question

Discussion in 'Silat' started by Shantari, Jan 4, 2005.

  1. Shantari

    Shantari Valued Member

    What is silat? What are its philosophies, if any. What do you train in(punches,kicks,throws,etc.) How do you spar, if at all.
    Thanks for any info you can provide
     
  2. Ular Sawa

    Ular Sawa Valued Member

    Silat is a generic term for the indigenous martial arts of primarily Indonesia
    but also Malaysia and some southern parts of the PI. There are lots of different systems the same as there are lots of different systems of Kung Fu. There is punching, kicking, trapping, throws, joint destructions, and weapons. Check out www.cimande.com for more information.
     
  3. Sgt_Major

    Sgt_Major Ex Global Mod Supporter

    What he said ^

    ;)
     
  4. milamber

    milamber New Member

    Be careful where you go to get your information! There are a lot of westerners claiming to be guru or pendekar and a lot of them that I have seen demonstrate their knowledge don't even know how to use the weapons they are wearing! I saw one so called pendekar wear his detta as if it were a salendang and another 'guru' use his sarong as a salendang!

    Here's something that might interest you though:

    Old Javanese Indonesian forms of self-defence have been around since 3000 BC, during the time the Javanese people were known for the wet rise cultivation, agriculture, fishery, astronomy, cloth weaving batik, gamelan, arts of war and wayang and long before the arrival of Hinduism.

    All the arts were taught through the old Javanese text, influenced by Kejawen (the popular spiritual belief at the time) which is now called Kebatinan. It was during the time of this spiritual belief that the arts of war were at the most sophisticated, subtle and advanced.

    In the old traditional schools of silat, knowledge of Nature through meditative observation was a highly important practise and one of the biggest influencing factors of Pencak Silat in the way that it moves, thinks, feels and progresses. From these meditative observations, many proverbs have been written that have also influenced silat Ilmu philosophy. One of them, "unless aseed touches the ground, it cannot live", plays an important role in our syllabus. sat Guru Ma Prem strongly believes that human beings have to rerconnect with Mother Earth, and try to understand the way she works if they are going to learn silat in the corect way. Guru Ma says, " a silat player should be like Mother Earth - in the perfect will of God, serving humans, both good and bad."

    Mother Earth is where our bodies came from and where our bodies will return; and understanding where one comesfrom reveals a lot about who we are, what we are and what we can achieve. Learning how to roll, break fall. jump, punch, kick, sweep and run - all are dependent on correct use of alignment and our relationship with Mother Earth. Therefore with this in mind, every silat student always begins training on the ground.

    I do not take any credit for what I have written above. All this knowledge has been given to me by my teacher Guru Steven Benitez who in turn awknowledges the widsom of Sat Guru Ma Prem.

    There is such a vast amount of knowledge to cover that it would take many lifetimes to unravel on one's own. Imagine having to go to each kampong to learn a particular technique or a scrap of hidden knowledge! It's not feasible. Find a good teacher or if you are fortunate enough a Guru who will share his/her knowledge.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2005
  5. krys

    krys Valued Member

    Silat is a name used to describe the most popular familly of martial arts practiced by Malay peoples (southern Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, southern Philippines). There are thousands of systems around with very different philosophies. Be carefull of peoples preaching mumbo-jumbo...There are not that many masters who know the inner aspect left.
     

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