The True Martial Artist

[Rick_72]

saying that your martial art is the best style is like saying that the sport you play is better than all other sports.

it doesnt have to be the best to give it your all, you just have to like it the best.

Why would anyone waste their time with something that isn't "the best"? If you going to do something, do it right....of course being the best, or doing it right are subjective to the individual.

I personally only strive at things that I think are worthwhile. I work hard to be the best at those particular things that I personally think are the best (all subject to personal opinion). I don't work hard to be the best that I can be, I work hard to be the best period (better than I can be). If you train in a martial art that you don't think is the best one out there for you than your cheating yourself, if your not training to be the best ever in that martial art your wasting your time, and if you tell yourself that you don't have the ability to be the best than your defeating yourself.

[patusai]

Very smartly put PlasmaShock.

[bushido_man96]

Many people may have asked, "what is a ture martial artist?" Well, here are some points of a good martial artist.

-Trains to the best of his/her abilities and tries their hardest

-Shows respect and discipline towards themself and others

-Does not think his/her style is better than another

-Enjoys training in the martial arts

-Helps others who are in need

 

-Isn't cocky or arrogant about their martial art

There are many characteristics of a good martial artist. Please add on if you'd like to .

The catch about those that I've italicized is that they have nothing to do with improving your fighting skill. To me, a true martial artist is someone who is refined in the area of fighting and bases their approach to it based on experience and logic- being a nice guy or helping others makes you a nice guy- it doesnt make you a martial artist. I firmly believe that if you dont like those who are arrogant or have a bullying personality, learn how to fight better than they do.

I would respectfully disagree. I think being a good person is absolutely essential to being a true martial artist. Otherwise you are just a good fighter, but not a martial artst. I think ot all goes back to the philosophical roots of the arts.

the term martial in itself dictates war. a martial art is an art of war, nothing more. What happens is people become caught up in the nostalgic view what a martial artist should and shouldn't be. the shaolin temple combined there arts with philosophical, spiritual and other aspects, because they were monks.... those are things inherent to them. However, those teachings made their ways into arts they influenced in other countries as well. the japanese did the same - the samurai incoporated such into their teachings. But many of the samurai also engaged in homosexual activity... that is among things that aren't known, because it doesn't fit into that over romanticized view.

martial arts that pre-dated shaolin were about nothign other than learning how to fight. An excellent example of this is shuai chiao. In modern ages, MA that are not based on offshoots of anything shaolin influenced will not include these things either. boxing, wrestling - it's NOT becuase they are sports - they are very martial arts. Notice, you don't hear / learn about it in european arts, european sword arts included, AFAIK. krav maga would be another example.

That's not to say that bettering oneself spiritually and learning more philosophically are not good things - they are. However, you can partake in a religion for spirituality and read about philosophy. They are not prerequisites for a martial artist.

You bring up a very good point here. I feel that you are correct about how the ideas behind being a good martial artist entered into them. As for medieval styles in Europe, you are right. In all of the manuals about learning swordsmanship and other weapons, there is nothing about culturing the spirit or being a good human being.

That said, I do feel that they are important traits to have, and it is important to relay these things to other people as well. This burden should not fall souly on the shoulders of us martial artists, but being teachers as we are, we gain the opportunity to make impressions on the people we interact with.

[PlasmaShock]

heres a good way to test your self defence. have some people attack you and block and parry all their attacks(don't hurt them though). well actually you don't have to do that lol. you can be good at self defence by reconizing dangerous and potentially life threatening situations and avoiding them or escaping them.

[TriangleMan]

I agree being a honorable / good person is essential. I personally am saddened by the people that think martial arts are only about fighting. There is so much more to it. Remember the Okinawans are very peaceful people they fought to save their lives, that is how karate came to be.

The irony is that Im somewhat saddened by people that think martial arts is more about respect/discipline than it is about fighting. Look at any martial arts tournament and tell me whos regarded as being the best martial artist- its the guy whos carrying the trophy- regardless of how nice a guy he may or may not be, hes regarded as the best because he beat everyone else.

If you want to judge the skill of the martial artist based on his development as a peacefull human being, than Ghandi would be at the top of the list- Im going to base it on their skills as a fighter and how well they can teach someone else to use those skills.

heres a good way to test your self defence. have some people attack you and block and parry all their attacks(don't hurt them though). well actually you don't have to do that lol. you can be good at self defence by reconizing dangerous and potentially life threatening situations and avoiding them or escaping them.

