Are you ready to walk the Way?

 

                           For many when they hear the word martial arts, the big bang goes off in their heads: Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Tiger Shroff, Vidyut Jammwal, and why not, The Last Airbender and Kungfu Panda? Slice and dice it all up with a katana, or even the Masamune, add a few shuriken and nanchaku for garnish as well. Viola! you have the perfect martial arts soup. Or should I say kenda, to bring it home?

                           Martial arts is everything and nothing; martial arts is all of everything yet never belonging to anything; it is an art invisible, ever present as the air; yet, fluid as the water, becoming  entirely an art unique as the mould it is poured in to; it is an art that is tangibly real, and grounded as the Earth you thread; it is that inwardly rising fire that blazes down those who deem you insignificant, weak and a coward.

                          Martial arts is not an art where you can simply achieve; it is not art that you can simply excel in, step after step, garnering outward markings in muscles and scars, and tokens that mark your proficiency, and then for you to sit back and say, ‘Here, I am now a Master, I am now a professional, I am now a black belt, a yokozuna, a chunin.’  Do you ever breathe for 20 years and then say, ‘Ah, I’ve mastered breathing and  breathed long enough!’ and stop, and hope that you will be alive the next minute? (Yes, if you’re into the arts for only the prize, you can by all means take that path)

                            Martial arts is, then, a journey without a destination. It is a journey first, of learning of the mind and the training of  the body where the  embodiment of the knowledge you garner through your lived experiences come together in enabling you to control and command your body at will, to do what you want it to do.  Your experiences then, no matter how abstract, your body becomes receptive to them. Soon you realise that what you want your body, the vessel, is to become the shield for your soul, or simply, your life, allowing you to live free, safe, and do, yes, the most important of all do things that you always will need to do or want to do, anywhere, anytime, independently, without fear. Thus, every step you take in your reality is solid and worthwhile, your mind free and penetrable to all that can be acquired from the world and beyond, morphing seamlessly at call, and the flame of passion undying, lighting your Way. Fighting your way.

                            Now you might think it’s high time that I got to talking about flying roundhouse kicks, Phoenix-Eye Fists, Tiger Claw strikes and Death’s Touch points -  after all, they are what we actually need to talk about in martial arts, right? I will not be the one to judge. After all, the Way is for you what you want to make of it, and having thus made it, you persist in it, for the better or the worse.  

                             Every nation has its own indigenous martial art form or forms, and each of these arts will invariably be entwined with the way the practitioners see, approach and live life.  Angampora, Kalaripayattu, Adimurai, Ninjutsu, Karate-dō, Aikidō, Judō, Kendō, Iaidō, Taekwondo, Jiujutsu, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Silat, Capoeira, Krav Maga, American Kenpo, Boxing and MMA, are a few of the hundreds of the arts we have today, and don’t forget that these have multiple, unique sub-variations or styles. Some will have specific philosophies or guidance for living life, a guiding blue print for attaining self-enlightenment and unity with the cosmos, while for some, the purpose is to possess the latest, most effective knock out techniques to defend yourself. Simply that.

                               The term ‘dō’ is the Chinese reading  of the  character ‘michi’  道   which means road, path or journey, means or way of conducting oneself,  teachings and dogma. This self-explanatory term indicates the art is a Way of life, teachings to carry with you as you traverse the journey ahead of you with the mentality of a warrior in harmony with all that is around you. Thus, Karate- dō is the way of the empty hand, Iaidō is the way of  mental presence and immediate response and  Kalaripayattu, originating in Kerala, India is the art of the battlefield ( in Malayalam, ‘kalari’ a space designed for practice and ‘payattu’ exercise). A look into the etymology of each art  will lead you to valuable knowledge which will quite clearly explain the nature of the philosophies these arts are based on. The Bushidō, the Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Karate- dō Kyohan and the Dōjō-kun of the Arts are some texts that  exemplify the philosophies of the Way.

                                 Arts originating in the East are both combat arts as well as philosophies. Some such as Ninjutsu, was chiefly  a military art of combative espionage, now readapted as a martial art accessible to all although the techniques retain their lethality, and therefore is not a sport.  Those that originate in the West focus chiefly on perfecting an effective ( read instant kill)  technique,  such as Krav Maga or Defendu.  Now, don’t go applying Derridian deconstruction to the previous sentence and assume that the Eastern and Western arts are mutually exclusive or that one is better than the other. All arts mix, mingle and form something that is unique, ever existing, ever evolving in philosophy and praxis. No martial art is tailored for specific practioners; you are the one who choses which art or arts to practice, and the art you practice will be uniquely yours, the techniques and skills the models to integrate into your body, to form a sum total of who you are. Simply, no matter what you practice, the technique  becomes an extension of your own body,  revealing to you the ways in which you can use your body from the routine it is already, and naturally, accustomed to doing. You needn’t a 100 different strikes – just stick to one that would do in hundreds of different situations. In short, you learn, train and love your body to the very fingertips that you come to know it so well, that moving becomes an instinct.

                              The essence of martial arts, of becoming a fighter, of becoming a warrior, lies not only in the strength of the punches or the kicks that you throw, but in the recognition that all strength and power originates only within you. Bring in righteousness, kindness, compassion, integrity, piety, loyalty. Imagine the ultimate confidence and fearlessness that will embrace you when you realise that you are a weapon, that you can command another’s life at the flick of a finger. You are now given the choice between patience and tolerance not because that is your only choice left but because it is a choice that you can make of your own will – a will that is led by self-restraint, righteousness, compassion and kindness, and an integrity of character that cannot be flexed when one is endangered. That or can just choose to unleash your fury. Just kidding. I think here is the right place to add that Aikido focuses on deflecting/defending yourself from attacks wile intending not to injure your opponent. Paradoxical, you think.  That’s the complexity of the Way, the depth of Martial Arts. The artist defines for herself/himself what purpose the art will serve.

                            You are the master of your own body and mind. You have the right, and it is your duty as well, to set your body and mind on the path of all possibility. Defeating hundreds, or getting ripped may add levels to the ‘wow’ factor, but as time hits, we must confront nature’s laws, where age, disease and death are inevitable, and the Way you have chosen must then serve, not at turning mountains to dust or bending iron with your Ki, but just something simple as lifting yourself out of bed day in and out, to reach that teapot on the third shelf, and pour yourself a warm cuppa when you feel like it. You learn this on the Way, some at the onset, some in the middle, and some at ‘their’ end – there is never ‘The End’.

Nuzla Niyas