Do we as martial artists focus to much on the “martial” side of the coin and not the “artist” side?
i mean, think about it, we all train very hard and put in alot of effort, time and money for years to improve our fighting skills. but out of the millions of martial artists how many actually have to use it to defend their lives in the street or the life of someone else? i’m not talking about “defending your ego” fights over spilled beer. i’m talking about someone ready to kill you, literally. maybe less than 1% of all martial artists in the world will ever have to face that situation.
so why do we train so hard and spend so much money for? this is a question i keep asking myself. and i think it’s an important one.
so many people think that if you compete in the ring and do tons of sparring, you are “tough”. but you wanna know who IMO are tougher? the father trying to raise a good family in a tough economy, or the single mother that has to work three jobs to support her children. now these guys are tough! why do i say this? because ultimately, it’s “life” that will be our ultimate arena, it’s “ourselves” that will be our greatest opponent.
and that’s why i personally train so hard and spend lots of money on instruction and have been doing it for so long. to learn “how” to get through life without meeting force with force. so that when life comes at you hard, you have the training to get through it and continue on the journey.
this leads me to another question, why is it that every martial arts school has a “written” guide to the “martial” side of progressing from basic to high level or white belt to black belt as an example, but nobody has a “written” guide for the “artist” side? IMO this has to do with focusing too much on “technique” and the “if you do this, then i do that” mentality, which IMO is detrimental to a martial artist. but if you focus on the “concepts” and the “why” each and every movement works, then you are teaching yourself the “guide” to getting through life, such as “go straight”, if you meet an obstacle don’t meet it with force, go around it but always go straight, stay flexible but always go straight, this leads to traveling far on your journey.
i strive every day to be a “martial ARTIST” and not a “MARTIAL artist”, because eventually when all of us get to the “top of the mountain”, the view is the same for everyone.
take care and peace!
Jin
This is one of my favorite clips from the “Kung Fu” series. The reason i like it so much is that it coincides with what makes my “method” of teaching and training unique. My primary goal is to “listen” rather than “talk”.
“listen” meaning developing sensitivity in your training, “talk” is all the punching, kicking, elbows, [...]
Welcome to the website! It’s finally up and running…sort of.
There’s still alot of content that will be added as time moves along. But I wanted to get things rock’n and roll’n. What’s great is that all of you get to experience the changes and growth right along with me.
Just like you though, i will be [...]
posted in forum General by ChiSao on March 10, 2010
posted in forum Ask Jin & Video Topics by avgwarrior on March 9, 2010
posted in forum Introduce Yourself by Willz on March 9, 2010
posted in forum Training Discussion by Palm_Striker on March 8, 2010
posted in forum Ask Jin & Video Topics by Rocknroller on March 8, 2010
posted in forum Grappling Training by Erikthered on March 7, 2010
posted in forum Philosophy Discussion by Erikthered on March 7, 2010
posted in forum Introduce Yourself by Jin on March 7, 2010
October 14th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Very true, Jin. Martial arts have so much to offer. You learn how to defend yourself, sure, but you also learn about the human body, you learn about yourself as a person, you get in better physical and mental shape, etc. It’s all related so I try to keep that in mind and get the most out of my studying that I can. It’s funny, it was so easy to explain to other people what I was learning with my training at first, but as I try to understand the “artist” side of things a bit more, I find that kind of learning much harder to articulate.
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Jin Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
nicely put
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October 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
nice words ! peace and love to you
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Jin Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
thanks, take care and peace!
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October 15th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Whatever they slid into your coffee at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles is workin!
Sifu Jin, I’ve cut-n-pasted this, and sent it to all the “tough guy” martial artists I know. Fuk ‘em if they can’t take a Pak!
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Jin Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
hahah…Dallas, you crack me up, man. =D and i luv Roscoe’s!
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October 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
HI Jin,
Very true.
To be fair it is the youngsetrs that tend to have the ego baout being tough as we once did! I was a tyrnat at 18 yrs old!, until i knocked down hard and relaised, i was not a rock! more of a rubber ball, always boucning back
however, as you get older you find peace and frienship is more valubale than conformation and enemies.
As a philosophy student, i appreciate yout high level thinking.
Take care
Saj
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Jin Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 3:13 am
philosophy major, nice!
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October 17th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Jin:
I totally agree with you.
As I started to practice, I noticed that is love for what we do that makes us stronger than the fear that limits our horizon. By any means I noticed that effort and discipline – by its own – could get you anywhere nearer to the point I think we wish to strive – that means, to the center of our being, to the potential of what we can become or the project of what we truly are.
All I noticed is martial tense it’s a way to shape all our content, all the love (or art) each of us has inside – as a boat, we may have a steering wheel to guide the way but, without a heart to feel passion for what we do, we become as a boat with no sail to get the winds of life.
