I found this posted on a Facebook page a week or so ago, and I thought I'd post it here...
What do you want?, by John P Painter. What Do you Want? There are many who say they are martial artists, what does that mean? When it comes to the Chinese martial arts there are many reasons people train in them. Some train for health, some for tournament glory and some but by no means the most train to be able to defend themselves in a real attack. In my discipline which is Baguazhang this is also true. Reading stories about old masters who were said to have amazing skills of self-preservation and who could defeat a host of enemies is a single encounter are rampant. But, what does it really take to develop that type of skill or is it even possible?
Baguazhang is called an internal Chinese martial art and if one believes the legends it was created to do combat with from one to five or more assailants in close quarters, yet today people hear these legends and yet they are pulled more towards the smooth, fluid, slow meditative actions that provide a feeling of calm and peace and next they are pulled towards the fast esthetically pleasing and theatrical forms called circle walking that can provide some aerobic training and a feeling of being a character in some historical Chinese film. This is enough for some people, however these same people often think they are training in combative methods that may save their lives in a real assault, this would be laughable if it were not such a sad and dangerous idea. When we look at people who spend their lives in the service of protecting others or who make their living in a ring or even who fight to survive in the streets what you will find is not someone who wants to look “cool” or “pretty” or even win a trophy. What you will find is someone who is totally dedicated to learning to use whatever method they have chosen to be the best they can be and this cannot be developed by casual once weekly practice or even training for an hour or so a day.
What these individuals, like the masters of old have come to understand is that they have to have the capacity to do violent things to be hurt and be hurt and to train hard long hours on a daily basis to reach the level of proficiency that is attributed to the legendary masters. Martial arts that developed in China were about teaching people who were emotionally capable of doing others harm to survive and teaching them more efficient ways of doing just that. In other words these “internal” arts like Baguazhang and Taijiquan and Xingyiquan were arts devised by tough men for tough times. They were arts for people who had to do combat to stay alive, not sports, not health exercises, not for the acquisition of golden accolades in controlled environments. Real combat is dangerous, gritty, dehumanizing and violent.
Today’s martial practitioners and teachers with the exception of a very few are not willing to train that hard, take that many bumps and bruises by testing their skills in a barroom, alley or street, but prefer instead to do some light sparring and safe practice in their schools. Nothing is wrong with doing the latter, however it often engenders a false feeling of confidence leaning in the direction of martial fantasies fueled by watching too many chop sockey Gong Fu films.
On the other hand there is nothing at all wrong with practicing any art for your own goals. If the student wants health, longevity or tournament accolades there is no harm in striving for such abilities as long as the student keeps a firm grip on reality and does not think that shooting targets on the range is the same as being shot at and shooting people in an actual combat zone. What the practitioner attracted to one of these arts would be wise to do is decide just exactly what he or she wants out of the art and then choose how far he or she is willing to go to attain those goals. Living in a fantasy world is fine for the arm chair athlete, tournament jock and casual player on the other hand it will get one made dead very quickly when it comes to actual violent encounters.
My views are my own.
Just something to think about…
www.jiulongbaguazhang.com
Enjoy this inspirational Video...Gotta go train now.
Post by Josiah Mizukami.
No comments:
Post a Comment