Every few months I get contacted by someone who wants to learn from me remotely on Skype, Messenger, WeChat or some other digital platform. They come from as far away as India and Australia and everywhere in-between. I recently got contacted from a guy in Dubai, it amazes me.  I understand the desire to learn this art and that there are so few people who teach it so it seems this is the only way. This is very problematic.  I know there are teachers that have online correspondence courses and it's a big deal to them but you really have to think about this intelligently.  People engage your brains and intellects when it comes to topics like this and exercise rational thought.  It has to do with the mystification of the arts.  Tell me is there any western sport that you think you can learn online?  Can you learn to box, grapple, play tennis or bowl online?  How about soccer or baseball?  You will undoubtedly say of course you can't learn theses but when it comes to martial arts....well that's a different story; but it's not.  You can learn to play the guitar on line or paint and even speak a different language but you cannot learn something that requires reacting in real time to another person's weight, speed and mass.  You can learn dance moves but you won't learn to dance with another partner.  Three dimensional spatial learning can only be done in real time and real location. If you have a very strong foundation in fighting you can perhaps learn techniques to incorporate in your training  but you've already got a foundation.  I was working with Raul Marquez (Former-junior middle weight world champ, ex Olympian boxer) last week and I asked him to go over some pad drills with me and if he had some online and he replied, "Dude, you've just got to come to my gym in Houston, it's the only way to learn them. Come down, ok?"  Yes, you can learn forms; the bane of Chinese martial arts, but you can't learn any real time application.
 The obsession people have with forms amazes me although I do confess that in my  youth I was a bit fascinated with them  thinking, "If I only knew the 108 I could beat anyone".  That train has long since left the station.  Can you imagine a boxer wanting to learn a form with the proper focus, direction of qi and breathing and thinking he can fight?   "Hey Floyd I'm coming after you, I learned the Heavenly Fist Boxing form online and I'm gonna own you".  Of course this doesn't exist in boxing but when it comes to gungfu folks think they can learn Som Bo Gin or 18 Point or whatever and they magically have something of value.  They don't, they have a dance.  I'll bet on anyone with a real year of boxing or Muay Thai and put them against anyone who's done forms for ten years. There is nothing that can replace real time training and conditioning, nothing.
 I had a fellow recently send me several letters about spending a week with me training.  I agreed it was possible and he kept pushing me to set the dates.  In one correspondence I said, " If you're coming for forms you're coming to the wrong place. It's application here not imitation".  I never heard from him again.  It's not that I don't know the forms it's that I don't stress them.  They are like recipes for the different moves so they get catalogued and preserved.  I know there are those of you reading this that are appalled thinking this dude really doesn't get it because the 'xyz golden bell form' will make you invulnerable in a fight.  Well, nope and wearing an amulet around your neck won't stop a bullet or keep tigers away.  But you know a story of your master's master's master that could break bricks with a dandelion and couldn't be cut with a knife.  I suggest you read the history of the Boxer Rebellion and enlighten yourself.
You can't learn any contact sport online.  You can learn to parrot it, imitate it but you can't learn to apply it or fight with it.  You cannot stress your brain to react to a larger, quicker guy rushing you and have the proper reaction.  I actually had a fellow come to me after years of training online with another mantis person and he wanted to show me his skill.  He asked me to throw a punch at him and I did, without malice but with intent, and he shrieked, jumped away and shouted, "Man, you're trying to hurt me"!  Duh, I am.  I didn't touch him and didn't intend to but he wasn't used to aggression.  Can you imagine learning baseball online and then facing a 93 mph fast ball? You'd be crying for your mom.  I've said it over and over again; you cannot learn to swim standing next to the pool, you have to jump in.  You can't learn from some video correspondence course. You have to touch hands and mix it up real time, free style to see what reality is.  Sorry folks it's true.

