mArTiAl_GiRl

When one compehends the true nature of martial arts, one is fully aware that authentic teachings forbid devaluing, hurting, or destroying the tiniest living creature that crawls at our feet, not to speak of maiming or taking the life of another human being. It is one of the awful ironies of our age martial-arts training that evolved over the centuries into a supremely elegant system centered on attention to ethics, morality, and right living should now be conducted in terms of tecniques and gimmicks of fighting as means to destructive ends, rather than as ends in themselves!

I appreciate your replies.

I would even die for the one I love!

Yeah, i feel exactly the same way. Me too! I'm specially afraid of loosing a person I love, a family member or someone else. I myself am not so afraid of death.

Chi is a term that involves great complexity of understanding, cultivation, and development. Chi refers to the vivifying principle in Chinese cosmology. It means: breath, vapoir, air, steam, vital fluid, force, temper, feelings, human energy, and the psychophysical power associated with blood and breath. It means all of these things. Chi is a complex concept, indeed. It is complex, and yet its complexity depends on the context in which we view it. In our field of Martial Art, chi refers to vital energy, to motive force, to intrinsic bio-energy. In Eastern thought, especially in traditional Eastern medicine, this vital energy exists within the human body before the body is even brought to life. According to this belief, there are two kinds of chi that lie within the body: the prenatal chi that is the motive force, and the postnatal chi, the material force. Prenatal chi, sometimes called congential or primary chi, is inherited from our parents during our formation into the fetus. The postnatl chi comes later, referring to the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the nurture we receive following our birth. Each works separately to produce energy for use by our body-mind-spirit. But whenever they are in imbalance with each other, lopsided in relationship to one another, we become diseased in some way. In martial art, it is of primary importance to keep these energies in balance so as to promote health. Chi is able to treat and cure illnesses and diseases. In this regard, most authentic martial-art masters of the past were also skilled healers. Like physicians, they had professional obligations to humanity. They were persons of conscience who understood keenly and personally the nature of sacrifice for the sake of art. Nowaydays, unfortunately, such masters have become exceedingly rare, perhaps almost an extinct species. Various kinds of pain and suffering are relieved by chi-kung techniques. Starting with bruises, muscle pain, broken bones, sprains, and so on. Later, the most skilled masters may treat arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, peptic ulcer, and-today-certain types of cancer.

In the West, a person seeking martial-arts instruction often goes after it like a shopper in a shopping mall. In the West one is likely to enter the school of martial arts with the same attitudes and some of the same expectations with which one enters a department store, sometimes with a credit card in hand. One may bargain with the clerk, pay the money, learn the routines, take the merchandise, and leave the store. That's all there is to learning martial arts, the merchandisers appear to say. Training in the martial arts as one finds it in this 'mall' approach is often a purely mechanical process with no true human contact between the seller and the buyer, merely one more transaction in a day's busy schedule for both. In terms of the essence of martial arts study, however, it is not that simple at all. In fact, the relationship between students and teacher in the Eastern tradition is quite complex and extraordinary because the true teacher doesn't sell knowledge and the true student cannot buy it. Today martial art training too often pays homage only to the outer aspect to attract more customers who might please themselves in the transient satisfactions and limelight of personal power. Authentic study of martial arts involves intense study of the art of living and is dramatically different from business transactions. People have strayed far from the true martial arts when students and teachers, having launched the transaction as a business venture, demonstrate concern only about appearance, showing-off with spectacular combat techniques designed merely to impress others, while neglecting the cultivation of mindfulness, compassion and love. This crass attitude makes old martial-arts masters complain that nowadays people are merely infatuated with martial arts and train to compete only in order to gain a prize or win a colored belt or title. It seems they have lost the original meaning, the serious purpose, and vitality of the martial arts. The art remains art in name only. So, yes we can say, that something is lost in karate and in martial arts nowadays.

If he never does talk about it next time, then yes. If he does...well some topics deserve more than a 2 minute answer

Welcome

Ok. So it is because of too deep stances? Hmm.. well I think so too.

http://samuraispirits.net/download/emikoto1.jpg See that sword she has? I just love that sword.

I was thinking about why karateka's quite often get knee pain. I've heard from the shotokan-practicioners, that they have knee pain very often. It's strange, I haven't heard that from some shito-ryu practicioners or wado-ryu practitioners and so on.. Though in kung-fu, they have very low stances and I have NEVER heard from them that they have knee pain. So I asked my father yesterday, I wonder why the shotokans get knee pain so often? And my father said: it's not because of the style, it's because of bad stretching and warming up, it depends on the training. It's the first time I hear someone say that kind of reason. My father told me, that his Sifu told him that. And now I wonder, is that true or false what he said? Is it really because of the bad warming up or training.. or stretching?

wanna know how to recognize a McDojo? Well, if you ask your instructor something and every time he says: We'll talk about it next time. Then you can be sure, his Dojo is a McDojo! Really, trust me, I have experiences.

