What's Lost and What's Gained?

Recently, I was reading the discussion on a Silat Internet discussion group and I saw a former student who begged forgiveness as a beginner asking if there was anyone teaching the Cimande that Embah Kahir did on the banks of the Cimande River. I thought this was quite funny as of course we are teaching the direct lineage of Embah Kahir from Pendekar Mama in Cimande Village.(Note: not the son of Embah Kahir who used the same name and produced different things ) I teach his exact movement of seated Jurus, Pedang etc.

But is it really the same as Embah Kahir taught it? Who can say? Who is still living that recalls the exact version?

I alter the body mechanics from what I saw to comply with some of my other Cimande teachers. I feel sorry for this past student, as he expects to find the ONE true source that incorporates the original copy of Cimande. This is impossible.

I was also taking shots from some brave computer folks who could not believe that an American would claim that he has a better way than what he saw in Indonesia. That I should be so humble as to never say such a thing. Well I am sorry but that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

I, as an artist, have been looking at ONE art for 32 years. Not two years or ten years but a continuous 32 years. During that time I have had the privilege of studying with many great teachers and watching and observing many more. I have sought out only one thing - Cimande, Cimande, Cimande. I have watched videos of my teachers until the video wore out, have asked my teachers to compare what they would do in similar circumstances and at some point in time began to UNDERSTAND what makes Cimande in it final essence so deadly, so beautiful and so spiritual.

This is not because of my greatness but the greatness of my teachers AND the understanding that I was given to allow a great puzzle to come together as a whole. The proof is in me and my students. When we have taken this art to Indonesia the people have been impressed and shocked in what they saw. The shock was in how could Americans move like this? We were not beaten down, laughed at or corrected. People asked to join us, wanted our T-shirts and we became friends.

It is interesting that we never had ONE critic in Indonesia but they seem to abound on the internet hiding behind their keyboard. I have had other students go to Indonesia on their own and each had the same experience. They were very thankful for what they had been taught when they returned home. 

Every school that has came to one of our seminars left as friends and if sparring occurred left understanding that what we did was real. It is not necessary to hurt someone for them to understand who would have been hurt.

Any artist who studies the great masters for decades will eventually put together in his mind the best attributes to pass on. I am sure when Embah Kahir first announced his new art people said, “How can you do this, who do you think you are?” but as a Master he continued. Cimande has taken many paths from the time when it was first created by Embah Kahir and I have tried to put together the paths that I have witnessed that made each of my teachers great.

The modern Cimande seated Jurus are fantastic but the delivery of the movements is not always efficient for energy and body mechanics. I have a theory. It is much harder to develop the correct way of moving every joint and muscle and tendon to allow this energy and power. It is much easier to just stiffly hit. Is it possible that as time went on only a few people had the diligence to continue to train in that secret correct manner while others just kept the outward hits and moves? I think so.

I have seen this in the Equestrian arts and in the art of Falconry so why not martial arts.

I had a few teachers that were taught the correct way and I also saw in Indonesia a FEW practitioners who had this movement and so I added it back to some of the stuff that I was taught. Maybe I only returned it to the original form, I don't know. BUT, I do know it is better than anything I have seen in parts and the best as a whole.

This former student was dismayed because he wondered how to remain true when this person said this and that about the art.  Of course he did not have the intestinal fortitude to do so. I also heard this and that about my teachers as it is always the case. The difference is, maybe this is why I am the head of the system I COULD SEE THE REALITY IN WHAT I WAS TAUGHT NO MATTER WHO SAID WHAT AND I DID NOT CARE WHAT THEY SAID. I remained true to what I saw and felt and in time more and more doors were open and I can now "see" what is really there.

When I started I also did not know what I was given and I took a summer and went and sparred with everyone I could find in every style I could find in PA. I was only a low intermediate student yet I found myself first defeating the teacher’s top students and then the teacher themselves. When I saw these guys do kata I was scarred but after we sparred I was amazed at how good I could do. Many of them offered to accept me as a student for free if we could trade techniques.

It is sad for my former student that he started at a time when he could have taken full advantage of my 32 years of experience which I offered to him as I do all my students. I might add that he loved what he was shown but thought something MUST be out there better and now I can see by his post he is spinning in circles in a haze. Oh well, he will realize one day what somehow fell into his hands and was lost.

Others like Guru Besar Jerry Jacobs and Guru Besar Liam McDonald are a credit to the art. Liam has spread Cimande all over Ireland and has done seminars at all manner of other schools including for a visiting Indonesian Silat teacher and have impressed all of them to such a degree that this art may soon be the dominant art in Ireland and England is coming on board. Guru Besar Jerry Jacobs has the most successful full time school in the USA with a variety of great training programs and outstanding students.

On this internet discussion site it also mentioned one must be Muslim to practice Cimande or Pencak Silat which of course is utter rubbish. The Chinese landed on Indonesia first, at which point during the era of Animism a native martial art existed. The Chinese saw it and called it Silat. I do not believe the Chinese were Muslims. The Muslim religion, as all religions like to take credit for as much as possible. Even my teacher Pendekar Mama who is a Muslim laughed at the idea one had to be Muslim to practice Cimande or that it had anything to do with Cimande. Pendekar Mama said it is for ALL people under God.

My spiritual training has been given to me by my teachers and one can practice it with or without any religious bias. It is for the practitioner to decide to whether to be a good and moral person with it just as they should with any deadly skills. It is not forced on anyone but has been a source of inspiration and help to those in need many times. I offer this for the help of Humanity and those who know me will attest to this. It was nice to see some who know me come and give a testimony about me on this site as again those who were throwing stones either had not the courage to list there names or if it was the actual name it was a person that I have never met .

The final message is that we are winning. We have lost some less than sincere people, those who will not make the core of tomorrow but in any great adventure only a small number will rise to the task and most will fall. Those students remaining are great in spirit, great in heart and great in skill. Those who actually see them or stand across from them to practice or spar will soon see.

Congratulations to those that continue to strive for perfection.

Pendekar Sanders