A friend of mine ,who was a police officer in Philly for 30 years, once told me he hated guns and I asked why.  His response was, "because they have no loyalty, they serve whoever holds them. My gun taken from my hand can be used to kill me.  At least with martial arts my skill cannot be used against me; it's mine alone."  So there hasn't been an easy technique that almost anyone could use and have it be effective, that is, until the ubiquitous use of the rear naked choke hold. It is easy to learn and fairly easy to apply against the uninitiated. But without the proper knowledge of its usage it is deadly.  Because it cuts off oxygen to the brain it should only be applied for a few seconds but in today's undisciplined world of training many people don't realize or care how deadly this technique can be.  A sheriff's deputy was just found guilty of murder in Texas because he applied it for a full three minutes and killed a man.  How could anybody think that you could possibly not kill the person doing this?  Where did he learn this technique and how was he so woefully ignorant of its effect?  Where was any discipline displayed in the execution of this hold? Would you hold a person's head under water for three minutes and not expect them to die?  It shows a total lack of knowledge or a complete disregard for human life to do this. Over and over this is happening in the public arena. A young woman was recently arrested and faces 7 years in jailed because she choked out a bouncer in a bar because she thought he smacked her butt.  He didn't, her girlfriend did, now she faces the consequences.  It's a deadly weapon in the hands of the unskilled.  I could easily see high school kids doing this to one another in a fight and then being destroyed by the consequences.  Bryant Gumbel's Real Sports on HBO did a show on the misuse of this in abusive relationships by UFC fighters.  It's terrible how this hold has become so common place in American culture.  Gene LeBell, one of the gods of real wrestling and grappling, will not perform this technique in demonstration on people over 50 citing that the consequences are too dangerous. 
The lack of skilled training and discipline in today's martial arts is creating an environment where we are bound to have tragic events occurring regularly. This lack of knowledge is no excuse for taking someone's life and the devastating effects it has on their families.  Unfortunately you can't legislate intelligence.  I fear for the future regarding this.

 Below are the links to real stories about this.

 https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/us/houston-dennys-chokehold-death-sentence/index.html
http://time.com/5442732/new-york-nightclub-woman-chokes-bouncer/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/officer-involved-infamous-eric-garner-choking-case-facing/story?id=56732676
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/las-vegas-officer-charged-after-mans-chokehold-death/2017/06/07/2eaf3972-4b65-11e7-987c-42ab5745db2e_video.html?utm_term=.8a3b3039eb27
https://abc7news.com/video-shows-pittsburg-police-applying-chokehold-before-suspects-death/2594354/
 

I know of the criticisms that MMA fighters have with traditional martial arts.  They think they are often ineffective and silly.  That too often is a valid argument but there are those who train to fight in the traditional arts and do it well. One of the comments I hear is that there is no art in martial arts; it's not art, it's fighting.  No, fighting is fighting and martial arts are martial arts.  When you just train to fight you ignore things like culture and respect that are essential to martial arts.  Respect for the teacher means a familial respect, he's your parent in the art, you treat him and the other students with respect as family.  It doesn't mean you can't beat him but just beating someone is not the only theme in a traditional school;  developing a relationship with the world is.  My teacher, Sifu Mark Foon, once said to me, "It is sad that at the end of a man's life he can only say he learned to kill but never to heal. What worth is he?" 
I have been around people that live, eat and breathe MMA/martial arts and develop no other skills in life.  If your school only emphasizes fighting then that is the only skill you have.  How long will that serve you in life?  How does that teach you how to get along in a relationship or at work?  When your body starts to fail with age what have you left to live for? It's like a model who thinks her youth and good looks are going to last forever.  When the inevitable changes of time come they have nothing left to fall back on.  If you've been taught to develop your mind, body and overall awareness you begin to mature with age rather than to just fail with age.
The McGregor/Nurmagomedov fight to me epitomizes this stark contrast between just fighting and an art.  Disclaimer: I'm a mick by ethnicity, I speak some Gaelic and I play Irish instruments.  I should, by all appearances, support McGregor but I don't.  He does not display honor and respect in or out of the ring.  Nurmagomedov does.  I know trash talking is a huge part of MMA and boxing but it thoroughly disgusts me that the arts have become so vulgar and vile.  Of course what else should I expect from them but it's way over the top.  When does McGregor turn it off in real life, when does he treat the world around him with respect?  I don't know much about his personal life but there are so many fighters from different areas who are often abusive and mean spirited at home.  I was working an MMA event and the fighters were leaving the building.  There was an area roped off for the crew for pizza after their 15 hour day.  Some of the fighters removed the rope and started taking the pizzas.  I walked up and told them to stop, it was not for them. One shouted, "You gonna tell an MMA fighter what to do?" The others all started laughing.   I answered, "Yes, get away from the tables." One guy picked up a piece of pizza , shoved in his mouth and went nose to nose with me, slobbering pizza.  I did not back down.  The promoter saw it and grabbed the guys.  I was told that the head of the league later suspended these guys. Amazingly rude behavior entitled because they're tough? So they are the same as a gang, MS13, Hells Angels?  Might makes right? What defines what is and is not acceptable behavior?  What motivation do these guys have to develop anything other than rude behavior?  I think the ideals of civility and respect are lost in MMA for the most part.  It's just fighting with no other character development.
I saw a documentary of  WW2 pilots recently.  One of the pilots told a story about being in a dog fight with a Japanese Zero pilot. He damaged the Zero badly and it was falling.  The Japanese pilot looked over at him and saluted him as he headed towards his death in the ocean.  He respected his opponent even though they were truly mortal enemies.  One of the greatest displays in respect over the years in sports is the Army/Navy game.  Two opposing armed forces going for the big one. I used to watch it with my dad who has a WW2  Navy lieutenant and frogman. It was a great time between he and his friends, mostly army.  The teams respected each other in success and failure.  Where is that today?
 I have been in martial arts for well over four decades.  In my job I have worked with professional fighters for close to thirty years ranging from boxing on Friday Night Fights with Teddy Atlas to the World Series of  Fighting with Bas Rutten, HBO Boxing, Showtime Boxing  and others.  I've  trained in kung fu , karate and aikido along with some boxing.  Guys like Teddy and Bas are a delight to be around  and kind to everyone around them.  Years ago Teddy said to me, " the difference between boxing and MMA is that the boxers respect each other and the MMA guys hate each other."  I don't think that is entirely true but I get his point.  I think the younger fighters coming up are very one dimensional.  I worked on one of the very early UFC fights.  There was a fight between a Japanese man and an American.  The Japanese guy lost but at the end of the fight bowed to his opponent and said, " thank you for showing me my weaknesses, I will work on them".  I was totally impressed by this act.  It's been a long time since I've seen anything like it.

