red5angel
04-10-2002, 09:20 AM
I ran across this article by I believe Randal Seyers, check it out, see what you think... Its is sort of along read but interesting.
My enlightenment came in two parts: The first is that we are not all the same. Every person who walks into a martial arts school, puts on a uniform and does a front kick or hip throw is not, cannot and should not train for the next Ultimate Fighting Championship, K-1 or Sabaki Challenge.
We should acknowledge that there are two separate species of martial artists: combative (real warriors, soldiers, law-enforcement officers, etc.) and non-combative (those interested in the sport or the art.) Of the non-combative flavor, there are two sub-species (traditional and non-traditional) and at least three levels: professional, semi-professional and amateur. That is important because as long as anyone things slipping on a gi is the same as being a Navy SEAL, there will always be confusion.
My instructor always said, "A puppy can't kill a tiger no matter how
loudly he barks." We can't all be UFC champions, pro wrestlers, brain surgeons or even the president of the United States.
We should admit that there are differences between the average Joe-who trains three or four times a week, is in decent physical shape, and has an 8-to-5 job, kids and car payment---and full-time martial artists.I'm not saying we all lack the potential to be a champion. Rather, I'm saying that most of us just don't realize that potential. So for the sake of honesty, we should acknowledge the different classes of martial artist.
That brings us to the second radical notion, which came about while I was watching a Discovery Channel program that revealed the answer to the grappling vs. stand-up fighting argument. It was astonishing that the answer did not appear in a documentary on martial arts or military history; it appeared in a nature show.
The particular episode, which featured rattlesnakes, showed a sidewinder crossing its familiar desert terrain. The narrator explained that the Western diamondback rattlesnake, the deadliest reptile in North America, is responsible for killing thousands of people each year. As the rattlesnake slithered across the TV screen, I was in awe of this small yet lethal creature which is capable of readily dealing death to anything that wanders into its path.
But it wasn't the prowess of the rattlesnake that leapt out at me as being relevant to the martial arts. It was the skills that three common and somewhat unlikely combatants use to defeat rattlesnakes: the roadrunner, king snake and desert mouse.
The roadrunner feeds on rattlesnakes when the opportunity arises. It dances and leaps around the snake, spreading its tail feathers and flapping its wings in feints, then using its beak to strike the snake's head for the coup de grace.
The king snake, on the other hand, is a grappler. It wraps itself
around the rattlesnake and, being a constrictor, squeezes the life out of it. Much like our illustrious Brazilian-jujutsu exponents, the king snake closes the distance, mounts its opponent and chokes it into submission---or into supper, as the case may be.
Of course, the rattlesnake doesn't fall easily to either opponent, and the roadrunner and the king snake both can be killed if any
miscalculation occurs during the attack. In combat, predator and prey fight for survival, and they fight without distinction as to style or species.
But what about the third victor? How could a lowly creature like the desert mouse, which has no discernable fighting skill, defeat a
rattlesnake? When the prowling rattler enters the desert mouse's burrow in search of dinner, the mouse instinctively freezes in place and goes undetected. Although the rattler is infamous for its deadly venom, it also has notoriously poor eyesight. The desert mouse, by some inborn sense for survival, defeats the rattlesnake by becoming virtually invisible to it. By avoiding conflict through the use of non-motion, the rodent can defeat the reptile and keep from becoming snake food. Certainly it is a good example of the Taoist concept of "no action as action."
Which brings us back to the three levels of martial artists:
professional, semi-professional and amateur. Nature's professionals are the snakes, which survive by their lethal skills and frequently tackle equally deadly prey. Nature's semi-professionals are the roadrunners, which can kill snakes but would rather go for insects and other less-challenging victims. Nature's amateurs are represented by the humble desert mouse, which prefers to live off grains, seeds and berries.
So what does this have to do with the marital arts? In each of the nature case studies, the technique that prevailed did so because the creature utilized its preferred method skillfully. No big secret technique was revealed, and no one technique was perfect. The skilled application by a skilled artist/athelete is the best we can hope for, whether we're a traditionalist or a sport combatant, whether we're fighting in the K-1, in the alley behind our favorite bar or in our living room facing an intruder. Nothing guarantees we will win every time, no matter who we are or what we know.
