Wu Shen Pai Jiu Mei

De 德

VIRTUE

        Virtues are the good qualities that build up our human society.  These are qualities such as Respect, Duty, Patience, Honor, Discipline, Obedience, Service to Others, Cooperation, Responsibility, Filial Piety, Honesty, Righteousness, Spirit, Selflessness, and Study.  We must possess virtue, cultivate virtue, and practice virtue in our daily lives.  If we do not, we lose everything that we have worked for.  My teacher used to say that “talent will get you there, but character is what keeps you there.”  We must understand and practice what it means to have grace, be charitable, be caring, and also understand moral teaching, moral character, and moral nature. Virtues are the good traits that provide the cornerstone for honor and well-being.

        Martial art leaders must possess virtue, because their students will learn the virtues of their teacher. Wu Shen Pai Black Sash students are subject to a strict honor code.  Why?  Because the founder recognized that the Black Sash holder is not only a Sifu, but a role model.  They must model, to the extent that imperfect humans can, the Wu De or martial virtues of Wu Shen Pai.  That is why it is so important that martial art instructors are properly qualified.  If an instructor cannot teach virtue, they are not teaching a true martial art.  Without virtue all a student will learn is how to become a troublemaker or to fight like gangsters.  The attitude of the student mirrors the attitude of their teacher.  If the teacher lacks virtue, where will the student pick this trait up?  One recent “instructor” of the so-called “mixed martial arts” was arrested for murder.  Another tested positive for steroid use.  Is this virtue?  Can what they do be true martial art if they do not practice virtue.  If a martial art wishes to maintain any kind of an honorable identity, they must make sure their instructors are virtuous people.