Training with classical weapons in the age of the Gun

In my Kung-Fu school we train with classical chinese weapons. Staff, Broadsword, Straight Sword, Chainwhip, Kwan Dao (Halberd), Tie Cha (Sai), Er Chie Kuen (Nunchaku), Spear, 3-Sectional Staff and others. Some people would question the benefits of training with such weapons when the most commonly used weapons are pistols, rifles, shotguns and other projectile weapons. The classical weapons were the military weapons of their day, so shouldn't we be training with the current military weapons of our time?


There are some benefits to training with classical weapons. Here are a few:

1. It challenges your mind when learning how to handle a classical weapon  

    Each weapon you train with has a unique feel, training with a staff has a different feel than training with a spear.  There are different principles involved in correctly using both.  Flexible weapons like the nunchaku, spear, 3-section staff and chain whip all have a different feel than using non-flexible weapons. Long weapons have different advantages and disadvantages than using short weapons. You have to learn the strengths, weaknesses and principles of each weapon until you can truly use it effectively.  By learning to use each weapon effectively, you are training your neural pathways in different ways which will enhance your mental development.

2. You train your body so that you can make the weapon an extension of it

     True skill with weapons occurs when the practitioner handling the weapon makes it a part of him/her.  The weapon becomes like another limb and the practitioner has full and complete control over it. Having broken my nose with a 3-Sectional staff, I can tell you that this is way easier said than done. It takes countless hours of practice to acheive this feat. But once you do you gain an advantage over your opponent because you can extend your reach and fighting ability with it.

3. The Weapons train your body in ways that your empty hand techniques do not

     Training with weapons also trains different areas of the body in ways that empty hand forms do not. One of my staff workouts incorporates using different staff spins using both hands 50 times each. My shoulders, forearms and wrists are extremely sore afterwards but it is a great workout. Each weapon works the body in a different way.

4. Everyday objects become weapons

     

     When you train with classical weapons, you can substitute them for everyday objects. A detachable broom handle can substitute in place of a staff, A garbage can top and a stick can substitute for a broadsword and shield. You can use an umbrella or a cane as a straightsword or broadsword.  There are certain weapons forms that incorporate the use of benches which can be substituted for chairs.  A tragic example of this is how the 9/11 hijackers took control of the airplanes using simple boxcutters. Pre 9/11, the security teams at the airports screened mainly for guns and knives but the attackers  used boxcutters  as weapons against defenseless passengers and flight crew. So after the security screening the passengers were unarmed but unfortunately the terrorists were not. 

5. Training with weapons can increase your overall skill

     Training your mind and body differently can improve your overall martial ability. Also when you understand the true principles behind using a weapon, you no longer need to use it. Legend has it that Xingyichuan (Mind-Form boxing) was created by General Yue Fei.  It was supposedly based on spear fighting techniques. If you understand the principle that the weapon embodies,  you can discard the weapon and use your whole body in its place.  

The dialogue between the King of Qin and Jet Li's character 'Nameless' at the end of the movie 'Hero' exemplifies this point. The King is discussing the levels of swordsmanship. 

"Swordsmanship's first achievement; is the unity of man and sword. Once this unity is attained

even a blade of grass can be a weapon.The second achievement is when the sword exists in one's heart. When absent from one's hand, one can strike an enemy at paces even with bare hands.  Swordsmanship's ultimate achievement is the absence of the sword in both hand and heart. The swordsman is at peace
with the rest of the world, he vows not to kill and to bring peace to mankind"*

  *taken from the website - http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/h/hero-script-transcript-jet-li.html

Love is the Secret Ingredient

If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.
George Washington Carver

I have gone through a love/hate relationship with training. When I first started studying kung-fu, I loved it and I could not wait to wake up the next morning to practice. I would take every opportunity after class to go over something with my fellow students. Then I went through a phase when training became a chore. It became something I was supposed to do and not because I loved it. I began to question why I began studying kung-fu in the first place and at one point I thought about quitting altogether. I had many drastic changes going on in life and kung-fu seemed like one obligation that I could do without. My attitude changed and I have come to love my training again. When I am practicing in the park first thing in the morning, my hands are cold and there is silence save for the occasional jogger or person walking their dog. I enjoy training, whether it is doing Qigong, Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, Black Tiger Fist or any of the other material I am working on. I end my workout feeling so invigorated and alive. I love the feeling I get when I am going through forms. Trying to push myself to move as powerfully and as gracefully as I possibly can. To push myself so my stances are lower, my movements are fast, my punches and kicks powerful. I feel truly alive and free.

