![]() ![]() ![]() father-son, husband-wife, elder brother-younger brother) that Confucianism suggested are naturally hierarchical. The “six near ones” are the relationships (e.g. In Gyokko-ryū Koshijutsu (school of jeweled tiger soft-tissue attacking skills) there’s a technique called Koku in which an “empty space” is used to draw the attacker into a vulnerable position.Ĥ.) It was when the six near ones were no longer at peace that there was talk of dutiful sons. Furthermore, kata often have spaces within them where there is a strategic lull that is essential. There’s also a post-clash point of concern. Teachers often have to harp on the importance of zanshin, or “the spirit that lingers.” One shouldn’t lapse in attention just because the opponent is down. One can read tales of samurai duels in which two warriors circled around each other without any clash, either because neither side recognized an opening or because both sides recognized that there was one clear winner. There’s a point before the clash in which each side is jockeying for position that should not be neglected. This is the point at which the “damage” is done, but it’s not necessarily the point at which the fight is decided. It’s a bad habit in one’s training to pay attention only to the “clash.” By the clash I’m referring to the part of a kata (or randori) in which one comes into physical contact with the opponent. There’s a common saying in the martial arts that goes, “I’m not afraid of the fighter who has practiced 10,000 techniques once, but rather the one who has practiced one technique 10,000 times.”ģ.) We turn clay to make a vessel but it’s the space in which there’s nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends. That is, if one studies school after school, one ends up with so much material that it is vulnerable to loss –not from theft but from atrophy. If one collects a vast number of techniques, one begins to lose the value of them. Martial artists should look at this in another way. One shouldn’t ride a gold bar to the bottom of the ocean because one is too stubborn to drop it and swim. It’s not so much the “stuff” that creates the vulnerability as a being attached to it. collecting stuff invites criminals.) The quote is saying that attachment creates vulnerability. I don’t want to talk about the most literal interpretation (i.e. He who fights for recognition is a glory-hound, not a warrior. It matters because a glory-hound may be a mercenary and not give sufficient attention to who is being fought and why.Ģ.) When bronze and jade fill your hall, it can no longer be guarded. However, for a warrior, the distinction can matter. If positive acts get done, dickering over whether it’s virtue or narcissism may seem irrelevant. Many a building is built by institutions that could put the money to better use just because the philanthropist expects his name carved in limestone. In general, we tend to think of one who does a “good” deed as being virtuous, and tend to think that they deserve recognition. In Taoism, to do something helpful for recognition isn’t acting virtuously. It’s a slippery book. This starts with the opening line, which Master Chen called a “booby-trap.” It says, “The Way that can be told of is not the eternal Way.” So –right off the bat– my analysis may result in the reader calling Nevertheless, I’ll proceed.ġ.) Therefore the sage puts himself in the background, but is always to the fore. Any given verse may reveal several different interpretations. The Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu’s philosophy of the Way, is short - just 81 chapters most of which are less than one page long. (The next time I read it, it will no doubt be an entirely different slate of quotes.) Master Chen suggested reading it a few times with as little “baggage” as possible before starting to read it from a particular perspective. I may have jumped the gun as I read from the perspective of a martial artist (though it wasn’t my first time reading it - but I’m sure I brought way too much baggage/thought to it the first times.) In anticipation of this event, I reread Lao Tzu’s treatise on the Way and Virtue.Īs I read it, I noted which passages resonated. Last week I attended a couple talks by Master Chen (Yun Xiang Tseng) who was trained at the Wudang Mountain Taoist Temple (familiar to many from the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the new Karate Kid.) One of these lectures was entitled Tao Te Ching as a Guide for Living.
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