silat nusantara:welcome all

[husnira]

salam...
thanks to all the moderators for this thread on silat...
first of all my praise to the one god...to the phrophet...to all gurus who are still with us and the ones who have gone to the life after...to my brothers in silat..proud pendekars and panglimas....may peace and harmony be our companion..
dear pesilat....
jabat pendekar as our hand shake...i held out my humble hand to all who wish to up hold the honour of silat and learn not only the meaning of silat but the value of humanity that silat brings.silat is not just about the kicks and punches...those who learn silat for the mere pleasure of being stronger and better than the other person,only glaze the reflection of the burning sun...all the same but non the supremecy.
dear brothers....by this moment...when u are still searching for the answer weather silat is better than other martial arts....i will tell u than silat is not the best...just how all the old gurus and masters that i have the chance to meet....told me...but they also say...by the time u see the true silat in front of u....u wont have the chance to tell anyone that it was the best....
still...silat survive not as being feared by other martial arts..but by being overlooked...by blending in and being harmless....
how many times have u heard this about silat:
-just some pretty dance...
-just some silly steps...
-is he slapping the mosquitoes?
-booooorrringggg....

so i hope in this thread...we can share some of our wisdom and respect to the art of silat...and i hope..i can give some of the wisdom that had been passed on to me by the old gurus and teachers...please forgive me if its abit boring some times...but that is all silat is about.....deception...salam to all....

[husnira]

salam to all...
i have read some of the posting in this forum and i think there is not much explanation on silat as introduction...so if i may..
PENCHAK SILAt is well known to all...especially our brothers in the us and europe....PENCHAK or PENCAK is actually the combative arts in silat...its is a term that widely use in indonesia.not to say that the silat is diffrent than other non pencak mentioned silat..but the term can be confused as it would only suggest that silat is all about combat and fighting.....
SENI SILAT is another term which widely used in malaysia...SENI or art is more on the artistic and esthetics side of silat...which the arts of seni tari (dance steps)...bunga sembah (intro dance)....pentas (choreographed fights)...but this also not suggesting there is no pencak or combat arts in this kind of organization.
so i hope silat will be viewed as a martial arts form that is both artistic and combative...and if there is any doubt that all those silly and pretty moves are practical..just say that theres a big diffrent when u go dancing,...the one dancing with u is not going to walk out the door walking...just kidding...or am i?
salam...
one question...in silat...how many "natural" weapon u have?
natural means biological such as hands.....

[jeff5]

Hello all, my first post on this forum. Husnira I'm working my way through and older book by Don Draeger about the Indonesian (and Malayan) fighting arts. I thought he gave a pretty good definition of Pencak Silat, similar to yours. He said something to the effect that the "Pencak is the artistic side, the dance, the form etc, and the Silat is the fighting side. There can be no Silat without Pencak, and Pencak without Silat is meaningless." Or something to that effect. Years ago I was at a Pa Herman seminar, and he told us something similar. That the Pencak is the form or dance etc., and the Silat is the combat application. Anyway, very insightful posts!

[Tant01]

ummm....almost.

Hello all, my first post on this forum. Husnira I'm working my way through and older book by Don Draeger about the Indonesian (and Malayan) fighting arts. I thought he gave a pretty good definition of Pencak Silat, similar to yours. He said something to the effect that the "Silat is the artistic side, the dance, the form etc, and the Pencak is the fighting side. There can be noe Pencak without Silat, and Silat without Pencak is meaningless." Or something to that effect. Years ago I was at a Pa Herman seminar, and he told us something similar. That the Silat is the form or dance etc., and the Pencak is the combat application. Anyway, very insightful posts!

Welcom Jeff.

I'm familiar with some of Draeger's work. He is well known among many Judoka.

Please pardon my picking of your post to it's inner parts and moving them around to the proper places, I'm not a surgon so it might hurt a bit.

Pentjak is the artistic movements and silat the combative application...

"The word Pentjak means: the body movements used in the training method and the word Silat means: the application of those movements or the actual 'fight'. "
Cassimore Magda.

Good luck with that book, it's a scholarly work to be sure. I refrence that one from time to time (Just not this time)

Nice to have you here and I hope you enjoy the new board! I know I do!

[jeff5]

Hehe thanks for keeping me honest, I get them mixed up! I corrected my post too.

[husnira]

salam to all...

interesting discussion on silat...just to make sure that i dont step on anybody's toe...i'm a malay from malaysia...born in perak state...a side from my educational back ground in business,i have certificate in sport science...and for the silat aspect,i learn silat since the day i could walk...at a very young age...
i didnt mean to brag about who i am.. but i know how concern the western people of the copyright thing...everything i wrote down here is from my own knowledge and the knowledge passed on to me by my teachers and masters and i write it on the spot with out reffering to any books or magazine......hopefully there will be no confusion and my respect to those who had the chance to write books on silat and any of its kind...to me, all pesilat are brothers....and also sisters..just some times we dont see eye to eye..
salam....

[husnira]

salam...
about the definition on silat and pentjak (pencak)...
the very definition of silat are varied...there are at least 3 to 6 definition that are backed by good explanation...but heres the one that i hope easier to understand...
silat
silaturrahim....because the silat itself has been the tools to spread islamic understanding and belief in the nusantra region back long time ago...this definition of silat comes from the arabic word of brotherhood or relationship....that means silat it slef supposed to create good relationship among humas and will be the altar of peace and harmony...

silap(mistake).....its a bit diffrnt from the actual sound of the word silat, but the meaning is that u learn silat from silap...with translate as mistake...only by making mistake u will know silat...this has very deep meaning because mistake is what that creates methods...u dont evade a punch and because of that mistake u got hurt...with the methods of evading u now know that by evading,u dont get hurt anymore...and that method is what we now know as silat...

so silat itself is a huge institution...is not something that is as tangible as movement or items..silat is methods and methods is silat...

pentjak or pencak
it is actually an element is silat...most of us now under stand kata or patterns...or jurus or any other form of systematic movement...well pencak is the movement of combative silat...actually roughly understood by lots of silat practicioner in nusantara as pentjak silat...berpencak is reffered to duel...when two pesilat duelled..they are reffered as berpencak...

seni tari
for the artistic side of silat it would be referd to as seni tari.. seni=art...tari=dance.....there are lots of other name given such as....bunga tari...berseni...and many other...

ui hope my simple explanation can clear the picture...but this doent mean the other definitions are wrong...due to the diffrences in malay language spoken in malaysia and indonesia...there would be such contrast...

note:in malaysia..no silat organisation is allowed to put pencak in there organisation name due to the concern of potraying violence in silat..in fact there are regulated to put PERSATUAN(club) SENI SILAT infront of the silat organization's name.

[Tant01]

We are honored to have Husnira as a member of the forum. I thank you with my heart for the splendid contributions!

All the best!

[kitetsu]

um... may i also contribute some more silat vocabulary? I only know Indonesian though.

[husnira]

salam...

thanks tant01...i'm just a pesilat with love for the art...to kitetsu...kabare!..i welcome u to give ur thought and knowledge...bisa aja....
i hope this thread wont be one sided and many other pesilat and martial artist could give their opinion and may ask question if you have any query on silat...if there anything that i say wrong and offended anybody..please tell me and i hope my apologies is adequate...
salam...

[Tant01]

By all means...

um... may i also contribute some more silat vocabulary? I only know Indonesian though.

Welcome and yes please! Feel free to post as you see fit!