My enlightenment came in two parts: The first is that we are not all the same. Every person who walks into a martial arts school, puts on a uniform and does a front kick or hip throw is not, cannot and should not train for the next Ultimate Fighting Championship, K-1 or Sabaki Challenge.
We should acknowledge that there are two separate species of martial artists: combative (real warriors, soldiers, law-enforcement officers, etc.) and non-combative (those interested in the sport or the art.) Of the non-combative flavor, there are two sub-species (traditional and non-traditional) and at least three levels: professional, semi-professional and amateur. That is important because as long as anyone things slipping on a gi is the same as being a Navy SEAL, there will always be confusion.
My instructor always said, "A puppy can't kill a tiger no matter how
loudly he barks." We can't all be UFC champions, pro wrestlers, brain surgeons or even the president of the United States.
We should admit that there are differences between the average Joe-who trains three or four times a week, is in decent physical shape, and has an 8-to-5 job, kids and car payment---and full-time martial artists.I'm not saying we all lack the potential to be a champion. Rather, I'm saying that most of us just don't realize that potential. So for the sake of honesty, we should acknowledge the different classes of martial artist.
That brings us to the second radical notion, which came about while I was watching a Discovery Channel program that revealed the answer to the grappling vs. stand-up fighting argument. It was astonishing that the answer did not appear in a documentary on martial arts or military history; it appeared in a nature show.
The particular episode, which featured rattlesnakes, showed a sidewinder crossing its familiar desert terrain. The narrator explained that the Western diamondback rattlesnake, the deadliest reptile in North America, is responsible for killing thousands of people each year. As the rattlesnake slithered across the TV screen, I was in awe of this small yet lethal creature which is capable of readily dealing death to anything that wanders into its path.
But it wasn't the prowess of the rattlesnake that leapt out at me as being relevant to the martial arts. It was the skills that three common and somewhat unlikely combatants use to defeat rattlesnakes: the roadrunner, king snake and desert mouse.
The roadrunner feeds on rattlesnakes when the opportunity arises. It dances and leaps around the snake, spreading its tail feathers and flapping its wings in feints, then using its beak to strike the snake's head for the coup de grace.
The king snake, on the other hand, is a grappler. It wraps itself
around the rattlesnake and, being a constrictor, squeezes the life out of it. Much like our illustrious Brazilian-jujutsu exponents, the king snake closes the distance, mounts its opponent and chokes it into submission---or into supper, as the case may be.
Of course, the rattlesnake doesn't fall easily to either opponent, and the roadrunner and the king snake both can be killed if any
miscalculation occurs during the attack. In combat, predator and prey fight for survival, and they fight without distinction as to style or species.
But what about the third victor? How could a lowly creature like the desert mouse, which has no discernable fighting skill, defeat a
rattlesnake? When the prowling rattler enters the desert mouse's burrow in search of dinner, the mouse instinctively freezes in place and goes undetected. Although the rattler is infamous for its deadly venom, it also has notoriously poor eyesight. The desert mouse, by some inborn sense for survival, defeats the rattlesnake by becoming virtually invisible to it. By avoiding conflict through the use of non-motion, the rodent can defeat the reptile and keep from becoming snake food. Certainly it is a good example of the Taoist concept of "no action as action."
Which brings us back to the three levels of martial artists:
professional, semi-professional and amateur. Nature's professionals are the snakes, which survive by their lethal skills and frequently tackle equally deadly prey. Nature's semi-professionals are the roadrunners, which can kill snakes but would rather go for insects and other less-challenging victims. Nature's amateurs are represented by the humble desert mouse, which prefers to live off grains, seeds and berries.
So what does this have to do with the marital arts? In each of the nature case studies, the technique that prevailed did so because the creature utilized its preferred method skillfully. No big secret technique was revealed, and no one technique was perfect. The skilled application by a skilled artist/athelete is the best we can hope for, whether we're a traditionalist or a sport combatant, whether we're fighting in the K-1, in the alley behind our favorite bar or in our living room facing an intruder. Nothing guarantees we will win every time, no matter who we are or what we know.