In the late 90's, I first was exposed to the concept of ethical tenets in Korean martial arts. Like many Americans with a Judeo-Christian background, seeing the words "10 Commandments" on the wall tends to grab one's attention. The slightly de-emphasized "of Taekwondo" afterwards just added to the curiosity. The first one read "Be Loyal to your Country." Many people read this and just accept it, but I am interested in being thoughtful about this and dissecting it. I'd like to share the results of this process presently.
By looking at the evolution of this tenet, considering the historical context, and examining the counter point of this idea, I hope to explore the implications of this statement to be loyal to one's country and find a universal way to express it. I want to do this in a way that is respectful to everyone that is community minded and works either through law enforcement or the military to try to protect the country and community that I live in. While their dedication is important, I think that the dedication often transcends borders and national identity. I think that is a value that can also be encompassed within this tenet.
Originally, the first tenet of the Hwarang was to have fealty to the King. This meant that you would be fiercely loyal to the king with your life. Looking at the time period in which the Hwarang existed, the three kingdoms era on the Korean peninsula was a tense time. There were any number of minor skirmishes up through all-out war between these countries as they attempted to dominate the area. Complete devotion was necessary to defend the kingdom from outside invaders.
As martial arts training moved into the 20th century, these ethical tenets were re-examined in order to state them in a way that made more sense to the changing times. There were no more kings in Korea. While the peninsula was once again divided by either Japanese occupation or from the civil war between what is now North and South Korea, it was important to be devoted to your country in order to keep out the invading forces from across the sea or the 38th parallel. In order to be strong, a country must be unified. It is very easy to see that the goal of this tenet is to have a strong country in order to deal with outside aggressors. This is something very easily and commonly accepted.
While this view has obvious merits, there are aspects that beg for a closer look. As was alluded to in the last paragraph, division brings about disharmony, chaos, and violence. The country divided inwardly cannot deal with a threat outwardly. As this is true with a country, it is also true with each individual. A person with constant conflicting thoughts will not have all of their energies directed towards dealing with an external challenge. Wouldn't the same be true of entire world? If a country acts only in its own self-interest, won't that have consequences for the other countries in the world? We see many examples of this in world economics, the starting of wars, and in inaction during atrocities. Merely being loyal to one's country isn't always enough. Divisions between countries yield conflict in the same way as divisiveness in a person; there is no unified movement and there is friction.
When I took my third dan test, I wrote a paper on this. In that paper, I described these views in detail and came up with another way to state this concept that captured the idea of supporting one's community while being a member of an increasingly global society. It was to always "be devoted to the greater community." This allows for a broader range of contexts. Within a group, one needs to be concerned with the functioning of the group as a whole and work to facilitate that. In my my province or state, I must be aware of the local issues and be an active positive participant in promoting common health and unity. In my country, I must do the same and not let my smaller community's interests be an unnecessary drag to my fellow Americans. As an American, I cannot let my country's interests be a detriment to the health and security of the entire world. This concept transcends politics into race, religion, or any other issue. To be ethical, one must be willing to see the larger context and consider that when choosing how to spend one's time and energies in life. Not doing so would be selfish, careless, anti-social, and unintelligent.
In discussing this with others, there have been two arguments that have come up that are counter to this. One, is the idea the a soldier should not question the orders of a superior officer. This is a very understandable thing to say; orders are given and often the impact of those orders should not be questioned because your failure could cause injury or death for many other people. Again, the value judgement of thinking of the larger community comes into play and a person must use their intelligence here. We would all agree that following orders does not make someone innocent of their own bad choices. Being devoted to the larger community can compel someone to do something that is immediately distasteful in order to end a conflict. The other argument is along the lines of ideas put forth by people like Ayn Rand; that selfishness should compel a person when thinking of the greater community and that altruistic behavior is actually self-defeating. While there is a valid point made that a person need not self-martyr themselves for others that may be unwilling or uninterested in doing work for themselves, every civilization has only been made possible by all the individuals deciding to be concerned for their neighbor over their own immediate self-interest. Even in other animals, we see communal behavior being the only way to move the species forward and the ones not adhering to this idea quickly becoming food for others. To me, this interpretation still stands in spite of these arguments.
