Community Concepts (Oct 2022)
10/06/2022
Dojo Philosophy for Everyday Life
With the rising popularity of spectacle combat sports in today’s world, the question of who can beat who and which training method is best for fighting is a hot topic. As a result, there is a crosshairs on traditional martial arts (Karate, Aikido, TaeKwonDo, Tai Chi, etc.) questioning their effectiveness in today’s combat sport. This is actually a very old conversation. You can see examples as far back as Bruce Lee (the first highly visible mixed martial artist) rejecting the dogma of traditional martial arts as stifling and out of date. Now there are facebook arguments about why someone would ever train with kata, historical weapons, or philosophy. So why do we traditional martial artists choose to train with these ancient methods?
The first issue here is the suggestion that combat is the goal of martial arts. It would seem so from the outside with all the sparring, breaking boards, and twirling weapons. Around 100 years ago, though, the founders of many of the current traditional martial arts groups (who were the deadly and proven fighters of that day) realized that some aspects of their training made their students healthier and improved their character even if they never succeeded as fighters. Likewise, much of what would make them more effective fighters caused injury and was becoming irrelevant because of the weapons and laws of the modern world. A decision was made to emphasize the aspects of training that improved overall fitness and quality of life for the most people in order to improve society as a whole. Let’s look at the three questioned practices I mentioned above.
Kata – A solo practice where a martial artist goes through a pre-set series of movements. This practice is questioned since real combat is fluid and unpredictable. It is better to think of a kata not as practicing a fight, but as practicing principles in isolation and the flow from one movement to another. Katas are often attached to levels in a curriculum and are a method of self study (like practicing handwriting on a lined sheet and writing the same letter twenty times). It is a repetition of principles, not fight practice.
Weapons – Learning to work with weapons (like Unity’s sword seminar coming up on October 22) is not really about fighting. Learning to flow with and control a weapon that can hurt us requires us to control ourselves, then the weapon, then our target. This practice extends out into so many other facets of life! When a situation is chaotic and potentially disastrous we learn to first take control of ourselves and our emotions, then the methods that allow us to interact with the situation, and then the people and forces on the other side of the situation.
Philosophy – Cuong Nhu (the primary martial art we teach at Unity) has more philosophy than most martial arts. There are 52 philosophies that we discuss and reference (we have a card deck study aid). They range from directives about how to train and live to goals for leadership, relationship, and development. Over and over in my 40 years as a martial artist, students have returned with stories of how the philosophies saved, guided, or uplifted their lives.
So the discussion about who can fight better really misses the point of what Cuong Nhu develops in the mind, body, and spirit of the student. Some of us are formidable fighters, but all of us are developing self control, mindfulness, and discipline to improve our lives, whether we are confronted with violence or not.
The best way to improve at fighting is to be in more and more challenging fights. The best way to improve your life is to rise to higher and higher challenges in the skills of life. Know your goal and be honest about your practice both with yourself and others. Every discipline respects honest work.