A Martial Memo from John Takeshi

I find that when people begin martial arts, they do it for 3 main reasons:

1. To get in shape.
2. To learn how to defend themselves.
3. For self-confidence.

The third option is the silent, unspoken thing that both of the former two are in pursuit of, and may not even know that they are in pursuit of. Often a teacher, by focusing in on the third option and treating the student as a serious individual, will find that the beginner gains self confidence through the simple friendly contact between two people (teacher and student), both physical and intellectual. It's a private acquaintance, and few of us have private acquaintances. We have friends (which are often conditional, based on politics, socioeconomics, religion, values, etc.), we have family, and we have teachers. But a true teacher/master is one that is uninterested in that surface persona of a teacher. He's really into the contact between two learners, and looks to pass on some knowledge. In the West, this is often difficult without application to a capitalistic process. Still, somewhere in this exchange, self-confidence can find its exigesis through self-knowledge and self-realization. On a psychological level, I'd like to make a distinction between self-confidence and egotism. Self-confidence is a learning and involving process, not a thing viewed in hindsight and reflection, typified by the Western : "Self-confidence? Yeah, I got that a long time ago..." kind of mentality. Rather, self-confidence is a thing maintained, not attained. In the case of Rudy Abel and 1bad65, I think we see how two once-self-confident individuals from two different traditions deviated into egotism, which is really symptomatic of a break in self-confidence and a discursus into insecurity. Most asian martial arts have a traditional link to Buddhist and Taoist practices. I don't think this is any kind of coincidence. The pursuit of self-knowledge, which is really the pursuit of nothing, since the self is the mind without "grasping" onto its "selfness" (for lack of a better term, perhaps "ego" would better apply). Although the "mysticism" of Taoism, which focuses on immortality via alchemy, might be considered egotism or self-grasping, the mysticism of the practice and ritual is what holds one's fascination and diligence--it's not the imortality. Both of these religions are rather inimical to the western world in its capitalistic enterprises, which are both symbolic of the deification, and perhaps reification, of samsara. So, in a way, the western viewpoint is the antithesis to the eastern viewpoint. Choosing which one is suitable to your life is really dependent on your life. But I think we'd all be loath if we did not think that eastern philosophical principles, imposed...perhaps ingrained in martial arts, have affected us all in very beneficial ways.

1. They get us moving, exercising, etc....which the western world tries desperately to keep us from doing, with their pushes for all-access television, the deification of politics and the importance placed on "being in the know" and "always being in communication", whether by cell phone, internet, cable TV, etc. In effect, the western world eradicates our senses of privacy and roots us to certain "ports"--the cable TV jack, the internet cord, wireless reception, and cellular hot-spots.

2. The acceptance of relaxation. As we all know, the first thing we are taught in martial arts (all martial arts) is to relax. Even if we tighten up, it's a conscious movement. In the west, we're always stressed, always distracted, always occupied, and so we slink around like frightened felines, always tense and constricted. It's the same reaction of any wild animal to city life. It's a recognition of the strange and the estranged. It's only ironic that we don't see this in ourselves and in our postures.

3. Focus. RAther than focusing on a goal or productivity, we focus on being present in the action of something small, rather than on trying to become a bigger cog in an even larger machine. In a way, the eastern view gets us to accept our smallness, and to find meaning, balance, and edification in this smallness. The ego--that which drives us to "higher" or "more productive" goals, often only squanders its focus by ignoring hte present in anticipation of the future. We know the eastern view when we try to master the basics, and then learn new movements, yet see in them mere modifications of the basics--basics that are then reinforced, manipulated, and transformed, yet always rooted in the present action. The basics drill in us not a foundation to be transformed into a skyscraper, but rather an eternal foundation that will always be preserved in the present moment.

The question then becomes whether one can make a distinction between harmful western deceptions and beneficial eastern solutions. And, with the blending of the two, where capitalism then pirates a martial arts discipline and begins the trophy-driven, reality-based, tournament oriented professional gladiator gym--where third-person perspectives begin to gain an overwhelming priority over the practitioner's approach to martial arts---then who is based in reality, and who is grounded in delusion, illusion, and samsara?

Martial arts can be both beneficial and destructive. We know they can benefit ourselves and others. We know that they can destroy others.

