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The master magician is a controversial
figure who has ripped the magic circle apart with hi revelations. A
superb showman, he stages elaborate illusions, amazes us, then piece
by piece dissects the illusion to show us how it's done. Love him
for his honesty or hate him for shattering our fantasies, he is
compelling television.
After
watching a Willie Lim seminar I could not help but draw comparisons.
Willie is a charismatic performer, an articulate charmer who knows
how to capture his audience as he divulges his box of tricks. Just
as you are in awe of him, he reveals the simple principles
that makes it all seem so easy. That is his magic and his mischief.
Willie likes nothing better than demystifying the martial arts,
shattering illusions that many would like to keep in place,
sometimes stepping on toes as he does so. Whether he's telling you
he's allergic to Koreans or explaining how he got out of
Master Wally Jay's infamous "chicken-wing", Willie does it with a
knowing wink and a smile, reminding you that these myths are often
in place for purely financial reasons.
Willie should know. Now affiliated to
no organization, ten years ago Willie was traveling the commercial
path of big schools and marketing his high-profile name and
"secrets" for big money. Suffering burn-out he took up Tai-Chi and
gained a new lease on life and love for the arts he practiced. His
seminars are often as much talk as action, it's important to him
that they know where he's coming from. His angle is the reality of
truth, proven truth". The most important thing is to know a person
for what he is, because I work on their word. Some people don't
exemplify the integrity, honesty and decency of the arts."
Delving past the mysticism and
fantastic claims that are often simply glorified advertisements for
a specific art, Willie illustrates the simple physics that disprove
the philosophy "this is the only way this can be done." With a total
distain for "closed door" policies, Willie want you to take away one
thought form his seminars, to retain an open mind as there is no
finality to any art. He uses a simple analogy to press home his
purpose. Many can show you how to break down a door that is an
obstacle in your way. Willie would rather give you the keys to
unlock it.
Willie, why did you start in the
martial arts?
It was basically for self-defense in
those times. The first style I did was Kyo Kushinkai and my teacher
was also a very good judo teacher and so it was very rough and
tumble. I got injured all the time so I started on Tai-Chi, the
teacher at the time was an herbalist and looked after me. So I did
the two together in Penang, Malaysia and from there I went to
Taekwondo with Choi Chun Kim, one of the better names from the early
days. "The Rubber Man" they called him. When I was in Malaysia we
did the teaching for the Koreans most of the time. Were we taught a
lot? No. a lot of it you learned yourself. What was taught then and
what is taught now, is like night and day. I'm not saying that we
had it better than the other, simply that we moved on , evolved.
What about early influences on
you?
I would say there were not many at
that time because when you are young you are attracted to the
physical ability of someone. When you are down looking up, everyone
is impressive. When you are up looking down, you can tell the lies
from the truth. What they "sell" is purely the physical arts and I
guess that's what I was like as a teacher in the early days too. I
got stale with what I was doing and reached a burn-out situation.
Six classes a day, five days a week, it's a profession an at the end
of the day all the figures have to tally and that's when I got sick
of the art.
Isn't it a wrench leaving the
prestige of big classes and constant financial security?
No, I've had enough of that, I've had my
big schools and now I'm freelancing. I can go anywhere I like (New
Zealand, Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland) and share with people
things that I believe. If they take it on board then I have imparted
some of my knowledge and if they move on from there then I have
succeeded If you knew me ten years ago I was not like that but it's
about growing up, evolving, and understanding that at the end of the
day our realities are different. If we can sit and talk as friends,
even if we have different systems, that's important. with all
the organizations that we have fighting, if they would work
together, my God what we could achieve. It's and ideal but it starts
with one person. Your views
have not always been accepted and as such you're a controversial
figure. Perhaps that was
too early for a lot of them. If you look at the physical styles in
the late sixties, early seventies, you could see who was a Karate
stylist, Taekwondo, Kung-Fu. Now you go to a tournament and they all
look the same. so now people are more open, they mix, and at the end
of the day which club they choose is due to location. when I was
doing Taekwondo I was a pioneer for the ITF at that time and I
brought a lot of different stylists including Benny The Jet,
Wally Jay, Hee II Cho and all of those people had something to
offer. Sometimes you have to go outside your own art and then you
will appreciate your own system for what it is.
