Martial
Training as a Timeless Portal
Thanks to several
centuries of enlightened teachings by extraordinary men in the martial
disciplines, we don’t have to be restricted to lives of getting and spending,
waiting in quiet desperation for the pain to cease.
Most
of us in the Arts focus on the tasks in front of our noses (the correct hand
forms/kicks/body alignments), forgetting our option to consciously evolve along
the way to physical perfection.
Words
are easy, but we can avoid just blowing mouth-wind here by listing some
timeless guides for self-growth, followed by training suggestions:
[ The physical and cerebral functions die,
while the spirit continues to grow. This is a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how
many clubs are satisfied with learning only to kick butt. What’s left when full
contact is a thing of your matured past, with only knee pains to jolt a dim
memory? Lots of ways to answer that one—and it’s better to cultivate chi and
meditation practices now.
[ Assume you know nothing—then the Superior
Man will appear. The most formidable opponent is your own ego. In
training, first learn to listen and watch carefully, then proceed with selfless
attention and caution. Your higher functions will then operate without
impediments.
[
No authority
exists outside of your Self. The successful
student-master relationship is necessarily a symbiotic one. Each needs the
other in order to bring the task at hand to fruition. Many modern followers of
the martial arts have forgotten that the grading system produces no absolute
ranks. The system is circular: the student must decide by what criteria he
wishes to be graded, and then he finds an acceptable person to confer the content
of the desired curriculum. Similarly, the teacher must decide the qualities of
a potentially desirable student, then contract with that candidate. Both are
dipping from the same well, both are reflections of a Being offering
meta-cultural sustenance.
[
Nature points
the Way. It is not possible to express in words what is most
real, sublime, and ultimate. Recognizing the limitations of the intellect,
martial training traditions guide with the lamp of direct experience. The fool
wastes energy talking, while the Master gets on with the work—usually outside.
[
Change or die.
You are here to evolve, and that means
transformation—rarely pleasant, always necessary if we wish to do more than
languish in a past of illusions. That which does not change dies soon
thereafter. It’s important to keep your training fresh and stimulating; this
usually will mean putting some quality hours into solitary disciplines.
[
Comfort is
dangerous, seek the difficult. In training, eat bitter
every day. Don’t forget to hammer the
basics: they will keep your workouts honest—and provide you with powerful tools
to manifest new ideas.
[
Bitter alone
is a poor diet. Eating bitter every day is only one side of the
tri-lateral equation. One
thousand kicks daily will not stretch your mind’s rational capabilities, nor
will it feed psychic circuits of intuition. A complete Art of leg maneuvers
combines proper attention, visualization, and conscious breath control
patterns, along with repetitions of well-aligned kicking form.
[
Suffering is a
great Teacher, but life-threatening poverty is not Noble. It
is a fact of human existence that we learn a great deal more from our struggles
than from complacency. But if we are to advance in training, we must maintain a
decent standard of living, thus guarding the Three Treasures of the Temple.
[
Chasing the illusions of wealth, position, status, social
power will stunt your evolution. Modern men have been
divested, emasculated, and tamed through social programming by the culture of
commerce. We are told to defend marketing strategies, bottom lines, and
aggressive growth policies of business cartels. These social programmers love
money. What do you love?