The Martial Warrior: “I can kick your ass – but I won’t.”
The Martial Scholar: “I can kick your ass – but first I’ll outsmart you.”
The Martial Monk: “I can kick your ass – but that’s not the issue.”
One of the three principles of TanDao’s Proactive Strategy is controlled degrees of response. Martial artists train to instinctively respond to physical threat. Bam! Hit the attacker without thinking. No thought – too slow. That’s how we should train in class. The opponent attacks we defend without thought.
But is this realistic?
At TanDao we apply practical self defense class training to different street contexts to explore the implications of our fighting skills. You would not use the same technique to deal with an obnoxious drunk, a violent mugger or a child who playful attacks you. The situation determines whether or not you use that snake strike to the eyes, a palm to the chest or a restraining joint lock.
True, an effective technique demands mushin the samurai or Shaolin monk’s zen notion of no-mindedness. While mushin is an ideal to develop unconscious mind/body reactions so we move like lightening, in the real world we must cultivate a higher awareness of controlled degrees of response. Aside from ambush or sudden assaults, which demands instinctive response, the choice whether or not to fight should not be instinctive . This is especially important, if you are trained in dangerous animal techniques like the tiger claw.
Controlled degrees of response is a characteristic of advanced martial arts that puts the martial warrior’s superior strength, kick ass prowess and ego under the control of the martial scholar’s discretion and the martial monk’s conscience.
For The Evolving Martial Artist – warrior/scholar/monk – options are power.
Keep Practicing,
Lawrence Tan
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Tags: fighting, kung fu, lawrence tan, Martial Arts, mushin, shaolin, tandao
The Martial Raconteur: “I can’t kick your ass–but you’ll never know that!”