The Martial Arts Ideal By Oliver Richman [for Tre]
Ironywaves
By Oliver Richman
What do I mean by martial arts ideal?
The Chinese martial arts are generally speaking systems of combat with only
one goal in mind. That goal is domination in physical combat--man to man,
hand to hand. To a lesser extent this covers a man and a woman fighting, and
an unarmed man fighting an armed opponent, et cetera.
In this post I ask that you consider the spirit of my argument and find out
what it is I am attempting to explain to you. Of course, I am not a history
major, but, what I say might have some relevance when considered
holistically.
Some believe there is no "best" way to fight. I would like to explain why I
disagree with that viewpoint. Also, some believe that there exists knowledge
whereby the "slow can beat the fast" or the "small can beat the large", etc.
I would like to take another controversial viewpoint (which again, I will
explain in a moment) that this is all irrelevant information, because if two
people had equal combat skills, then "they have equal combat skills" could
mean they are evenly matched. This doesn't imply they are the same size or
weight. The point I am making is merely that in a combat situation they are
evenly matched.
Rambling .
In the earliest times, men might have fought each other out of desperation
or in anger. Like animals, perhaps. Just as you would instinctively recoil
your hand from a hot element, so could a stronger man instinctively hit or
injure a weaker man in combat. However, as men are intelligent, it quickly
became obvious to them that there were certain things you could do in order
to improve your chances of winning. For example, a man with a big stick
might win more often than if he didn't have a big stick.
One point I would like to make right away is that this basic idea about
combat, "the big stick mentality", has always been with us and is probably
correct. However, what is your "big stick"? Do you have one? It's not always
a piece of wood or a weapon, but it can be other things. Let's continue.
As time passed, people realized that certain physical attributes such as
strength, speed, etc. were beneficial in combat. In an army, only the
fastest and strongest men were those who would survive. In the field of
command, the most intelligent and wise generals would be given control of
the armies.
So time passed and theories were made. Eventually, some theories emerged as
building blocks for theories about combat.
This is the important idea: that there could be ideas and methods about
training that when followed would make you better at physical combat. This
is basically what martial arts are, the very idea that it is possible to be
better at physical combat, and the methods that are developed to realize
this idea.
The development of physical martial arts - Level 2.
I would like to propose a model of "levels" with regards to conceptualizing
ways to train. The first level could be proposed as the level that is
reached when awareness of combat skill increases to the point that you
realize strength, speed and experience, etc. are important in a fight. This
is a near intuitive and immediate recognition.
I will present here some ideas that should be understood at this level in
accord with my model. The goal here is to see this level as a stepping stone
to other levels.
Example realizations (again, generally speaking):
1) A strong, fast and accurate man will win against someone who is not as
strong, fast or accurate.
2) Someone who has more experience in combat will win against someone who
has less experience in combat.
So if (for example) this was the observation or idea people had, they might
try to realize it as follows:
-make yourself strong.
-make yourself fast.
-make yourself accurate.
-have experience in fighting.
So then the question becomes no longer "how do I win a fight". The question
might become, how to become more strong, fast, accurate and experienced, as
these qualities will be a major factor in deciding who will win a
confrontation.
This is an important conceptual leap which perhaps all martial art systems
in the world share. Therefore let us break these ideas down into four parts.
When considered separately they become "level two" which is again a stepping
stone to the understanding of the next level of conceptualization.
1) How do I get stronger?
The fact is that if two strengths fight, the stronger one will win. However
this leaves out an important piece of information: Stronger at what? At
pushing down a wall? At picking someone up and throwing them at the ground?
What is the "arena" to which this strength we discuss is applied?
Quickly we should realize that in order to get stronger we must realize
first what we need to get stronger at! Is it just physical muscles, or are
physical muscles the most important? We should all know the lessons of
pulleys and pivots; this is how a car jack lifts a car or how a crowbar can
force open a door. Therefore, "how do I get strong" becomes first and
foremost "how do I properly apply my strength" or "how do I make myself
stronger within this "best" application of strength". This proper
application may have been discovered from combat experience; for example, if
I am a weak man but strike your temple with reasonable force, you can die;
but even a weak man can survive a punch to the shoulder. So proper
application of strength is important.
