What Is The Art Of Martial Art?
This article is the first of many that dig deep into the world of Taijiquan.
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I would like to declare from the outset my interest and let everyone know upfront what my affiliations are. My martial art of choice is Taijiquan of the Yang style. I chose Taijiquan not because it is a superior martial art but because it fits in with my philosophy and perception of life.
Everyone has their own preferences and there is no right or wrong in that. I am sure other people will pick other forms of martial arts because the truth is, there is no one size that fits all and it is horses for courses as far as I am concerned.
Note that since I chose Taijiquan as my preferred martial art, everything I write here is taken from the Taijiquan perspective.
First and foremost, what is “art”? To me, art implies skill and not just any old skill but refined skill; skill that has been cultivated and honed from decades of effort through proper practice, training, experience, study, and self-observation.
Art to me is not about how well you can beat someone into a pulp, smash bricks, or exhibit tremendous physical strength. The Chinese has a word for it, “Gongfu”功夫. (A labourer or a worker in an assembly line can also develop “Gongfu” but there is a different Chinese character with the same pronunciation for this, written as 工夫.) “Gongfu” does not apply to just martial art but is used in a broader sense in the Chinese lexicon to include like, for example, an excellent chef or potter can also be said to have “Gongfu”.
I once asked my Taijiquan Shifu 师父 what “Gongfu” means, and he simply replied, “Gongfu is time.” After learning and practising Taijiquan for a few years, it started to make a lot of sense!
Today, Taijiquan lacks credibility as a serious form of martial art if you observe what is being practised in parks, sports halls, beaches, and in all the open spaces around the world. The reason being, over the past century it has evolved from being strictly a martial art to a health exercise. There are hundreds if not thousands of different forms of martial arts in China and each has a varied history.
Consider the fact that martial arts in China has a long and colourful history stretching back at least a few thousand years. Therefore, the question that needs to be asked is why would the most powerful person in the land, being the emperor of China, pick Taijiquan above all other martial arts as the best form of defence and protection for him and his family? Is this not a question worth investigating?
Taijiquan evolved from a serious martial art into a health exercise in the span of just 60 years, from circa 1850 to 1912, quite by accident; caused by two very significant turn of events. Firstly, martial arts in general became somewhat redundant with the advent of modern weaponry like the handgun. Secondly, Taijiquan lost its exclusive royal patronage with the fall of the last imperial dynasty in China in 1912 which meant the art suddenly became available to the general public for the first time.
Practising Taijiquan as a martial art was soon forgotten because it was no longer a profession in demand, notwithstanding the investment in both effort and time required to become skilful in the art.
Instead, people were quick to experience the health benefits which this unique art brings as it spread far and wide not only within China but throughout the globe. If we want to understand more about how practising Taijiquan can provide enormous health benefits to ourselves, then we need to examine its origin and history.
The answer to Taijiquan’s ever increasing popularity, not just for its health benefits, is quite simple once we realise how interwoven it is with the very fabric of Chinese ideology, custom, and culture. For many, Taijiquan is a healthy lifestyle choice.
My primary objective through this forum is to introduce Taijiquan to the world by covering the following aspects of this art, not necessarily in the same order as listed below:
Taijiquan’s origin, history, and development.
How Taijiquan works as a martial art.
Taijiquan’s philosophy and principles.
Taijiquan in theory and practice.
Taijiquan’s evolution from a martial art to a health benefit exercise.
Why Taijiquan is good for your health.
Taijiquan as a lifestyle and a way of life.
What is the future for Taijiquan?
Martial art is one of the most misunderstood and misconceived topics for discussion in the world today. If you think that martial art is all about being the toughest and meanest fighting “machine” that walks the earth, then congratulations, you share the same view as 99.99% of the population on this planet.
A survey of all the UFC, MMA, and boxing websites; or indeed almost all martial art websites in the world confirm this view. How often do we see claims made or implied by people that their martial art is the toughest, meanest, strongest, and therefore the best? In contrast, Taijiquan is linked with the well- educated class in society and hence, there is nothing brutal, tough, strong, or mean about the art.
It is indeed true that martial art is not all about power and strength.
Look at the Vietnam War; the image of people hanging off helicopters as American soldiers evacuated and abandoned the city of Saigon remained vividly in my mind. The story here is not about military might alone but the political and people’s will to keep fighting a war of attrition that has lost all meaning. Hence, in the eyes of the world, the mightiest nation on earth had been defeated, and sent packing home.
One of the most recognised text about strategy in warfare or fighting is Sunzi’s book titled, “Sunzi’s Strategies in Warfare, Sunzi Bing Fa 孙子兵法 ”. The common translation is, “Sunzi’s Art of War” but this to me is plainly incorrect.
