you teach. 

But if you are going to choose a country and label to represent, then it should be the Japanese ways and culture because that is where you were grounded in.   You may not be happy with its history, but that does not mean you cannot create your own personal expression that is a better representation of the Martial Arts of which you envision.  Just as the founder of Aikido had done.  He did not just promote Karate and it’s ways, he created his own way with his own Japanese label, he didn’t choose a Chinese label, he chose a Japanese label. 

If you are born with a Chinese history in your blood, that cannot be denied, it is factual, you can deny it, but the truth remains, there comes a forced loyalty to your roots.  But when it comes to a Caucasian American, he has no roots to any country to the East, he chooses what type of Martial Art style he wishes to claim as if he is choosing which book or movie he wishes to watch, he has no intrinsic loyalty.  His loyalty and preference towards any Martial Art style can change at any time. 

One year he is a Tae Kwon Do Master, another year he is a Tai Chi Master, the year after he is a Aikido Master.  He is not grounded in any Martial Art; everything that he claims to represent is false.  It is a like a person who watches 30 commercials for 30 different college Universities and then because he watched these 30 commercials, now he thinks he can claim to the public that he has graduated from 30 different college Universities, but the fact of the matter is that he has not even graduated from one of the Universities. 

Somebody can claim 30 different styles but has not mastered any of them.  It is like somebody who boasts that he practices 30 different sports but yet he is not proficient in even one of these sports.  Another thing is that Martial Arts is not just a sport, Martial Art comes with a history, culture, philosophy, and way of living.  It is all encompassing.  You cannot just learn any Martial Art at anytime; you need to have special access to that specialized training.  Not anybody can study to be a lawyer or doctor, that knowledge is restricted from publicly shared knowledge, that knowledge and information is controlled and regulated to be taught in privately controlled settings. 

The Chinese Martial Arts come from the Chinese.  It is a different way.  It is a different language, different techniques, different philosophy, different way of seeing the world.  Just as here in America, we speak English, in China they speak Chinese.  In America we practice combat for entertainment, in China their techniques are for survival.  In America, most people practice Christianity, in China people are guided by the teachings of Buddha.  In America, we teach to have a strong ego, in China they teach to be strong in Meditation. 

Not every Chinese person knows about the Chinese ways, some Chinese people have become so Americanized that they are no longer Chinese.  But it goes back to where your roots are.  If a Chinese American has become Americanized, he is denying his Chinese roots; this can be seen before your eyes.  It is a self-denial, but you cannot deny the roots.  Just like your blood type.  If you are born with Type A blood, you can deny this and say that you are Type B and not type A, but no matter how hard you try to deny, the truth still remains, you are Type A. 

A Chinese American can believe he is American, but his roots are from China.  You can believe you are American, you can deny your roots come from China, but the reality is that your roots, your blood, come from China.  If you are Chinese, the Chinese Martial Arts is in you, waiting to be expressed through your body.  If you are Japanese, the Japanese Martial Arts is in you, waiting to be expressed.  Now if you wish to deny yourself of being Chinese and you wish to deny yourself of being Japanese, ok then you can be a self-expressive real human being.  But even in doing so, you will still have to use some sort of language to express your way, and if you choose the English language, that means you have chosen one over another, you have chosen the English language over the Chinese language as your form of expression. 

You have still not chosen silence, which is beyond all language; you have chosen one over another.  Although you may claim that you practice the Martial Arts in its entirety, you are still grounded in the roots of which you cannot deny.  And as I stated, all Martial Art Ways are grounded from the East.  There is no such thing as Martial Arts in the West.  The only way Martial Arts can exist in the West is if you bring that experience over to the West from the East.  It is like a Mercedes Benz that is made in Germany and then imported to America.  There are no Mercedes Benz that are made in America, the Mercedes Benz are made in Germany and imported from Germany to America. 

Any person of any race can watch a Chinese Martial Arts movie that has been imported from China to America.  Now just because this person has watched this movie, it does not give him the total experience of what it means to be a real Martial Artist from the East.  Watching a movie from China is one thing but actually meeting a Chinese person that is grounded in his culture and ways and learning from this person directly is another thing.  A Chinese person makes a Chinese movie from China.  Meeting a Chinese person and learning directly from this Chinese person is a direct transmission of the wisdom from the East. 

In America, it is not too often that you will encounter a real Chinese person, a real Japanese person, a real Filipino person, a real Korean person.  These people from the countries of the East have a beautiful culture, tradition, wisdom, and way of life to share.  A Filipino person can potentially teach you the Filipino expression of the Martial Arts, just as how a Chinese person can teach you the beauty of cooking Chinese cuisines. 

