Chinese martial arts

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Back to training, sometimes life gets in the way.

Well we’re back to training.

I’ve been working for Habitat so I’ve been inconsistent.  Some of you have been away or occupied with life events and duties, but looks like we’re all settling in so we can start training together again.  I’ll be regular at Black Lightning unless I post differently on Facebook, and we have a Sunday morning group meeting in Campbell Park with Guru Aldon leading.

Let’s do our thing and have some fun.

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A Dime A Dozen

Martial arts instructors are a dime a dozen.

There are people who will teach you kicking, punching, throwing, and choking all over the place. They’re looking to train fighters, warriors, champions, masters, and build dynasties around their name or style.  Some will develop a chain of schools to further their name.  They design logos and patches that look fearsome.  They are often 6 feet plus tall and 350lbs of badass, and propose to teach 5 foot 1, 90lb ladies, to defend themselves, just like he would, never mind the disparity in size and strength.

Hmmm, maybe I’m not a martial arts instructor?

For me the  old days are the 60’s and 70’s.  That’s when I was a child and young man in the martial arts.  The first thing you were taught then was restraint, what not to do.  Don’t wear your uniform in public, in fact, roll it up and hide it.  Don’t play around doing techniques with non students, and not in public.  Don’t brag.  Don’t make a move in class that the teacher didn’t say to.  Don’t speak unnecessarily.  Don’t have a conceited, angry, jealous, or self pitying attitude.

These days it’s not uncommon to see someone wearing their white, black trim, TKD uniform with “Master Lee Fighting Tigers” name and phone number logo in bright colors shopping in the mall.  I’ve seen a whole family like that: mom, dad, and 2 toddlers!  Obviously they weren’t told about restraint.  Teenagers horse around in the park doing unrefined beginner round kicks and trying to body slam each other to show who’s kung fu is better.

I notice there is seldom any real conversation between Instructors and students.  They come to the dojo, bow in, start doing the 1-2-3’s of whatever movements, 45 minutes later teacher and students go home.  I can remember classes where there was discussion, during class, sitting on the dojo floor.  Discussions about human nature, fear, and survival, not just abut the next tournament or belt testing.

Don’t bother asking these sorts of people about their martial art.  They know the location of their school, but no background of the art.  They don’t know anything about their particular lineage, or even the authenticity of their instructor.  They don’t even know the distinguishing characteristics of their art.  “Uh, its Chinese.”  “Master Joe is a master.”  “I’m 15 years old, got my 4th degree black belt in 2 years.”

This of course relates to the quality of most of the  martial arts students out there.  They’re throwing punches and kicks and each other around, terribly!  The lack of restraint they start with leads to lack of control.  They have no balance, in the  most basic sense of the word, like being able to stand on one foot without wobbling.  Unless you have a serious handicap, a black belt should be able to balance on one leg.  Higher skill?  Execute that round kick broken up into 4 parts holding each for 5 seconds with poise and balance.  What about precision?  Movements should be executed with optimally defined mechanics.   But if you start with an out of balance wobble, that wobble only get bigger each step of the way.

You look sloppy.

That is the instructor’s fault.  For letting you get away with it for the recurring income sake.  For not teaching restraint, humility, and perseverance. Qualities which transcend mere martial arts training.  They especially leave out love and compassion.

But those are the qualities I look for  in a student.  Those are the qualities I want to impart in a student.  The kick throw punch stuff should build on that.  As a martial artist I’m looking to help make the world a better place, not fill it with super power assholes.

A few years ago one of my instructors; a long time quality practitioner and well regarded master instructor, decided we would eschew the titles of Master, Sensei, Shihan, etc. and just be called “Coach.”  I like that.  The Asian titles lack the same significance in our culture versus theirs.  We can be respectful without being reverential.  “Coach” implies that we are working together for an improvement, potentially in each other, whereas the other titles imply a distance, a separation; “I have achieved and need do no more, you must try to be like me.”  A coach personalizes for you. A coach  cares about you as a full package; body, mind and spirit.

