Mastery

[Bang!]

There's been talk of proficiency on a thread that Asia recently started, but this little gem got me thinking about an even more ethereal topic: mastery.

What does mastery mean to you? What level of skill would you expect someone calling themselves a master to demonstrate? Do people with "master-level" skills in other disciplines stack up to your expectations for the equivalent status in martial arts? How long can we go before the first masturbation joke hits the ground like a leper's diseased turd? These are the questions that entrance me beyond reason.

[Torakaka]

3 years til mastery.

[SFGOON]

I don't know anyting about mastery, but I do know that last night I got up to take a leak and my wife was taking a shower, so I peed in a glass and poured it down the kitchen drain! That HAS to be worht something, doesn't it?

[Dagon Akujin]

I'm not trying to start some "style" or "_ing _un" thing here, as I think this can be true of all styles, but your question made me think of this statement by Moy Yat:

"The first year someone learns ving tsun you can tell he knows kung-fu. During the second year, you can tell he knows a little bit. After the third year, you hardly notice they know ving tsun. After 30 years, you won't believe they know kung-fu."

What gets me about many "masters" is how much they keep having to prove their "mastery". That always sends up a red-flag in my book. I've seen teachers from many arts though who are so non-challant and relaxed with their "abilities" that you'd never know until you ask, and I tend to think of that as one of the marks you might want to look for.

Dagon "that probably sounded stupid to everyone but me" Akujin

[Dr._Tzun_Tzu]

There's been talk of proficiency on a thread that Asia recently started, but this little gem got me thinking about an even more ethereal topic: mastery..

My first question is if they where playing "highway to the dangerzone" during the forms test or did they add it in? :eusa_droo

Lopez looks better then the other two by MANY levels. Robert(flat top) looks somewhat skilled in the self defense part starting ar 3:54. The Shaggy guy gary looks way to akward to be a "master" but at the end of the self defense test he does ok.

So if you want my opinion on Mastery, only Lopez is anywhere close to deserving that title.

Now I now **** about TKD, and it seems the board break is the real test on this vid. These guys had memorized everything very nice, and could perform these moves in various combos. Compaird to a WT rank these guys are about first degree, not fifth, although Lopex could be a 2nd.

What does mastery mean to you? What level of skill would you expect someone calling themselves a master to demonstrate? Do people with "master-level" skills in other disciplines stack up to your expectations for the equivalent status in martial arts? How long can we go before the first masturbation joke hits the ground like a leper's diseased turd? These are the questions that entrance me beyond reason.

My Master just tells me what to do and I do it, or else. She does untie me so I can play on the internet sometimes......


Mastery is very subjective. You can have mastery over the material at your grade level, or you can have mastery over the whole art. Generally it is reserved for the later. Black Belt or whatever is usually considered a "mastery" level rank. I take that to mean mastery over some subset of the lower levels. In my experience, it is not a "Master" level.

When you look at MMA, how do you judge these things? Ass kicking skills? Events won/lost? number of sponsers? I don't think so......

Generally, you recognize a Master when you see it. They have a kinda Magnatism and Confidence and fluidity of motion.


In EBMAS we have 12 student grades and 10 Levels (degrees). You are not a master level untill Level 5. Each Level is double the previous in work and effort, so 12 grades to be a Zero level, 24 for First, 48 for Second level,..ect. Remember, when you get a Grade or level, you have graduated, and thus are in the next higher, So a master level student has about 396 grade level amounts of effort and work behind them (i.e. level 4 graduate), and will have to double that to get 5th Level Practioner Status (780). Few do this, its only a handfull of people. Some people equate a grade to a months worth of hard work. So a Master then takes 64 years. Effort can improve on this however.

These TKD guys looked like about grade 11 or 12, maybe First level, going by fluidity and appearance alone. We generally compair a Karate or TKD Black Belt to 6th student grade and 2nd BB degree to Tenth Student grade. So First WT level is like 3rd Karate Level......

[Darkpaladin]

Mastery means never having to say you're sorry.

[Dr._Tzun_Tzu]

o, I forgot to mention. In Latosa Escrima, we just train.

[Hurt]

How could someone possibly be a "master" in such a field? I think it's impossible. To have define basic proficiency like Asia did in the other thread is easy. I don't think you can have some sweeping title of "master" in the martial arts and expect it to mean ****.

[Torakaka]

I think mastery is somewhere between a **** load and a whole fucking **** load (or more than a whole fucking **** load) of badassedness.

[Bang!]

If someone (myself, for example) asked me what a master looked like, I would say that I expect complete and highly nuanced control over a minimum of all basic manoeuvres or movements within their domain. Any extant flaws should be pretty much imperceptible to anyone who doesn’t have substantial skill in a similar area. A master should be able to improvise cogently and effectively, as well as explain the most complicated material using simple concepts and clear language. A master should at no times display suckage, since even drunk and blindfolded, they will operate at a highly competent level.