The Way of Least Resistance

Before I leave the subject of Ed Parker behind completely, I'm going to delve into something I touched on very briefly in my last article - his hand postures.  I'm doing so because the issue was raised recently on the Kenpotalk forum . A friend of mine, MarkC, posted that he felt the postures were "fake".  Another replied to him as follows: "So tell me again why posing with the extended fingers is some kind of fake.  In fact tell that to Ed Parker and his followers.  This is the form of the Crane and there is a specific application for it." So I replied with the more or less what follows below: There are two types of "postures" seen in photos of quan fa practitioners: poses of strikes; and  poses of "guard positions". The poses of "strikes" are usually what quan fa people adopt for photos. Here's me posing with others at a temple during training in Taiwan: The strike is used in action in the tiger crane ...

Regular readers of this blog will know that the title “The Way of Least Resistance” is actually just one possible translation of the concept in Daoist philosophy known as wu-wei  (無為).  Literally this phrase means “not doing”. This can make the title of this essay seem rather odd: how inaction be “in action”?  Well, two recent videos I’ve seen illustrate my thinking better than any words I offer.  Consider the first video below: In this video, Takanoyama Shuntaro (AKA: Pavel Bojar), a 200 lb Judo player from the Czech Republic, competes at the elite level in Sumo, demolishing much larger opponents.  He does so as the very epitome of "wu-wei in action". In order to explain what I mean, let me back-track a bit: As I have previously explained, the expression wu-wei is not a literal injunction against action .  Rather it is description of an ideal state “where nothing is done, yet everything is achieved”. One way of translating this maxim in...

Most martial artists - in fact most people - alive today know of Bruce Lee.  And many of will know what he called his personal martial arts system: Jeet Kune Do - the Way of the Intercepting Fist  Okay - so what did he mean by that?  Lee goes some small way to explaining his system in this (famous) episode of Longstreet (set to start at the correct point): But I suspect that you, like me, are left with a sense of dissatisfaction after watching this.  What does "interception" mean in this context?  Does he mean "stopping"? Or does he mean "preventing" by some other means?  And what exactly is he "intercepting"?  Is he intercepting a particular attack (ie. an aggressive movement)?  Is he intercepting some physical cue of the attacker's intention ?  Or is he intercepting the attacker generally  (assuming "interception" has any meaning in such a context)? All of this serves to present a kind of "apparent paradox...

Somewhat synchronously , I have recently had a number of different reminders of something that is fairly fundamental to martial arts study. First, I have only just discussed the importance of basic or fundamental skills, such as stepping in stances. Second, this excellent essay by Scott Sonnon reminded me of something I've said to my students for many years: "There's magic in the small things." By that I mean that the true essence of martial arts does not lie in being loosely familiar with hundreds of techniques, but in truly understanding all the subtleties of a few. And last, earlier today a beginner in the martial arts sent me a query directly relevant to these issues. Essentially his question was this: when, if at all, would it be appropriate for him to start cross-training in different disciplines? My answer to him was as follows: My first teacher, Bob Davies , told me that it was inadvisable to dabble until at least nidan - which in our case corresponded to...

A long history of tall tales... Chinese martial arts – in particular the Daoist internal arts 1 of taijiquan, baguazhang and xingyiquan – have long been associated with mythological tales invoking superhuman feats; acts that defy the laws of physics. Such myths are not only incidental to the traditional histories and lineages; sometimes they are deeply wedded to them. It seems that virtually no tale of the exploits of old masters is complete without such supernatural elements. Accordingly it should come as no surprise that the Chinese movie industry is built squarely on “ wire fu ” – green wires that suspend the actors and stunt men and women so that they can appear to “fly”. Modern examples include films such as “ House of Flying Daggers ” and “ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ”. A trailer from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” – note the taijiquan technique “ji” by Michelle Yeoh at about 1:22. The role of legend in the martial arts My first introduction to Hong Kong cinema was of...