Kung Fu: Preparation for Armageddon
Sam Michael
Suffering is the origin of consciousness. – Dostoyevsky
The future is war. According to scientists, think-tank predictions, and the 2003 Pentagon Report , abrupt climate changes and a severely depleted world will cause ever fiercer global resource wars over oil, water, timber, and arable land in the coming decades. This may either be a grim reality or a dangerous military legitimization by the U.S. army, but whether or not these wars are inevitable, if viewed optimistically they may be a key factor towards catalyzing the next phase of human consciousness and birthing a new global society.
This article will attempt to trace the history of Kung Fu from our hunter-gatherer past to the coming Space Wars and suggest how the martial art sciences could be an important antidote to the secular materialist traps of our age that in turn fuel the scarcities of the future. At the same time that modern artillery has rendered traditional hand-to-hand combat seemingly obsolete, martial arts and yoga attendance worldwide is skyrocketing. Perhaps by embracing, and not shunning, the warrior archetype we can ultimately reduce the need for mass armed conflict and survive this coming age where -- as the conclusion of the above mentioned Pentagon report states -- “disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life.”
Kung Fu, which, by definition is any skill or technique perfected to its highest level, is a slang or colloquialism that encompasses the prowess of soldier and chef, doctor and painter alike. Kung Fu is by itself an interesting phrase, paradoxically combining idealistic values, supreme skills, and invincible technique with pragmatic, back-breaking, and tireless hard work.
Although Kung Fu is a Chinese term in China its use extends comprehensively to Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and the indigenous martial arts of any country or culture. Kung Fu is a powerful philosophy and psychophysical technology forged in the crucible of humankind’s struggle for survival. Kung Fu is by its very nature an antidote to materialistic misconceptions about the nature of reality.
Let's take a moment to clear up some of the differences between three popular spiritual techniques- Shamanism, Yoga, and Kung fu. According to legend, Kung Fu was founded by the famous Yogi Bodhidharma, who stopped by Shaolin Temple after spreading Buddhism from India into China. He noticed the monks there were too weak to meditate and practice his teachings. After many years of solitary meditation in a cave Bodhidharma returned to teach the monks his Yoga or Qi Gung, which became foundational in Shaolin Kung Fu. Kung Fu, Yoga, or Qi Gung are a part of a system in which martial arts and dance all share similar animistic, zoomorphic, and magical-scientific ontologies. Through complex physical and verbal languages Shamanism, Yoga, and Kung Fu all express and substantiate their results through trial- proof of a physical universe wholly different than the one which our language claims exists.
Kung fu has a history of fortifying the underdogs against imperial powers out to enslave them. For centuries the Han people of China were unified by Kung Fu in their resistance against foreign invaders. Revolutionaries hid on boats in opera troops and in temples secretly honing their forbidden fighting skills. In the history of African slavery it was Batuque, a family of African martial arts, which gave the slaves strength in their plight and revolts and gave birth to the martial art of Capoeira and other similar new world fighting arts. These are not merely systems of combat but the concretization of all the higher ideals of a people such as freedom, bravery, maturity, wisdom, discipline and self-rule. As it is sometime said, “Without Zen there would be no Kung Fu, and without Kung Fu, Zen could not be seen.”
The most extensive surviving variety of styles and forms arrive to us from China, including a bewildering assortment of long and short range tactics, soft and hard energetic principles, and panoply of weapons from hidden sleeve darts to cavalry weapons for battlefield decapitation. Thanks to a turbulent history and such infamous epochs as the warring states period (5th century B.C. to 221 B.C.), wherein Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, China’s legacy of martial arts and sciences is unparalleled and has given rise to the false sinocentric view that all martial arts originated in China.
On the contrary, the whole world seems to have been rich in martial arts. We are only now discovering the diverse traditions of Africa, India, Indonesia, Russia, Mongolia and elsewhere. From prehistoric hunting and tribal conflicts to the ancient Olympic games where the best Greek fighters boxed, wrestled, and sparred in the nude in an effort to be awarded the coveted olive branch and a permanent front row seat at the theater, the natural defensive and offensive movements of humans made long strides early on towards codification and study.
Unfortunately much of the world’s martial arts were lost since the development of the gun, especially in the West (although efforts are underway to recreate them), so much so that they still possess an aura of exoticism and the mystique of something foreign, although nothing could be farther than the truth. Since the U.S. military occupations in China, Japan, and Korea, and popularized by movie stars like Bruce Lee, a more complete vision of the martial arts were reintroduced to the West. Currently martial arts are growing more popular every day, with Afro-Brazilian arts like Capoeira challenging the notion of the Asiatic origins of martial arts, and syncretic martial arts Jeet Kune Do and MMA attempting to blend the best of all styles. In Hollywood, Hong Kong veteran Yuen Woo Ping has become the gold standard for post-Matrix action sequences, and this summer’s releases are buzzing with Kung fu: Kung Fu Panda, Forbidden Kingdom, Mummy 3, and many more are filling box offices with Kung Fu fever.