2) How do I make myself fast?
A faster man can beat a slower man. But we again must realize exactly what
we are talking about by the meaning of fast. For example if I am faster than
you, I can pick up a dollar on the ground before you can; I could also mean
fast by being able to block any punch you could throw, or punch before you
could react in time and then strike successfully, or dodge any shoot, etc.
depending on my speed.
But speed here does not only mean speed of movement, but speed of
realization. For it does not matter if I am physically faster than you if I
don't know what you are doing. This also leads back to experience in combat,
because you will need to know what your opponent is doing in order to react
to him or lead the direction of the fight.
3) How to be more accurate?
This question is again a function of experience with fighting. If you have
the correct application of strength then you have accuracy. As well, speed
may imply accuracy from sureness of movement.
4) How do I get experience fighting?
This becomes the key question at level 2, and is the foundation of level 3.
The best way to learn how to fight (without actually fighting-to avoid
injuries) is to simulate it.
So all of the above four questions can be amalgamated into the question
How do I make myself better than the opponent at fighting.
Since this was our original question at the start of level 2, this line of
reasoning can only lead you in circles, unless another conceptual leap
forward is made.
The answer might be found in question four only-- by just fighting and
getting fighting experience, but this does not take into consideration the
transmission of knowledge from one human being to another.
Level three of the Martial Arts Ideal
This conceptual leap is really easy to understand. Instead of actually
practicing things which will make you stronger, faster, more experienced,
etc., a break was made--a true separation, in fact, between the things that
made you stronger, etc. with the things that imparted experience in
fighting. The reason this had to be is because in a real fight, the
condition of your body dictates how you will fight. If it is in healthy
athletic condition, you will generally be able to fight better than if it
was not. So this foundation from level 2 was used to reach level 3.
In general, Each master had their own fighting style. In order to easily
impart their experience, training the student's body to be like theirs was
the first important step. For example, there is no point in teaching a
student your "one inch punch" technique if they do not have the fast-twitch
muscles necessary to fire such a technique. Once they reached the ideal
physical state, they could learn the techniques properly. To learn the
techniques first would mean nothing, because people could not apply them in
the same sequences and order or with the same effectiveness as the master
did, and hence the style would break down and become extinct as a fighting
style after the second generation of students.
So only when the ideal physical state had been reached was the core
knowledge of fighting techniques (not the general, outside-door knowledge)
passed down. Thus both the physical skill and the combat skill, separately
transmitted, could be developed and researched separately.
This is level 3. For example, take your standard karate kata. These katas
generally teach you the basic moves of combat, blocking, striking, kicking,
throwing etc., and how to counter them, but karate kata is really all about
physical training. After you have mastered kata, then you practice sparring.
Note that those who do not practice sparring but only practice kata
generally cannot fight, while those who only practice sparring cannot by
logic be practicing "karate". However, this system has a defect, for while
practicing the kata, your movements become frozen to what the kata teaches
you. If you make a move that is not found in a kata or in general practice,
then you are in effect disobeying the will of your master as if you did not
practice kata, and are hence not learning "karate". The same goes for any
art. If you use a technique that is not found in your system, then you are
not practicing that system.
It does not matter if the foreign move works, because the move was not
trained in the system, and it then disrupts the balance of the system. This
can be a good thing, but is best saved for level 4.
So what then is the next level (level 4) of the martial arts ideal?
Level Four, is where you research the combative effectiveness of your art
(possibly by incorporating or testing foreign moves) or, to say it another
way, use approximated fighting in order to train the aspects of level three.
Why approximated or simulated form? The reason is because no punch is the
same. No block is the same. No situation is ever the same. And yet, a punch
is a punch; a kick is a kick. Then how is it best possible to train in these
things? How can someone in the shortest possible time gain the most skill at
fighting? These are the questions we are left with. Many methods can be
developed, but the core questions remain speeding up the training time, and
effectiveness of the systems introduced.
Level Four.