Me, I am a “Coach!”  I’m still working for improvement  on a lot of the same stuff.  Also, and this is not too fine a point; A coach is looking to make you better at something, even better than he  might be himself!

Want an example, look at the boxing world, the fighters who make tens and hundreds of millions of dollars per fight, who are their coaches?  Older guys with Parkinsons, arthritis, slow and stiff, overweight.  Most of them CAN’T fight well.  What makes them the guys who “coach” the young, agile, prime of their life athletes?  That they are capable and skilled at improving their prospects to excellence.

So.  I wont be one of the “dime a dozen” martial art instructors.  I’m a Martial Arts Coach.

 

 

 

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Martial Arts, Martial Combat Training, Martial Sport Training.

When I train an offense/counter offense skills I am training 2 out of the three, combat and sport.  I’ll come back to why not 3 out of three later.   I have little doubt that a trained boxer will outperform an untrained street fighter as far boxing in a street fight.  He trains a sport but that sport has substantial combat applications.  Individuals who take their military combat training seriously (oh yeah, there have been and will be slugs) are not people you want to tangle with in a bar, but may have no real sense of the sport aspect of their training, or the “art” of it all.

When I was in The Marine Corps decades ago, we used to joke about how little “Martial Arts” training we underwent, but that we were still bad asses.  Those half dozen or so moves we did train had a lot of body, heart, and soul into them.  We trained them for “KILL” mode and that counts for a lot.  I saw a supposed martial artist spin crescent kick a brig guard once, a decent kick too, only to get tackled and beat pretty good for that offense by a martially unsophisticated Corporal.

Yes, it’s not the martial art, but the martial artist that accounts for the quality of the art.  I’ve heard it, and said it as well.  But substitute “mode” here, martial mode not martial art, not yet, and what I’ve got to say may make more sense.

“Art” is really hard to train, says someone who went to art school (me).

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory (1931...

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory (1931), Museum of Modern Art (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is not a mere matter of skillfulness.  We distinguish different modes and potential expressions of artistry such as visual arts, literary arts, musical arts, and movement arts such as martial arts, dance, or even gymnastics, but not every skillful expression in a particular mode is art.

The Art part, with a capital A, takes place in the invisible realms of life, of living, and of the soul.  I have learned visual modes of expressions and martial modes of expressions in the classroom.  I have learned the Arts of these in contemplative moments, in moments of personal challenge or crisis, through desire, fear, love, hate, confusion, weariness, and more, then repeat, then it infuses into your mode.  That’s when the mode becomes art.  The skillfulness may be higher or lower than another’s, but true artistry has no degrees.

It used to be said that kids could not be blackbelts because they lacked wider life experience, and the blackbelt was not just reflective of skill, but of wider ranging maturity.  I agree.  We can teach martial modes, or expressions such as Karate, Escrima, Kung Fu, but not every student will be a martial artist.  Even the skillful student may not be a martial artist, and that part is hard for the observer to determine at a glance. However, it seems we’ve tacitly agreed to acknowledge skillfulness over maturity, and adding youthful athleticism and resilience to the mix how can you not have an eight year old 2nd degree blackbelt?  Sarcasm here!

As martial arts instructors I think we train and teach 2 out of the three.  We train martial combat skills for fighting and self defense, and martial sport skills for the competitive individuals.  But the “Art” is not something we can give, it has to come from the student, and involves more than just skillful maneuvers.

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Criticism: proprietorship in the martial arts

I find the idea of proprietorship in the martial arts amusing. 

The “this is mine and mine alone, you can’t use it unless I approve,” kind of presumptuous ownership, of a muscular skeletal operation that is by nature  optional for most humans with four limbs.   Who “owns” a lead leg side kick, or a forehand slash, or the form Kusanku?  What about the jab/cross/hook combination?

Hapkido holds many throwing techniques in comm...