Sometimes, I'm actually quite amazed when I see something similar again, fireka your way of thinking is almost the same as mine! It's great that someone in this world is thinking the same as I... like a soulmate..

Well... once when I was going through a hard time, I was afraid of LIFE. So now, I'm not afraid of death, nor dying, but I DON'T WANT to die ...not yet..

Well thank You.. that was nice to hear.

uh oh...ok *nods*

Well, it has many meanings: It can be expressed as: "Forgetting mundane things When striving for the martial isle Paddling is joy" (World Shito-Ryu Karate-Do Federation - 1993 Inaugural Program Booklet.) It can also be expressed as: "With a single heart Devoting myself to nothing else It gives me bliss to pull on the oars For the Island of Karate-do" (The 3rd Shitoryu-Karatedo World Championships Program Booklet - August, 2000.) It could also be interpreted to mean: "When the spirit of Karate-Do (Bu) is deeply embraced It becomes the vehicle (described as a boat) in which one is ferried Across the great void to the 'world within' (described as 'bu'-island") (Kyoshi Patrick McCarthy, translation. Quotes and Historical Tid-Bits, 0/11/98.) "Clearing my mind of everything with devotion and joyful anticipation I row my boat toward the island of Bu" ("Shito-Ryu: The Island of Budo" Video, Kenzo Mabuni)

You're right! And I have noticed that too, it really is sad. I am that kind of person, who tries to remain honour and such, so that has made me sad too, that people have lost that. I compete pretty often too, but that's only because I want to improve my karate and see how much I have learnt.. not for winning something.

At my Dojo, we have a pretty aggressive girl, who just hurts others. She hurts others, because she is too aggressive and when she is too aggressive, she can't control her punches and kicks, she can't control her mind and body. So I suggest you to be calm and of course, you have to have a fighters face when you fight, but not angry, anger is negative. A martial artist should not use anger to win. For example: when two persons begin to fight, one is calm and is able to control himself/herself because of that and the other person suddenly turns into a wild beast, full of anger and looks aggressive, that person can't control his/her punches and kicks. And guess who is the winner? The person who can control his/her attitude in the right way!

dead art? Do you mean, that those arts which have changed through the years and are more new, are living and continues to be alive/live?

I agree with every word, but why do I need karate for doing this You don't. Karate (or budo in general) is just one of the vehicles by which one can learn zen. Basically, anything involving long term commitment to hardship, taking responsibility of one's own life plus those of others (in karate you do this by performing deadly techniques on your fellow people and they must trust you and you must trust them to not hurt each other), plus several other similar traits, can be a vehicle of zen. Karate happens to be one we like. You could just go to a buddhist temple too, but they take a differing road to the same goal. Basically, you want to go to the top of the mountain to enjoy the magnificent view. Most people are accustomed to try to find the shortest or fastest route, wether it is the highway or the mountain train. What zen tries to teach is to take the long route and just start going. Learn and enjoy the trip instead of just focusing on the goal and searching for the fastest way. When you focus on the journey, even though you know it is not the easiest possible, you will learn more about yourself, your travel companions, the country side around you, the climate and the mountain itself. When you finally reach the top, you are much wiser and more knowledgeable person than when you began. And when you look down to see the view, and the mountainside, you notice the people who were searching for the fast track are still down there, searching for they'll never find it. If they find a faster track, they won't take it because they'll figure there's one even faster around the bend. They never reach the goal, nor will they enjoy the search either. If you think of the mountain as a metaphor for your life and the world you have around you, you may understand my point. Yes, that is wise! That is what I tried to explain. I read some martial arts books too, I'm reading my favourite right now: "Beyond the known", anyone knows about that book? Well, if not, then I recommend you should read that! And of course, Zen is a wise thing too.

I would love to hear more about your kata, do you have a link? That's nice to hear! But I'm sorry, I haven't got a link. I did my kata in shito-ryu style, I added some open hand strikes and shiko-dachi stances, and other low stances and cat stances. Others who did their katas had most junzuki's and just junzuki dachis, maybe that's why I won. Don't know exactly...

Here are three poems, which I wrote a long time ago: "My hands are empty but my knowledge is full my mind is like water and my thoughts are pure and clear there's nothing I fear the sound of silence is the only thing I hear because this is the way to be near the way of the true fist" "I have nothing too much: empty hands, pure mind and some knowledge because karate has taught me patience this is what I call freedom and freedom is already pretty much" "What is kiai? Kiai is like a bird song The bird sings its song so does the kiai the song of the karateka when you need to express yourself as a karate-practicioner Ground and water shakes energy flows the opponent escapes - that's the KIAI!!" I wrote this poem after I heard how my swedish Sensei explained kiai to the younger disciples.

Yes, that really is a nice poem! I like it a lot, fireka!

Hahahaha! Yeah, I like the belt kata too. And those breakfalls are pretty funny, I felt like that too, when I started doing breakfalls.