A Caucasian American has no solid foundation in any of these cultures and ways.  A Caucasian American is simply a consumer of the Eastern Arts and Ways.  He is not rooted in any of these Eastern Ways, he is simply a consumer.  The ways of just one country is already so vast that it will take a lifetime of learning, you can never master all the ways of the country of where you originate.  Yes it is important to learn from many countries and many people, but still you are rooted in your own country.  You will learn from other countries and other people to benefit your own country.  You can be caught between two countries but you are still rooted in one over the other. 

You can only live in one country at a time.  You can travel the world your entire life, you can visit a different country every week of the year, but you will never be able to truly learn from any one country and gain the real experiences of that country and its ways if you are always traveling.  If anything you will know deeply about the ways of the airport and how to go from one place to another, you may become deeply affiliated with the hotels and tourist locations of each country, but you will never deeply know any country when you are so busy moving from one place to the next. 

Living in a country for 33 years is not the same as reading a few books or watching a few movies about the country of which you wish to live.  Direct experience is not the same as multimedia.  Practicing the Martial Arts yourself for over 20 years every single day is not the same as watching hundreds of Martial Art movies throughout the course of 20 years.  Certain things exist in the East that do not exist in the West.  And Martial Arts is one of them.  You can only learn the real Martial Arts from somebody that is grounded in the East. 

A Chinese American cannot deny his own race and culture, doing so is a disrespect to himself, it is an embarrassment.  A Chinese American who claims himself to be Japanese when he has no Japanese roots, is a disrespect to himself and his family.  It is a sign of great ignorance.  If a Chinese American wishes to deny the Chinese within him, then he should also certainly deny the Japanese as well, because the Japanese is not within him at all.  If a Chinese American wishes to only claim America, because he is American born, then that is his decision, but he certainly should not claim that he is Japanese when he has absolutely no roots to Japan, he is outright lying, he is deceiving himself and the public around him. 

But when it comes to a Caucasian American who wishes to practice the Martial Arts, he has no roots in any country.  He does not understand that you cannot claim the Martial Arts of other countries as if it is just like a sport, like football, basketball, tennis, or ping-pong.  Martial Arts is not sport, Martial Arts is a unique individual expression, and when this unique individual expression becomes widely practiced, it can become a style, and when it becomes so widely practiced that it becomes a style, it can then even start to represent the way of an entire country.  You cannot just claim yourself to be a practitioner of a certain Martial Art of which you really know nothing about, or in an even worse case scenario, claiming yourself to be a teacher of a Martial Art of which you clearly have been given no permission to do. 

In big name prestigious college Universities, you can only obtain the degree if you go and study at the physical location of the University.  Online degrees are not available.  A very famous restaurant that serves great food, you have to go to the actual restaurant to experience the food, visiting their website and looking at the menu is not sufficient. 

Martial Arts is a direct experience.  Similar to enlightenment, it happens from within you, it cannot be mass-produced and consumed like a product.  Millions can watch a great Artist but to become a great Artist is a different story.  It is easy to sell products to consumers but it is not easy to assist the consumer to develop into a fully expressive creative human being.  Authentic Martial Arts can only be expressed by an authentic human being. 

Creation is Not Always Good

Creation is Not Always Good

Creation is not always good.  Giving birth to Adolf Hitler is not good.  You may be a good person but if you teach others to be bad, you are no longer a good person.  They say there is no such thing as bad students; there are only bad teachers.  It is up to you whether or not to create a child; nobody can force you to create a child.  Now if you decide to create a child and you do not raise this child right, you are contributing negativity to this world.  If you are not going to raise the child right, you are better off not creating a child to begin with. 

Now this doesn’t just go with creating children.  I see this truth can be applied to teaching in general.  In particular to teaching something that requires great responsibility.  Teaching somebody the alphabet is one thing.  Teaching somebody how to be responsible with a firearm is another.  Teaching someone how to become fit is one thing.  Teaching someone how to be proficient in self-defense or Martial Arts is another.  A bodybuilder with an over inflated ego is one thing.  A fighter with an over inflated ego is another. 

There can be a group of people who are humble and shy.  And because of your teachings, you have trained these same people to be arrogant bullies.  By doing this, you have not contributed goodness to this world; you have made this society worse.  There can be a group of people who stay home to play video games all day.  And because of your teachings, you have taught these same people to go out to the streets and commit crimes.  By doing this, you have not contributed goodness to this world; you have made this society worse. 

Sometimes it is best not to teach, your teachings can make this world worse than it already is.  When the society is mentally sick, when the society is obsessed with violence, sometimes it is better to have fewer guns out in the market.  When the society is mentally unstable and spiritually lost, the way of Martial Arts may be best to be kept private.  The Way of the Martial Arts will be misunderstood, abused, and exploited.  The Way of the Martial Arts may be best to be transformed to Yoga or Tai Chi for the masses.  Yoga and Tai Chi can be a benefit to the masses but the Way of the Martial Arts is never for the masses, it is for the selected few responsible and mature individuals who have the right spiritual readiness for the training. 

