Martial arts philosophy

Better sweat in practice than bleed in battle (Wǔ Shù wisdom)

The combats and strategies were a constant topic through the human history. In China only there are seven important military texts. First is from worldwide well-known Sun Zǐ, (The Art of War), the next are from general Wèi Liáozi (The Art of War), Wú Qǐ (The Art of War), Sīmǎ Fǎ (The Marshal's Art of War or The Methods of the Sīmǎ Fǎ), the legendary figure Jiāng Zǐyá (Six Secret Teachings), general Zhang Liang (The Three Strategies of Huáng Shígōng), and finally: Questions and Replies between emperor Táng Tàizōng and general Lǐ Wèi Gōng. The texts were practically canonized under the name “The Seven Military Classics” already in 11^th century, and were later on included in most military encyclopedias. In military spheres it was as important as Confucius’s work is for the bureaucrats.

Better spend three years looking for a good master than ten years training with a bad one (Wǔ Shù wisdom)

In China a philosophy does not come only from the country’s rich culture but also from martial arts. The keystone in Chinese philosophy is a strong humanism that became a focus of numerous Chinese philosophers throughout the ages. This humanism does not imply exclusion or indifference to a supreme powers and the nature. Instead, the general conclusion goes towards the unity of human and ‘heaven.’ This spirit of synthesis has characterized the entire history of Chinese philosophy.

A range of similarly motivated philosophical doctrines is covered by Daoism. Two great philosophical systems of China stand alongside: Daoism and Confucianism. Somehow less influential and less important to the development of Chinese culture are ‘the School of Mo’ and ‘the School of law’. The latter was a utilitarian political philosophy that did not address higher questions like the nature and the purpose of life. Both of them evolved at about the same time as Confucianism and Daoism during the ‘Spring and Autumn Period’ (770–476 before our era), and ‘Warring States Period.’

Gong Fu (drinking) tea

The traditional way or the Chinese method of tea making is called gōng fu chá or meaning “making a tea with great skill or great efforts.” It is as much about escaping the pressures of life for a few moments as it is about enjoying every drop of a tea.

 Tea and coffee bear some similarities. The energizing effect of the coffee bean plant is thought to have been discovered in Yemen in Arabia from where the Muslims spread coffee first to Italy, then the rest of Europe, and finally it was spread throughout the world. In English and other European languages, the word coffee derives from the Ottoman Turkish kahve.  As for tea, there are at least six varieties of tea: white, yellow, green, oolong, black and pǔ’ěr. Just to name some: jí pǐn lóng jǐng or Dragon Well, high-grade green tea that was granted the status of luán chá or imperial tea during the Qīng Dynasty and is nowadays frequently given to very important visitors of China; a tiě guān yīn tea – a wǔ yí wū lóng or oxidized oolong tea with a creamy taste; refreshing nutty taste and aroma tea lì zǐ xiāng that translates as “fragrance of chestnut” is a green tea from the Guangdong province; cultivation of pu’er, also known as Yunnan tuó chá, can be traced as far back as the Han Dynasty and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for generations to build up internal energy and to invigorate the activity of the spleen and stomach. All teas are made from the same species of plant, but processed differently. And there are others which are not to be mistaken by a ‘herbal tea,’ or an infusion that is made from leaves, flowers, fruit, herbs, or other plant material that contains no Camellia sinensis as coffee and tea do.

“The Way” of Leadership

Dào – the Way and Confucianism

Although Dào literally means ‘a way’ or one of its synonyms, the meaning was extended to mean ‘the Way.’ And this term, variously used by many Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Mencius, Mò Zǐ, and Han Fei Zǐ, has a special meaning within the context of Daoism, where it implies the essential, unnamable process of the universe.

Daoism is traditionally traced to the mythical philosopher Lǎo Zǐ , the ‘Old Master’ to whom the text Dào Dé Jīng has been attributed. Dào Dé Jīng is translated as ‘The Classic/Canon of the Way/Path and the Power/Virtue,’ the title was generally used from the Tang dynasty period (618–905).

And the Daoism philosophy owes more to Zhuāng Zǐ (4^th century BE) the author of the core texts of the Chinese way of thinking known as ‘Daoism.’ Zhuāng Zǐ is traditionally credited as the author of at least part of the work, the one bearing his name, the Zhuāng Zǐ.

