There are life lessons everywhere, even in the most unlikely of places. For the Evolving Martial Artist, fighting is a metaphor for life. Engaging a daunting adversary who hits and inflicts pain is like entering the every day battles of life. Hell, it hurts.
Tough lessons are often employed by Shaolin kung fu masters to teach the tough demands of combat. And life. In American history, the Gold Rush brought people to the Black Hills of South Dakota and as the camp grew, a town sprung up around the prospecting. David Milch’s ground breaking Western HBO series Deadwood, based on real characters and events in the Old West, was a study in human evolution and our struggle to bring chaos to order.
In this scene from Deadwood, Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) the complex protagonist, ruthless and brutal, yet with his own morals, loyalties, and even at times, kindness, imparts a life lesson to the Deadwood’s newspaper publisher, A.W. Merrick (Jeffrey Jones) who is demoralized by violent misfortune, after being threatened, finds his office and printing press vandalized and in ruin. In Swearengen we see a classic example of the Eastern zen slap or as we say in the West, a kick in the ass.
However crude, it is wisdom for martial artists and non-martial artists alike.
Lawrence Tan & Toni Josephson
Tags: Al Swearengen, deadwood, endurance, ian mcshane, jeffrey jones, kung fu, Martial Arts, tandao, zen
Love this philosphy–piss and vinegar in action. In my own life I’ve lost everything material valued in Western culture: my marriage, my career, my house, considerable retirement monies and took a hammering in the process. But as Toni pointed out in a recent email, I have the love and respect of my sons and a few friends. That’s what’s really important; it would be a damn shame to be lying in a casket at a wake and have friends walk by and say “He had a beautiful Maserati and a nice golf swing.” The sign of a failed life.
Zen slap? My teacher was big on that: I’d perform a set and he’d shake his head and say: “Why am I wasting my time on you? Terrible; why don’t you try something else–like crotcheting?” He knew his man–I’d get so pissed from the kicks in the ass I’d work five times harder to show him what I was made of. Of course, he was always laughing in the background. My cheeks are calloused from the slaps–but I’m here to piss and moan!
Tell it brother. Can we get an “Amen”?
I’d say “Amen” but that would be pretentious of me; what the hell, I am pretentious: “Amen.”
Funny thing–took calculated abuse from my teacher for years. Just a month ago I was talking to a buddy of mine, one of his senior students, a kung-fu teacher at one of the YMAA schools. He told me that Rami Rones, my teacher, for years “motivated” them by saying “Bob Ellal is my best student in qigong–ever. Why? Because he does what I say and doesn’t try to add a million new things because he’s bored or wants to impress. He enters the door deeply.” I was shocked–after all the shit he gave me that he’d say that. I guess it was all worth it!