Have you looked in the Yellow Pages lately to see how many Masters there are? I have found all manner of Masters, Grand Masters, Supreme Grand Masters, Ultimate Grand Masters, International Grand Masters and so forth. If the phone book is any indication then America, from California to the New York Island and from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters, is indeed a virtual Mecca for Martial Arts Masters! It is amazing just how much talent we have right here in the USA. Every berg and village of any size seems to be blessed with a plethora of high-ranking Masters, a cornucopia of national and international champions.
Many styles of martial arts award the title of "Master" at the mid-rank Black Belt level, typically at 5th Dan (PSR is one of these) but some as early as 4th Dan and others at 6th Dan or higher. So I was wondering, what is a true Master? What must one do to be a true Master? Your thoughts---anyone? Everyone?
Sun Martial Arts Blog With Hosts: Master Tim Baker, Master Dave Pryga, and Mr. Matt Dowds
2 comments:
We are in a fairly rural area so we don't have alot of that here.
However, I have seen this discussed many different times and I have a few thoughts.
Martial arts is a popular activity and more and more people are discovering it, and sticking with it. Schools are offering better training and modern facilities. This is all creating more and more high ranking practitioners. Nothing wrong with that that I can see. Eventually the cream will rise to the top. I always felt that if an organization or school wants to award or honor someone with a rank or degree, that's their business. I just need to take care of mine. (TCB:)
We run our program off a sylabus that has all the requirements for each rank. Either you know your stuff or you don't. Its my job to make sure that my people all do.
A "true master"....well I really don't know any fake masters, but I'm not looking for them either. However, my personal feeling is to hold the rank of a master, you need to have trained (or directly assisted) a minimum number of students from white to black, and beyond. In other words, how can you be an Instructor if you have no students? How can you be a master instructor if you have not trained and are actively training other instructors up to at least 3rd dan? So in other words, when I see a guy saying he is a 6th degree black belt and then I see he has his own school with 10 whitebelt students, I personally would not consider him a true master, no matter how talented he is. But again, that is their business.....
SUN!
I agree with you Master Hawk. A "Master" is only as good as what he teaches.
First, if one has "mastered" a trade he is granted a license to operate. For example, I am a Master Plumber, and a Master A Gas Contractor licensed through the State of Tn after school, practical experience and testing and therefore can legally operate a plumbing business. A lot of people do plumbing without a license but generally, you get what you pay for.
However; my apprentices (and I've had many) have never called me Master Baker (don't say that too fast;-)
But in the martial arts, probably because of its eastern roots, a master not only dispensed fighting techniques but also health and spiritual wisdom (faulty or not). So the title "Master" was used as a disciple would address his teacher/mentor/adviser, with reverence for they thought the Master could lead them to some type of enlightenment.
No matter how I insist, I still can't get my wife to call me Master Honey.
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