As a science, Kung Fu is the product of a long line of human warrior traditions. Warrior traditions usually are founded in religious rites or visionary experiences, and include medicinal as well as fighting knowledge and dances. In India and China it is recorded how the greatest warriors became doctors and charted the points of the body that allowed entry to harm or heal the body’s energy. The martial arts in their most enlightened form have the capacity to channel the aggressive, violent impulses of humans into a sublime and beautiful spiritual aesthetic that can maintain health and mobility well into old age.
When a traditional kung fu master or yogi works out, most likely it will involve several hours of prayer, meditation, and intense exercises and purifications that challenge the mind as intensely as the body, and tune the practitioner in to the vibrations of the spirit world, making he or she whole again. As in dance and Yoga, Kung Fu is rooted in animal and elemental mimicry. A skilled martial artist moves with the grace and relaxed power of the animals and there are styles devoted to every kind from praying mantis to monkey and elephant. The martial artist trains themselves day and night to embody the explosiveness of fire or fluidity and water. Martial artists even incorporate and emulate the different states of intoxication and enlightenment as in Drunken Kung Fu, or Kung Fu which imitates the way arhats, bodhisattvas, and immortals would fight. In order to shuffle off our Cartesian dualism we must realize that the mind is as instrumental in shaping the body as is the body in shaping the mind.
In its ability to make the spirit world palpable and judging by its popularity, Kung fu is here to stay. We should not be fooled into thinking that firearms have rendered martial arts obsolete forever. A new equilibrium may arrive in a post-technological state or when technologies such as advanced armor, anti-projectile defenses, new weaponry or augmented human physical abilities—such as those showcased in the movie, The Iron Man, will level the playing field between man and machine-based projectiles and promote a new practical martial arts applicable to the coming global conflicts, some of which may take place in urban environments where guerilla tactics and a lack of clear sight lines upsets the benefits of firearms in favor of the hand-to-hand close combat skills of the individual warrior. In other words, one person with technology and skill could come to equal an army in might.
A revaluation and re-envisioning of war to take into account the positive potentials would benefit us. Enabling a whole range of extreme experiences, war cascades the brain with adrenalin and other powerful mind altering substances and produces long lasting psychic changes. War is a close cultural relative of the hunt--many cultures envision the afterlife as a Great Hunt. Everyday in the Norse heaven Valhalla, one wages the apocalyptic Ragnarok against the Jotuns giants and monsters. Every night the shaman Odin, and Freya the shamaness, and their valkyries resurrect the souls of the slain in the hall of Odin where they drink the mead of the gods.
There are some profound philosophical questions that need to be answered in this time of detested military and corporate warfare: on the one hand most people seem to envision an enlightened being pacifistic like the Christ in the Gospels, with a spirituality like that of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. On the other hand people persistently pursue warlike measures, and aristeia, the virtue of the agon or conflict, is extolled in songs and epic traditions immortalizing the violent and heroic labors of humans and gods. During the civil rights movement in America Malcolm X came to realize that even though his rhetoric of self-defense by “any means necessary” was diametrically opposed to the ahimsa gospel of Martin Luther King, Jr., their ideals were still aligned and their activist strategies worked complementarily.
As we enter a pan or trans-cultural era, the re-proliferation of yoga and martial arts across nations and cultures is a powerful liberating and defensive force against oppression and disempowerment. The global martial arts and yoga phenomenon is a movement of tremendous potential for human advancement, cultural restoration, and an important anti-totalitarian institution. With improvement in social networking and virtual reality there is no limit for the inception of virtual training halls, where like the ancient kalaris and mo gwoons of yore, warriors, teachers, and healers can exchange techniques, philosophies, and train some Kung Fu.
- Sam Michael's blog
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very informative
and much needed insight, i took some classes in Kung Fu years ago, from a master chinese teacher from Hong Kong he taught in the bay area, his name was Wong Jack Man, and he fought a famous fight with Bruce Lee, before Bruce became famous.I was to learn Wong's Shaolin northern style, but at the time, i was not much of an athletic specimin, so i changed to Tai Chi yang style, and attempted to learn the form.I was involved at the time in another art practice in a group of people that was similar but more in psychic self defence.So i ended up leaving Wongs class, and sometime after that i took other classes, and some Wing Chun, then later more different styles of Tai Chi.I was not very good at it, but i really liked learing different styles, or learning about them.
Even later i ended up back at Wong's class, and i learned the whole Yang style form, some Hsing_I and a Tai Chi sword set.But do to a health problem and other factors i left Wong for the last time.I just wanted to say that Wong was a very nice person, and he taught mostly by showing the style over and over, you just learned by watching him move.Once i saw him get a little angry and sad, because one of his students went on to teach a class of his own, and get some fame, and his student did not mention his teacher Wong Jack Man in some interview, which was not a traditionaly nice thing to do to a master teacher.
