There is a certain amount of technique that a martial arts master can impart by direct instruction. Yet much of the learning must come through self-discovery by the student. Masters speak of “a special transmission beyond instruction.” The student studies ji, the techniques of the particular martial art. True mastery, though, comes from ri, the ineffable truths of the universe.
For example, kyudo is Japanese ritual archery, in which the archer moves through a very formal and precise set of eight steps in raising, aiming and firing the bow. The first level of kyudo is called toteki (the arrow hits the target). The archer is concentrating on the technique of shooting accurately. He is more concerned with hitting the center of the target than with his form. In the first level, the target is seen as a goal.
At the second level, kanteki (the arrow pierces the target), the archer’s body moves with beautiful symmetry. His breath control helps unify his mind, body and spirit, so that his shooting is smooth and extremely powerful. True kanteki is much more than a technique that can be taught. In kanteki, the target is seen as an opponent.
Finally, the martial artist progresses to zaiteki (the arrow exists in the target). The target is no longer a goal or an opponent; the target is a true reflection of the archer. The archer aims to purify his thoughts and his actions, knowing that pure shooting will flow from a pure mind and body. Now, “there is no distance between man and target, man and man, and man and the universe — all are in perfect harmony.” [Hideharu Onuma, Kyydo: The Essence and Practice of Japanese Archery (1993)]
One of the essential goals of spiritual growth through the martial arts is to forget oneself. The Zen Buddhist sword master Takuan explained that:
Quote:
The mind must always be in the state of “flowing” … When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy’s sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the unconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the unconscious that strikes. [Quoted in Joe Hyams, “Zen in the Martial Arts" (1982), p. 84.]
The martial artist must learn not to focus on one part of the opponent’s body. Narrow focus creates blind spots that lead to the artist to receiving blows. As the martial artist learns in combat to adopt a wider perspective, so should he learn in all the rest of his life to see more completely. He should transcend the visual limit that ostensibly separates mind from body, or self from universe. He is no longer located in a particular sequence of time, but instead lives in the eternal present: “In sports, time exists. In the martial arts there is only the present.” [Taisen Deshimaru, “The Zen Way to the Martial Arts" (1982), p.23]
Like psychotherapy, martial arts training may allow the student to experience a previously unknown state of self-awareness, and the awareness can lead to terrifying experiences of shame or guilt. The existential crisis might be analogized to what St. John of the Cross called the “dark night of the soul.” At the crisis point, some students will turn away, while others will confront their true selves.
The martial arts are superficially a form of training to fight external foes. But the true martial artist must combat the enemy within — and if he is to prevail, he must fight without greed, ignorance or hatred. If he wins, then his internal demons can be harnessed into service of the good. Defeating self-deception is not a once-and-for-all battle. After one form of self-deception is defeated, a more sophisticated and insidious form may replace it. The psychological and spiritual struggle does not take place while a passive subject is lying on a psychotherapist’s couch, paying for advice. The inner combat is experienced through physical combat:
Chuan Fa used the wordless strategy of direct interpersonal encounter to teach the words of personal self-encounter. It uses the “words” of personal self-encountering to understand the wordless doctrine of interpersonal encounter. Ultimately it sought to encounter the infinity known as perfect and complete Enlightenment. [Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio, The Boddhisativa Warriors (1994), p. 279]
Quote:
The whole energy (ki) of the universe flows through the martial artist at a single point in his body. By staying centered on this one point, the mind and body of the artist are united with the universe and can experience its infinite energy and freedom. Kyudo master Hideharu Onuma was asked by some students how they should practice after they returned to the United States, and he could no longer instruct them. He replied, “Your practice should always center around these six elements: truth, goodness, beauty, balance, humility, and perseverance.” [Onuma, p. 150]
Some martial arts teachers in the United States specialize in empowering women and in integrating feminist values into the spiritual instruction. Some female participants report that the martial arts have liberated them from the notion that women must always be victims, that women are incapable of resisting successfully. The principle applies to physical attacks, and in more abstract social settings. Said one woman: “If every woman in the world could defend herself, it would change the world; patriarchy would crumble … Physical empowerment for women is critical from the start; then women wouldn’t be as intimidated psychologically by men.” [Shirely Castlenuovo & Sharon R. Guthrie, “Feminism and the Female Body: Liberating the Amazon Within" (1998), pp. 67-90]
Vernon Kitabu Turner was a weak and bookish American black child in the racist South. He was a descendant of Nat Turner, a mystic who in 1831 led the largest slave revolt in American history. Bullies would often attack him when he sat under a tree reading. When he was nine years old, in 1964, he heard about the Kitty Genovese murder. It was reported by the New York Times that in Queens, New York, a young woman was stalked, attacked repeatedly and stabbed to death outside an apartment building over the course of half an hour. Thirty-eight people allegedly heard her scream, but none of them did anything. Meditating on Psalm 144 (“Blessed be the Lord, my strength, who teaches my hands to make war, and my fingers to fight.”), Turner asked God to teach him to fight, to learn how to protect people. Turner promised that he would never abuse the knowledge. He took up the martial arts and eventually became an American Zen master.
In church, Turner remembered, the congregants heard and believed the story of David and Goliath. Yet they refused to apply the story to their own lives. They could not believe that, with God’s help, they could “bring down Goliath.” Turner explains that the person who truly understands Zen will say, “I will do no harm to others. I will not be a person who is aggressive and violent. But neither will I sit here and watch someone be destroyed when I know I should reach out and offer a helping hand.” [Vernon Kitabu Turner, “Soul Sword: The Way and Mind of a Zen Warrior" (2000)]
Not every person who studies the martial arts does so for the purpose of moral self-improvement and community service, just as not everyone in Hollywood works for the noble purposes for which Streep congratulated herself and her peers. Like many Hollywood filmmakers, some mixed martial arts fighters simply provide violent entertainment. Yet when practiced at the highest level, the arts are paths to self-transcendence, and the paths are equally available to practitioners of the cinematic arts and the martial arts. One step towards a better America is greater empathy and tolerance among the people of a diverse nation. The people who cheered Streep’s remarks about empathy will, I hope, respect their fellow citizens who study the martial arts.
David Kopel is Research Director, Independence Institute, Denver; Associate Policy Analyst, Cato Institute, D.C; and Adjunct professor, Denver University, Sturm College of Law. He is author of 17 books and 100 scholarly journal articles. Kopel is an NRA-certified safety instructor. The Independence Institute has received NRA contributions.
