The Spirit of a Martial Art

[Seph]

What is the purpose behind Martial Arts?

Yes, many people will give various answers suited to their person wants

and needs. I'm not talking about that.

Yes, there are benefits and 'perks' associated with taking a Martial Art.

Conditioning, cardio, physical and mental health, self-defence, and

many more. But these are bonuses, or byproducts, not the actual

purpose underlying the Martial Art itself.

I don't believe the purpose is the create fighters. I believe the

purpose is to create a better (moral) person.

In fact, I would seriously question a Martial Art whose purpose is to

create fighters.

Yes, there is definitely a combat aspect within most (all?) Martial Arts,

but I'm not convinced this is the purpose behind it.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has focused near exclusively on the combat aspect

of Martial Arts, I fear, at the detriment of Martial Arts' spirit,

because, ultimately, when a student is trained in MMA, what is being

created is a fighter. The spiritual aspect, the growth and betterment

of the individual and the world is forgotten or forsaken. How does a

MMA fighter stand for freedom and justice and how do they build a

more peaceful world?

Maybe the focus shouldn't be on MMA specifically.

I'd be painting with a broad brush to make this statement. Maybe I should

focus on the industry of MMA (The UFC makes for a good example). I

should include its fighters, coaches, teachers, promoters, and

especially its fans, collectively.

I'm not convinced it's a sporting event. Granted there are numerous

opinions as to what constitutes a sport. Competition, a sense of

sportsmanship, a learned and trained skill set, as well as a degree

of athleticism are how I would define a Sport. (ie, darts, chess, and

golf are not sports by this definition).

Martial Arts would definitely fall within this definition of “Sport”.

But, contrary to popular opinion, I'm not sure MMA (or the UFC) does.

Where is the sportsmanship of continuing to strike an opponent once

they are down, fallen, or even unconscious?

A great example

(warning: graphic video). The question should be asked, was Miesha Tate at

fault for not tapping out? Was Ronda Rousey at fault for going

through with the arm bar to its conclusion? Was her training at fault

for teaching her to continue this in the name of “sportsmanship”?

Or was the industry (fans included) at fault to creating this gladiator

type entertainment?

We need to take a far step back and ask the question: What is the

purpose and spirit behind Martial Arts?

General Choi states in his <i>Jungshin Sooyang, “This

moral culture is uniquely tied in with Taekwon-Do, not only for the

eventual attainment of the highest goals in Taekwon-Do and the

promotion of power, technique, and self-confidence, but also for the

cultivation of character.”, </i>and as

reflected in the oaths of Taekwon-do, especially the final two, </div>

<i>“I

shall stand for freedom and justice”</i>,

and <i>“I shall build a more peaceful

world”.</i>

It forces me to ask the question, what is the Spirit of a Martial Art?

Edited February 15, 2014 by Seph

[Unseen_Abilities]

Perhaps the Spirit of the Martial Art(s) you learn is your own Spirit? This is subjective, I think...Different people train for different reasons, even within the same Art.

 

For some, the Spirit might be one of self-defence, for others it could be one of cultivating focus and discipline. For some it could be "combat", as in a Warrior Soul fighting to be himself in Life, for others it could be literal combat, in a cage, in front of thousands of people.

 

I don't believe there is any single answer to this, but many, depending on who you ask...

[MERCELESS ONE]

you must realize what you are asking! martial arts was created for war to kill and to defend ones self in a time when death was possibly just around the corner. and there was no 911 to call. so if you wanna know the answer just look at the history and see for yourself. martial arts was created for war and killing and self defense nothing more nothing less. everything else learned is purely subjective and objective... my 3cents

[RiverSnake]

Martial Arts emerged out of necessity....if your countries at war, is unstable or perhaps a neighboring village is trying to conquer your territory and steal your women and food then you are naturally gonna say to yourself....."Shit i need to learn how to defend myself and my terf....and i better learn fast or i am gonna die." The Spiritual and Self-Development aspect of it came after the fact or a byproduct of its invention......IMO.

 

If for example the United States were to economically collapse right now you would likely see people devolve into a state of savagery very quickly. You would likely need a way of defending yourself and all of your cunning to survive.

 

My 2 cents, Peace

Edited February 16, 2014 by OldChi

[mrwhy]

Interesting thoughts.

 

I think that at the basic level martial arts did begin as a means to create fighters. The word martial came from somewhere. But then we, humans, discovered that there was something to the training that was more than just fighting, that it allowed us to develop into deeper, better, people.

 

I think that the Japanese were onto something by separating out the "jutsu" and the "do."

 

I wonder if it the "spirit" of the martial arts has anything at all to do with the martial arts and more to do with training. Dedicating yourself to physical mastery. Maybe it is why we find some "spiritual" runners and what not.

 

Any activity that allows you to lose yourself into the flow of the activity itself.......

-

 

Peace.