Other teachers i saw and went to, seemed more on a power trip, or it was taught in a hard way, and there is rivalry between different styles and teachers.Which is why Wong was challenged by Bruce Lee for turf and students.
Anyway, after learing some little bit of Kung Fu, i always felt that it was part of me, i have been taught many times in my sleep, which is interesting, when you feel some kind of psychic connection, to some temple or revolutionary underground style, like memories from other life times.I think a person should find a teacher that teaches on a more then one level, as anybody can learn how to kick and punch.But i think real great teachers are not so easy to come by.Lately i started doing a Primordial Tai Chi form i learned from a DVD.
as far as prep for Armageddon, not sure about that, but maybe some good ninja coming.I don't know, better not be too romatic about all this, i bow and put my fist to my palm...peace!
the evolution of kata
the evolution of kata -note
Elvis
was taught by Ed Parker the famous Kenpo karate teacher, if you watch Elvis on some of his TV shows he does some bits that show his training.Ed Parker was paid well, so and it gave him some press, so he went along with the Evis thing.I guess they liked each other too.To bad Elvis didn't really get into Karate, and loose that tire.But he was such a lousy actor.And he was out of touch with the more meditative side of martial art.But then the article attempted to give some perspective on the whole picture of theory and practice.People can do some amazing things with some quick movements that seem to come out of nowhere, spontanous like, this crazy stories seem like a scene in a crappy made kung fu movie.Man you could write a whole book with stories like impersonating Bruce Lee, or Bozo the clown with some mean chop stick training, imagine where you could put that stick, with the right jing(english?) on it.I remember meeting a teacher in San Francisco, that a buddy i knew had met, that had known Ed Parker as a kid, i ended up talking to the teacher for hours about philosophy, we both liked that move Ran (which means, "Chaos" or "Revolt" by Akira Kuosawa, the Chinese teacher taught White Crane style.
by the way Wong Jack Man, was not beat by Bruce Lee, it was a draw, if Wong had been beaten he would not have shown up the next day to his resturant job, Wong was just a very modest teacher, and had many students.Bruce tried to off him in that fight.
Chuck Norris, the anti-bruce
Norris is a putz, the worst kind of sell out
Bruce Lee was a showboat, but he had style and he was innovative, and his movies did a lot to promote a realistic image of Kung Fu, strange karma there, he rocked some boats for sure, which brings me to southern and northern styles, Wing Chun is a southern style, it was what Bruce first trained in, that's why it is so good at street fighting in tight places, the original southern styles were learned on boats, so you had to learn to balance and move is small steps, Wing Chun does not use any long moves, like round house kicks, So Bruce took that to the max, and then he began learning everything he could, and adding that to his own style, which eventualy became Jeet Kune Do.But he prolly made some traditional teachers feel slighted, or they were jealous.Wong Jack Man was just in the way of Bruce's career move, he was going places and Wong was just a shy Northern Shaolin boy.But that night, Wong was just defending himself, until Bruce got medieval on him, Bruce's wife wrote about the fight in her book and said Bruce won.But look what happened to Bruce's son.
Also the famous Kung Fu series with David Carridine, who took some classes from a student of Wong Jack Man, which is why Wong was upset, when his student did not even acknowledge him. That as the only time i saw anything other then a totally even disposition in Wong in the days i was in his classes.Wong never said a mean word, he was always smiling, and flowing around the room, and sometimes he would do some of his kung fu when others were training on the side, Wong would do some amazing move, and people would be watching out of the corners of their eyes, to catch it.It was so graceful and unpretentious.
edit
Actually Ed Parker has
Actually Ed Parker has said the area Elvis really excelled at was the meditative/spiritual aspect of martial arts--it was the physical side that needed refinement. Also, he was only fat near the very end of his life do to the fact a lifetime of abusing pills literally caused his body (especially his digestive system) to stop functioning causing everythng to get "backed up" so to speak.
Yeah, I'm an Elvis fan.
"Sitting on the outside, just me and my mate. I made the moon come up two hours late. Ain't that a man?" -- Muddy Waters
i really did not look deep into the EDParker /Elvis
another style worth mentioning...Temv-K'a
The Beat Their Swords Into Ploughshares
I trained in Wing Chun for two years. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. The self defense aspect is practical, but it also can give you insights into many other areas of your life. However, the internal politics of a good Kung Fu school can drive you crazy. I have discussed this with other people who train in various martial arts and it seems to come with the territory.
As much as I think there is to gain from martial arts, I have also begun to question the negative aspects of devoting so much time to learning how to harm people. I also find that for a practice that is meant to tame our egos, training in Kung Fu often forces us to deal with the egos of our teachers and senoir students. This makes me question the legitimacy of many, if not most schools.
I guess my feeling on this can be articulated in the following quote, "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
A future where we are caught in continual warfare seems like a grim forcast. I think we can create/dream up/train for/ something better. I think as a species we need to become less insecure and realize there is enough to go around instead of using our limited resources to wage war (this only depletes them faster). A person or country that constantly trains for war is fearful. We want to create a less fearful world.