So, that is a look at my exploration of the first tenet of martial arts. I do genuinely encourage comments or thoughts from others on this topic. I usually get them via email or personal message, but I enjoy a public discussion of this as well. If you are comfortable, please feel free to do so!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Ethics in Martial Arts
I've decided that I wanted to take some time and discuss a bit about the topic of ethics in martial arts. This will be a series of posts that have to do with the 11 tenets of martial arts from Korea. I have written some of my black belt essays on these things in the past and re-interpreted some of them try to increase their accessibility to modern democratic culture. Some people will disagree with my interpretations and that is very welcome. I hope to get people thinking and talking about these topics and I hope they are as interesting for other people as they have been for me. I think that the exploration of an ethical view is one of the things that makes us unique compared to some other martial arts schools. In this first posting, I want to discuss the history of these tenets and how they came about. From there, I'll be going into them and explaining why I think each one is important in martial arts.
Before I get too far into this topic, I want to offer up a bit of background information. My first martial arts training was in Korean styles - specifically Hapkido and Taekwondo. I started studying Kendo and Tai Chi after the first two. While most of the Asian martial arts also draw their ethical views from Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, I am most familiar with the Korean tradition on ethics in martial arts. That's not to say that these views are religious; these ideas are roughly translated from terms that mean "secular ethics." The reason is because there were many different religions co-existing in these areas and it was important to find a list of ideas that could be agreed upon by everyone independent of their background. That also doesn't mean that Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, or any other martial art lacks in ethical concepts - I just cannot speak on them because it was the Korean tradition that I was exposed to early on and have spent the most time exploring that perspective in particular.
In Korean history, there was a group of young warriors called the Hwarang. They were taught martial arts, archery, horseback riding, and military tactics along with art and music. The goal of creating this group was to have well educated and capable people to be the future leaders in Korean politics, military, and culture. Predating this group was a group of women, called the Wonwha, that was very similar to the Hwarang and only lacked in military training. Still, their code of ethics was carried into the Hwarang and was closely held to Confucius and Buddhist teachings. These five ethical rules were:
1) To show allegiance to the king
2) To treat one's parents with respect and devotion
3) Exhibit trust and sincerity among friends
4) Never to retreat in battle
5) Exercise discretion when taking a life
These five ethical rules later were expanded to 11 and taught to early Korean martial art students. They were expanded mostly to flesh out some of the ideas laid out in the earlier five. This served to make them more applicable to modern cultural situations. Those were:
1) Be loyal to your country
2) Be a good son/daughter to your parents
3) Be faithful to your spouse
4) Respect your siblings
5) Be loyal to your friends
6) Respect those older than you
7) Respect your teachers
8) Never take a life unnecessarily
9) Have a strong spirit
10) Be loyal to your martial arts school
11) Always finish what you begin
When Korean martial arts came to the west, these 11 tenets were shortened to 10 and re-branded the 10 commandments of Taekwondo. The removed tenet was to have a strong spirit. While there is some disagreement as to why this happened, many people believe it was because training would naturally strengthen the spirit and that westerners would be able to better relate to the idea of 10 commandments from their Judeo-Christian backgrounds.
Over the course of my own study and personal reflection on these tenets, I decided that I thought it a good idea to go back to the earlier 11 tenets because I wanted to make the cultivation of an indomitable spirit a thing of which each student was conscious. During my study, I also took issue with some of the interpretations and how each concept in the tenets was expressed. For example, being in a democratic society has different implications than a monarchy - as well as being in an ever shrinking and interconnected world. While I do not think myself a morally superior or inferior person, I had real issue with teaching some of these concepts according to the wording listed above. I could not ignore those feelings in good conscience. Still, I felt that it was very worthwhile to have these things stated so that other people could consider them and apply them in their own lives. Since I have my own martial arts school, I felt it appropriate to interpret them and teach that interpretation to my students. Still, it feels disingenuous not to show the path that these ideas have taken. It is through this series of blog postings that I hope to illustrate my thinking and leave the information in the reader's hands - to teach my own controversy, so to speak.
The 11 tenets that are posting in my school the photo are in the photo below. While the wording is mine, the design and artwork were done by Kayla Armstrong. Here it is as a photo:
In the graphic, there is Korean writing on the top right that basically says "11 tenets of martial arts" in that language. Korean originally read top to bottom - right to left. It worked aesthetically to have the Korean title go that way. At the bottom right is a phrase written in Chinese that translates to "will not bend on principle." It is common in official documents to have things written in Chinese since much of Korean's old writings were in pictographic Chinese writing. Hangul, or modern Korean writing, has been around since the 15th century and is phonetic like English.