[Nungali]

In my view (and this is about martial arts) 'spiritual practice' was brought into martial arts to improve the fighting ability or performance of the warrior (e.g. the reintroduction of spiritual principles into Kyudo)... not the other way around.

 

As time goes on and a particular martial skill is not required (or required enough) in an active form , it makes sense, IMO, that the situation reverses ... people busy themselves more with the spiritual aspect, utilizing the art as a way to spirit.

 

My style's 'Shomen' (now passed on) Mr. Koshei Nishihira said, when asked the question ; what is the purpose of martial art, answered 'To protect your parents." He inherited the 'Seito' or family tradition from his ancestors, one of them, Bushi Matsamura (personal bodyguard to the last 3 Okinawan Kings) would have answered the same for that tradition ... but for another tradition he was master of (I.e. his work) his answer may have been 'to protect the KIng'.

[chegg]

.

Edited March 14, 2015 by chegg

[Marblehead]

That reminds me of the movie "Killer Priest" - watch the little surprise @3:24

 

That's some serious Qi he's got there.

It didn't seem to help him much.

[Rara]

Yes, a necessity back then. These days, I wonder if I practice "because it's cool"

 

Well that's part of it. But mental clarity, as well as the skill to defend myself is a big part of it. It has certainly helped my character...and discipline. One thing that normal school didn't quite do for me.

 

Not that I would be undisciplined if I didn't do a martial art...I would be diciplined as far as modern society goes. But modern society is warped. They conform, but of course, are not very disciplined at all!

 

I would say that it's more about interest than anything. I guess we live in fortunate times where we CAN do such things out of interest. It's not like I'm under attack daily.

 

And that's MMA imo. Same goes for boxing. Arts put forward as sport with sponsorships. It may well take the deeper spiritual side out but it does showcase a good set of skills. I'm not a big advocate of the knock out or using the bloody aspects to promote it but hey, that's what humans want. That's what sells.

 

It has been said that UFC fighters are some of the nicest guys outside of the ring. Whatever that means...but maybe they are sat in full lotus every night, aware that they just have a job to do. Who knows?

[Seph]

My Master (7^th Dan Black Belt in Traditional Taekwon-do, Certified Muay Thai Professional Trainer-Kru, Brown Belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, MMA Instructor, and original student under Choi Hong Hi – founder of Traditional TKD, and one of the few legitimate Martial Arts Masters) makes a sharp distinction. He will unapologeticly say before a group of mixed students that a MMA fighter is a Technical Brawler (his choice of words), while a Taekwon-do student is a Martial Artist.

 

Nomenclature.

My profession background is in the Print Media. I have been in the industry for 27 years and I see this distinction of tech. and art play out well.

 

Digital Print is a science. CTP plate making is a science. Offset Printing is a craft.

The differences? A craft (and thus a craftsman) is a combination of science and art.

I think this is a good distinction to carry over into this conversation regarding the Martial Arts. Art is something that does not lend itself well to being analyzed or studied by a scientific model or mindset. An art is something else. We might even argue spiritual.

 

Many scholars believe that the martial arts practised in eastern Asian have been influenced by the teachings of the Buddha, with notions of enlightenment and spirituality intricately woven into the very fabric of the martial arts themselves. It would be extremely difficult to say that the Buddha teachings promoted war-like (martial) actions.

Yes, you're right, “Martial” means or relates to military or combat, or most specifically, war.

The term, or name Martial Arts” is a Western (English) one; sort of a catch-all category that “we've” created. Since we've created it, we define it by our understanding or misunderstanding of it. Although “Martial Arts” has become associated with the various fighting styles of eastern Asia it was originally used in the early 1550's in relation to combat systems on Europe, often specifically to the “Science and Art” of swordplay. So, ultimately, the term “Martial Arts” is a misnomer.

 

If we go back in history to various times and locations when and where these various “Martial Arts” find their origins, we will not find the term “Martial Art”. What we most often find is various forms of the term “-do”. It means the way of, in the same context as the Tao means the way.

 

These Martial Arts are not a learned and acquired skill set as we Westerners understand it, but way of life. Granted, we may very well have bastardized it and dissected it into its various components and forced it into what it might be today. But that is our subjective wants picking and choosing.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Seph

[thelerner]

Depends on the teacher and the school. They vary so widely even within the same art that you can't make generalizations. I've seen spiritual boxing and cut throat vicious Aikido. The instructors sets the path.

 

Even in the MMA I've seen examples of graciousness and spirituality. Not predominant because its a money sport, but its there.

[MERCELESS ONE]

MARTIAL ARTS

[ChiDragon]

The spirit of Martial Arts is not to kill but to refine one's character.

[MERCELESS ONE]

The spirit of Martial Arts is not to kill but to refine one's character.

they were created to kill with, refinement only happened when the need to kill wasnt there! you dont create a sword, gun, napalm, landmines, nuclear bombs, to refine your charachter you create them to kill.