Martial art is a term which balances male and female vibration, as a ying/yang icon. Being out of balance from one or the other may lead – or to a unbearable tightness about the scope about ourselves, life and the others if we choose to feed prevalently the martial aspect of our life – or to a life with no sense of values, limits or respect if we feed mainly the artistic side (or the creative part of it). The two parts are as important as the other. Together they balance and I hope they may lead to the goal each of us pursues along the martial arts way.
Thank you so much for the quality of your site.
Peace
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Jin Reply:
October 17th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
nicely said!
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October 19th, 2009 at 12:18 am
When I had my first professional fight (Muay Thai), my American friend asked me, “Are you ready to fight?”
I replied, “I’m ready to lose!”
Confused, he asked what I meant. I replied, “You’re not ready to fight unless you’re ready to lose.
I actually lost that fight.
The point was simple; when you fight, it’s like gambling, especially in a professional fight where you’ve been evenly matched by promoters so people can never be sure which way the fight will go until crunch time.
I’m sure most of you know; you do not gamble with your money unless you can afford to lose it. The same thing in a fight; you’re gambling not just with your physical body, but also your ego.
A Warrior fighting, they can never be sure of the outcome. You can weigh up your odds and place your bet; if you don’t like your chances you can turn and run. But one thing remains certain; battles exist for a Warrior where the outcome can never be certain.
If you’re not prepared to have your body torn to pieces, your ego humiliated, your life lost, then you’re not ready to fight in those battles.
When I did the fight I mentioned before, I was 105 kilo. I fought an Asian man from Myanmar who was much more skilled than me, but only 70 kilo. He was 35 kilo smaller than me.
Not only did I block poorly, and my body took many blows. I can stand the physical torment of getting struck many times by a trained professional and I didn’t once flinch. But the greatest blow was to my ego; getting thrashed by a man half my size in front of over 300 people…
Take a look at this picture and put yourself in my shoes:
http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv104/Tenchu_/TigerKungFu.jpg
[img]http://i674.photobucket.com/albums/vv104/Tenchu_/TigerKungFu.jpg[/img]
On my hands and knees in front of my teacher, manager, wife and over 300 other people, getting kicked in the head by an Asian man half my size…
To endure this, it took a lot more of the artist in me than the martial in me. Trust me. Without a humble spirit and a content ego, I may have been so embarrassed that I’d give up fighting and not be a Warrior anymore; that’d be real defeat, without the artist to temper your ego, you’ll lose more.
Yes, it’s the artist in our styles that make us tough, not what we can do physically. It’s what we can mentally endure that will set us apart as a true Warrior.
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Jin Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 12:35 am
*stands and claps loudly!* very nice, bro! i knew there was a reason i liked you..kidding! =D
competition outside the ring can be more fierce than competition in the ring. I definitely have been there as well. take care and peace!
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Jin Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 12:35 am
and damm..that’s a pretty lame, he’s kicking you when you’re down. lame!
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October 19th, 2009 at 2:59 am
He’s kicking me as I’m falling. It’s different. It isn’t against Muay Thai rules, either. It scores high points.
What was actually happening there was I was clinching with him and tried to throw him. I had commited my body weight to the throw, but he slipped out of it, and I ended up being the only one to fall down. Just as I fell, he kicked.
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October 19th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Tough – like many kids I hated life, my family, school and all the things that failed me.
Teen – it got worse, I really was moody, but was it normal to spend most of your life thinking about death. But pah, it must be normal.
20’s – rock’n'roll years, high’s and low. but people started dying – drugs – desperate
30’s – big illness, a life that falls about, and the realiation that it might not get better
33 – diganosed, finally, omg, finally start to find a way out of it – the drugs will stay but the demons stay back, most lf the time
34 – wing chun – take some of the fire in my heart, and balance it with the dark shadows in my soul – and hopefully make something 4 days a week lol
Anyone who walks into a class has a history. IN reality, they just need to learn about their basics. But in reality, we all have a story we are trying to tell.
Who’s strong? Anyone who choses to carry on and doesn’t succomb.
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Jin Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
very nicely said, bro!
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October 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I like what you wrote.
words of intellingent person.
Facundo
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October 26th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Great words Jin. I think I was attracted to Wing Chun (and other ‘internal’ martial arts) because of the philosophies behind the techniques, and not merely the techniques in-themselves. I’m an anthropologist writing about qigong and martial arts and have been doing Wing Chun for about 7 years. I came to a conclusion, recently, from comparing eastern and western philosophy, that Wing Chun embodies the Aristotelian and Confucian virtue of ‘the mean’. It was through training in Wing Chun’s ‘centred-ness’ or ‘uncommitted-ness’ that I came to realize the significance of adhering to the mean in everyday life.
Great website too! Not only have I learnt a lot about Wing Chun from you, but am also inspired by the humility and respect found here, particularly in the martial community which is usually egoistically-charged.
Best wishes from Singapore.
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Jin Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
thanks for the kind words, take care and peace!
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