English: Analects, by Confucius. Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Confucianism principles are based on the written work The Confucian Analects (Lún Yǔ) ‘found’ by Confucius who lived two thousand and five hundred years ago.  The Chinese language does not use the word Confucianism, instead it is called Rú Jiāo meaning ‘scholar’ and ‘teach.’

External and internal control

“Please contact my secretary to find the time in my schedule, I’m over booked…”  Have you ever heard a similar from an important CEO or other top manager? He/she is obviously under the time pressure, a stress situation or … If this happens frequently it is normally understood that such people don’t have free time.

In my post Cause and consequence / Urgent and important the pressure because of mainly dealing with urgent instead of important issues was already discussed. To further it, concentrate on the next problem, well described by Zhuāng Zǐ proverb: “If you cannot even govern your own self, how can you govern the world”.

How true and how often we do ignore it? When under the stress a basic martial arts skill is to control and not to fight emotions that are piling up. First try to ascertain what you sense or feel. Then do some concealed relaxation breathing to relax the tension.

Why this book (West vs. East) ...

There are hundreds of books addressing the yáng of outer leadership, complete with checklists, game plans, and first person accounts of how successful people exercised leadership. But I wanted to write a book about the yīn or an inner leadership.

Connected to those leadership issues, my other different views and thinking came from my martial arts practice and their philosophy toward life and fights.

I've learned that East wants to be in harmony with nature; the Western approach is to control nature also spurred by the Western way of life and religion. Martial arts in the East have a focus on the martial way and the mental culture united with body, while in the West their perspective is sportier and competitive, where winning becomes their main objective. We could say, using the concepts of Eastern is a ‘soft’ approach as in yīn, and Western is ‘hard’ as in yáng. Eastern mentality is like a bamboo tree which is quick to bend with wind, but in its absence becomes stronger. The West is like an oak tree unperturbed by the wind, only to be ‘unfortunately’ pulled out by a hurricane later on. There are other areas where similar contrasts can be made. The West talks about human rights, whereas the Far East understands collective rights or even more profound, rights for all living life-forms. The West is not economical with energy, whereas martial arts including Tai Chi, are good at preserving it and only call on it in an emergency.

Why yellow

A Chinese character for colour is 顏色 (yán sè). Before the Five Elements Theory was used and according to Daoists’ believe, there were only two colours: opposing, yet complementary principles, black and white, yīn (阴) and yáng (阳).

According to Chinese calendar system, the Ten Celestial Stems (shí tiān gān 十天干) are connected with the Five Elements or Phases (wǔ xíng 五行) representing five states of forces of expansion or condensation (the plus energy, or , expansion; the minus energy, or , condensation) and their corresponding colours are:

Why dragon

Dragons are deeply rooted in the Chinese culture. This mythological symbol dates back to 3000 BC and stands for happiness, immortality, procreation, fertility and activity. The Chinese call the dragon lóng - 竜 and it is the first of the four Divine Creatures to Chinese – the others being the unicorn, the phoenix and the tortoise. The Chinese often consider themselves, 'the descendants of the dragon' (龍的傳人; pinyin: lóng de chuán rén).

Chinese dragon has the following nine characteristics: 

• head is like a camels,
• horns like a deer's,
• eyes like a hare's,
• ears like a bull's,
• neck like an iguana's,
• belly like a frog's,
• scales like those of a carp,
• paws like a tiger's, and
• claws like an eagle's.

New @

Almost three years ago (April 2010) I have made a real lengthy dream of mine to come thru – to write a book. But not any book. A book about my two passions: Leadership and Martial arts. It was the time of my visiting exchange to the Xi’an Technological University as a professor.  Both professors at the Economic & Management College of Xi’an: Chunqing and Gang during my teaching and researching at first did not understood but later on grasped my thoughts and research intentions. The aim was to use Martial Arts doctrines based on two fundamental Chinese philosophies Daoism and Confucianism for Leadership. They helped me in grasping through long talks the ideas behind those two philosophies. At that time I didn’t know yet what would follow … Ok, I’ll tell this in ensuing blogs.