Hapkido holds many throwing techniques in comm…

Martial arts “styles” with peculiar moves often claim that it is impossible to learn these from anyone outside their approved lineage.  When someone else, through the same trial and error, experimentation, practice, perhaps even  glimpsing the material, that originally developed these moves achieves them, they are disavowed as inauthentic.  As if the moves originated like divine revelation to only one authorized prophet.

There are instances that I respect of imaginative concepts codified for purposes of instruction, but so far as I know, there are no legal patents for martial art moves, techniques, katas, training methods, etc.

I’ll use a Karate example.  Master Jhoon Rhee created a set of katas, forms, set to classical music. The best known of these  are “Exodus” and “Granada.”  While never a Rhee student myself, I learned Granada informally from one his students.  Is it the case that I can never teach the form Granada as I know it, to one of my students, friends, or family? Or that I can not modify it further? No it’s not.  I can, and I would not be in violation of a patent, civil, or criminal law.

Some instructors will not teach martial ideas similar to another’s, but it is done not by penalty of law.  They may say it’s out of respect, and maybe it’s also because they feel they got something better.  But, technically there is no legal violation in teaching or practicing something you learned from someone else, through personal instruction, book, instructional video, movie, or what not.  On the other hand, in my old neighborhood there were several Tae Kwon Do schools within a 2 mile radius, all different names, all teaching the same drills, kicks, and punches.  Why did they not have this sort of conflict?  Most of martial arts has gotten over all that, still some have not.

Film Production: Cinematography

Film Production: Cinematography (Photo credit: vancouverfilmschool)

To compound the issue there are training videos out there by instructors and practitioners, easily purchased, and intended for self training, and many self published instructional videos on you tube.  If you buy one, can you be forbidden to use or teach what is on the videos to others under penalty of law?  No. So what if I do?  Your ego will not be as gratified? Why the did you publish the video?

I have training videos, and a few years ago I contacted one of the instructors/publishers. I told him I had the videos, was training them, and was going to incorporate some of his material into my classes.  His reply: “I am glad you find my dvd’s helpful, if you have any questions just ask… Be Well.”  That’s the attitude to have regarding video material you put out.  In turn, my students know I didn’t originate this material and who did, just that they are getting it from me.

An instructor recently bemoaned the fact that he saw someone wearing a particular styles t shirt, and when he asked the guy where he trained (since he owns the only “authorized” school in the area, being certified by the master) the guy told him something like “nowhere, I video train.”  The instructor from that style is upset, considers that training invalid.  You’d like for him to come train those skills and concepts under your kingdom?  Oh, well.

“The times they are a changing” it’s not like it was 70, 100, 500 years ago.  It’s a smaller and faster world.  It’s the information age. Master so and so sells the training videos, t-shirts, and does short and long seminars worldwide.   I’ve been to his seminars and bought the t-shirts too. So what if the individual trains via videos?  So what if he creates his own training group based on the videos in the area?  We’re buying a video, not into a religious hierarchy and obligation here.

There’s a popular Bruce Lee story about his being challenged by Chinese martial artists for teaching to non Asians.  Bruce had been taught a style of Gung Fu, and was sharing the knowledge with others.  They tried to forbid him from teaching outside of official authorization.  Luckily for most of us, he rejected their claims of racial, cultural, and martial arts authority, and we are better off for it.

There are still territorial, stylistic, cultural, and even familial claims to some sort of inherent proprietorship of martial arts practices.  “Our style’s moves,”  “My family’s Art,” “Okinanwa’s punch”  “Korean kicks”  “Systema movement,”  “Gracie Jiu Jitsu,” and more.  It is good to acknowledge other’s intellectual innovation, creativity, and contributions to the arts, but when the recipient demands it, it becomes ego gratification. That’s not a martial virtue.