From a fractal perspective, training in martial arts is akin to building up stockpiles of weapons. We should aim to resolve confrontations without violence in both our personal lives and our global politics. In a civil society there is very little room for violence. Only in the most extreme cases of self defence should we resort to it. If we are going to train we should learn styles and techniques to defend ourselves, not to attack others.
I think this agression our species of carnivorous apes carries needs to be realized for the emotional appendix that it is. Martial arts can be used to channel this energy more positively, but it can also reinforce aggression. Furthermore, I am also skeptical of spiritual teachers. I believe they can give you some guidance, but it is too easy for cults of personality and other primate ego BS to build up around them.
also preventing harm, remember that...
bruce lee
kickban
kickban block
At Ease
fluid?
Ploughshares and pruning hooks however beaten remain weapons
Sam Michael
In grateful response to Naga Raja Peace. The original weapons of Kung Fu in many nations were also farming tools and common household instruments, such as the staff, the sai (or fish hook), the scythe, etc. Only through endless training could they defend against armies of sword and spear. This is illustrative of the kind of paradox I am presenting in my essay. I am not forecasting a perpetual war, I am suggesting in order to posit a world without the horrors of war we have to get beyond a war = bad reductionism. Many of the struggles of humankind toward freedom were accomplished with violence, willingly or unwillingly. War is an essential aspect of our world, metaphorically and literally. I am suggesting it were a power better harnessed than ignored, or bullied. I believe Kung Fu to be an antidote to rather than merely perpetuating warlike tendencies. Most martial art teachers I have encountered are true to their tradition and lineage and instill only the most profound hesitation in using physical violence. They teach first and foremost a program of ethics and physical and mental health. As a kung fu instructor five years, training sometimes eight hours a day all week, the last thing on my mind was picking a fight, I was too damn tired. I felt like I was getting trained how to get beaten up, not the other way around. And that is the truth, Kung Fu is not about kick and punch, only a fool would practice that his whole life. The great martial artists were scholars, poets, doctors, and philosophers. One of the greatest legends reflecting this is Si Fu Wong Fei Hung. A phenomenally gifted martial artist he was attacked en route by bandits. After single handedly defending himself he stopped to mend and set their bones and dress their wounds. I agree completely that fear is a major blockage in the modern psyche. Kung Fu is a great tool in making people less afraid, less dependent on military-industrial complexes and much healthier. Though training hall politics vary from place to place, and egos and spiritual materialism rear their ugly head, this is endemic to yoga, dance, and other important spiritual modalities and is itself part of the war amongst us which needs our attention. I share your skepticism in BS, personality cults, and mental servitude, but many wisdom traditions hold that transmission is only accomplished through a grueling ordeal, and though this is often confused with charlatan pretenders, we retain the living testament that not all human culture has yet been perverted and lost, and we should not let fear further wrack our sacred traditions. The Ragnarok myth is employed as exemplifying a powerful archetype, a paradigm of an eternal heavenly crusade, infinite and outside of time. Reified this Norse heaven stands in stark contrast to the heaven of the Judeo-Christian traditon. However, even in the modern Christian heaven an eternal war rages between angels and demons demonstrating that some aspect of the warrior consciousness slipped through the cracks.personal rectitude versus manufactured control
Martial Arts a path to Peace, or is tradition lost
This article brought up a lot of different things for me. In one sense it poses the philosophy of Kung Fu, which is true; that of mastery of the self. It also introduced some far-out idea of super-armor "leveling" the playing field in a post-police state urban war zone... It mentioned the ability to transmute healing energy and non-violent revolution and that of the violent.
Listen, Let me share a little bit of my own journey in the arts and how I can relate to the controversy of this article. I trained in an underground style called VADHA (from ancient Tibet-India-Nepal region), it translates from sanskrit (the oldest written language) and means "to slay or to kill". The family I learned from, were taught directly by a master from India who disappeared after all the knowledge was past down to the uncle of the family. The style was handed down, from uncle to nephew, father to son for over thousands of years...Untouched until it came here, to Staten Island in the 70's. I started when I was 14 and was very absorbed in this extremely powerful internal marital art. I trained hard and had friends in other styles. (I was fascinated by all forms) I would dabble and spar with them but stuck with vadha. To try to cut a very very long story short... I trained to hurt, I got good at it and then I became injured.
Thats what led me to Qi Gong. I knew how to hurt but not how to heal myself. So I stuck with the qi gong and it studied along with meditation. This changed my life and shifted my awareness dramatically. My lifestyle was very busy and the injury caused me to finally be still. The Qi Gong really opened the door to healing and led me to YOGA... etc. etc. From there I traveled to India... (Which I always wanted to do for the original intention of finding the origins of Vadha and give it validity as being the original martial art)but intentions changed and... My dharma has always been to try to find the bridge between forms. I have to say that I learned more about myself, the nature of reality and the limitless possabilites of the soul and co-creation from yoga than I ever did from martial arts. Then again, it all depends on your teacher. Which brings me to my point. That much of the martial arts taught in the west today are Watered down. And I would have to agree with Naga, that there is a lot of EGO involved with that scene. Lets consider intention. What is the intention that drives us to find a form or a teacher. That is what needs to be questioned. When we heal ourselves we can heal others. There are many levels... not just the gross physical level but how your energy resonates in the world.
