spiritual aspects of your art

[seito no sensei]

Hi there!

Perhaps someone here can tell me more about the spiritual aspects of his or her Chinese martial art?
I'm sure that most of you guys know the 'bushido' called ethical code of the samurai. The late budo arts are mainly devoted to develop mind and spirit, and the fighting part is just one of many others.
So what do you emphasize in your art?

J.G.

[Felipe Bido]

So what do you emphasize in your art?


Uhmmm.... Occupy the opponent space, pound him and take his balance, pound some more, pound, pound, pound, take him down, pound some more, and pound. Repeat as desired. :D


Spiritual aspects?...coming from a military background, the art I study has very little of it. But, you can compare the 'Bushido' with the chinese 'Wu De' (Martial Virtue), which extends to various ranges of interpretation, depending on the style.

I'm sure many members of this board will chime in soon.

:)

[SaMantis]

From a purely Shaolin standpoint, martial arts are intended to develop mind, body and spirit as a way to improve the practice of Chan Buddhism.

Outside Shaolin, the "ethical code" of martial artists varied depending on the needs of the time, region, and cultural mores. While the development of mind, body and spirit still reigned at the center of each martial art (a good fighter should be strong in all three), the purpose of this development varied. A martial art might emphasize defense of the nation or emperor, or the overthrow of it. Martial artists could be in it to improve their health, or to improve the size of their wallet.

My martial art is traditional, so the mind/body/spirit connection is emphasized, though with less ceremony than I've seen in some JMA. Bai fut sow at the start of class puts students in the right frame of mind for training and warms them up. Great fighting skill is not critical to national defense (thanks to the advent of the gun & nuclear weapons), so the physical emphasis is on fitness and development of character, which have a universal application.