Can you imagine this happening with boxing, gymnastics, chess, or any other skill or practice?  “This is the Bobby Fisher technique and you must be certified by an official Chess Master Bobby Fisher school/instructor in order to use it, teach it, or win a match by it.” Preposterous, right?  My point exactly. It’s silly and insecure.  I can freely get and use the U. S. Marine Corps fighting manual, but not Joe Blow’s method of punching with a fist attached to an arm…

It also strikes me as a contradiction; there’s a form of fear evident in this type of proprietorship.  Contradictory, because one of the virtues expected to develop in  martial arts  training is that of overcoming fears.  But there it is: fear, mostly, of losing money.  Fear, of losing influence.  Fear, of lack of recognition.  Fear, of losing “purity.”  Some will talk of sharing the art, while being utterly and monetarily selfish about its dissemination.  I say get over it, the paradigm of exclusivity in martial arts is over.

I could be wrong, but I think somewhere along the line it was lost that these skills and knowledge are for for the individual’s benefit and development, not for the glory of one person’s  legacy or corporation.  Given a little time, that attitude begets idol worship and dogma.

Do your practice, share or hoard as you want, but it’ll be increasingly futile to try to pull the idea on others that this is feudal Japan in the 12th century, and you can lord over knowledge and sharing.

There is also a side argument made sometimes, the one about preserving “quality.”  Some instructors would have you believe they’re concerned with the skill levels of “their” art.  But physical skill is an individual phenomena, not a corporate one.  There are higher and lower skilled practitioners in every art, as well as at every stage of learning.  I believe it has less to do with skill levels and more to do with money and ego.

Another point often made by “owners” of a martial arts is that you cannot learn their stuff if you don’t have loyalty to them.  Bull.  It’s they who need to have loyalty to you if they accept you as a student.  Loyalty to give you the best they can in as quick a manner as possible, because tomorrow is not guaranteed to either instructor or student.

When I teach, I teach like a mini seminar.  Everything I teach is “homework.”  You take it with you, refine and develop it, own it, and pass it on as you wish.  If you come back, I may try to optimize it for you according to my understanding of it, and off you go again. I coach.  My humble material is yours.  I am not the “sole proprietor” of martial secrets,  or a select franchisee of anything martial arts.

Until the patent office issues a “martial arts” patent, neither is anyone else.

Good people interested in martial arts should seek instructors who want to share the art, rather than recruit members to their kingdoms.  I’m glad I’ve found some like that.

POSTSCRIPT:

Really interesting, and for further consideration, I found one other significant discussion of this proprietorship as I call it here, so do click on it: Can martial arts moves be copyrighted?

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Warriors. I’m not one.

English: Two Marines from 2nd Marine Aircraft ...

English: Two Marines from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd) practice Marine Corps Martial Arts Program at Al Asad, Iraq. Here, Corporal Robert Lemiszki performs the shoulder throw technique on Corporal Halie Kennie. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So often I hear from martial artists, instructors, and others, talk about being “warriors.”  God help me I think that term is over used, yes, even in the context of martial arts. 

You may argue that martial does mean war, and I can argue back just as righteously that it has more to do with military, and that you are not a warrior unless you are in the distinct “warrior class” of a society, in most modern societies that means the military.

You may be a fighter, but not a warrior.  A warrior is part of a group that fights for more than himself.  They make themselves available full time to die for the protection of others.  He/She fights for the tribe, the village, the country.

Most martial “warriors” I meet these days train part time to fight for the personal glory of a winning performance in a tournament.

I, and many others have been there done that (Marine Corps here, baby)!  I did my turn, I don’t do it anymore, and I’m on to the next stage of my existence.  I’m not a warrior. No shame in that.   I am a householder, an educator, a family man, hopefully a good contributing member of my society.  That also means I have the highest regards for those true warriors that are doing their turn now.

I think it almost diminishes their worth when some un-thoughtful knucklehead calls himself a warrior cause he “likes to fight.”  Martial artists are not necessarily warriors, and I think the qualifier is the “art” part of the term.  Art implies a creative continuity not an expectation of possible death in the process.  Fighting isn’t enough to make you a warrior, it is an availability and willingness to die, for others.

Fight, train martial arts, but respect and honor our true warriors by not trivializing the term.

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