Many martial artists train for the wrong reason, while others have to learn there own lessons...many discover that "Using No Way as Way" -Bruce lee; is more powerful than ever throwing a punch. What i'm trying to emphasize is that when you enter spiritual traditions that still work with a conscious lineage your getting something more authentic. And when the emphasis is on self-discovery, philosophy and discipline then you can really cultivate something beneficial to humanity. Again it is not the form, Whether kung fu, Tai chi, jeet kun do, baduwon , karate, aikido, etc... its the intention and our teacher.
In the Guru system of India... The guru translates as "The remover of darkness". They are rare but exist here in the west. Find a good teacher and cultivate something of benefit to the world. Whether it is Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc... Yoga, Qi Gong, Shamanism etc...It doesn't matter what form, if it seeks to open the heart and discover the self it is of benefit.
Since MLK was mentioned in the article I will quote him "Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that, Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that".
When I was at my peak of martial arts training ...I was a revolutionary saving up $ for Ak's for when the police state came... that was fear and power driven... Now i'm a spiritual warrior. Fighting the internal enemy that is my ego... that which seeks to make me separate from everyone. I am an advocate for peace now. I teach yoga, qi gong and meditation. I love martial arts and it is a powerful path, but if there is no awareness of compassion and discernment it is a path of fire.
May all beings attain peace and harmony...
Thanks for sharing and listening.
"When the power of LOVE overwhelms the love of power, the world will know peace" - J.H
*One more thing
* re- reading my reply,
**There is also a lot EGO in the yoga, qi gong scene. * And plenty of in-authenticity and spiritual materialism...
I was just sharing how how my path unfolded and somethings to be consciou s of...
Essentially... work with your nature
-1-
VADHA
Sam Michael
Peace Alokananda, thank you for your comment and concern. I am interested in the martial art you studied and perhaps we could discuss it sometime. It is interesting how your own personal journey is archetypal of the martial artist who is eager to fight but ultimately discovers the double edge of it- yoga, qi gung, healing, as the great warrior doctors of Indian history and other cultures did. All of these practices are intricately linked. They don't call it warrior pose for nothing, many early indian yogins practiced martial arts alongside yoga, which as in qi gung and kung fu (the rough chinese equivalents of yoga and vadha) are integrated together in flowing form and dances, stance and asana. This is one of Kung Fu's strengths, transmuting anger into Karuna, as in your own story. I just feel sorry that you the martial arts world has left you with a sour experience, in some ways this is purposeful, they don't call it hard work for nothing, stress and strain in the training hall can help prepare oneself for the conflicts of life, as I am sure it has for you. Anyway I hope you give Vadha a second chance ( I sure would like to see more diverse martial styles represented and preserved not watered down) and see it as complementary to Yoga and though outwardly warlike, an aspect of the riddling nature of divinity, as in Durga, or Athena, goddess of wisdom yet a goddess of war as well. In many ways your comment resonated with my own sentiments and experiences. I am only a little concerned with correcting any misapprehension that I am giddily looking forward to blowing myself to bits for no apparent reason in a sci-fi apocalypse, but felt it necessary to speculate on the future of martial arts and integration of new weapons and defenses and how the next shift in military evolution might provide us tools to supersede the current seeming necessity of police and military defenses. Shanti, SamThanks for the article
I really appreciated your considered exploration of the martial art.
Brave thing to do on this site.
Thanks again.
P.S.
I am mistress of the forms, Burning Ember and Flying Cat.....laugh.
flying katz
hehe, i remember talking to this gal that worked in a occult store,you know all things pagan and all kinds of spell stuff and hoodoo candles, she would claw your eyes out, if you looked at her wrong, just kidding, but anyway ,her favorite movie, was called Faster Faster Pussy Cat, about some shit kicking female motorcycle gang.A sexy spoof romp.
mistress of burning ember style
too cool, i like the paper airplane style, but my fave rave is the origami unicorn style.Monkey style is neat too, but you have to drink rice wine and make faces like a see no evil monkey, or like the Love Guru says, "you may kiss my monkey, and gives you that kraftwerk eye!
Laugh....
.....some forms you just have to learn trial by fire.I don't think they teach you that one in any dojo.
You ever had a cat thrown at you? I have.I was eight when my brother picked up our family cat and threw her at me.
I will never forget the terror I felt when that hissing,spitting furball,four legs equipped with five individual razors extended came my way.I still have the eight inch scar running down my thigh to remind me.