                                                                  Miyamoto Musashi:
                      This is the Way for men who want to learn my strategy: Do not think dishonestly.
                                    The Way is in training. Become acquainted with every art.
                Know the Ways of all professions. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
   Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
                                                           Pay attention even to trifles.
                                                         Do nothing which is of no use.

 
I am always amazed at the BS people buy into whether it be religion or martial arts without giving it any critical thought. Martial arts, particularly Chinese ones, are rife with these characters who create their own narrative over whom they studied with and the secrets only they were entrusted with.  I've seen this so many times in my life it's unbelievable. So since we can't get rid of these jokers let's take a look at how we can create our own mythological stature and become the god we were meant to be. 

There are certain guidelines you should follow to do this and here are the main ones:
1) You were trained in secret.
2) You are the only one who understands this and any other student will be jealous of you so your teacher kept it secret.
3) You are benevolent because you will pass on this great wisdom that you have received.
4) You alone control its dissemination.
5) The way you received it cannot be traced back because the mysterious teacher disappeared or the venerated master died.
6) Your timeline cannot be traced or substantiated. ( Don't screw this one up because it will really bite you in the arse)

If your starting a religion or a cult you start with : I was meditating in the (pick one) forest, desert, ocean , under a water fall, temple...   when I was approached by (pick one): a mysterious stranger, an angel, overcome by a piercing light, who  (pick one): infused me with wisdom, gave me a sacred script that only I can read, taught me the true secrets of life, showed me a vision of (pick one): heaven, the future, the universe, my path....and told me I am the only one who can help you  so now I will share it with you ....at some cost of course. 

So the martial arts version goes like this: 
As a kid you were either intuitive, rescued from a fight or amazingly brave and then one day someone approached you and said, "Go study the way of" (pick one): the samurai, the mantis, the dragon, the Eight Immortals, etc ...because you are special and can grasp it.  Then you were singled out by either: the mysterious master who wandered out of the woods or jungle or you were pulled aside by a famous master who said, "Ah clotheshopper you alone of all of my students understands what I am teaching and I will secretly impart them to you because my long time students will become jealous of you."  So the students that spent years at the master's feet got nothing but you, in your divine greatness and penultimate humbleness, were given all of the art it in a few short months: in the broom closet or wood shed.  If this didn't happen in a temple then you were hiking the mysterious Fa King Jok mountain where encountered 3 monks as you ascended and each imparted to you their unique wisdom with the one at the top being the most developed.  Of course they've been standing there for years just waiting for someone to come along.  Just waiting and waiting and Godot never showed up I guess. God knows how they lived, especially the one at the top where there's no vegetation but maybe they got Uber meals to deliver, you never know. These monks are resourceful dudes.
 Now it's your turn to reveal it to the world but you've got to time this so the real master can't refute it because he's either; dead or moved back to Tibet and is in a meditative state or a demented coma.  Now no one can prove this didn't happen and it doesn't matter that you can't prove it did.  Oh and you've been approached by either the special forces, the police or some international security agency to teach their members.  You declined because they are not spiritual enough or you accepted to teach the elite in private, perhaps in the Fortress of Solitude when Kal-el isn't using it. Bring a coat I hear it's really chilly there.
When you impart this to others please clasp your hands and have a huge benevolent grin on your face, talk about how you used to fight but don't anymore and how you just want to pass on your great knowledge.  Don't forget to include how you are sought after from far and wide and how precious your time is.

