Some feelings might get hurt on this one.
I decided to tag the four systems in the title of this article (Presas, meaning Remy as well as his brother Ernesto) for a reason: I know people on several sides of the debates in these systems and have some insight. Because I am not a player in these situations, I decided to classify this article as an “Observation/Insight”, so that no one can shake the “mind-your-own-business” finger at me. It is, however, a little more than an opinion piece. My view of these situations are rooted in the cultures I was raised in from my own grandfather and his martial arts philosophy, my Jow Ga kung fu teacher, and a few others. So I am speaking as one who has my own lineage of martial arts, and understands the philosophy and culture of the arts quite well.
I happen to know several grandmasters of the same system. Is that confusing? The phrase several grandmasters of the same system can confuse a few of us, depending on your definition of “Grandmaster”:
- The founder of a new system of fighting
- The oldest, senior, or highest ranking master of a system
- Your teacher’s teacher–your martial arts grandfather, if you will
- A level of rank in a system
- The oldest, senior, or highest ranking master of a system in a geographic area
- A title one is bestowed by the community or given to onesself
So, which one is valid?
Surely, you jest. Martial arts systems and corporate cultures are as varied as fingerprints in this community. How dare any of us use our own as a standard to judge another man’s culture and practices by? As martial artists, we should be respectful of all. There is room for all of us in this martial culture, and the only walk of life, the only title that really matters, is the one called “Better-than-me”. In this industry, unlike most, every man practicing their art is endeavoring to become more knowledgeable and skilled than every other man calling himself a martial artist. I respect almost all martial artists. However, I do not respect the martial artist who cannot beat me–and does not strive to build his skill until he can beat me. In my opinion, any martial artist who is not training to beat the next guy needs to get out of the business. The business of martial arts has many different angles and specialties–and all of them are involved with self-improvement and self-preseveration.
And despite what you may believe of the martial arts, it actually is about fighting, and the bottom line of martial arts styles is “Can you beat me? Or can I beat you?”
We must toughen our bodies, toughen our minds, toughen our emotions, and strengthen our character. One way that we can do such a thing is to become better men, not just better businessmen and better showmen. Fighting, in this part of the conversation, is irrelevent. When I say that we should become better men, I am referring to a man who is:
- Truthful
- Reliable/Keeps his word
- In pursuit of self-improvement
- Selfless
- Kind
- Righteous
- Courageous
- Empathetic
In An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith, he relates that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) stated that no one is a true believer unless he wants for his brother, what he wants for himself. In other words, a man who is striving for improvement is not a good man, unless he is also striving for his brothers to improve as well. When we apply this wisdom to the martial arts, it is not enough for me as an FMA man to strive to become the best if my skill does not help other FMA men become good as well. If you are a Master or leader in a particular martial arts system, training to become the BEST teacher of that system is good. But it is better if your improved knowledge and skill also benefit the other teachers of your system. I am not suggesting you take your valuable research in the art and share it with the world. On the contrary, you should actually keep those secrets secret. But if you withold that information from your own system brothers, can you actually call yourself a leader of the system? Are you in fact promoting the system if others in your system do not benefit from your research–or are you just promoting yourself?
If a martial arts system’s leader is on the right path, he is not a divider, but a uniter. He does not look to separate himself from his system brothers. Sure, he can have his own school, maybe even his own identity as a member of that martial arts family. But in order to be an effective Master/Grandmaster of that system, he must be looking for a way to bring his wisdom to the rest of the family even if it is only through associating themselves with his work. Martial arts styles are brands. Their uniqueness are trade secrets. You cannot have more CEOs than workers, and some will have to be satisfied promoting the interests of the system as a lower level manager, as a third and fourth man in charge, even as a foot soldier. If everyone in the system is preoccupied with trying to be the admiral and no one wants to man the boiler room, the ship will surely sink. The first step in determining if you have what it takes to be a Grandmaster is first finding out if you love the system more than you love your position in it. You must want this art to become bigger than you, and you cannot love money, recognition, power and influence, or yourself more than your desire to see the art outlive you. And you must be willing to allow a better man to lead, even if he is less skilled, has less time-in-grade or lower ranking than you. Not everyone is qualified to sit in the captain’s chair.
When your grandmasters taught you, they didn’t always communicate their desires for who would be in charge when they passed away. Sometimes, Masters were more focused on teaching. Sometimes, they were more focused on developing a particular student. Sometimes, they intended for the senior/ranking position to go the senior student, his son or daughter, the best fighter, the best businessman, or a favorite student. You won’t always like or understand that decision. The question is, do you want the system to go on–or are you that disgruntled with your Grandmaster that you no longer wish to be affiliated? If you decide to leave and break ties, there is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t drop your Grandmaster’s name to establish your credibility. One great Master of our time, the great Mas Oyama, did just that. He broke away, established his own and actually improved better than even his own masters. And when those masters died, Oyama did not go back to Japan to claim leadership of his master’s systems. He moved on.