The Unknown Starving Martial Artist

The Unknown Starving Martial Artist

You can be a great Martial Artist, you can be a great Martial Arts teacher but that does not ensure that you will be successful in the Martial Arts industry.  It does not ensure that you will own a financially successful Martial Arts Business.  People who are good at Business, are good at making money.  Often times, in order to make the most amount of money, you will have to be comfortable exploiting others for cheap labor.  Often times, in order to make much money, you will have to take advantage of certain opportunities.  Business people know how to make money, that is their realm of expertise.  Artists on the other hand are the creators of Art but they are not necessarily competent in making money.  The ways of business contradict the ways of Art. 

Vincent Van Goah painted thousands of paintings during his lifetime.  He lived poor and died poor, he did not even sell one painting during his lifetime.  But after his death, his paintings are now being sold for millions.  None of these people have created these works of Art, but they are all profiting from the Art of which they did not create.  They may buy one of his pieces of Art for $500,000 and then sell it to someone else for $1 million.  Vincent Van Goah lived and died poor but everybody after his death are profiting off of his paintings. 

I see the same has occurred with Bruce Lee.  Bruce Lee creates the Art of Jeet Kune Do.  Bruce Lee lived poor and died poor.  But yet there are former students of his whom are profiting thousands if not millions from the Art of which he created.  Bruce Lee had personal writings that were unpublished.  But after his death, his writings are published and profited from by many.  Bruce Lee created films, and after his death, many have profited from the sales of the films.  His images have been turned into action figurines, t-shirts are made, posters, and all sorts of paraphernalia in order to profit.  Interviews are produced, books are written, and all profit is being made off of his name and image.  All this money is being generated after Bruce Lee’s death.  Even material items of which he owned is auctioned off and sold for profit.  So the creator lives and dies poor, but thousands after his death profit from his creativities. 

Bruce Lee was a real Martial Artist that lived and died poor.  Dana White is not a Martial Artist but is a businessman who is a multi millionaire who is profiting off of setting up fights.  Mike Tyson was a great boxer and Don King was the promoter who was making money off of Mike Tyson by simply being the promoter.  The promoter is the businessman.  The promoter many times will end up even richer than the professional athlete.  Rarely do you see instances where you have the athlete who is also the promoter as well, such as Mayweather.  Mayweahter is an amazing boxer as well as a great businessman, rarely is that the case. 

You can have a great Artist, but he is not great in business.  If he is not great in business, he can be unknown for all his life.  Those who are well known are not necessarily great Artists; they just have great marketing and business strategies.  Business and Art is not the same.  Many times it is very difficult for the Artist to become great in business, because in order to become great in business, you will have to sacrifice the integrity of your Art.  A beautiful woman Artist is unknown and makes very little being fully clothed on stage, but if convinced to strip on stage while singing, now she can generate millions, it becomes a dilemma within on whether or not to sacrifice your internal values for profit and fame. 

As a Martial Art teacher you wish to hold up to the integrity of the Martial Arts by only certifying somebody as a “BlackBelt” whom has been trained properly for a couple of decades.  But holding up to this integrity makes the school less profitable, giving in and certifying people to be BlackBelts in less than 1 year will make the business very profitable.  As a Martial Art teacher you may wish to hold up to the integrity of the Martial Arts by not allowing or promoting for any of your students to enter any tournaments of any sort, but once again this will hurt the profit of your school, giving in and promoting tournaments and competition will make the business very profitable. 

Bruce Lee was a strong individual.  Bruce Lee stood up against racism.  He would not allow directors to push him around; he refused to participate in any movies that disrespected the Chinese in anyway.  The directors tried to have him lose a fight to Robin in a scene and he refused.  When teaching Jeet Kune Do before getting into acting, he realized that what he had to offer, the Americans were simply not ready for, his students were not living up to the standards of which he expected, he closed down his schools before going into acting in order to retain the integrity of quality in the Martial Arts.  When he became famous, he purposefully did not publish any of his books instructing people in his ways because he knew that the material was going to be used and abused.  He knew that people would take what he created to profit off of themselves and claim that they were his students when they were not. 

When you become famous, there will be many people that will try hard to take from what you have in order to make money for themselves.  When it comes to business, it is a vicious and dirty game of profit out there.  People will steal your ideas and profit from them.  People will use you as a slave to profit from you, just like Don King was doing to Mike Tyson and what Dana White is doing to all Cage Fighters.  When people see an opportunity to make money off of you, they will be all over you; they will seek to control your life.  When this happens, the integrity of real Art is lost.  Now you are not an Artist any longer, you have become a puppet in the hands of others.  You have become a money making machine.  The Artist is lost; you have become a slave to the Industry. 

Many times, true Artists will live poor, die poor, and die unknown.  It is the sacrifice that true Artists make to live up to the integrity of the Art of which they wish to represent.