You are known for Taekwondo. With your
wealth of knowledge now, is it still an effective art?
Taekwondo has a lot to offer, without
doubt. It is a very beautiful art to look at and vey dynamic. You
have to take what you want from it. It is still a very good system
of self-defense if you know what you are doing. It is the person
that makes the art. I can give you all the tools, implements, but
you have to make it work for you. At the end of the day you have to
analyse how desperate you are to defend yourself.
Hasn't the art become a player's sport
now? I would say it is more
so of the WTF system. My own opinion is that it is the Koreans
pushing the Olympic element. They cannot market the art for what
they are selling because the average Taekwondo instructor is
non-Korean and has moved past the Korean approach and offers a lot
more than than the Korean instructor. So that is a gimmicky way of
selling. I need to chip away slowly so that they see another side of
the art, so that Taekwondo as we know it has room for the older
groups. It is for all as long as you meet the right people who know
what Taekwondo is. What
about the new Ultimate fighting arts?
There is no such thing. Even Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu, they can lose. They have a lot to offer, especially in
ground fighting They are top at what they do. If I were young and
robust at this time I would go into Jiu-Jitsu, definitely. A lot of
people when they are younger go for the flamboyant and with Kali,
Escrima, Arnis, they see people with sticks waving their arms about
and the average man doesn't know the difference. Sometimes what
attracts is not really the art. As we get older and analyze more and
get more receptive we think "wow" what we saw and what it is today
is different. Ten years ago down the road the same art changes
again. People don't understand that.
As mentioned earlier maturity has
changed your teaching approach.
I teach people to use the principles to
bring their own art to a different level. I don't teach them
Tai-Chi, I teach them principles. I share share with them what I
call the old ways so they can see their own art for what it is.
Throw away eighty percent of what I say, take twenty percent, that's
all I ask but everyone ha to be honest because at the end of the day
that is lacking a lot. That's the sad part. We get so engrossed in
what we do that we are not prepared to look at anything. What
I do is "bunkai", or the application of the art. They all know
bunkai as a block, kick, punch. well, if that's bunkai then it is a
very sad state. Other arts have moved on but the martial arts have
regressed, people don't even know their real art. Those that know me
well enough know I say we are a product of a watered down system.
Could you expand on that?
The real application of the art has
never been taught because young people went into the art in the
early days in Japan and it became a University thing, more strength
and more strength. Look back at the history of the arts, the masters
are old people. Masters at twenty, thirty? It is not possible. It is
a marketing ploy. I want to show people that if you are not a sport
player there is room for you. At the end of the day there is self
defense if you know what the art is. We cannot all be doing the same
thing all around the world.
You are equally skeptical about Tai-Chi, which is a passion for you.
Real Tai-Chi is hard to find. hen I was
young I was doing slow Karate not Tai-Chi. It's learning how the
center moves, the body moves, how all the joints align. Where your
area of strength comes from. You can talk about Tai-Chi energy but
if I look at you and see that your alignment is out I am not
worried what you call yourself or what your credentials are. It is
physics at its finest, which is in any art. Quite frankly and
honestly I can say that ninety nine percent of the people who teach
Tai-Chi are doing the movements. they don't have a clue what Tai-Chi
is. What is marketed and what is real?
What do you mean by that?
What is real is not shared with anyone.
This is the sad part and this is how life is. If you have a diamond
in your hand you don't say "hey, everyone have a piece of this." No
way! I'm not saying I'm there yet, but I have been lucky enough,
through a contact of mine of over thirty years who was also a
professional martial artist, introduced me to his teacher. I asked
him why and he said so when you and I talk of Tai-Chi Willie, we are
talking about the same thing. I have never looked back from that
day. It was the best thing that happened to me.
A final thought for the readers.
It doesn't mean that your background has
gone, no. My teacher told me if you refine everything, what you had
is not thrown away. It pulls it to a different height. That is why I
am enjoying the art so much, because of my understanding of it
today. And I've enjoyed
talking with you Willie.
Thank you. |