 In one such case that I was personally involved with the 'Deemed Master' said he was having  phone conversations with the grand master up until his death where he promised to meet him in Nirvana in the future.  At this time the master gave him the lineage and the 'direct transmission' of the deepest state of the art.  Problem was that this knucklehead did not know that the grand master was unable to speak at the time this supposedly happened.  I know this because I and others were at his bedside.  Another time a Chosen Master had a time line of all the people he studied with and his secret time in the temple posted on his wall with the time he spent at each. He had forgotten he told me he was 27 years old. This was a big mistake because when I tallied his time line he was in the Special Forces when he was six years old and partook in a great wrestling tournament when he was eight.  He promptly walked away when he realized the corner he was backed into. Remember I used his chart and timeline that HE had posted.  Simple arithmetic is such a wonderful skill to have. Stay in school kids!
  Once at a meal with another  of a group of "The Masters" one was talking about his time in some of the classic tournaments in NYC in the mid 1960's.  I'm no spring chicken but at the time of those tournaments I was 13 learning how to defend myself from the dreaded Nun Yardstick style from which I still have scars today (literally).  One of the fellows at the table asked this fellow how old he was, two years older than me, and the questioner mouthed to me 'do the math'.  I did.  There was no way he was in NYC at that time fighting adults when he was 15.
Regardless, study this model and prepare to present yourself as the new, improved, blessed master of The Spinning Gold Mantis, The Iron Monkey Paw, the Descending Eagle, Fire Fist Nun or The Southern Mantis Buddha Palm because no one can prove you aren't and you can't prove you are......unless of course you, the student, actually do some research instead of believing these hucksters.  Yeah, like that's going to happen!
 

 
It is very common in the arts that employ chi sao/sticky hands and push hands to test the ability of your opponent by doing these techniques.  I personally used to love chi sao and  was pretty good at it.  It is somehow supposed to communicate to you and others their fighting ability.  In actuality these are just games that have bear no weight in a real fight.  No true fighter is going to let you rest your arms on theirs, not even for a second, nor let you into their personal space without paying a price.  There is a greater issue here that my dear friend and boxing aficionado John Clark raises, "how did you earn that position?" In other words when you set up with already hands touching you did nothing to gain that position.  In reality you'd have to work hard to achieve that position.  Can you imagine stepping into a boxing ring or octagon and doing this? Years ago I gave a demonstration with several other martial artists and many of the taiji chuan teachers.  After the demo one of them challenged me in front of the audience to do push hands with him and I declined telling him and the audience that this was a practice I did not do.  He claimed that if I did chi sao  I should be able to do push hands and chided me to step forward to him. I hesitantly did so and he then placed my arms in the awkward push hands position.  Now to be clear he was about 5-6 inches taller than me and 30 lbs heavier.  He set my hands up and then pushed at me.  I instantly stepped to the side to divert him and he immediately reprimanded me, grandstanding to the audience, that the object was to stay in place.  I told him I thought that was nuts because he was bigger than me and could stay out of range.  He insisted that in the Taiqi  world this is how it goes.  We set up again and he lunged again but this time I switched to mantis hands and cut him down.  He was greatly displeased at this once again reprimanding me for breaking the rules.  At this point I was done with this and I stepped in front of him, out of reach, set my hands and said, "Now do your push hands".  He couldn't because we weren't touching .  He became angry that I was not abiding by these rules that clearly favored him and he walked away.
What did I learn from this?  That any kind of fighting that is limited by its own esoteric rules is not fighting but a game.  It might teach you balance and body mechanics but it's not going to teach you how to fight.  The one thing that is really lacking here is the stamina it takes to actually engage in a fight.  It's completely draining in just a few seconds.  The only way to prepare for that is to do heavy stamina training, heavy bag, running , boxing or whatever.  No amount of chi sao or push hands will ever prepare you for the endurance of the real thing.  I do like some of these practices but it's like Greco Roman wrestling or Sumo to me; it's great in its own arena but not meant to compete universally. For the record I love Sumo and watch the Grand National Championships every year.

