In these last days I participated to a discussion about the reason to practice martial arts.
That concerns the concept we have about the practice of the martial arts and the reason for which we practice, which corresponds for each one of us with the goal of the martial art itself.
So there seemed to be two basic positions in this discussion:
1) to study martial art to study as equivalent to physically delete a person (but not always, think about wrestling and its social and play value even in times not too far away, and everything else that military environments) , as heritage of techniques originated in periods when there were military conflicts, armed or otherwise, and also in terms of self-defense conlicts;
2) to study the martial art, nowadays, equivalent to using a martial method, which allows, by using martial techniques in relative safety (for example using protections and training methods which provide "realism" and intensity), the physical and mental development of the practitioner as the basis for the management of a possible fighting situation.And all this, before any further moral consideration, only as good common sense.
Each one of us has begun in one of the above category, and then maybe has changed, or maybe not. Or maybe, there is a part of truth in both. For sure I began in the first cathegory, but now I feel more comfortable for me the second point of view.I see this second point of view as a more deep vision: in fact if I started with self defense purposes, now it appears more cleear to me what I have to try to defend: myself.
Myself in the sense of the center of my life, myself as the center of my decisions, myself as the center of my emotions. To study martial techniques cannot be unlinked from my personal attitude, and I/myself use the techniques. They are not the techniques that use me!
I prefer to think to martial arts as the product of a good self integrated person, a person who goes deep and deep into himself, studying himself, from a body-mind-spirit point of view. A person from who the techniques arise as from a source (I borrow this motto from the Takemusu Aiki of Morihei Ueshiba). But if we accept this point of view, we overcome the sense of the technique: the technique disappears as a method of studying oneself (of course techniques are very necessary in some parts of the training, at the beginning, and during all the course of these studies, even all the life), but appears again as a manifestation and original creation of the self, and here the art and the person confuse, and you can't distinguish where the first finishes, and where the other begins!
A lot of times people speak about the difference between sport and martial art, and there is some confusion:
someone pretends that sport is no meant to kill other persons, while martial art cultivate the idea of death.
Some other think that in sport the target is to achieve a technical level in which you can learn, in safety, how to kill a person! It is so interesting to say "I can kill somebody in 10(or more) seconds"?
Is that the teaching of a Boxe or Wing Chun or Aikido or MMA teacher?
Boxe or MMA are not meant to kill someone and there are rules of engagement and tools so to limit the risks.
The Boxing (or MMA) match, even the most cruel, is measured by two men on common ground, through the use of punches, in order to determine who, with this rules, is the strongest, or gifted, or better trained, or .. etc.It is more a comparison of skill, whereas each game has its own rules, and "Let's see who 's the best in this game". The target is not kill, but is winning. One thing is to tell that the death can be a far (forbidding some techniques, use of gloves and protections, limits of time, possible to give up) consequence of the fighting, another is to search for the death of the opponent, trying to do all is possible, creating new techniques, using hidden weapons, or whatever trick to obtain it!
So be aware of the potential of our shots is one thing, and train specifically for that purpose of killing is another. It would make sense only in particular social contexts, and none or almost none, lives in a state of constant awareness of death, because it is not only a technical matter of to know how to kill or face your dead in some cases (while boxing, or playing football, or drinving in Formula 1, or walking into the Bronx), but also a very specific way of life.Something that in our modern society no longer exists! I would like here only to differentiate our lives from that of chinese people in 1646 (Manchu invasion of China, destruction of Shaolin and death of monks and rebels, creation of secret societies), and also quite a bit later, for that chinese people involved for political reasons in daily danger. Except for drug dealers, undercover cops and military, we can't say
THE DANGER IS MY BUSINESS
Also today, we can find in difficult situations, but not always expect death around the corner. I do not doubt what I can do a trained person. I'm saying that this is not enough to create a mindset the same as those Chinese, or who does not like China, the Thais in constant conflict against the Burmeses for territory.
To be warriors in the sense that I understand it, with death always on your shoulder, you should live in an environment such that the total relaxation we can allow nowadays, would be impossible. The same for people involved in fighting sports.
Having said that, this mode of confrontation in the ring (or in sparring), indirectly creates skills which are largely exploitable out of a ring, and also allow a good self-defense, in case the boxer was fixed with this kind od existencial problems.
The legacy of ancient martial arts also tend to the students' ability to eliminate the opponent, even more when we introduce thw weapons in the training. No one takes a weapon without a well precise intent. Unlike the tiger, man has not a body as a predator, with teeth and claws. But he can use a sword and a spear. To take a sword and a spear in oneself hands means that or the one, or the other, maybe both, equally armed, they must die.As I said, the land on which many of these practices were born, no longer exists. This does not mean ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the Ancient and Classical Martial Arts in our days.
Martial Arts include also hand to hand combat. Bare hand means that we do not have a weapon, and then at that moment we are not predators or soldiers. Our punches can be very powerful, but can also be used to defend oneself. As it makes no sense nowadays to speak about secret and virtually lethal techniques (fingerjabs, kicking the groin, attack the troath, and so on), it seems more convenient to train realistically, in some ways similar to sport, the effectiveness in a safe and well protected environment, but in these conditions, no way to talk about killing a human being. Through a safe workout, we grow together (quotation from Jigoro Kano), and consequently, we also improve in self-defense, without practicing every day with that crazy idea of being potential killers (that produces disturbed minds and not good human beings), but rather having fun.
Today we inherit these techniques, and we also have a technology and an understanding of what we can evolve from the concept of killing. Already before 1895, Kano, even without our today knowledge, renewed the Japanese warrior and military arts, offering a new way to practice.Through the renunciation of immediate lethality, he evolved the concept of training, with the result that trained people could use the old techniques, but that the best way to train, it was without it.
Somehow the workout where you protect the health of the training partner, is also the best way to train. The playful component, in the ancient traditional arts, in our days, is a new component, which in addition to giving a new meaning to the practice, can allow to achieve better results without having to overly worry about those same results (lethal techniques, even if they can terminate the fighting, if you bring a sign, in my opinion constitute the limit for this evolution of the art itself).In this sense, martial arts and sports converge: in fact I am sure that the practice of a combat sport is not separate from the search for good health and good cultivation of your body. I suppose that wherever possible all the people do stretching and strengthening and healthy exercises, not directly related to the technique of fist. Training in sport, can give you also a sense of peace, and allow you to enjoy fruit and sensations of a good workout.
The reason why, apart from sport and competition (here is important the resul and the victory), we continue to practice a traditional art born in a certain context, is that we have also the possibility to move between the instrument and the target. and giving, sometimes, a lot of importance to instrument, turning it, in a sense, in a target.
I am referring here to the three treasures of Siu Lam: physical health, the sense of inner fullness resulting from practice and not only the ability to fight.
That is what I want to study when I use the term Martial Art!
But if your goal today is the skill to kill, better to buy a gun. Less effort, more result!