Since when did war become an “art” and not a source of human misery, suffering, and sorrow? A friend argues that the strategies deployed in great battles throughout history deserved to be classified as an art, but I beg to differ. We must never, under any circumstances, dehumanise war and call it an art. It is an insult! Strategy, yes but an art? No, never!
Sunzi’s book has been studied intensively by the most famous military academy in the world, at Westpoint, New York, USA. It is also included as part of business school curriculums as well. I guess in today’s very competitive world, business is deemed to be a form of warfare! To put the book in perspective, Sunzi lived between 544 BCE and 496 BCE, about 500 years before the founding of the Roman empire and Christianity! Please allow me to highlight a few of the quotes from the book:
“The wise warrior avoids the battle.”
“The supreme strategy in war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” (Not only that, if you subdue an opponent without humiliating him, he will more likely end up becoming your ally!)
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will suffer a defeat.”
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
“In war, the correct way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
“What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins but wins convincingly.”
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when deploying our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Never, not even for one second should we ever think that war is fun, or a game.
In all these quotes, you will notice the common theme of using guile to defeat the opponent!
Therefore, by implication, martial art is not all about the strong and powerful but about understanding the opponent and using deception to defeat him.
In Taijiquan, the saying is, “To draw the opponent into emptiness Yin Jin Luo Kong引進落空 ”. It is a little bit like David and Goliath in the Bible, where the little man kept his distance and played to his strength (slingshot). Hence, there is more to martial art than meets the eye. I believe most people are misguided and likely also misinformed about the art of martial art. Martial art taken from a Taijiquan perspective is much more than just a physical confrontation and has five elements to it:
知人者智,自知者明 (Zhi Ren Zhe Zhi, Zi Zhi Zhe Ming) Knowing others is wisdom, knowing oneself is enlightenment. (This is from Laozi’s book, “Dao De Jing”.)
粘黏連隨 (Zhan Nian Lian Sui) Stick, adhere, connect, and follow must all happen simultaneously.
人不知我,我獨知人 (Ren Bu Zhi Wo, Wo Du Zhi Ren) The opponent does not know me, only I alone know him. This means when you engage the opponent, he must not feel your presence at all. Being relaxed, physically and mentally, is the key here.
引進落空 (Yin Jin Luo Kong) Draw the opponent into emptiness because a thousand-pound force landing on nothing still amounts to nothing!
四兩撥千斤 (Si Liang Po Qian Jin) Use four Liang (ounces) to repel a thousand Jin (pounds).
This is the gist of what martial art (taken from a Taijiquan perspective) is all about, in a nutshell.
Most people practise martial arts thinking that the enemy is outside of them. So, they beat the hell out of sparring partners, sandbags, wooden dummies, bricks, tiles, planks, or whatever take their fancy or fantasies. [This reminds me of an advice Bruce Lee once gave to a fan in his fan mail column, “Please don’t use your hand. Next time you want to break something, use a hammer instead!”]
I believe otherwise; we practise martial arts so that we can overcome our own shortcomings.
‘That is why in Taijiquan, we practise the form a lot; in fact, far more than anything else. We must challenge ourselves whenever we practise the form and the more we practise, the more relaxed and mindful our minds become.
It is a state of mind we strive for, rather than the condition of our physical bodies. The great Taijiquan master, Yang Chengfu put it succinctly, “Seek tranquillity in motion (Dong Zhong Qiu Jing动中求静).” When you are calm and relaxed, your mind will become crystal-clear.
This quote happens also to be one of the ten principles of Taijiquan. Why is calmness in action so important? Let me turn the question around; why is tranquillity of mind in meditation or Yoga so important?
The reason is the same. Tranquillity is the seed of self-awareness and the Taijiquan form practice is to me, a form of meditation except in movement. It is a lot harder to stay calm when you are moving but this is what distinguishes a superior martial artist from say a street brawler or uncultured hooligan. Remember, Sunzi also said that “in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”, but you must first remain calm!
How important is mindfulness in mastering your own self? Here are three separate quotes from three of the most well-known Eastern philosophers in the last 2,500 years:
“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.”
-- Confucius –
“Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs insight.”
-- Laozi –
"A man who conquers himself is greater than one who conquers a thousand men in battle"
-- Buddha –
Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha
I am not sure if you notice that every single one of the quotes mentioned above alluded to or implied that we need to overcome our own selves first and foremost.
Why? This is because the ego, manifested by the mind, cannot be easily controlled. Hence, the word “conquer” is used.
For those who do not agree, let us do a simple test. Pick an object that is nearby. Focus on the object and try to capture all its details and intricacies in your mind. Now, close your eyes and hold the object as vividly as you can, in your mind for the next 30 seconds. Make sure nothing interferes with your mind, including any sound or smell, etc. Is that quite a challenge, even for just 30 seconds? If you practise Taijiquan, try doing the entire form from start to finish in your mind for 20 minutes without interruption and let me know how you got on!