There is much to do in martial arts about lineage and whether or not someone is 'legitimate' in the art, do they have the right lineage, are they authentic or whatever.  Does this matter?  Well, yes and no, it's according to what your goal is. It's the exact same as questioning someone's academic background and checking it out. If you want to know if someone actually learned what a specific school or teacher had to offer, then yes, it's important.  If I claimed to have studied astrophysics under Stephen Hawkings at Cambridge you would want to know if that is legitimate.  That doesn't mean that I can't know astrophysics or quantum mechanics if I didn't study under him it just means that I did not learn his direct take on the subject.  In the martial arts world, especially those originating in Asia, there is a lot of importance put on lineage.  This is because there have been a lot of fraudulent teachers over the years who claim to have studied with different masters but never did.  Also, many US teachers just made up their rank and affiliations to draw students.  They form their own committees to promote their rank but are not sanctioned by any established accredited organization.  They never really studied anywhere and were not sanctioned by anyone; but who could test that here?  There is also the issue of someone taking a weekend seminar and then claiming to know the art. Would you want to go to a doctor that only attended a weekend seminar on your condition or one that specializes in it?  I find this particularly prevalent among acupuncturists.  There's a slew of them who got accredited by weekend courses but few who actually spent years studying it.
 Along with this there are so many people that get a first degree black belt and then go open a school when in fact they have very little training experience.  So it is understandable why someone would want to know their lineage and how long they studied with that teacher. 

When most people think of inch power they generally think of Bruce Lee's demo.  Although this seems to be the benchmark of short power I've never agreed with that.  Though people don't take kindly to this I do not see this demo as indicative of inch power but more of an example of biomechanics.  It is clear that Lee is thrusting his entire body behind the strike creating more of a push then the explosion that  short power/fa jin/fa ging is supposed to create.  In the Chinese martial arts fa jin is often described as scared or startle power; basically 'explosive power'.  It means that when you are startled you react purely and effectively with your entire body expressing at the moment.  I've seen examples of this on youtube that tend to be quite comical.  People who look like zombies or shaking like a spastic and it's supposed to show great fa jin.  If it works at all how is this supposed to be used in a fight?  While you're standing there shaking your arms what is the opponent doing?  Probably dancing on your body with fists.  True fa jin expressed in a punch should explode the entire body's force into the target in real time at the expression of the strike like a cobra.  When I was taught it the example given was from pool where a cue ball transfers all of its energy into another ball, expelling that ball while the cue ball remains in place.  This is created by a snapping of the body from the core and expressing it forward into the hand.  It's somewhat like a whip where the energy is transferred along the length of the whip and being fully expressed in the end in a quick explosion.  The intention is to deliver the energy into the target and not through it.  If you were to put a ball bearing into a sock and whip it into the body it would deliver great force into body and not through it.  It's the whipping and return that propels the force forward.  In striking with fa jin you are expressing the force forward in an explosive instant that is the sum whole of the body's power.  It does not push through the body but delivers the power into it. I have demonstrated this by hitting someone holding a full sized phone book on their chest.  I do it from about eight inches away instantaneously and with no wind up. The strike happens in such a way that the opponent cannot absorb it.  It should stun them to their core.
 Sifu once told me it is like having a wet arm and when you strike the body the arm returns but the water moves forward into the body.  He often cautioned that this is hard to do on a heavy bag because we become obsessed with moving the bag to see demonstrable power.  Rather, he said, the bag should fold around the strike point as the power is delivered into the internal organs.  The som bo gin ( three step arrow) form is created to develop this power.  You step forward shifting your weight into the strikes with the most subtle of  movements.  Each of the strikes delivers from the core (dan dian) in a complete and equal amount of power.  This is why the form moves forward with the strikes, to put the body mass into it.  Mass x speed equals force, even if the body is only moving a little bit.  Without this body motion the power will be ineffective and without the recoil of each strike it will not go into the body. You cannot practice this for extended amounts of time because it is a quick twitch muscle movement.  If you overdo it you tear down the muscle and stop doing quick twitch.  The som bo gin form done correctly produces three distinct and powerful strikes in succession.  Equally important is the return/pull back after the last strike.
At any moment in your technique you should be able to unleash this power.  It is most effective in a forward strike but it is very effective in deflecting punches with a quick sideways flick.  Done correctly fa jin will disrupt an opponent giving you the opportunity to deal heavier damage.  Keep in mind that it is not easy to take someone down in a fight since their adrenaline is soaring and their capacity for pain is great.  In a real fight it is imperative that you injure the opponent to disable them.  Merely hurting them will not deter a determined opponent.  Strikes into vital areas is most important and must be done with ferocity and speed.  Fa jin is central to true Kwong Sai mantis practice.