Mixed martial arts tournaments are a good way. Someone else on here said something along the lines that not everyone wants to do that, and while that may be true not everyone wants to get into a fight either, but it still happens- this will make for good training. An added bonus to MMA is that there are many tournaments offerred, from amateur to professional bouts so its very easy to seed yourself in with the appropriate competition. When you can jump in there and learn to stay level headed and dont fold under the pressure the minute you take a punch or fight an overly aggressive opponent, you've accomplished what you set out to do.

[bushido_man96]

Well, having a family and full time job, I don't see myself gaining much time to enter an MMA event around here.

As far as being able to teach the material: some are better teachers than they are fighters.

[Jiffy]

Martial Arts are of course about fighting, but, Martial Arts are commonly used as a vehicle to promote traditional values.

I think this is a great thing and should be considered essential, but I understand that some do not agree.

[Zorbasan]

but not every martial artist wants to compete, thats just one aspect of it.

just because i think that synchronised swimming is a crap sport and definitely not the BEST sport, doesnt mean that people that are doing it arent going to put their all into it.

saying that your martial arts is better than all the rest is an arrogant point of view.

if you were to take 10 people of equivalent ranks from 10 different MA, i will guarantee that no 1 person will win against all others.

[DragonMike]

Many people may have asked, "what is a ture martial artist?" Well, here are some points of a good martial artist.

-Trains to the best of his/her abilities and tries their hardest

-Shows respect and discipline towards themself and others

-Does not think his/her style is better than another

-Enjoys training in the martial arts

-Helps others who are in need

 

-Isn't cocky or arrogant about their martial art

There are many characteristics of a good martial artist. Please add on if you'd like to .

The catch about those that I've italicized is that they have nothing to do with improving your fighting skill. To me, a true martial artist is someone who is refined in the area of fighting and bases their approach to it based on experience and logic- being a nice guy or helping others makes you a nice guy- it doesnt make you a martial artist. I firmly believe that if you dont like those who are arrogant or have a bullying personality, learn how to fight better than they do.

I would respectfully disagree. I think being a good person is absolutely essential to being a true martial artist. Otherwise you are just a good fighter, but not a martial artst. I think ot all goes back to the philosophical roots of the arts.

the term martial in itself dictates war. a martial art is an art of war, nothing more. What happens is people become caught up in the nostalgic view what a martial artist should and shouldn't be. the shaolin temple combined there arts with philosophical, spiritual and other aspects, because they were monks.... those are things inherent to them. However, those teachings made their ways into arts they influenced in other countries as well. the japanese did the same - the samurai incoporated such into their teachings. But many of the samurai also engaged in homosexual activity... that is among things that aren't known, because it doesn't fit into that over romanticized view.

martial arts that pre-dated shaolin were about nothign other than learning how to fight. An excellent example of this is shuai chiao. In modern ages, MA that are not based on offshoots of anything shaolin influenced will not include these things either. boxing, wrestling - it's NOT becuase they are sports - they are very martial arts. Notice, you don't hear / learn about it in european arts, european sword arts included, AFAIK. krav maga would be another example.

That's not to say that bettering oneself spiritually and learning more philosophically are not good things - they are. However, you can partake in a religion for spirituality and read about philosophy. They are not prerequisites for a martial artist.

It is true that martial means war, but you can still be an honorable person if you defend yourself or your family. What if a great fighter started many fights on the street in order to proove to his friends that he was tough. Would he beconsidered a great martial artist? The term art implies that there is something beyond martial in the styles that we study. There is something about martial art that raises it beyond typical sports. This is what makes martial arts unique.

I think we are talking about the difference in sport/art. Some people practice MA for the sport aspect. Some people practice them for the artistic aspect, and some for both. Any of theese approaches are fine. The diverse possibility of MA are one of the things that make them great.

[Jiffy]

but not every martial artist wants to compete, thats just one aspect of it.

just because i think that synchronised swimming is a crap sport and definitely not the BEST sport, doesnt mean that people that are doing it arent going to put their all into it.

saying that your martial arts is better than all the rest is an arrogant point of view.

if you were to take 10 people of equivalent ranks from 10 different MA, i will guarantee that no 1 person will win against all others.

I agree completely and this is a topic that has come up many times before. The style can only be best for YOU. There is no best style.