Its a lesson in something to see your beloved fluffy kitty morph into a lethal weapon.
I studied shotokan for a few years,did some kung fu,yoga,tai chi....but not intensely.Still,must have picked up something 'cause when I was attacked in my home I was able to defend myself.
Luckily I was smoking a cigarette at the time....that's where burning ember comes in.The idiot had his hands around my neck and somehow without any concious thought my left hand came up and stubbed it out on his eyeball.
The shock of it sent him reeling giving me enough time to channel my inner cat and I went tooth and claw for him.Fang fu fury courtesy of Miffy.So he fled.
Then I went and did the civilised thing and called the police,burst into tears and got an AVO on him..
I saw him a few days later with his eye swelled shut,looking like he'd been in a fight with a whipper snipper..He complained about me calling the police as he was the one that had the most injuries.LOL.
Even though I didn't use any techniques,I don't like to think of the outcome if I hadn't studied a.martial art.I think its the sense of preparedness to deal with a violent situation that is one of the valuable things it brings to the table.
enter the catrix
LOL
.....I had to laugh....that image of your cat attacking the elf hat in an explosion of Neo moves....it went down well with my morning coffee.Lucky you didn't lose an ear......
Cats are something else.We're fortunate they are not as big as dogs and don't organise otherwise Big Oil and the money cartels would be given a run for their money.
Thankyou and blending vadha
Thank you Sam.
I enjoyed your article and appreciate the sincerity of your reply. You have a strong awareness and intelligence surrounding this. There is definitely that archetype in my being... Many of my past lives were spent in war, and i'm grateful that that karma came to fruition in a positive way; that I found what fully resonates with me now.
Vadha is a very deep, mysterious and powerful art. By no means did the Arts leave me with a sour experience. Much of me is still very enamored of them. Again its just the focus of intention behind it. The reward of this journey was in the shifts of awareness and intention. The modern mma scene has scrambled and dissolved alot of the spirit.
I have not given up on Vadha. I plan on Integrating it when I have reached a high enough level of understanding of my own being... My physical body, emotional body, psycho-spiritual, and pranic etc. Only then can I reconcile the two sides of the coin. To teach Vadha with the yogic awareness that I believe was intended to flow with it. IT is too powerful otherwise. I fear its power sometimes, for it is very much like the "force" of the "jedi" in some crazy analogy. Playing with that powerful stuff at an early age with unclear or wrong intention left me with some blockages that i'm still dissolving...
I would love to discuss it in more detail, not in the open-space of a forum though. Maybe through email or something.
Thanks for your interest and concern, hope we can get a little more in depth.
Om Shanti
"When the power of LOVE overwhelms the love of power, the world will know peace" - J.H
i took some Chi-Gung
briefly from an old Chinese man in San Francisco, he called Buddhist Chi-Gung, he was 80 years old and was strong as a horse, he also was an acupuncturist> I would come to his class with only a few students and we would stand in this very odd position for twenty minutes, with our hands tucked behind out backs, the teacher would then go around to each student and tap you on the back with his hands, in a few places, he never said anything, just smiled a little.Once i got acupuncture from him in his North beach apartment,and that was the strangest acupuncture treatment i ever received.He made fun of some thing i had hanging around my neck, some crystal, and when i was on his table he put needles in me all over, but the real deal was the six inch long needle, he put in my dan tien, i was like wooah!!! and he smiled like a wicked cat, at my big eyes, and then i was like a butterfly pinned to the table, no kidding. But after that i felt so charged, i was like WOW! I found out that this old Chinese man, with black hair and short and thin, had treated Chinese generals before he came to San Francisco from the mainland, he did not speak English very well. And i don't know what happened to his"Buddhist Chi-Gung"
I use to hang out in Chinatown and go into the shops with the herbalists and acupuncturists, and get bags of herbs to brew.I also took some form of Tai Chi i can't even recall the name of now, it was a very strange style, i want to say Sun style, and most of the students were Chinese,it was taught like a hard martial art, i also took some Chen Style classes, which is also a hard taught style, that seems very effective.But when i took that the class i was in was taught by a very tough Chinese girl, and she had a very sharp voice, and we had to line up and do drills that sort of thing.I recall that she also taught in the golden gate park, i showed up one day and some of her students laughed at my skinny hippie looking movements.I smiled back.When i was taking the sun style, the Chinese kids were kinda in awe that a white guy was interested in this very remote style.I only took about ten classes of that, you really had to be already a martial artist, which i was not.
