Fight Lab and The Shaolin Salutation
This week’s TanDao Fight Lab begins with the traditional Shaolin Salutation, an open hand, symbolizing the moon, and a fist, the sun. How quaint. For modern martial artists this is relegated to an arcane gesture to preserve tradition. Otherwise what relevance does it have to a modern fighter?
Actually, this salutation uses body language to communicate primal actions. The open hand represents no weapon and peace, in contrast to the clenched fist that communicates potential aggression. Next to each other, it shows the capacity to express our energy either as the peaceful monk or as a prepared warrior.
Yet for traditionalists initiated into the secrets of form and postures, such a gesture has layers of meaning with practical significance for combat, provided one knows the keys to the hidden language of forms. We are introducing the notion of hard and soft, a major theoretical principle for understanding fighting techniques and tactics.
Do not dismiss it so readily. A different mindset is required to understand these hand symbols, but they can enhance our appreciation of the intellectual depths of the martial way. And, of course, increase our power. Evolving Martial Artists use the principle of hard and soft to understanding the true nature of power. We’ll explore further in the future.
Lawrence Tan
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Tags: goju, hung gar, JKD, john duval, karate, kung fu, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, shaolin, tandao, tandaokungfu, toni josephson, uechi ryu, wing chun
Great explanation! This is a concept I often have trouble getting across to my students.
Thanks, Sifu Lloyd. It seems most modern teachers don’t use this Chinese concept. How else can we explain this core principle? There are so many applications of it, so if you have any suggestions we would all benefit from your experience.
Thanks for the help I’m a big fan of ur the aching keep it up!!!!
Oops I meant to say I’m a big fan of ur teaching, sorry!!!
I admire your ways of practice and your understanding of Martial-Arts.
From the perspective of a newbie, this explanation may mean nothing but I am practicing from last four and a half months now and I know what you mean. Still there is difference between knowing something and really getting it (feeling it in your body and mind).
A man knows many things but I think the difference a good and a poor fighter is that the former not merely knows but had gotten the concepts over practicing. Same for me, I knew many concepts and fundamentals before started training but now I see how much difference it makes in real life practicing. You can’t explain this behavior (or learning) logically and rationally but only by intuition and a feeling that some technique or concept is right or wrong. I wonder why it is like that.
Bruce Lee throws a front kick and so does a powerful young black belt. What is the difference?
The master has completed the learning process. Our challenge is to integrate our mind (scholar) and body (warrior) and emotions (monk) as we learn — and as we live! What does that mean? We may intellectually know a technique,” I should step in an punch when attacked…” (scholar is smart). But we are not strong enough to out match the opponent (warrior is weak). Or we know the tactic and we have the power and skill, but we don’t have the confidence (monk is undeveloped in terms of emotion). Mastery is to understand these things work together to be most effective. Mastery experiences the movements as intuitive.
I always thought of martial arts as a kid as way to fight back the kids who made me cry a lot of times, but now that I am older and into martial arts, I understood the real meaning. It’s all about self discipline. Now it is your time to get into it…
It’s true. What a powerful realization. As we say in TanDao: martial arts is more than fighting. Much more.
I strongly agree… martial arts are not just about showing off that you can fight. The first impression really is that people get into it to be a good fighter, to make someone bleed, but eventually as you go on you will find out that it is more than fighting. It is about discipline. It is not just about the body but as well as the mind, the heart and the soul.