My next blog posting will go over the first tenet and the topic of my 3rd degree testing paper: to be loyal to the king/to be loyal to your country/to be devoted to the greater community. For some people, this may be a little bit of a hot button issue. Some have very strong patriotic views while others see dissent as a right and another form of patriotism all its own. I know my attempt to have a more central view on these opinions may land me in hot water with some; I hope not. Still, I maintain that any conversation about what is true, what is best, and what is beautiful is one worth having. I invite everyone to check back and read the next blog entry. I encourage discussion and debate about this openly and only ask that the reader trusts that my goal is to understand and express an ethical view that is objective and harmonious.
Before I get too far into this topic, I want to offer up a bit of background information. My first martial arts training was in Korean styles - specifically Hapkido and Taekwondo. I started studying Kendo and Tai Chi after the first two. While most of the Asian martial arts also draw their ethical views from Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, I am most familiar with the Korean tradition on ethics in martial arts. That's not to say that these views are religious; these ideas are roughly translated from terms that mean "secular ethics." The reason is because there were many different religions co-existing in these areas and it was important to find a list of ideas that could be agreed upon by everyone independent of their background. That also doesn't mean that Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, or any other martial art lacks in ethical concepts - I just cannot speak on them because it was the Korean tradition that I was exposed to early on and have spent the most time exploring that perspective in particular.
In Korean history, there was a group of young warriors called the Hwarang. They were taught martial arts, archery, horseback riding, and military tactics along with art and music. The goal of creating this group was to have well educated and capable people to be the future leaders in Korean politics, military, and culture. Predating this group was a group of women, called the Wonwha, that was very similar to the Hwarang and only lacked in military training. Still, their code of ethics was carried into the Hwarang and was closely held to Confucius and Buddhist teachings. These five ethical rules were:
1) To show allegiance to the king
2) To treat one's parents with respect and devotion
3) Exhibit trust and sincerity among friends
4) Never to retreat in battle
5) Exercise discretion when taking a life
These five ethical rules later were expanded to 11 and taught to early Korean martial art students. They were expanded mostly to flesh out some of the ideas laid out in the earlier five. This served to make them more applicable to modern cultural situations. Those were:
1) Be loyal to your country
2) Be a good son/daughter to your parents
3) Be faithful to your spouse
4) Respect your siblings
5) Be loyal to your friends
6) Respect those older than you
7) Respect your teachers
8) Never take a life unnecessarily
9) Have a strong spirit
10) Be loyal to your martial arts school
11) Always finish what you begin
When Korean martial arts came to the west, these 11 tenets were shortened to 10 and re-branded the 10 commandments of Taekwondo. The removed tenet was to have a strong spirit. While there is some disagreement as to why this happened, many people believe it was because training would naturally strengthen the spirit and that westerners would be able to better relate to the idea of 10 commandments from their Judeo-Christian backgrounds.
Over the course of my own study and personal reflection on these tenets, I decided that I thought it a good idea to go back to the earlier 11 tenets because I wanted to make the cultivation of an indomitable spirit a thing of which each student was conscious. During my study, I also took issue with some of the interpretations and how each concept in the tenets was expressed. For example, being in a democratic society has different implications than a monarchy - as well as being in an ever shrinking and interconnected world. While I do not think myself a morally superior or inferior person, I had real issue with teaching some of these concepts according to the wording listed above. I could not ignore those feelings in good conscience. Still, I felt that it was very worthwhile to have these things stated so that other people could consider them and apply them in their own lives. Since I have my own martial arts school, I felt it appropriate to interpret them and teach that interpretation to my students. Still, it feels disingenuous not to show the path that these ideas have taken. It is through this series of blog postings that I hope to illustrate my thinking and leave the information in the reader's hands - to teach my own controversy, so to speak.
The 11 tenets that are posting in my school the photo are in the photo below. While the wording is mine, the design and artwork were done by Kayla Armstrong. Here it is as a photo:
In the graphic, there is Korean writing on the top right that basically says "11 tenets of martial arts" in that language. Korean originally read top to bottom - right to left. It worked aesthetically to have the Korean title go that way. At the bottom right is a phrase written in Chinese that translates to "will not bend on principle." It is common in official documents to have things written in Chinese since much of Korean's old writings were in pictographic Chinese writing. Hangul, or modern Korean writing, has been around since the 15th century and is phonetic like English.
