Bodily awareness in the Wing Chun system

This paper was given in conjunction with a demonstration of Wing Chun Kung Fu at the conference, ‘The Body and Comparative Spirituality’. University of Lancaster, 1983. The paper examines the psycho-physical implications of a traditional Chinese martial art. It focuses on how the art and its training methods entail a non-dualistic understanding of body and mind, and emphasises the importance of bodily felt awareness. The roles of Taoism and Buddhism in association with traditional Chinese martial arts are considered as they contributed to this developing non-dualistic understanding. The paper briefly examines the notions of bodily awareness in the work of M. Merleau-Ponty and D. M. Levin and concludes with a brief consideration of the possible educational, ethical and social implications of the practice of traditional martial arts.