I think that if training becomes an obligation rather than an act of love, it will become something that we dread instead of value. It'll become something to check off our list. We won't pour everything we have into each session and in doing so we cheat ourselves of the opportunity for true growth. The opportunity to make our art a part of ourselves and to get the chance to gain true mastery instead of mere competence.

I have come to appreciate the gifts of Kung-Fu training. The ability to hone the mind, body and spirit. The gift of being able to apply what I have learned in the Kwoon to other areas of life. To apply the same skilled practice and focus to my work and my home life. I have learned to love Kung-Fu and all martial arts for the many gifts they give. Discipline, Focus, Respect, Strength, Health and Inner Peace. I love the soreness I feel after an intense training session. I love the camaraderie with other students. The many different areas of training (Internal, External, Hard, Soft, Empty Hand styles, Weapons). I love the poetry of the forms. How two people can do the same technique completely differently and everyone can give it their own essence. I am grateful for all that martial arts has given me and I am in the process of trying to come up with a way to pay that gift forward. I hope that maybe one day after I have poured enough love and sweat into the art, I will be able to truly understand all that it has to say.

Shiny Colored Belts and the myth of the Black Belt 'Expert'

The system of belt ranking that many modern martial arts schools use was invented by Kanō Jigorō the founder of Judo. It was originally devised as a tool to allow students to measure their training progress and to give greater granularity to martial arts training. Students would be able to track their progress against the expectations of whatever belt level they were supposed to be.

The Black Belt symbolizes for many people the highest achievement that one can achieve in any art. Tell someone who does not study martial arts that you have a black belt or black sash in any art and you immediately become viewed as an authority or expert in whatever art you supposedly study. Sometimes people have multiple black-belts in different martial arts styles and are expected to be experts across many disciplines. In Kung-Fu there were three levels - Student, Disciple and Master. You were a student from the time you started your studies until you displayed a certain level of competency. Masters would then make the most promising of their students disciples and teach them more of their art and include teachings previously unavailable to students. Discipleship was given to students who were not only sound technicians but also displayed strength of character. Then after further training, refinement and many years of long and hard study. A disciple would become a master himself.

You can purchase any belt or sash you want from any martial arts supply store. It doesn't make you any more skilled than you were previously. A black belt merely signifies that you have displayed a certain competency while studying your chosen art. It can be like getting a college degree after four years. You are competent in your chosen field but you are by no means an expert in your area. Just like the quality of an education varies between schools so does the quality of black-belts vary between students. Some schools promote their students on a much more lenient scale and require less from a black belt or black sash student than do other schools.

There is a danger of putting too much emphasis on the belt or sash that you wear. Sometimes people get obsessed with belts. They become so focused on the next belt and getting to the mythical black belt that it becomes a race. Never satisfied with truly grasping their current level, they are in a huge hurry to get to whatever is next so that they can get to the promised rank - the black belt/black sash. Rank fuels their ego and finally there is a point where the ego is so big that they finally assume that they have learned all their is to know about their chosen art and finally they quit. Sometimes it is because they get humbled during class after sparring a student who they assumed was inferior because they had a lesser rank. Once they get humbled by the lower ranking student, the ego cannot take the bruising so they question the material instead of questioning their commitment to training.

In my 8 years of studying Shaolin Kung-Fu, I am always amazed at how much more there is to learn. Just when I think I have gotten to a level of competency, there is an additional level to get to. There are not just additional physical challenges, but mental and spiritual ones as well. You have to learn how to subdue the ego so that you aren't so impressed by your own achievements. You merely have to set the bar higher for yourself, to try to improve so that you were better than you were the last time you were in class. To make it to the next training session/class. As the Old Master wrote in the Tao Te Ching - "The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Focus on the next step, not the journey.