The system book: all eight sets, the Chi Sau and Lat Sau sections, strategy, psychology and philosophy, closing with a translation of the Wing Chun motto poem.
From chapter 1 · Introduction
Eight Pattern Wing Chun is compatible with many Wing Chun styles and lineages because the differences are only in the curriculum and not in the concepts. These concepts are based on one core principle: efficiency.
In Eight Pattern Wing Chun there is no compromise for other goals like acrobatics, fitness, sports, competition, fairness, rules, honor, tradition, spirituality, beauty or anything else whatsoever. This doesn’t mean that none of these factors play any role at all, but they are not integrated into the “core logic” of the system itself.
Wing Chun is an intelligent system; brute force, pain tolerance, great strength and speed are neither required nor helpful. It is more likely to be attacked by someone who is stronger and bigger. In such a case your physical strength will not be of essential advantage.
Speed may be more helpful, but can only be trained to a certain physiological limit. And even though your attacker may be slower than you are, you cannot rely on it. Nevertheless, many people think that Wing Chun is a matter of speed. But Wing Chun gives you an advantage, even if you are a little slower than the opponent.
From chapter 4 · Strategy
In the beginning of this book I have already mentioned that efficiency is the main principle / strategy of Wing Chun. In other words, the strategy of Wing Chun is to prevent or end a fight (we want to incapacitate our opponent(s), not fight with them) with a minimum of risk and effort and as quickly as possible.
For the topic of fighting this is really all there is to it. But in real life there are some matters of practicability. For example: the system has to be teachable so that a Wing Chun fighter can actually use it before he dies of old age. And we also like to avoid going to jail after a self defense situation.
And then there are two more concepts which shall first be mentioned here before being discussed in more detail in chapter 6. Even though they are philosophical matters they have a very strong impact on the strategy of Wing Chun.
One of them is the so called Wu Wei principle which – simply put – tells us that letting nature run its course is often better than forcing matters. This is part of the efficiency principle: we do not want to waste energy in a fight; we want to win with the smallest possible effort. This includes allowing the opponent to hurt himself instead of leaping ahead of things and trying to do it for him.
A motto
捨棄拙力 — discard abandon crude force
卸去來力 — lay-down leave incoming force
借用他力 — borrow use other forceThe first part is frequently translated as “give up your own force” or “free yourself from inner forces”. It basically means that a Wing Chun student must learn not to stand in his own way. There is a more concrete interpretation in Chi Sau (see chapter 16) concerning muscle forces. But there are many ways how we can stand in our own way. And there are many kinds of forces which play a role in our lives.
The second part can be interpreted as “free yourself from outer forces”. If someone is busy working against the opponent's force, he is not free to do what he wants. The Wing Chun fighter should in no way be restricted in his freedom by an opponent. Again, there is a more concrete interpretation for Chi Sau.
The third part is usually translated to “use the opponent's force against himself”. This is a core idea of Chi Sau. It is a reminder that we should make use of forces which are already there before investing our own force.