Master Tse’s Wing Chun Notes #82

What Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 Means

Wing Chun Internal TrainingThe first form we learn is Siu Lim Tao 小念頭 . “Siu小” means ”Small”, “Lim念” means” Idea” or “Thinking” and “Tao頭” means “Head”, so Siu Lim Tao means – small thinking head or small idea head. Actually” Lim Tao念頭” together means “Thought” or “Thinking”, or “Ideas” and everything comes from the head or the mind.

Some people will translate Siu Lim Tao as” Little Idea”. This is wrong, we should have a big idea when we start to doing anything. You should know where we will go in the future and not just do things without any plan. Chinese always say “ One inch of time equal one inch of gold, but one inch of gold cannot buy one inch of time 一寸光陰一寸金,寸金難買寸光陰.” So we must use time well and we should plan ahead for a future. That is why in traditional Chinese education we will train children very early because their memories are very good and their bodies are very supple. This is the best time for them to remember knowledge and train the body. Siu Lim Tao does not mean little idea it means minimise the thinking or thought, so actually it means empty your mind.

When we practice Siu Lim Tao we should not think of anything, we should just focus on the form. Particularly the first part is very slow this is a bit like meditation so we need to empty the mind.

Michael Tse

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