Some Basic Concepts

This is a very fundamental concept of Eastern Philosophy and is most basic to the thought process of Taoism.The implication of this term is discussed in detail in the classic books of Tao Te Ching and I Ching. The symbol of this concept is very popular nowadays though not all who wear it on the top of their t-shirts or even hang it on signboards outside their Martial Arts Schools know the underlying meaning of this.

In simple terms the meaning of this symbol is that in everything positive is something negative and in everything negative there is something positive.Mind you, by positive and negative here no reference is being made of good and bad. The positive and negative are the attributes which complement each other-- pairs of opposites like the day and night, light and dark, hardness and softness or the masculine and the feminine. These pairs of opposites are essential for one another and both are necessary phenomenon.For Western Thought on this subject go here

• In every small weak baby is a strongly beating heart.
• The dead become hard
• The yeilding bamboo cannot be uprooted
• Water is the most yeilding, but denudes the toughest rocks.

  So hardness and softness are equally essential.And this fits for every aspect of life.

  Water cannot be grabbed or punched but can be absorbed with the softest cotton

  Likewise, in the world of martial arts hardness and softness complement each other.There are styles which go by the sobriquet "Hard Style" and there are others which call themselves "Soft Styles".Neither is a better style than the other.Neither is a worse style than the other.The best Martial Artist is the one who can fit both the hard and soft into his approach.The best martial artist has to be soft enogh to counter the hardest of attacks with the minimum effort, while he has to be hard enough to be able to vanquish the toughest opponent.It has been said about one of the best fighters of the century ,who had little known connection with the martial arts that we are talking about that He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee

  This shows the necessity of merging hardness with softness. The true Martial artist has to merge:

  
  • Lightness with Strength
  • Attack with Defence
  • Alertness with Calm
  • Patience with Speed
  • Control and Humility with Ability and Aggression
  Ki This is also an oriental concept which means a lot of diverse things.To know the exact meaning of the word, we have to conceptualise the way of Chinese and Japanese language.A single word in these languages can mean a number of things. Hencec Ki means Force , Energy,Source of the World,Inner Srtrength and a lot more. However in our context , we can summarise Ki as the following. Often in real life people have been seen to perform great feats of strength in circumstances of emergency, which they would not have been able to do in normal situations.It is in these cases that the force of their inner power--Ki--is conspicuous.Now just imagine the result a martial artist would obtain if he can attain mastery over the force which makes a man of normal build lift up the wheels of a van to rescue his wife who is trapped or even the force which makes it difficult for us to pick up an unwillingpuppy when we are strong enough to pick up a full grown dog Training the Ki or inner power is an important aspect of martial arts. For some preliminary idea about Ki go here According to oriental belief and modern western science(and day by day these are coming closer to each other) Ki is concentrated in a position an inch below the navel.The ways to train it mainly through concentration and breathing exercises.
  Active Thinking with Inactivity of Thought When he started to learn Martial Arts from Yip Man, Bruce Lee was asked by his master to think about inactive activity as a part of his training during which time he would not receive new lessons ,but only seek the answer.

  After strainuous thought the answer came to him while on a boat , floating in the sea. Just like the calm waters of tjhe sea reflect the clouds without a ripple, our minds should be calm enough to register the combination of movement of the opponent without being disturbed by it. We must think while in motion , but at the same time be absolutely calm. That comes from viewing Martial Arts as meditation in action.

  Now for Training In Action go to My Active Training Page Back toMy Homepage Back toMy Martial Arts Homepage Back toMy Martial Arts Philosophy Back toSome Training Guidelines
  Email: arunabho@hotmail.com