Many masters leave behind their legacy to a student who was disliked by his peers. Perhaps that student was not the best fighter, but was a good PR man. Maybe he was a junior student who spent most of his time with the Master in his last days. But when that Master is dead and gone, every student who loved him and loved his system should not discredit one another–especially when concerning leadership or “Grandmastership”. It’s silly. You all want to be Grandmasters? Then so be it. But don’t put down the next guy, especially if you know he put in his time just like you did, and wants to see the system grow–just like you, just like your teacher.
Inheritors of a system are gatekeepers to that system. Many of us are inheritors by birthright. Manong Leo Giron’s son, Michael Giron is such a person. Grandmaster Angel Cabales’ son Vincent Cabales is such a person. GM Ernesto Presas has Jan Jan, GM Remy has Dr. Presas Jr. But other gatekeepers of the same systems are the highest ranking, active students–in Bahala Na’s case, Antonio Somera. In others, a member of the newest generation of students who is outranked by everyone older than him–for example, in Remy Presas’ Modern Arnis it was a group of students he called his MOTT (Masters of Tapi Tapi). Another gatekeeper can be the best of the group, the most active of the group, the ones closest to him before he died. Another one may be the student who keeps the Master’s original organization going after he died, and then after his successor died–like (and he doesn’t call himself Grandmaster, but I’m calling him GM) Joel Juanitas. The system’s members may not call a man Grandmaster, a man may not call himself Grandmaster, but from the strength of his own skill and that of his students may thrust a Master into that leadership role, like Grandmaster-who-doesn’t-use-the title-Grandmaster Darren Tibon. There are masters who left to found there own organizations who come back after certain deaths to stake claims. Other Masters who were around in non-leadership roles, but decided after some time to assume (sometimes by asserting themselves) leadership/Grandmaster roles. And then you have masters who stayed out of the limelight, but get up on stage after being unhappy with the way current leadership is handling business. There is a place for you too, guys. Just don’t try to push anyone off the stage while you’re doing it.
I get it. I am not one who cares to sit in the driver’s seat. In my Jow Ga system, I was the guy who spent the most time in my Master’s presence during his last years on Earth. I learned his personal stuggles, learned things about the system he had not shown other students. But I was the youngest member of the “Sifu” class. I will never be the “Grandmaster” of US Jow Ga. I even stopped teaching Jow Ga for two decades and got back in the spotlight when I saw some things I disliked. With the exception of one Sifu/”Grandmaster” of Jow Ga, you will never hear me discredit any Jow Ga Sifu, and I am satisfied leading from a few rows back. But I love that Kung Fu system like a family member, and this is why I don’t hurt the art or anyone else in pursuit of my goals. You cannot lead a system unless you love your art’s longevity more than you love your own legacy within it.
Like I said, I understand everyone’s position. I didn’t meet my paternal grandfather until I was 11. Only a few years later, I returned to the Philippines until I was an adult, then I came back to the U.S. and enlisted in the service. When I found myself back in DC, he was sick, and I took care of him daily until he died two years later. In his last days, he shared many stories. He gave me memorabilia from his life, gave me names to look up, told me things about my own father that perhaps my Dad might not know. And guess what? The day after my grandfather died, I became the gatekeeper–keeping out cousins who came over to claim Grandaddy’s favorite watch, pictures, suits, his cars. My emotions were out of control. Where were you when Grandpa couldn’t bathe himself? Did you know where he went to high school? Well I have his diploma. Tell me what his favorite meals were.
But I was foolish. Each of my cousins had a separate relationship with my Grandfather. They had their own stories to tell, their own memories, and each of my cousins felt just as connected to him and his lineage as I did. I became close to him in his last two years, but they had decades. I fancied myself his closest and youngest grandson–but to them, I was the foreign grandson with the accent who ate balut. Here we were, thinking that we knew this man better than the other, that we loved him more. This family would have been ripped apart if we did not recognize and respect the other’s own–perhaps selfish–claim to his memory.
To an outsider it may seem strange that a system would have many Grandmasters. Is the true leader of Manong Leo’s Bahala Na Dexter Labonog? Michael Giron? Joel Juanitas? What about Master Kirk McCune? Is the Serrada King Cabales or Tibon? This is a valid argument for many, but the truth is that it is one that will never be resolved. The world is big, the FMA world is big. Serrada is in competition with Bahala Na, just as it had been for half a century, and those two arts are in competition with Modern Arnis, Kombatan, even with my own Gatdula Fighting Eskrima. If you get focused too much on the leadership argument, other systems will pass you by. As the adage goes, five fingers make a hand, but if you ball them up tight into a fist, you can strike a mighty blow. With each grandmaster working closely together, they can make water cut a diamond. But working apart, a system can disappear as easily as a mist. Once you recognize everyone’s claim, a system can become even stronger than it was when the Grandmaster walked the Earth.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