My next blog posting will go over the first tenet and the topic of my 3rd degree testing paper: to be loyal to the king/to be loyal to your country/to be devoted to the greater community. For some people, this may be a little bit of a hot button issue. Some have very strong patriotic views while others see dissent as a right and another form of patriotism all its own. I know my attempt to have a more central view on these opinions may land me in hot water with some; I hope not. Still, I maintain that any conversation about what is true, what is best, and what is beautiful is one worth having. I invite everyone to check back and read the next blog entry. I encourage discussion and debate about this openly and only ask that the reader trusts that my goal is to understand and express an ethical view that is objective and harmonious.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
I push here and your nose falls off! Perspectives on Pressure Points
One very astute student at my martial arts school grabbed a copy of Black Belt Magazine the other day and found an article about pressure points. She brought it to me and wanted my take on it. After reading the article, I found myself trying to convey a lot of ideas to her that may not have seemed to string together very well. In thinking this morning, I realized that it may be a good topic to blog about, since I haven't had anything occur to me that seemed worthy to type. Anyway, I hope to be more articulate here, where we don't have the demo team out during a 2 mile run, Diane!
When I was a Hapkido student in the late 90s, my teacher was an acupuncturist. Admittedly, I had a great deal of skepticism about it all. I thought much of it was psychosomatic and a few inches away from being what many other martial artists referred to as "woo-woo." Woo-woo is a nickname given to anything that smacks of mysticism or any other area that contains liberal uses of words like energy, spirit, or chi. While I appreciate that people have all sorts of different opinions on pressure points, I prefer to stand on things that are testable and measurable in life. Knowing this, my old teacher decided to confront my skepticism while I was in the throes of my usual twice a year head cold - let me explain.
While studying Hapkido back then, I was a full time private music teacher. While I love the job and still do it, I basically worked in a large closet with no windows and little ventilation. Since about a third of my music students are under the age of 18, I'm constantly having people come in with seasonal head colds. I don't care how great a person's immune system is: if you're in a room breathing the same air as someone with a nasty head cold (or possibly multiple people in the same day), you're getting sick. I was in the throes of one of these head colds at that time. To add to this, I was playing in a band and had to play a gig that night in DC. The cold was affecting my voice on top of my overall disposition. My old teacher seized on the opportunity to give me some new insight.
Seeing me with this cold, he asked if he could treat me. I shyly declined while trying to hide my obvious lack of faith in the field. He insisted, and confronted my thoughts on it. "You don't think it will work?" he asked. I politely told him that I didn't. He then said for me to find out for myself and to see what happened. He poked holes on the palm side of my middle joint on my middle fingers with a sterile diabetic's needle and put alcohol on the small marks. After that, he stood up, grabbed some tissues, and leaned against his desk with a smirk on his face. It was about that time that it felt like someone took a wallpaper remover to the insides of my lungs and throat. He handed me the tissues as I coughed up horrible amounts of material. From that point on, he had my attention.
While this wasn't acupuncture in the sense of using meridians in the body, it was a traditional Korean method of dealing with illness. Many Korean people may have memories of parents or grandparents doing the sort of thing with different levels of effectiveness. Still, this got my attention.
Since then, I've had other brushes with traditional Korean or Chinese medicine - everything from acupuncture to herbal medicine. Some of it worked really well and others were useless from what I could tell. There are arguments to be made that some of that could be psychosomatic, or that the treatment was effective.
In martial arts, pressure points are used in order to cause pain or to distract someone as another technique is being executed. There are stories about people being able to make someone lose consciousness or die from an attack on a pressure point, but I have a very high level of skepticism about this. If those techniques were consistently effective, then they would be commonplace. So, what then is the final result - what place do I think pressure point study should have in martial arts?
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I think that there may be different nerves or blood vessels to correlate to pressure points used in classical acupuncture study that may have application in martial arts. My experience has been that someone prepared for an attack on a pressure point is far less susceptible to it. Use of these points requires a level of accuracy that would be hard to execute against an opponent that's engaging you aggressively. As a surprise move against someone not expecting retaliation, this would be more effective.
Should you know them? Sure - why not. Should you rely on them if confronted with someone actively looking to cause you harm? Well, I think some other techniques might be better suited to that task. While it's good to not be closed off to something that could add insight to study, it's also important not to fall into the many woo-woo traps that are all around martial arts and that annoy many modern martial arts practitioners when they think of traditional martial arts - quite reasonably, I might add. Still, there are many things in both camps that are problematic. Maybe, that'll be another blog entry - if anyone's interested.