What we seem to shirk is the idea that martial arts can destroy us, as individuals. I personally feel that the loss of the ideal, the unifying principles outside of "can I counter technique A with technique B 99.9% of the time?" is a very disheartening trend in martial arts. When we participate in traditions, we often see through them. But they become an identifying principle, even if exagerrated for the sake of romanticism. Even in chi blasts, wrist-locks of death, and mythos of flying sages, there is value.

There is a certain Romance to traditional martial arts that the Western world is threatening on a daily basis. It's the egotism of the western world to look on the "quaint" practices of rural China's "cute little intellectuals and spiritualists" and to try and adopt the "benefits of meditation" without an acquaintance with the bitterness in the mouth one has to abide by in order to achieve those beneifts in a beneficial kind of way for self-knowledge. In a like manner, it's the egotism of the western world to apply the "utility-driven no-nonsense, assembly-line, capitalistic process" of the western mindframe (which is truly nonsensical, in a way) to eastern martial arts practices, which are far more of an apprentice-master relationship of small, family-owned businesses. The privacy of eastern martial arts is occasioned by egotism, but usually only when coupled with a desire for profit and fame. There are many great martial artists that do not promulgate their name for either, but have achieved both because of their sincerity. It's not self-promotion, but rather the promotion of an individual by others who whave achived self-knowledge through his tutelege.

We should also recognize that there are a couple of different kinds of schools:

1. Traditional
2. Belt Factories
2. Trophy-Academies
3. Professional fight training academies.

I would argue that the latter two are driven by illusions. It's the illusion of victory over others, which is fleeting and often conditional. It's also the illusion of gaining edification for the soul via winning respect in the minds of others. Even in a Belt Factory, there’s a limit to the achievement. And, often, the belt-factory is a cover for the simple fact—there’s a business aspect to every school. Pay your dues, buy your belts, move on. But one becomes cognizant of the illusion and looks for something else, or something more. Sooner or later, one no longer purchases or earns belts. They’re just the business aspect, and to move on…so be it. Certainly, it’s not ideal. But people don’t stick with schools to get more belts—not in the long run. They stay to learn, and to be involved in the process, and to attain self-knowledge and keep that great foundation of fundamentals forever fresh.

I don't think one can gain self-knowlege in the latter two schools. Traditional karate BB full-contact fighters in the 70's in America were often touted as the most dangerous men alive. Now that this "illusion" is viewed in hindsight as the romanticization of martial arts and a passe, unrealistic notion of what real combat is like, there is one fact that has remained. Traditional karate still practices the same katas, still fights the same way (for the most part), and still utilizes the same techniques. This is not a question of a traditional art retreating to itself in the face of the great new techniques of the most really real of all the realistic martial arts, to dwell thereby in occlusion and illusion. RAther, it's the same recognition of the value of tradition, the knowlege of self through the bitterness of practice and the reliance on that great foundation, which is always present in the moment.

Traditions are not meant to keep us rooted in the past. Rather, they are methods we employ to keep us eternally in the present. I like to think of it through the metaphor of trees, such that every tree has a beginning and an end, from the tips of its roots to the leaves of its branches. Yet, at every moment since it first began budding, the tree has included both poles for its benefit. The roots are nothing without the leaves, and hte leaves are nothing without hte roots. It is the knowledge of the different means of producing energy, and the most simple means of reserving energy, that allows a tree to reach such heights. And yet, with the multitudes of leaves and the tangling network of its roots, the tree isn't conscious of its height--rather, it stretches towards the sun, the same as it has always done; and, it digs deeper into the soil, the same as it has always done. It is constantly expanding, constantly retracting inwardly. It drops seeds and produces new generations.

The problem with the western view of martial arts, which views it as a commodity, only applicable when stripped down to its bare components and then applied to the destruction of others for the edification of the self (which, I maintain, is really a self-destructive process, in the end)---the problem with this viewpoint is that there is too much focus on the self, on the importance of the self, the cognizance, perpetual reinforcement of self-control (in an agressively egotistical fashion, not in a selfless self-knowledge of eastern philosophical and religious principles), and on controlling others.

Naturally, part of martial arts is about controlling others. But when one has managed to eradicate the ego, this has a different frame of reference--one that recognizes humbleness, energy, focus, breathing, root, etc. It's not a matter of reaching some height and casting others in your shade to wither in your magnificence. It's about bending to the wind, and all of that poetic "nonsense".

So, the questions stands:

Why the evisceration of the romance of martial arts?