Martial Art as a Spiritual Practise (3)

Only to the extent that man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him. Only if we venture repeatedly through zones of annihilation can our contact with Divine Being, which is beyond annihilation, become firm and stable. The more a man learns wholeheartedly to confront the world which threatens him with isolation, the more are the depths of the Ground of Being revealed and the possibilities of new life and Becoming opened (Kornfield in Grof & Grof, 1989, p. 137).

Seasoned martial arts practitioner and author Joe Hyams (1979) explains:  
A dojo is a miniature cosmos where we make contact with ourselves - our fears, anxieties, reactions, and habits. It is an arena of confined conflict where we confront an opponent who is not an opponent but rather a partner engaged in helping us understand ourselves more fully. It is a place where we can learn a great deal in a short time about who we are and how we react in the world... In more than twenty years of studying the martial arts I have not retired to a monastery nor retreated from the pressures of working or living in a competitive society. But I have found that when I attain the spiritual goals of the martial arts, the quality of my life has been dramatically altered - enriching my relationships with people, as well as keeping me in close touch with myself. I have come to see that enlightenment simply means recognising the inherent harmony of ordinary life (pp. 4-6).

All true martial arts can be viewed as being fundamentally the same - different paths to the top of the same mountain. Due to the length of this paper I will detail but one of these paths, however when one understands the path of one martial art one does not require a map with which to transverse the course of another.

KUNG FU is perhaps the oldest martial art tracing it origins back some 4000 years to 2674 BC, when Chinese Emperor Huang Ti used a rudimentary martial art called Chiou Ti as a form of individual combat and military tactic (Minick, 1974).

The term Kung Fu (often pronounced Goong Foo) has no direct translation in the English language, it can be understood to mean "task", "hard work", "a piece of work that is to be accomplished" (Minick, 1974, p. 3). But perhaps the most interesting translation is that of Si-Gung Yang Jwing-Ming Ph.D (1982) who translates the term as follows:
Kung Fu in the Chinese language can mean "energy" (Kung) and "time" (fu). Together both words mean a kind of patient accomplishment (p. 9).

The art developed along three lines - firstly in the military, secondly in Taoist temples and thirdly in Buddhist temples. The military employed the art as a means of training soldiers minds and bodies into becoming great warriors, whilst the temples concentrated on Kung Fu as a means toward enlightenment and health. Because of the interaction between monks and warriors the lines soon merged and Kung Fu became a complete art in itself being practised not only in the temples and military but also within family lineage being past from parent to child (Minick, 1974).

Much of the art is based on the study of animals - one learns to leap and land like the tiger, strike like the snake, be agile like the monkey and balance like the crane. Each animal also represents the acquisition of a certain "essence" - e.g. the leopard develops strength, the crane trains sinews, the snake builds chi and the dragon nurtures spirit (Minick, 1974). It must be noted that each animal has within it the "essences" of all the others, and thus one may practice one style of Kung Fu such as Hung gar (Tiger style) and Wuy Lum (Praying Mantis style) and still develop all the "essences" (Minick, 1974).

For Part 4 Click here

Return to Articles