Thanks for reading!
When I was a Hapkido student in the late 90s, my teacher was an acupuncturist. Admittedly, I had a great deal of skepticism about it all. I thought much of it was psychosomatic and a few inches away from being what many other martial artists referred to as "woo-woo." Woo-woo is a nickname given to anything that smacks of mysticism or any other area that contains liberal uses of words like energy, spirit, or chi. While I appreciate that people have all sorts of different opinions on pressure points, I prefer to stand on things that are testable and measurable in life. Knowing this, my old teacher decided to confront my skepticism while I was in the throes of my usual twice a year head cold - let me explain.
While studying Hapkido back then, I was a full time private music teacher. While I love the job and still do it, I basically worked in a large closet with no windows and little ventilation. Since about a third of my music students are under the age of 18, I'm constantly having people come in with seasonal head colds. I don't care how great a person's immune system is: if you're in a room breathing the same air as someone with a nasty head cold (or possibly multiple people in the same day), you're getting sick. I was in the throes of one of these head colds at that time. To add to this, I was playing in a band and had to play a gig that night in DC. The cold was affecting my voice on top of my overall disposition. My old teacher seized on the opportunity to give me some new insight.
Seeing me with this cold, he asked if he could treat me. I shyly declined while trying to hide my obvious lack of faith in the field. He insisted, and confronted my thoughts on it. "You don't think it will work?" he asked. I politely told him that I didn't. He then said for me to find out for myself and to see what happened. He poked holes on the palm side of my middle joint on my middle fingers with a sterile diabetic's needle and put alcohol on the small marks. After that, he stood up, grabbed some tissues, and leaned against his desk with a smirk on his face. It was about that time that it felt like someone took a wallpaper remover to the insides of my lungs and throat. He handed me the tissues as I coughed up horrible amounts of material. From that point on, he had my attention.
While this wasn't acupuncture in the sense of using meridians in the body, it was a traditional Korean method of dealing with illness. Many Korean people may have memories of parents or grandparents doing the sort of thing with different levels of effectiveness. Still, this got my attention.
Since then, I've had other brushes with traditional Korean or Chinese medicine - everything from acupuncture to herbal medicine. Some of it worked really well and others were useless from what I could tell. There are arguments to be made that some of that could be psychosomatic, or that the treatment was effective.
In martial arts, pressure points are used in order to cause pain or to distract someone as another technique is being executed. There are stories about people being able to make someone lose consciousness or die from an attack on a pressure point, but I have a very high level of skepticism about this. If those techniques were consistently effective, then they would be commonplace. So, what then is the final result - what place do I think pressure point study should have in martial arts?
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I think that there may be different nerves or blood vessels to correlate to pressure points used in classical acupuncture study that may have application in martial arts. My experience has been that someone prepared for an attack on a pressure point is far less susceptible to it. Use of these points requires a level of accuracy that would be hard to execute against an opponent that's engaging you aggressively. As a surprise move against someone not expecting retaliation, this would be more effective.
Should you know them? Sure - why not. Should you rely on them if confronted with someone actively looking to cause you harm? Well, I think some other techniques might be better suited to that task. While it's good to not be closed off to something that could add insight to study, it's also important not to fall into the many woo-woo traps that are all around martial arts and that annoy many modern martial arts practitioners when they think of traditional martial arts - quite reasonably, I might add. Still, there are many things in both camps that are problematic. Maybe, that'll be another blog entry - if anyone's interested.
Thanks for reading!
Friday, April 10, 2015
Spirituality and Martial Arts - Know your pay grade!
Many people have opinions on faith and spirituality. With martial arts often being a very life affirming area of study, it's no wonder that these opinions find there way into people's training. Each martial arts school has a little bit of a different view on these issues from one another. I feel that I may have some unique perspective to add to that conversation. I'd like to take a moment and explain my approach to these things at Han Mi and why I don't enter into it with people there.
