Dào is usually translated as way, road, channel, path, doctrine, or line and by Chinese opinion cannot be obtained as virtue cannot be approached. The legendary Chinese sovereign and cultural hero Yellow Emperor (reigned from 2.696–2.598 BE) said that once Dào is lost, virtue arises; once virtue is lost, humaneness arises; once humaneness is lost, righteousness arises; once righteousness is lost, formalism arises. But formalism is the flowery representation of Dào and the beginning of disorder. 
The third
example I would like to share with you is the historical novel Three Kingdoms, written in the tradition
of the Spring and Autumn Annals which are attributed to Confucius. The
historical novel of the Three Kingdoms is so important because it describes 
The second
example from China’s history for an outstanding leadership can be taken from
the novel: Journey to the West. The main
character is Sūn Wùkōng, Brother Monkey or Great Sage. The narrative uses a lot
of symbolism and is based on the Daoist philosophy. Brother Monkey represents
the heart and resides in fire, which is a fifth Daoist element. He was born
from a stone and acquired supernatural powers through Daoist practices on the 
A correct stance is like a bamboo, firm but
flexible, rooted but yielding. It gives us power to either deflect external
forces or redirect them. Balance is connected to a structure that is embedded
within a stance. A correct structure is not important just for the defense, but
also for the attack. Being effectively ‘rooted’ or aligned against the ground enables
the force of the hit to be taken and absorbed by the ground. Why a good leader
has to have a stable stance I have already explained in my Leadership and stability blog post.
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 11th 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.
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.’
Imagine walking through the woods. You
carefully move and step slowly on the uneven ground where even the exposed tree
roots are all covered by leaves. We adapt to environment. Although trees might
seem static and unmovable they are still flexible and adaptive. They adjust to
the surrounding environment and therefore become even more stable. They do not
consume extra energy to rise straight up. It is natural for them to adapt to
the floor declination when they grow.
We all have to adjust to our environment, or
in martial arts to opponent, and to the mistakes you make during the fight. You
can do this only by being flexible. In everyday life there is an abundance of
events and issues that require our adaptation. But are we able to adapt
quickly? How do we know what to do? When someone trips and is just about to
fall, his brain starts to function at high speed. When we are very young or
very drunk, we just let it go and fall down. Kids roll with it or just fall loosely,
and because of this reaction, they are not severely injured most of the time.
What about the rest of us? Our first reaction is violent; we start to
gesticulate wildly with our hands. We start to contradict the obvious that
happens all the same. Most of the time, instead of bending our knees, we stop
our fall with our arms and quite a lot of times break our wrists. We forget how
to fall and do not know how to adjust to this event that has happened to us
many times before in our lives. We react in panic.
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| English: Analects, by Confucius. Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In the past, the main objective of
martial arts was effective and efficient combat that regularly resulted in
mortality or caused some degree of injury, often very severe, while today,
martial arts are being used in more than one way. The first would be in the
direct usage of martial arts that serves the original purpose. It is only used
in extreme situations by military, police, and such organizations.Nowadays, the term is usually associated
with various unarmed Asian martial arts, such as Wing Chun, karate do, judo,
taekwondo, aikido, and others, and martial arts using mostly cold weaponry,
such as kendo, ninjutsu, battojutsu. In reality, it encompasses a whole
plethora of martial arts from around the world, like boxing, savate, capoeira,
jeet kune do, krav maga, fencing, and much more. But here we need to be aware
of the differences in the ways of thinking coming from the environments
influenced by Confucianism, Daoism, or Buddhism on one side, and the West on
the other. This is all reflected in those martial arts. While the Chinese
martial arts are predominantly rhythmic in movement, the Western tend to be
more dynamic and tense.
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