As a young boy I spent my formative years engaged in the sport of wrestling and my teenage years were spent fighting. After an on and off again practice of various martial arts, I found a home in the Chinese martial arts in my adulthood. This included not only my passion of Tai chi but also a number of years in full contact fighting.
Over years of practice, I was learning to live the philosophies. This led me to a desire not only to practice the physical aspects of martial arts (which I absolutely love) but also to live a life of a man of peace.
The dilemma I ran into was how to unify my desire for a peaceful life and the study, practice and teaching of martial arts. I asked myself how can I simultaneously practice and train for conflict while living a life of peace?
It took some time, and some very real and honest introspection. I now teach my young kung-fu students that when we know that the chances of another person being able to hurt us is minimal, then it is easier to be their friend.
Some schools of martial arts train so they can hurt another person. The way of peace is to train so that those people are of no concern to us. When we are confronted with a potentially dangerous situation, martial arts training gives us time to respond, and walk away if possible, rather than to react out of fear and a need to protect ourselves by hurting the other before they try to hurt us.
When we walk with love in our heart, allow our spirit to be at peace, and have the ability to use our bodies to stay safe, then we can say we have found unity in the opposites of peace and the martial arts.
No comments:
Post a Comment