The only conceptual leap that is necessary to progress to this level is that
you train with the knowledge that you are not training specific moves, but
general moves. This may seem obvious at first but careful consideration to
the previous levels will indicate that something very specific is being
added here: this conceptual leap demands the conclusion that the only way to
do this properly is by adding a layer of abstraction to the moves you train
in. This is because the same move can have many different outcomes. An
example is that many strikes in the chinese systems can actually be trapping
techniques or throws, depending on the situation. (Of course other martial
arts have definitely reached this far, from discussions on the newsgroup I
feel silat and other such arts have definitely reached at least this level-I
'm just talking about Chinese MA here, though).
The development of a mental layer of abstraction to the physical body is
unique to level four. It is interesting to note that any other "levels"
which are developed merely look at this in a different way, for example,
presenting new ways of constructing an abstraction model, or providing new
sets of preprogrammed responses 'y' to the technique 'x'.
An example of this is the animalistic nature of many kungfu systems,
attempting to classify a series of moves by an idea such as "tiger form" or
"snake form".
So how could there be a fifth level? Well, there is a fifth level because
the original abstraction methods were extremely innefficent and were not, in
general, based on the human body's real kinetic motions, rather on ideas
postulated from beliefs about animals or the spirit world, for example.
The fifth level is then obviously.
Level five: Refined abstraction layers.
The fifth and basically final level is about refined abstraction layers.
What is meant by this is that the ideas used to classify moves switch from
being ideas about animals or other things, and become centered around
observed and empirically-discovered kinetic motions of the body. At this
level, even learning a form, the form is not always done specific to your
master's form, but done according to your own personal body.
For example, in level four, it was postulated that Ki or Qi could be used as
unification theory for many martial arts, specifically the exact same sort
of Qi mentioned in Traditional Medical Textbooks. What the third level in it
's final stages of development failed to take into consideration was the
relationship between Qi and the feelings it produced. These feelings could
be used to study and refine the feelings in a sort of bio-feedback style
way. This is the reason why it became the famous basic abstraction layer
commonly introduced to beginners, since it was the first such sensation to
be (relatively) felt. In many cases, the feeling of proper movement was
merely labled "qi". Sometimes tricks were used to take the student out of
old ways of moving and introduce them to the "ideal body movement" before
the combative elements were passed down in full. In effect, the notions
about Qi became the ideal body movement for the sake of convenience.
This became easier to deal with especially due to the relationships with
Chinese medicinal theories which were constantly being made. Eventually Chi
Kung exercises done for health were modified into training exercises if they
had not already been done so anyways. In any case, training became more
about adaptation through understanding of body movement, which was verified
in hindsight by Chinese military classics such as "know yourself first and
then the enemy, and you will win 100 of 100 battles".
Once physical combat had been completely abstracted to the Qi model, further
abstraction was explained with regards to the medicinal theories of the
three flowers. Your Qi became essence (Jing) which was transmuted into Shen,
here the spirit, of martial arts. Once this level had been reached, physical
combat was controlled by the mind. This is one reason why shaolin training
is initiates perform quiet siting and chanting - as a way totrain and
prepare the mind and body to accept this kind of "ultimate training".
Disgression: A western way to think about Qi:
Many say that Qi is something mystical that science cannot define. Perhaps
this is true, but that is completely irrelevant! Chi itself is just a model;
just a layer of abstraction. It doesn't need to exist! It is simply an idea,
which we all have about ourselves. Can you feel your heart beating? Most
people can't unless they truly concentrate. This is approaching the feeling
of chi, and it requires relaxation and sensitivity. Any such feeling can be
called Qi. The beginnings of it lead to increased body heat and sometimes
violent self postural correction.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have seen a model of the a thought process which may be
similar to the net thought processed which concluded with Chinese martial
arts systems. We have examined possible levels of thinking and explained why
they had to have been left behind, but also what was good about them and why
they are still good today. We have postulated abstraction layers until Shen,
and touched briefly upon other refined abstraction layers between Qi and
Shen such as Jing which exist within this model and be used by people
training under this general model.
I would finally like to propose that the methods from even the final levels
are easily trained when practiced properly due to the consideration from
level 2 and 3 of decreasing the training time as being a primary
consideration when developing these methods.
However, this model is not often practiced properly for various reasons,
including the non-desire to develop these specific methods, the non-issue of
whether or not they exist, or the non-understanding or awareness that these
methods can be used in combat at all.