Martial Arts and the Way of Peace

Like many kids and teens, I first got interested in martial arts because I liked all the fancy kicks and strikes I saw in the movies.  When you’re young and you’ve got testosterone flowing through your veins, few things are cooler sounding than being taught how to rip someone’s arm out of socket.  Needless to say, I sought out a martial arts instructor to start me on my journey many moons ago.

Fast forward about 18 years and here I sit, a Tang Soo Do master.  While I fancy myself pretty well-versed in self-defense as defined by a particular style of martial arts, I am not the all-knowing, all-seeing and omnipotent master that we see in the movies.  Only recently, I was having a conversation in class with one of my students about how the media has affected the attendance to martial arts classes over the years.  The first real boom of interest by the general public was brought about by the legendary Bruce Lee when the movie “Enter the Dragon” hit the theaters.  I can pretty much guarantee that after leaving the movie, people were lining up at the local karate school to learn how to annihilate an entire army single-handedly just like Bruce Lee did in the movie.

"Enter the Dragon" probably single handedly started the American martial arts revolution.

After a while, that interest began to wane until a resurgence came with Mr. Miyagi and “The Karate Kid”.  I don’t think since “Rocky” had there been such a story of personal triumph in the face of adversity…..and with some cool moves stuck in there too.

….and again the martial arts schools prospered because of it.

There really hasn’t been another movie that had brought the masses to the steps of the martial arts schools like these two did.  As a matter of fact, something took their place.  That thing was the Mixed Martial Arts phenomenon.  I remember watching the very first Ultimate Fighting Challenge put on by the Gracie family, and sitting there open-mouthed as quiet, unassuming Royce Gracie picked cleverly picked apart each of his much larger opponents with a series of moves derived from the Gracie family system of Jujitsu.  The rest is really history, and Mixed Martial Arts (or MMA, as it’s commonly referred to) has set up permanent residence in the sports and martial arts world.

Mixed martial arts changed the face of martial arts as we know it.

In my own way, I was caught up in the media hype of martial arts, and that’s what led to my interest and eventual training in Traditional Tang Soo Do.  I’d dare say that I’m now capable of some pretty nasty techniques that could only be pulled out in a self-defense situation;  I also take great pains to keep myself in what I like to call “fighting shape” by pushing myself with cross training.  That way I’m always ready to respond to a physical situation.  It’s still a work in progress; and if you ever ask me at any point in time, I’m probably in the middle of training for something.  One of my favorite sayings is that “there’s always room for improvement”.

…..but after all these years, something happened to me along the way.

At some undisclosed point in my training, it occurred to me that the things that I was learning could potentially seriously hurt or even kill someone if I was not careful.  That revelation made me think about what it meant to have the right temperament as a martial artist.  It was with that discovery that I began to understand the difference between learning a fighting style and learning martial arts.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for those of us that go through the rigors of learning MMA.  The conditioning and training that goes into it is near unparalleled.  The sport is, in many ways, still in infancy; and as more people become interested, it continue to grow and evolve.  Still, it’s not something that I define as “martial arts”.  To clarify, I define “martial arts” as learning the physical techniques, philosophy and mental training that underscore a particular style of fighting.  Once the practitioner has sufficiently learned the techniques with some proficiency, he or she seeks to perfect them, but at the same time avoid physical confrontation at all costs unless his or her life (or the life of a loved one) is threatened.  It’s sort of an enigmatic situation; but you train for the fight that may never happen.

Along the way, you may find yourself seeking to cultivate your appreciation of peaceful arts.  It’s a natural complement to learning the art of war.  Meditation, for example, is usually the first to be sought out.  There is a simple quote frequently heard in many martial arts schools that simply says “right mind”.  That is to say that at any given time, your mind should be nowhere in particular, but capable of making the right decision at the right moment.  Sitting meditation is a perfect way to cultivate that way of thinking; and it bleeds into other parts of your life.  One of my senior instructors once told me that “we’re in the business of teaching how to seriously hurt or potentially kill someone”.  That’s a pretty heavy statement to live with, and it almost forces you to dwell on the need to always make the right decisions.

See, I prescribe to the old school way of thinking that the ultimate failure in martial arts is actually having to use your abilities on someone.  That means your powers of negotiation and your practiced ability to keep the peace has failed and you have to resort to violence.  At that point, the martial artist switches gears and quite literally turns on the warrior mode of thinking in order to ensure his or her survival of the situation.  It’s a place in our psyche that we don’t particularly care to go, but we are capable of dialing up at a moment’s notice.

Part of harnessing that inner demon and using it at will is to find peace in your heart and mind.  It’s really a difficult concept to explain, but something that each martial arts student must experience for him or herself.  The Tao Te Ching says that “the tao that can be told is not the true tao”.  The words that I use to describe this concept are futile at best; but many Asian-based forms of martial arts tapped into it.  The Japanese called it “mushin” or “no mind”; and you can compare it to being “in the zone” all the time.  That, I think, is missing from a lot of progressive fighting systems today.  Anyone can teach you how to punch, kick, or throw someone to the ground; but who teaches the philosophy behind avoiding that situation to begin with?  Very few, because there’s no money to be made there, unfortunately.  It’s that choice to live in peace, while being capable of great acts of violence, that has blurred the lines between MMA and traditional martial arts handed down from generations of masters.  I don’t seek to prove how fast I am, or how strong I am, or even how many fights I can win anymore.  These years of training have been a journey of self discovery about my own abilities.  I know my capabilities; and I know that I can use them if the situation calls for it.

If you’ve been training for a while, look at the difference within yourself between who you were when you first walked through the doors of your training hall and now.  Ask yourself, “am I a good representative of my art?  Can I defend myself according to the definitions and philosophies set forth by my art?”  The MMA fighter looks for the next fight.  The martial artist trains for a life or death fight in hopes that it will never happen.

Train for war, but seek peace.

Master Wayne Boozer