[MERCELESS ONE]

these are fight scenes of depictions of real warrior arts in in practice how man fighers do you know of that can perform like this. now somthing to think about the ones from old that made it in the halls of history could fight like this backed by powerful neikung!!! they were warriors and a warrior is diffeent from a martialartist!!

 

 

 

 

[MERCELESS ONE]

i could go on forever but i think ill stop there lol!

[ChiDragon]

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't think that the intention for learning martial arts is to kill was a good initiative. One with such fatal ability must refine one's character to have mental discipline not to abuse the given art. Thus let's have the Virtue of the Martial Arts to decide who to be killed only by the act of self defense.

[MERCELESS ONE]

i dedicate this to all the fighters out there who love to test their skills!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgM2x4ec0s

[MERCELESS ONE]

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't think that the intention for learning martial arts is to kill was a good initiative. One with such fatal ability must refine one's character to have mental discipline not to abuse the given art. Thus let's have the Virtue of the Martial Arts to decide who to be killed only by the act of self defense.

some of the most powerfull warlords were the most ruthless! Ghengis khan, shaka zulu, Emperor Qin, alexander the great! all warlords and conquerors that understood battle,fighting,war and what it was all about! now philosophy is somthing else entirely!

[MERCELESS ONE]

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't think that the intention for learning martial arts is to kill was a good initiative. One with such fatal ability must refine one's character to have mental discipline not to abuse the given art. Thus let's have the Virtue of the Martial Arts to decide who to be killed only by the act of self defense.

no ppl dont learn martial arts to learn to kill! at least i hope not! what im saying is why martial arts was created in the first place. in our society we dont need to kill to defend ourselves as they did in old times. because you dont have to be a good person to be good at martial arts, refinement of charachter dosent matter. some powerfull fighers were evil men who definantly abused their power and killed people mercilessly.

[Seph]

they were warriors and a warrior is diffeent from a martialartist!!

You're right. And that's my point.

A warrior and a Martial Artist aren't the same thing.

(Just as a Technical Brawler and a Martial Artist aren't the same thing).

[Seph]

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't think that the intention for learning martial arts is to kill was a good initiative. One with such fatal ability must refine one's character to have mental discipline not to abuse the given art. Thus let's have the Virtue of the Martial Arts to decide who to be killed only by the act of self defense.

You couldn't be more right.

 

Interestingly, the belt colours in Taekwon-do all have meaning.

• White is innocence.
• Yellow is the fertile earth from which a plant sprouts and take root.
• Green signifies the plant's growth and its reaching towards the sky.
• Blue signifies the heavens and sky towards which the plant matures into a towering tree.
• Red is the colour of the plant's first fruits. Red indicates danger. The student has sufficient skills to inflict injury to an opponent so must exercise caution and control. The red also acts as a warning to opponents.
• The Black belt is the exact opposite of white. The black colour represents the student's ability to overcome Fear and triumph over Darkness.

What is interesting is the colour Red as a warning. Primarily a warning to oneself.

(This goes hand-in-hand with the tenet of Guk Gi (Self-Control)).

[Seph]

i dedicate this to all the fighters out there who love to test their skills!!

Do you know why we practice board-breaking in Martial Arts?

Because only (approx.) 50% power is to be used in sparring.

To know and to practice 100% power is board-breaking.

Not on a fellow human-being.

[thelerner]

these are fight scenes of depictions of real warrior arts in in practice how man fighers do you know of that can perform like this. now somthing to think about the ones from old that made it in the halls of history could fight like this backed by powerful neikung!!! they were warriors and a warrior is diffeent from a martialartist!!

Who could perform like that? Anyone I guess. Its a movie, its choreographed. Probably any professional dancer, male, female, child could get those moves down and act it out. Real fights don't look like those. That was good action choreography for a film, but those moves shouldn't be taken seriously. The whole I'll run up wall, spin, get behind sequence is best left to the Jedi. As is taking dozens of hard punches to the head, shrugging them off and not breathing hard or slowing down.

 

There are dojo's and you can watch matches. Its particularly interesting to watch black belt and higher testing done, and in my experience, those movies are not what higher level people do when sparring or fighting. You won't see it in the MMA which needs to be streamlined and effective and you don't see sequences like those in real Kung Fu dojo's unless they're actively choreographed. imo

Edited February 16, 2014 by thelerner

[Nungali]

That reminds me of the movie "Killer Priest" - watch the little surprise @3:24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

........

 

HUH! ? Why ?

 

Anyway .... a couple of questions about your post (although I cant for the life of me 'get it' or how it relates to what I wrote - or why what I wrote reminds you of the 'baddest fight scene ever' )

 

1. Do they always use the same guys voice for that 'evil laugh' ... I have been practicing it and thinking of using it at training next week.

 

2. Where do I get those stick on eyebrows and beard (they must be popular because so many people use them).