Education Can Be Divided Into Three Types

1. Skill training has the smallest impact and narrowest influence, but it requires the least resources and is easy to spread.

2. Opportunity training demands significant resources, yet opportunities are limited—giving one to Zhang San means you can’t give it to Li Si. This is what people call real-world experience.

3. Companionship here means riding with someone for a stretch, not emotional companionship—though that, too, is part of education.

Let’s start with the first type. If you insist on specifying what to teach, it will inevitably come down to skill training.

That’s exactly where a 师父 (shifu) and a 师傅 (shifu) differ.

A 师傅 is more like a coach. Go to a gym and hire a trainer—that’s a 师傅. Their job is to drill one movement over and over again.

You’re unlikely to pick up mental training or lessons about how to think and conduct yourself from them. It’s simply not going to happen.

Most people’s understanding comes only through direct experience—going through things themselves.

Some people grasp things quickly after a few experiences; others, less naturally inclined, may go through dozens and still gain little insight.

Destiny and chance play a role here. Some people get the opportunity to experience dozens of situations; others might just stay on an assembly line, watching how screws are tightened day after day.