As a martial arts student, I was often surrounded by people with different religious views than my own. At one school, the GM of that dojang had a kind of pan-religious/theosophical view of faith. He would talk about Jesus, Buddha, Reincarnation, and energy along with space aliens, psychics, and super human feats. I tried to keep an open mind about it and listened politely to what was being said. While he was conveying these ideas, I often wondered why I was having to hear this when I wanted to learn martial arts. After some time, he began making judgments about my "spiritual level" and how I should live my personal life. It was one of the things that eventually led to me leaving that instructor. At another school, the GM there said "you seem like a really nice guy; what kind of Christian are you? Where do you go to church?" to one of the other students. In my head, I knew that this was meant as a compliment. For my friend, all he heard was how only Christians were decent people. Along with that second GM's questionable opinions on minorities and how he treated his students overall, I feel that his insensitivity motivated me not work with that him any longer. While the relationship between me and these other schools that I used to work with is more complex than any one issue, one consistent theme was the instructor's injection of religion into school environment. It often had a polarizing and fragmentary effect on me and some of the other students.
Some of my friends own martial arts schools and they like to put inspirational quotes from religious texts on emails, Facebook statuses, and other school related materials. When reaching out to other Hapkido schools and federations in the past, they included religious quote on their promotional materials. While I respect their right to do so and their passions for those beliefs, it is something I simply won't do. I'm of the opinion that this kind of thing is reaching too far into the personal lives of the students.
The reason is simple: I'm a martial arts instructor. While I have my own opinions about religion and what some people refer to as spirituality, I see no need to proselytize to students. We are surrounded by churches, mosques, synagogues, and all other places of worship along with an online world full of these ideas. If someone is curious, it isn't hard for them to look up any religion and go from there. I have no interest in being any kind of guru or spiritual leader. I do not want to sway or control those aspects of people's lives. It feels inappropriate to me.
Is there a place for spirituality in martial arts study? Absolutely. However, I don't think it is spirituality in the manner many people are accustomed to thinking - one that even the faithless can rest easy with, I think. Spirituality, in my mind, is defined as the harmony between the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of a person. That may seem an odd use of that word; when thinking of spirituality, many people think of what comes from a book, or prayers, or mantra. Maybe, these are two different things being attributed to the same word and this is a lacking within the English language. However, I think that a person's overall psychological well-being is vitally important and makes many other things possible. A person with this kind of quality can see clearly and have understanding in much the same way a compound microscope works when all the lenses are focused and working together. Allow me to expand on this.
If a person says he loves his country but then beats his wife, he does not actually know love. How can someone know love if they are violent to the people that trust them? If someone says they love peace and yet create division in people around them by judgments or gossip, then they don't know peace. How would they know peace if they have no compassion in them? If someone is insecure, then they will crave control over others. We see this in the abusive relationships between people as much as the abusive relationships in some governments abroad. The need to control will cause conflict. When someone sees themselves as below another, then that person will not feel empowered and will not live up to their potential and obligations - there will be disharmony. If left without introspection, the abused will have the potential to become an abuser themselves. In keeping with these thoughts; one can see also that it is impossible to love what you fear - even though people try to mix the two every day. Take a wife that loves her husband but is constantly jealous. Isn't that jealousy just fear of rejection? If that fear is left without question, won't it interfere with the rapport in that relationship? If someone sees that fear and love can't be combined and that person has love, then the jealousy will be addressed and treated like the poison it is. These qualities are what I'm calling spirituality - matters of a person's spirit.
Spirituality, in this context, is more about unification psychologically and physically rather than an issue of faith. I'm sure some may argue about the use of "spirituality" to what I am describing and that's fine. While people may prefer another word, needing this inward unification in order to be a healthy person is a fact - like gravity and light. I use the word spirituality because these things deal with the spirit of a person - their quality of being. We can all come up with another word and I'd be fine with it. To my understanding, it as an appropriate word. In any case, the next natural question is to wonder what martial arts has to do with any of this.
Spirituality, in this context, is more about unification psychologically and physically rather than an issue of faith. I'm sure some may argue about the use of "spirituality" to what I am describing and that's fine. While people may prefer another word, needing this inward unification in order to be a healthy person is a fact - like gravity and light. I use the word spirituality because these things deal with the spirit of a person - their quality of being. We can all come up with another word and I'd be fine with it. To my understanding, it as an appropriate word. In any case, the next natural question is to wonder what martial arts has to do with any of this.