some kids
SNA-FU
In response to Sna-fu
Sam Michael
Hi, just wanted to clear up any miscommunication in this last post. "All that propaganda from..." In my essay I began with asserting that this pentagon report in some aspects probably is a reactionary legitimization of exorbitant military spending, I only use the pentagon report and link to future space weapons to re-inform us of the current heading at least some of our Pentagon officials have in mind for us, to ignore them would be worse. I am only optimistic insofar as the potential for restructuring our military dialogues in a less disastrous and deleterious way, by examining and bringing them to the light. As far as kung fu not preparing one for the Armageddon, this complex and hard to prove or disprove. To me Kung Fu (or martial arts) is a vast irreducible complex of philosophy, science, etc., a view which I believe is important for people to understand. I believe as much in the philosophical applicability of martial arts as in the nitty gritty of physically training for armed revolution or resistance. Another way we could translate this title is, Hard work: preparation for the final or eternal battle. Additionally archery, and all the other weapons listed are already long assimilated into Kung Fu (archery swordsmanship) etc. Thank you for your commentWar predictions are right Sam and your Intuition is Keen
I work for the DOD in the warrior kind of way. So I know some inside things about the business. The war drums are beating in the Pentagon and the future is war. And it's true, war is always about who gets what. Kung-Fu is spiritually deep, the Shoalin monks are proof of that. And you are right about weapons being assimilated into Kung-Fu. Learning Kung-Fu would be a very useful skill. My intuition tells me that a Kung-Fu showdown is on the horizon and its (Bald Eagle) The West vs. (Red Dragon) The East.
im sorry but armageddon
is a Christian biblical term that some insane people that read bibles invoke because they are so full of beans they can't crap straight.The Pentagon is insane in a more toy soldier way, it's all about the next generation of killing machines, they trot out at those fancy shows for psychopathic CEO's and the dumber then stupid people that are so brainwashed with TV and end of the world movies that are the ones that work in the factories to make this happen.What does grasshopper have to do with it?or The Force, for that matter, well i guess Hollywood square Starch wars, but Hollywood made, let me see a movie about Pearl Harbor right before 9/11 and there was the D-day Spillbug movie with Forest Gumpam the star, the most realistic battle scene ever made, i mean after the Sands of Iwo Jima with Johnny-get your-gun-Wayne had made the last generation all gung ho ho's for Apocalypse BE Here Now..."the Horror... the Horror"...and Denis Hopper talking Keats to the dude in the Bamboo cage.Are we on the same page? Hey i still hve my wooden Tai Chi sword, when they come with thier mini-nuke pistols and cross bows.
excuse me i have to water my lucky bamboo plant with the little frog styles on the side of the pot bamboo bowl.
Armageddon or Apocalypse
Todays social-political-economic elitists and neo-cons would love to generate that fear into your consciousness; that war in inevitable. This is a negative right wing Christian agenda. Aligning with the Israelis, they want you to think that Armageddon is here; in an all out religious war with Islam via Nukes.
It is true that there is pending conflicts, with Iran, North Korea, and the middle east. As well as there will be an increase in paranoia and competition with Russia and China as natural resources dwindle. But the Fear is what allows wars to happen.
With the uncertainty of the future; of 2012 and the fate of the planet, those in power will do everything they can to reveal themselves and have you join sides. To make you think that it is going in that fearful direction.
When you are looking at the state of the world it needs to be understood from a multi-disciplinary approach, which includes that of consciousness... The reality as I see it is that we are approaching a singularity. That we have a unique opportunity to co-create the world we want. The union of spirit and matter is more available to us than it has ever been, as the article illustrates in this new "phenomena" of Yoga, Gi Gong and Martial arts interest.
The elitist time is ending and so they're trying to do everything they can to plant those negative seeds in you, so you co-create their plan. But why do that when you can co-create peace, a global community and harmony with this Earth. We are entering the Apocalypse.
Apocalypse literally means UNCOVERING or UNVEILING... that is all will be revealed... as we enter certain astrological convergences, more and more truth will be revealed and available. The collective norms that are drenched in ignorance, greed and power will be questioned. The ethics of this status driven culture will start to collapse in on itself.
Remember: "We are the ones we have been waiting for"
Do your HW... question the Media, your consumption and your intentions. Come in contact with that which dwells deep within you and see what it has to say... if you are ready to listen.
Love and Light -Aloka
"When the power of LOVE overwhelms the love of power, the world will know peace" - Jimi Hendrix
Actually....
Karate chop!
Actually, GUNG FOO, as it should be pronounced, is not about aggression, but about TACT. Gung fu is about being diplomatic and humor. Bruce Lee actually showed how this can be so.
Bruce could tell one joke per minute. And he was never known to run out of jokes. This is something missed by Western interpretors of what "martial arts" actually is or is 'supposed' to be.
I'm sure people have read into the so-called 'gospels' about Jesus that his ability to elude the Levitic police some 'power' of gung-fu. Today we are told that he knew aforehand about 'akido', or the ability to turn the aggressive force against the aggressor(s).
According to the tradition of Kriya yoga, derived from Vashishtha yoga and Agastya yoga, the problem of aggression is best met with 'mountain climbing' or 'transcendency'.
It is akin to how one deals with 'nightmare'. The nightmare seems very real, but in the exremity of the emergency, perhaps by mere instinct, one says or a voice says: I can wake up from this.