I personally don't like being called Sifu or Sensei.  I know that many martial artists can't wait for the day to get those monikers but I really disdain them for myself even though this irks my Sifu.  When I think of the level of training that my Sifu went through from fighting to calligraphy and healing arts I find it hard to accept the title that he has earned.  I know Sifu simply means teacher and does not necessarily have a qualitative attachment to it but I still prefer to avoid that title.  However I seem to me alone in that category.
Americans are crazy about being called master, grand master, PHD of martial arts and any 'accreditation' they can get be it from certificates or trophies.  Guys adorn their web sites with scores of accomplishments from mastering 10 arts to being actual samurai's to having the ever so laughable 'licensed hands'.  They do anything to look great.  As one great actual 10 Dan Dutch Judo master once said, "Americans are all masters and no one who wants to practice".  I see people who are in their thirties claiming to have mastered 10 styles along with a myriad of other things.  It takes a lifetime to master one style how can you master ten?  As far as black belts go you can get them anywhere.  Decades ago when I studied Shotokan karate under Teryuki Okasaki one of the first things he said was, "In Japan you get a black belt in a couple of years and then you start your training but in America people get a black belt and then they stop their training".  It's all about the title here.  Several years ago I was invited to join a consortium of local martial artists and I declined.  A good friend of mine, who was highly accredited and  had fought internationally,  was also invited and he did go.  It was put together by a fellow that had studied karate for a few years and quit immediately after getting his black belt.  He was a very good business man and had established successful schools. At this meeting this fellow put forth the idea that they could test each other and advance each other to higher ranks. By being in a group this would give him some legitimacy since he had broken from his lineage.  My friend left the meeting disgusted and never returned.  For the record my friend had to return to Taiwan each year to get tested under their hierarchy to advance so the idea of a shortcut appalled him . The karate fellow still has successful schools and is now a 'tenth dan' red belt.  Who knows  certified him.
Where else is their this obsession with belts, degrees and certificates?  Are there the black belt, master equivalents in any other athletic endeavor?  "Hey, don't play pick up ball with him, he's a black belt in basketball , he'll kick your butt".  Or, "That quarterback is a 7th dan, you're screwed".  How about , "That guys not just a heavyweight boxer, he's 10th dan so he's great".  It just doesn't happen anywhere but in the martial arts and it's over the top insane with this stuff.  How many different masters can you get your picture taken with, how many certificates can you get, etc.  Then there's the guy who has a conversation with a cop or service man and is asked how to break a grip or some other mundane thing and the next thing you know posted on his web site is "I trained the LA cops" or "I taught the US army self defense".  It is ubiquitous.
It's hard to escape these things and a newbie doesn't know any better, in fact, they are drawn to it. But what can they do?  There are no national standards, no Bull shido police to call someone on their nonsense and no way to know unless you happen to have an acquaintance that can guide you.  Beware of those people that gather shiny things, they can blind you to the truth.
 
 
 

I just returned from the Glory 48 Muay Thai Competition in NYC.  Along with being a successful show I got and unexpected visit with my friend Bas Rutten who was there to support Tiffany Van Soest, an undefeated Dutch fighter.  Over the last few years we've had many conversations about the illusions martial artists have about what their ability is and what the ability of their opponents is.  There is a lot of trash talking from stand up fighters regarding MMA fighters and vice versa.  We often tend to live in our own bubbles when it comes to our styles.  I'll see someone observing an MMA fight and say, "well, if I were in that situation I'd just poke him in the eyes".  Bas talks about giving a demonstration where a young woman kept making these comments and he finally said to her " what would you do if I had you in this position?" , she replies, "I'd poke you in the eyes".  Bas said, "Ok, I'll get you in this position and you poke me.  As you do I'll break your neck, ok?  Ready in one...". The young lady protests and the conversation is over.  The reality vs the theory and they are quite different.  I know she wanted to believe she could handle it but it's better she finds out at this demo than on the street. I've said over and over again fights are never simple or clean but so many martial artists have these terrible misconceptions.  Here's some things I've experienced.
A long fist fighter is observing a Wing Tsun demonstration and comments, "That's why we have one punch kill techniques and they doing these multiple nothing strikes".  Really?  I've been to hundreds of professional fights and never seen anyone do this 'one punch' technique.  Of course I've seen one punch knock outs but they don't happen often.  I've never seen anyone consistently land a one punch knockout in a fight. One the other hand I've seen people overwhelmed by multiple quick strikes and then get knocked out in the volley.  I also experienced a WT fighter land about 10 punches on a guys face who then turned around and hammered him into the ground.  The 'one punch kill' shot is for the movies and the inexperienced.  There is nothing more eye opening then hitting someone with all of your power and having little reaction from them.
A Tae Kwon Do black belt is observing two stand up fighters going at it and says, "All you have to do is kick them once to the head and it's over".  My response was "well if he's crowding you what do you do?".  He said, " You can always make room, get your distance".  I asked, "How about in a bar?"  He insisted he could do it though he'd never been in a bar fight.  He said he could always create the distance in the ring so he could do it in a bar.  Not too smart thinking here.  I also commented that in the many fights I'd seen most knock outs are by the hand , not the feet.  On the other hand I've seen people say, " Tae Kwon Do is easy to beat , you just rush them".  You know, no one has ever had that idea before and I'm sure the TKD artist will be shocked and surprised as you do that while his axe kick lands on your head.
MMA artist says "all fights go to the ground where I will choke him out".  Maybe but then on the street there's no rules and while on the ground the guys buddies kick the living hell out of you.  I've seen this.  Then I've seen the guy who says, "I've never been choked out, it can't be done to me".  Then I introduce him to some BJJ buddies and suddenly his story collapses.
Martial artists constantly dis boxers and it amazes me.  One of my favorite moments on the job was an over the top MMA fighter taunting his opponent, a well skilled boxer, before the fight.  He did nothing but trash mouth this guy and was dancing around the ring during the intros swatting at him and belittling him.  The bell sounds and this guy keeps dancing and taunting while the boxer is moving very pointedly and deliberately. Then the guy dances by him a third time and BANG !  a well timed right hook lays him out.  He woke up after the count was over and did not believe that he got knocked out.  It was hysterical.
The point of this is that all of these arts were developed for a reason and are effective in their own way.  Learn from all of them and apply them to your art. There is something that each has to offer and if you aren't open to it, well it's your loss.  Do not criticize an art because you heard about it from someone else; go test them yourself and see what you can do against them.  You might be very surprised at what you learn.