Martial arts address these issues very directly. In sparring for example, there are no illusions about what is going on. While we operate with certain agreed upon rules to maintain safety, the goal of martial arts training is to learn how to defend yourself against another person - even in the sport styles. We take great care to minimize risk and have no tolerance for people that don't adhere to safe behavior. Still, tapping or scoring a point in sparring means that serious injury would have happened in an actual combat situation. So, there is trust that has to be developed in the school. People become very close and have to learn to communicate with each other very sincerely. In doing that, people learn how to untie the knots of fear, self-delusion, and egotism. We push each other to improve and, even though it can be frustrating, thank a person for helping us to find spots in our training where we can improve. We do this while strengthening our bodies with exercise and physical conditioning while strengthening our minds with strategy, observation, and technical conditioning. If someone lacks in this psychological unification (is fearful, confused, easily surprised or distracted), then it will come out in the training. They will be angry, easily made insecure, timid, arrogant, narrow-minded, and exhibit all other kinds of dysfunctional behavior. In the mirror of relationship with the other students, we all have to face those inner demons and conquer them when they show themselves. When a person learns how to deal with these things on the mat, then that new understanding permeates through their entire lives.
If you think about it, you can imagine the qualities that would arise from this kind of study. A person that has gone through this process becomes smoother, less quick to anger, more subtle in behavior and in observation, more allowing of different views, and more understanding of other people's situations. This is the very reason why I am a martial arts instructor - besides the fact that I enjoy martial arts, of course. In being an instructor, I am the head of a school. I see a parallel in the macro and micro - between the school as a whole and each individual student.
Because of this parallel view, I do not want to put my religious views out for students to see. My personal views on religion could cause fragmentation and a lack of unity in the school - with the same equally corrosive effects as a lack of unity in a person can have. I am interested in teaching the things that were discussed earlier and not anything more. If those things have been conveyed - not to be controlled by fear, not to be isolated, not to be without options, to question and explore, and to be a whole unified person, then the other things planted in that soil will do just fine. I keep to that religiously, if you'll pardon the pun.
If you think about it, you can imagine the qualities that would arise from this kind of study. A person that has gone through this process becomes smoother, less quick to anger, more subtle in behavior and in observation, more allowing of different views, and more understanding of other people's situations. This is the very reason why I am a martial arts instructor - besides the fact that I enjoy martial arts, of course. In being an instructor, I am the head of a school. I see a parallel in the macro and micro - between the school as a whole and each individual student.
Because of this parallel view, I do not want to put my religious views out for students to see. My personal views on religion could cause fragmentation and a lack of unity in the school - with the same equally corrosive effects as a lack of unity in a person can have. I am interested in teaching the things that were discussed earlier and not anything more. If those things have been conveyed - not to be controlled by fear, not to be isolated, not to be without options, to question and explore, and to be a whole unified person, then the other things planted in that soil will do just fine. I keep to that religiously, if you'll pardon the pun.
What do I say when someone says Merry Christmas? I respond and say Merry Christmas in return knowing that they are celebrating the birth of Jesus and time with family. During Passover, I realize that our Jewish students are celebrating the Israelites freedom from Egyptian rule. During Ramadan, I realize that my Muslim students won't be as active in the school because they are fasting in order to bring their life's focus back to god. Hindu students will be having great Diwali celebrations right before Thanksgiving and I always hope to get great vegetarian food out of it. Pagan students enjoy Solstice gatherings and playful jibs from me about going Skyclad. And, yes, even the the Atheists get a playful smile as they celebrate Aluminum, the lack of tinsel, and great 90s humor from shows about nothing on the 23rd. We accept everyone that respects hard work, growth, and this social agreement we all have with each other that I like to refer to as civilization.
So, enjoy your holidays. Go about your faith with passion and sincerity. If you want to wish me something kind from your tradition, I will be grateful and humbled that you thought of me at all. Just know that my lack of religious expression is not a rejection of yours. I want to welcome everyone to Han Mi and I want them to feel at home. I work hard to keep us a unified community inside of the school so that our students know how to be that outside. That's my job - along with the kicking, striking, wrestling, and yelling while wearing comfortable clothing.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
My Eagle Claw is superior to your Dragon Fist! The arguments over style...
My school is in a small town that has 3 other established schools within a few hundred feet of us. They all teach different styles - some teach variations on Korean martial arts like Tang Soo Do while others teach Brazilian JuJitsu, Muy Thai, Krav Maga, or any other number of styles. Some of these styles consider themselves traditional while others consider themselves modern. My experience tells me that most instructors are probably secretly convinced that they have the answer to what is truly martial arts. I get asked often what my opinions are on the different styles being taught.
