The Meaning Behind Hidden Dragon
Crouching tiger, hidden dragon is a phrase often heard in
the martial arts, one with many interpretations.
One is interested in learning the martial arts, one is
looking for instruction in the martial arts, looking for a teacher.
Where does one find a martial arts teacher?
In martial arts mythology, the dragon lives in the sky, is a
symbol of movement, and it is through the dragon that the tiger (the student)
is instructed.
For some, finding a master will be easy.
Perhaps there is a large martial arts school with a notable
master nearby.
Perhaps you know of just such a master and can ask for an introduction
to become a student.
Yet for every known master there are dozen or perhaps
hundreds of unknown master, unknown not because they are not masters, but
because they wish to remain unknown.
The debit incurred in studying the martial arts to a master
level means one has a reasonability, a duty to pass the tradition on to the
next generation. An art that has existed unbroken for 800 years, do you want to
be the person it ends with?
Everybody wants to be the master without having to bear the
load of being one.
Such masters only need to pass the art to a few students, or
even one student, but a few are preferable in case one or two of them are
killed in battle.
These masters go about life training every day and often do
not have a public training facility or if so it is small, unassuming, and not
advertised.
These masters are the hidden dragon.
How to find the hidden dragon?
Ask around.
The martial arts community is smaller locally, and many
teachers know many teachers, not only pointing you in the right direction, but
perhaps also offering an introduction.