 
            There are many assumed connections between the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism and the martial arts.  In over 45 years of the study and practice of both I rarely find any meaningful intersection of the two, there is generally just a shadow of the philosophy taught in the martial arts.  I would like to talk about one of the most misunderstood yet most vital concepts of Taoism which is ‘wu-wei’ or non-doing.  This is not simply some pie in the sky saying that has no meaning in real life but is actually the product of true training and practice in the arts and is essential to true mastery of any form of art. You don’t have to be a monk to realize the benefits of the actualization of these ideals; you just need to apply yourself completely and wholeheartedly to realizing them.   Wu wei means to’ not do’.  This is often misunderstood as a simple ‘doing nothing’ but that is completely wrong.  The entire phrase should be ‘wei-wu-wei’ or to do without doing.  How can we do something without doing it?  It’s a contradiction.  How can I kick or punch without kicking or punching?  The fact that I choose to do this means I am doing it and therefore I have lost ‘not doing’.  To understand this fully you have to think about the process of learning.  When we first learn there is a conflict between mind, body and teacher. Our teacher shows us something and we attempt to imitate him. We see what we are supposed to do and try to understand it.  We try to do it but our bodies aren’t conditioned to do it yet so we practice over and over.  After a time our bodies grow and adapt and we can do it freely without taxing our bodies but we are still just doing it.  It is a product of our thought, we think kick and we kick or block and block. We are doing technique, it is a conscious act.  There is something dramatically different between what a real master is doing and what we are doing, but it’s hard to see what it is.  If we really practice over and over it will become ingrained in us to such an extent that we are the motion, we are the kick, we just ‘do it’ without any self awareness or thought in our mind, it just happens.  This is doing it without doing it, it has become a reflex, we do not decide to do it, it just flows outward from us.  Though this is more desirable than just doing, it is still not complete for at anytime our mind can arise and we will be aware of ourselves and be doing it again. We learn how to do it by doing it but until we become it, we are just imitating it. A real master is it all the time.  He knows he cannot teach us anything but can only point the way and hope that we figure it out for ourselves.
    I find that playing music often works well when trying to explain this concept.  If you’ve ever practiced an instrument you know how hard it is to overcome technique.  Your fingers hurt, you’re trying to remember what to do and it sounds bad.  Because it’s an external instrument it’s easy to see the difficulty in learning it.  After a while you might master a few chords or songs but you are limited by that knowledge, you are still playing the instrument or ‘doing it’.  You might reach a point where you can play quite well and be pretty content on the warehouse of songs or techniques you’ve built up but then you go out into the world of real musicians and realize you are lost.  Someone who has not just practiced but played over and over again can become free of their instrument, they are no longer aware of it, they just express the song through it.  After you hear someone great play you might ask them what they did and often they reply, “I don’t know”.  They are no longer a person playing an instrument but the expression of the song or music, in the moment.  It flows freely without the self or mind in between.  They are unconscious of technique but they are aware of what is happening in the moment and playing it as it happens.   If they need to hear what the other players are doing then they will be behind, be re-acting, and thus not gel with the other players.