It is my view that most of the literature, promotional material, and media about martial art today, are misguided. As a result, people in society are becoming increasingly more violent and aggressive in behaviour.
Just look at all the UFC fights that are currently being staged and broadcast around the world. Spectators are turning up in droves and audiences around the world are willing to spend their hard-earned cash just to watch the brutal and often bloody encounter live on TV.
Heavily promoted spectacles like these can but only leave an indelible impression on people that it is alright to be violent and aggressive in society. Surely, we must be doing the exact opposite for a more peaceful civilised society to prevail.
Practising martial art is first and foremost, about finding peace within your own self and the physical conditioning of your body comes second. Most martial artists have completely lost the plot when they place all the emphasis in their training on physical conditioning instead of the mind first.
There is a famous saying in Taijiquan, “use the mind and not physical strength 用意不用力 ”. Unfortunately in training halls and gymnasiums around the world today, focus on the mind is being channelled towards raising the pain threshold which means overriding what the body is trying to tell the mind in the first place! The catchphrase today is “mental toughness”, measured by how much pain and injury your body can sustain before the mind shuts down!
If the thrill for you is fighting and beating up other people (wonder why it is no longer fun when you are at the receiving end), then I’m afraid it is not martial art that you are practising because the question becomes, where is the “art” in beating someone up? Since when did beating one another up into a pulp, even in the name of sport, become an art form?
This brings me to the first and most important element in martial art, which is to relax the mind and thereby cultivate a sense of self-awareness within yourself and everything around you. Many people use meditation or yoga to achieve this. Practising the Taijiquan form can also be a form of meditation except that it is a lot harder when all parts of the body are constantly on the move.
To maintain a relaxed state of mind while the body is in a continuous state of motion is not an easy thing to achieve. A relaxed mind is commonly associated with sleep but then what does your body usually do when you are asleep? Is there an activity you can do that relaxes your mind while you are fully awake or conscious? Yes, there is. That activity is Taijiquan, which makes it unique and different from most other conventional forms of martial arts. The “motto” if I may use the word for Taijiquan is, “to seek tranquillity in motion 动中求静 ”.
The second element in martial art is to stick, adhere, connect, and follow. Again, this action is completely contrary to what most other forms of martial arts would do which is to maintain a distance from your opponent so that you can deploy your hands and legs with punches and kicks. I have instead, taken the Taijiquan approach.
You must take on all the action-steps as described, simultaneously as soon as you engage with the opponent. If you do not, then you will not be able to interpret what the opponent’s next move is. Not only must you move with the opponent’s flow, you must never lose contact; neither should you resist or dominate the opponent’s movements (Bu Diu Bu Ding不丟不頂). Instead, just move with the flow, like the Dao.
This is the most difficult element to master. Failure to do so can lead to dire consequences, especially if the opposing force is much stronger than yours. You will end up being dominated and overpowered instead. Therefore, to learn Taijiquan you must first learn to let go of your ego as a famous university professor and Taijiquan exponent once put it, “To learn Taijiquan, you must first learn to invest in loss.”
The third element is a follow-on from the second, which is to know your opponent. This is another quote reputed to have come from Sunzi, which said, “You keep your friends close, but you keep your enemies even closer.” How can you comprehend your enemy if you do not know his intention, first-hand?
Hence, in Taijiquan, we practise the push-hands exercise so that we can seek through physical contact, to understand the opponent’s intention (second element). But just as equally important, you must not let the opponent know your intention (third element)! If you only follow but not attack, the opponent will not feel threatened.
The fourth element is to draw your opponent into the “void”, like being sucked into a black hole in outer space. Once the opponent is “sucked” into the void, there is no escape because he has completely lost his balance by then. It feels like the ground beneath has completely disappeared under his feet and there is nothing for him to stand on.
Most Taijiquan masters would stop there and allow the opponent to fall over but some would choose to redirect the opponent’s force back to him and he would be repelled or thrown a great distance away. This then becomes the fifth element, which is to use 4 ounces to repel 1,000 pounds.
Only exceptionally skilful martial artists like the first three generations of the Yang Family Taijiquan elites were able to combine all five elements in one go simultaneously by repelling the opponent the instant contact was made.
Here is a story from Confucius encompassing some of the elements discussed above. Pay close attention to the reply Confucius got from the man who jumped into the waterfall:
One day, Confucius and his students climbed a mountain to view a cataract near the gorge in the state of Lü 魯國. The water flowed over a ledge which dropped more than 125 meters below, producing a turbulence, where even all aquatic animals fear to tread. The river then flowed swiftly through a gorge for 20 kilometres. The spray generated by the waterfall was so powerful that it would float and be felt as far as 10 kilometres away.
