Mystical forgeries in the Martial Arts

"Just as yellow leaves may be gold coins to stop the crying children, thus, the so-called secret moves and contorted postures appease the unknowledgeable martial artists."

Bruce Lee - Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Martial Arts is filled with legends of people who were able to achieve superhuman feats: Being able to move objects with their minds and cause injury and death to opponents without touching them. Being able to leap and levitate in the air. There are plenty of demonstrations of hard Qigong where practitioners will have scalding water poured on them without being burned. Laying on beds of nails and having concrete slabs smashed over their bodies. Taking sword cuts to the body without any visible marks remaining.

While there may be people with such mastery it is extremely rare. You are more likely to encounter the charlatans and fakes who display magician like parlor tricks. There are plenty of snake-oil salespeople in the martial arts with promises of god-like powers. Techniques so rare and so deadly that they would give the person who knew them an aura of invincibility. The ability to knock people out without touching them. They even have students who are so brainwashed and believe in the forgery that they go along with it. Falling to the ground when their master waves his hand over them to simulate a knockout. Here is a video of one such "master" who boasted a 200-0 fight record and specialized in no touch knockouts. There was a challenge with a prize of whoever could beat him.



As expected, he got his ass kicked! Imagine his students with years of practice confident in their teachers and their own abilities watch their teacher get the stuff knocked out of him. They spent all those years learning how to move chi balls when they should have learned how to block. You can see after the first punch connects, he wipes at his nose and cannot believe that he is really bleeding. He really believed his own bullshit.

What do I believe? I believe that the human body and mind has almost unlimited potential when subjected to lengthy rigorous training. Kung-Fu has metaphysical concepts such as Qi (Chi) which is essentially the unseen life force that is part of every living thing. I guess the easiest way for me to conceptualize Qi has been as an invisible bio-energy field. It would take many posts before I could accurately describe Qi and there are numerous definitions of what it is exactly. Internal (Nei Chia) arts focus on developing a practitioners internal Qi and allowing him to harness and manipulate it. This is also the basis of pressure point striking and acupuncture - striking or manipulating vital points or meridians for combat or healing. Skillful manipulation of Qi takes years, decades of study. You can't master the meta-physical without first mastering the physical: Punches, kicks, joint-locks, blocks, parries, evasion, offense, defense, rooting, strength, flexibility, speed, coordination, power and timing. Strengthening and mastering the body must come before you are able to manipulate and channel the energy within it. Simply put, learn to block.

Intro - Ode to Martial Arts (Way of Life)

My interest in Kung-Fu or Gongfu began when I watched kung-fu movies as a kid growing up. 108 Shaolin wooden men, Snake vs. Crane, Drunken Master, Shaolin vs. Wutang, Revenge of the Ninja may have had shaky dialogue and plot holes so big that you could drive a semi through them, but my friends and I spent plenty of hours mimicking the punches and kicks, the over-dubbed mouth movements, the sounds (whoosh-bap-bap-yeeaaaahhhhhh). We would watch Bruce Lee and reenact scenes from our favorite movies. I promised myself if I ever got the chance to study Kung-Fu, I would. I've been studying Shaolin Kung-Fu for the past 6 years and I can't jump backwards onto rooftops just yet but I am working on it.

I also grew up listening to hip-hop music. I've been a fan of hip-hop since I was a kid in the mid-eighties. Way back when mix-tapes were on cassettes that you would trade with your friends and play at a low volume because you didn't want any grown ups hearing cuss-words coming from your tape player. Although there have been groups who have incorporated the martial-arts symbolism (like the Wutang Clan), I hadn't really heard a group describe the martial arts journey so perfectly until I heard a song from one of my favorite groups Dead Prez. The song is called Way of Life from their RBG-Revolutionary but Gangsta album.



Here are the lyrics:

Dead Prez - Way Of Life

What you know about the running, the stretching
The katas, the weapons
The path, the journey
The jewels, the learning
The fear, the focus
The aches, the pains
The contact sparrin', the breaks, the sprains
The trial and error, the ranks, and belts
The spiritual growth, the science of breath
The tests, the techniques
The forms, the stances
The flow, the rhythm, the internal answers
The herbs, the healing, the quiet meditation
The truths revealed through daily dedication
The love for the art, the sweat on your shirt
The mind, the body, and the spirit at work
The feelings of failure, the hope to succeed
The battles with questions like "Should I smoke weed?"
The water, the thirst
The cleansing, the blessings
The flash of insights, the teachings, the lessons
The grappling and locking, trapping and boxing
The training and slacking
The starting and stopping
The stayin' committed, when your homies ain't with it
The hours or practice after the class is finished
The cause of your ignorance, flaws in your discipline
Broken laws of nutrition, and poor conditionin'
The vitamins and supplements
Salves and ointments
The kin-ships, pulled joints and doctor appointments
The dues, the pads, the wraps, the gloves
The mouthpiece you left home, the taste of your own blood
The hunger, the blocks
The punches, the squats
The crunches, the example you set for the youngsters
The will, the skills, to kill or to heal
The separation between what's fake and what's real
The laws of physics, The class camaraderie
The vows of humility, the bow, the courtesy.

Well everything except the "Should I smoke weed" part I can cosign.