Decades ago I did a show with Julius Erving for about a year.  It  was a talk show format and we shot it on Monday mornings.  I am not a sports person and knew the name Dr J but really knew nothing about him or his career.  This was the last year of his career when we did the show.  I think he liked the fact that I didn't know who he was and I was not a sycophant.  Often we talk before in the mornings before the shoot began or we'd chat at lunch time. At one point I said to him," I think I know how you feel running down the court".  He replied with a smile, "Yeah, and how do you think that is?"  I said, " It just happens. You are unaware until you've finished a rush or shot, you just go, unaware of exactly what you are doing yet fully in control. When you see the young players on the court you see their effort, they are forcing through the game while you are submersed in it".  He got a really surprised look on his face and said, "Now how would you know that?  It's true man, the young guys try too hard, you have to let it happen". I then went on to explain the concept of wei-wu-wei to him.  Although it's a Chinese expression the experience is not limited to any culture or historical perspective and he understood completely because he lived it.  Although athletes today call it 'the zone' it can be cultivated much more deeply than that.

Martial arts is the same.  Until you practice and engage with others to the point that you are no longer there, no longer doing it, you will always remain outside the moment.  We must free ourselves from technique like the musician does so we can move freely to do what is necessary.  In this moment we are free from technique and the thoughts of life and death.  This is pure art, purely in the moment, yet fully aware to do the right thing at the right time even if that be to do nothing. 
I often tell students that there is no such thing as self-defense and have been criticized greatly for it but I still stand by this.  When you defend yourself you are standing back from the motion, you are letting the opponent control you.  You are reacting to them not blending into and overcoming them.  The dictionary definition of defense is ‘to fight off’.  Too many today think it’s block or step back from the attack.  This will only get you hurt.  Many years ago I met a visiting Akido master from Japan.  I was told that this was a purely defensive art and there was no aggression. The teacher agreed to do some practice with me and when I handed him a punch he immediately, and gentlemanly, sent me to the ground.  I asked him, ‘what is purely defensive about slamming someone to the ground’ and he thought for a second and laughed.  This is an offensive act and a correct act.  To think you just ward off someone or try to subdue them is very dangerous.  I have maintained for years that you attack the attack, not defend against it.  This does not mean to meet power with power but to put yourself into the position to attack the attack with whatever it takes and whatever you need to do.  It might mean that you step back but to do so that the opponent moves to the place you need to get him.  You move forward or backward attacking, not defending.  To put your mind in a defensive posture is to let the opponent control what you do.  Yes, I know I am repeating myself, get used to it.
      If you have truly attained ‘doing without doing’, then you move as water or bamboo, freely and completely appropriately to the moment.  There is no anger or judgment here, it is just pure motion.  An animal does not defend itself with malice but it does do it with complete and total commitment and focus.  The animal does what it does without knowing what it is doing.  We humans have lost that ability and need to regain it.  This can occur in any aspect of our lives be it martial arts, music, sport or any other creative pursuit.

 The samurai’s of old came to Zen not to study Buddhism but to overcome their fear of death so that they could fight in the moment, without concern for their safety, yet fight intelligently and effectively.  In other words they needed to ‘do it without being there to do it’ to be free from life and death.  Achieving this in a single technique is not enough; it must be embraced by the entire body and mind.
    When we face an opponent we react to what they do.  That is, we do something in reaction to them.  This is doing.  Think of the term ‘react’, break it down to ‘re’ and ‘act’ or to act again.  To react means that you are behind the other person in time, they are leading and you are reacting.  This is natural because we see an attack, realize what it is and respond to it but it is too slow.  To react is to be aware of your self under attack to have to defend.  True ‘wei-wu-wei’ is do move without reacting, to be as one with the other like a mirror reflecting their motion.   This is not a mindless mimicking of the other person because you still have to intelligently defend your self, do the right thing to survive.  It causes the contradiction of doing and not doing simultaneously.  To be aware of what you are doing immediately makes you re-act, you are not in the moment.  To just be mindlessly in the moment means you can’t make a judgment as to what you should do.  By this I mean suppose it was just a friend sneaking up on you to scare you.  Do you really want to hit him and hurt him, no, but how to make the distinction in the moment between a real threat or not becomes a problem.  Instinctively we know what is happening.  At the core of our existence before we even think about it we know it, without a thought, it is real and immediate.  If you put your hand on a hot plate you don’t have to think ‘this is hot’ before removing it, your body knows without your mind perceiving.  This type of deep knowing exists with us all the time but our minds get in the way so we don’t see it.  We try to ‘know’ what is happening and miss what is already there to see.
The core of martial arts is to reach this place of 'pure being', to reach the core of life.  Then all of your actions will harmonize with nature as you are nature fulfilling itself.