This is described in many texts of yoga as 'changing focus' or attracting to a single point, and dropping all distractions. Then the bodies follow suit.
This is an important point: Bodies. More than one. Levels. Focus. Intent.
I don't think it is ever a good idea to wish death on another. Why? Because all emissions are subject to 'echo' or return. The so-called "boomerang" effect.
This boils down to distraction. Krishna delineates this in a minor form, but the soliquay of the "eternal youth" which is the true heart or center of the Mahabharata delineates it much better. Krishna tells Arjuna that anger disturbs consciousness. In this state memory is disturbed. When memory is disturbed, continuity of consciousness is disturbed. Then one must re-acquire what was lost by deja vu. By painful loss.
The soluquay of the Eternal youth, the same message is given: memory allows avoidance of past mistakes. Anger erases the memory.
This is the message against the so-called "law of karma". Karma is a term that pertains to will. The term means: what I do, or 'my action' or 'my work'.
There is no such thing as retribution for past acts. It is the continuity of a will that brings about a repeat of similar effects. It is one thing to do wrong and realize the effects of it, another to hold another accountable even though they have long ago repented of such act. Therefore, it is a valid defense to retribute the retributor with their own intent.
It is much better to be wronged than to wrong. The wronged one is innocent. If by being wronged somehow an incentive is attracted towards doing wrong, that is a deliberate choice. It shows a fault in character, an aggressive character using ANY incentive to express force. This is obviously a desire to express force writ into the world. There is no way to prevent such. That is a typical problem with the 'poor'.
We call such 'children', because we all begin our lives in hell or competitive ideation or will to supremacy: I am supreme, none else. We can see in this will a kind of history of the development of individuality from a unitive cause or source. It is ego. Only, there is no longer any such 'one'. We are many, all with a similar memory of a unity. So, until the futility of trying to apply this memory to present circumstances is spent, we must accept that there will be "war". War is childish. A product of time. And the most peaceful are the oldest, the most aggressive the most immature. These I call the 'poor'. The poor we have with us always.
Well, are you an adult, or a child? Are you going to avenge, or be like the Buffalo attacked by a calf?
I'm not sure we all need to be GI Joe
actually gung or kung or hung
Art of smore
war = dance
If we are able to reintegrate the archetype of war into our human consciousness, war will be transformed to a cosmic dance between opposites. Our hate of violence is violence itself. Love your inner warrior and start to dance, moving freely around your partner and focusing on your inner creativity instead of the seemingly violent creativity of the partner.
There can be no wars won unless we all start to dance.
Boom!
if the ghost shirt fits
do the ghost dance.
i donno, my desire to not be drafted, was a journey into the Self.I mean, i don't know if it was a feeling of not wanting to be regimented and forced into a position where any free-style i might come upon is considered reason to court martial,or just not wanting somebody to tell me how to tie my shoes.Mainly i did not want to pretend that its for country and god, when in fact yo are just a hired thug, to do dirty work for a few white guys that get rich.And now its all or mostly poor kids, that have been lulled by more hollywood propaganda movies like A Band of Brothers, and lots of shoot-em-ups computer games.
on the other hand, it always seemed to me that my dance was another kind of war-dance, i mean learning about the esoteric-arts is another kind of martial-art, and i really identified with Crazy Horse, in so far i saw a leader-visionary that stood up to the white-eyes.
so when you are young and they want to make you into a killer, and you resist, you take on a lot of dance steps, you are in the land of a thousand dances, and you have to learn how to do a modern dance style all your own ,Break-dance, and after all kung fu is a lot of fancy foot movement, and a little spinning around like a top until you drop.
my point above if that, fist, or shadow boxing, is a lot of concepts that have to do with movements, like dance and or the steps we take in life, like two-step like flows of style, and what that means in the larger contexts of war, and self-defence and indentity, and on the world stage of the grand picture of Buddhas, warriors,followers of books that lead to killing people for some GOD, and the underground movements that resist.Like imagine a Jazz dance that spins on its heel and plays those mean fingers on the bongo keys, and then looks like a sphinx-cat with eyes movin back an forth keepin the time, until it does the slow-shoe shuffle.Keep them feet stompin.
Regulators
I don't like the "hired thug" comment, a better analogy would be regulator. "so when you are young and they want to make you into a killer..." Some of us are natural born killers anyway and we like to dance with death. Cuz we don't give a fuck about death cuz death dont give a fuck about flesh and flesh don't give a fuck about man, and man never gave a fuck about man. Is that trilla enough for ya? Today is a good day to die can you identify with that? The popularity of "shoot em up computer games" is proof of it.
Yeah it's a fact, "whitey" gets richer and discipline is not for most people. Discipline is a form of punishment but it's also training and exercise as the word is defined. Regulating for "Whitey" is not all that bad, for example those that are serving the so call gobal war on terrorism, service members are going to get some new college benefits soon. That's going to help a lot of poor kids break out of the poverty cycle.
well i was from the 60's
dropping the d-bomb!