First, I want to say how much I genuinely respect anyone passionate (or insane) enough to start a martial arts school. While plenty of other jobs are tougher, I can say that this job is challenging. A martial arts instructor is expected to have expertise in their art while being a positive force to the people around them. Since there is a group of people involved, you have to always balance of the good of the group with the each individual's needs. You have to balance what is correct and what has integrity while trying to make a lot of people happy and run a business. An instructor could scare, intimidate, or seem unfriendly to someone without realizing it. In spite of that, I love what I do and feel that I share something uniquely in common with other school owners. Please, realize while reading this; I am not critiquing any other school or style here.
Still, many other instructors are convinced that what they teach is the answer to the big question: What is the best style to use for self-defense? Sometimes, they'll see an MMA match and think that this is the ultimate way. Other times, they'll get exposed to military training and think that this is best. Many others are convinced that the old ways are the most effective and that there's no reason to re-examine the past with a critical eye. There are so many opinions about this topic - is there an answer?
When I was a Hapkido student, I was encouraged to read something called the Tao Te Ching. It is a philosophical text about the nature of reality. The first chapter roughly translates to say in English that the way that can be expressed is not the ultimate way. I spent some time pondering this and I think it means that the moment an answer is expressed that it becomes imperfect. That's not to say that 2 + 2 will equal 5 next week; rather, that reality is always changing and moving around. Life is not as simple as that math problem - from moment to moment, there are different forces that are at work in the world. Any answer to a problem often will not be correct in a different time or context. Let's apply this idea to the question at hand.
The person that comes to the question with the answer of MMA has a pretty good answer. Mixed Martial Arts deals with striking, grabs from a stand, and wrestling. Still, MMA is a sport with rules. Certain techniques are off limits and real life could have weapons or obstacles. While the mixture of these disciplines is very worthwhile and interesting, it isn't going to be the ultimate answer to how to defend yourself.
Military training like Krav Maga or Marine Corps Martial Arts is also very effective. However, the goal of such training is very different than other martial arts. It is developed around the idea that you will have friends coming in behind you. If a person in a squad is tasked with clearing a building and they're the first person into a room with two bad guys, then that person's goal is to kill one bad guy before the other kills them. That way, the friend behind them has a chance to subdue the other bad guy, complete the mission, and continue to fight another day. While this kind of training is vital for the military and shows great courage for self-sacrifice, those goals aren't appropriate for day to day life as a civilian. Take the case of a mugging; it would be less traumatic for the martial artist to hand over a wallet rather than deal with the ethical dilemma of killing someone over a few dollars. That sort of hypothetical scenario may tickle the ego, but people that have experienced having to end another life will tell you that there's nothing to cheer about when it happens. Needless to say, deadly force isn't always necessary and there is a broader spectrum of answers in real life that could be better.
Traditional martial arts aren't always the answer either. Some older styles have such rich histories that they stop looking at what new understandings we have in modern times. Some styles train that when both people end up on the floor, you should stop and start again from a standing position. Yet, life clearly doesn't do this. Other styles still study things like throwing stars, nunchaku, sword, or sai. While these studies often have a great deal to teach us about martial arts, people don't use these weapons anymore. Reality is always changing and growing; are all of those answers still good answers?
The originator of IHF Hapkido was a gentleman named Myung Jae Nam. He was a Korean man who was interested in spreading his view of Hapkido to the world and worked to develop study methods to help the Korean police force. All of us in IHF Hapkido are directed to never speak ill of others styles of martial arts. Courtesy and respect should be paid to these other thoughts because they all have their weight. In some context, they are all useful. That's why we are also taught to be humble because reality is too big for anyone know in its entirety.
So, who should we follow?
Initially, follow whatever grabs your attention as sincere. Listen closely to whatever answers they have. Know whatever answer they have is not the only answer, but listen and study it anyway. If it turns out you are being taught something false, you will find out as you explore it and apply it in practice. Sometimes, you will have trouble making a technique work that someone else can do effortlessly. That doesn't make the technique or the style wrong; it just makes all of us human. Study and find out. Reality has a great way of sorting out what is true and what is not. You're going to learn something regardless of what you study assuming you study with passion, curiosity, and sincerity.
So, the answer to the big question? It's to become aware and sensitive to the world around you, train your body to be strong and conditioned to act, and then let your intelligence dictate the course of action. If you find someone skillful, work with that person. Learn all you can. Grow and realize that there is no final answer. Rather, that the martial artist is engaged in a constant conversation with the world around them. In the end, we have to accept that there is no ultimate answer and that anyone peddling an ultimate answer is either selling something false or has never really been challenged to see their own fallibility.
Have the conversation for yourself.
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