While enjoying the spectacular views of the waterfall, they suddenly saw a figure jumped from the top of the waterfall into the foaming, turbulent river below. Confucius instantly thought that the person must be attempting suicide, so he ordered his students to immediately head down to the banks of the river below and be prepared for a rescue.
When they arrived at the edge of the river, they saw a middle-aged man swimming leisurely towards the riverbank. To their utter surprise, the man stood up when he reached the shallow end, shook the water off his long hair and started to sing.
Confucius could not believe what he saw, so he approached the man and said to him, “When I saw you jumped from the top of the waterfall, my first thought was that you wanted to kill yourself. Then, when I saw you swimming in those treacherous waters and enjoying yourself, I thought you must be a ghost! But now, looking at you closely I can see that you are human. How could you possibly survive the fall from the clifftop and negotiate your way through these treacherous waters without even a scratch on your body?”
Confucius 孔夫子 551 BCE – 479 BCE
The man laughed and replied, “I have no special way of swimming, except that when I am in the water, I do not fight the water. Instead, I am at one with it. I float and sink with it instead of forcing my way through it (like the Dao道). You can say that I learnt from what was given to me from birth, and I continued through with what was natural for me to do, and I completed it by trusting what was meant to be.”
Confucius was perplexed and said, “Please elaborate on what you meant.”
The man replied, “It means following the natural course of things (the Dao). If I were born in the mountains, it would be natural for me to feel comfortable living high up in the mountains because it was given to me by birth. If I were born by the sea it would be natural for me to grow up playing in the water. This is what I meant by continuing with what is natural to me from birth. When I do something, it never occurs to me to think but to do what is natural (what is natural is the Dao).”
Once you have learnt to “blend” in with your opponent’s every move, then all you have to do is to follow his movements and “strike when he is at his weakest point” (Sunzi’s Strategies in Warfare). But this is easier said than done because you must first be able to anticipate his next move before you can “set a trap” and entice him into emptiness. Once he is being led into emptiness, he will be at his weakest point. If you know how to follow your opponent without him realising it, then you will know how to anticipate his next move and thereby “draw him into emptiness” or, Yin Jin Luo Kong引進落空.
This then brings me to the final step in the art of Taijiquan, which is to use just “4 ounces to repel 1,000 pounds” but for this to happen, your timing must be impeccable. You cannot use 4 ounces to defeat 1,000 pounds unless you first draw the opponent into emptiness.
Many people have doubts about how you can use such little force to repel a much larger force. If a heavy load is precariously balanced at the edge of a cliff it would require no more than a puff of wind to send it over the cliff, much like redirecting the opponent’s force back to him when he has lost his balance. The easiest way to turn his force around is to move in a circle, which is why Taijiquan’s movements are circular; what goes around comes around!
In my view, martial art is a contest of skill and not a measure of how much punishment you can absorb from your opponent before one of you gets knocked-out stone cold, which then becomes a battle of attrition, not skill! The winner must be the one who uses the least amount of force to overcome the opponent! But Sunzi also said, “The wise warrior avoids the battle”, only because a superior martial artist has nothing to prove.
In ancient times in China, martial skills were measured by how relaxed and unified your body, mind, and spirit were, which are all relative to the person next to you! However, being relaxed does not mean empty (“Song Bu Deng Yu Kong”, or 松不等于空 ).
A “contest of skill” at the highest level might involve perhaps, gently grasping each other’s arms, displayed as an affectionate form of greeting, when two martial artists first meet, but this is merely a greeting in disguise. There is more to this than meets the eye. As soon as contact is made, a contest to see who is more relaxed and can therefore upset the other person’s centre of gravity ensues. A little shuffling around may occur as each person uses the pretext of guiding the other person to the honoured seat at the table which is traditionally reserved for the most honoured guest. Of course, Chinese etiquette demands that you must insist on turning down the offer and return the favour back to the other party instead!
In a matter of a few seconds, the “contest” is all over. The “winner” is found but most of the bystanders would be none the wiser as to whom that might be. Both contestants “saved face” and they can both look forward to settling down to enjoy the wining and dining at the table. How is that for a contest of skill as opposed to a battle of attrition till the last man standing?
This contest to test one another’s level of “relaxedness” is still popular among internal martial artists in Taiwan to this day, but their counterparts in mainland China are less “competitive” and more reserved by nature. I was shocked when I first encountered this kind of reception at a banquet some years ago. Needless to say, I have now become a lot more aware.
Next time when you go to a banquet in Taiwan and a man with a big grin comes over and greets you with a gentle embrace, watch out! You are being “tested”!
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