Sho Biyn Jiu Martial Arts

In joining the philosophies from the styles, various strengths and weaknesses are brought to light regarding each individual style and how the style affects the practitioner. This enables the student to tailor the system towards her/his personal strengths, instead of forcing the student to adapt to the system.

Many traditionalists may get caught up in stylistic differences and feel that adding to a system takes away from its’ purity. While diversifying may be viewed as taking purity away from form, it is my belief that it adds to the essence of a system and makes it stronger. As an illustration, take an upside down pyramid, where the base is at the top and the point is at the bottom. In a traditional system that leaves no room for adaptation, you have the original instructor as the base (top) of the pyramid. S/he may teach many students, but likely doesn’t impart all of her/his knowledge to the students. That is, rarely is a student greater than the teacher. Therefore over time, as instructor teaches student, and the student becomes the teacher and instructs others, you have a knowledge base that decreases in size. You then have the upside down pyramid effect.

With the Sho Biyn Jiu system, the teacher instructs her/his students on how to increase the art and make the art grow. This reverses the upside down pyramid. As well, you lose much of the conceit and pride that may tend to sneak in.