“There’s Something Ugly that Lies Beneath”
"If your martial art was the best martial art, nobody would be able to beat up your master."
"Well, we win, then, because my master is WAY too smart to get in that ring."
–Unknown
Ken Gullette is a pretty big name in the Internal Martial Arts, but that and his blog are all I really know about him. However, it was nice to see someone "bigger than me" take on the topic of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, the usually full-contact, anything-goes tournaments that are really popular on TV and around the world right now) — at least because he gave me an opening.
Here's what Sifu Gullette says, after making the rather obvious observation that the MMA tournaments are mostly about violence:
…But there are other reasons some people want to go "ultimate." Perhaps its part of the video game culture of the past 20 years as kids have grown up hurting people on video screens. Have we desensitized ourselves to the point where we're returning to the days of the Roman Coliseum? Have we gotten to the point where we have a sociopath's lack of empathy when we see someone getting hurt?One hilarious scene from the recent comedy "Bruno" was a scene near the end where Sacha Baron Cohen pretends to be an homophobe and gets into an MMA ring. It's a real crowd of MMA fans who aren't aware of the joke. Shots of the crowd show a lot of angry people who want to see violence. As the scene progresses and Cohen ends up making out with a guy in the cage, the crowd goes nuts and the ugliness of the people attracted to the MMA event is revealed.
Ah, the same old tired "video games must be causing it!" argument — utter bollocks, of course; and as he notes, this impulse to injure each other in public for Boner Points has been around (and more acute) since long before Grand Theft Auto was an itch in a designer's pants. So I'm going to simply ignore that oft-spread urban myth, if you don't mind, and move on to the core of the matter: Is this showcasing of martial arts in a fighting arena, where people get hurt and the crowd cheers for blood, "okay"?
I guess, for me, the interesting thing is how much reasonable, nonviolent people want it to be okay. Assuming for the moment that it's wrong to hurt people, especially for no good reason (we don't have to argue that looking cool in front of a bunch of slavering fans is a good reason, do we?), isn't it fascinating how strong our drive is to do it, or at least allow it, if not maybe watch it just for a few minutes, anyway?
I think the reason we generally feel a pull to make it "okay" is that it's natural, i.e. it's normal for us, because we're animals, to want to face off, show our skills, stomp each other in public for reputation-points. It's no more serious than when dogs submit each other (teeth on throat) for the benefit of others watching; and really, no different. But we ARE animals, and we are pack mammals to boot, so as far as I see it, this behavior makes perfect sense.
SIDE-NOTE: Also like most pack mammals, we leave it largely to the males to do this showing-off. They have the drive, for one thing; males in packs are there not just to fight, but also to look scary and to keep fights from happening by scaring off enemies with their shows of scary scariness. Female fighting, while certainly done, is generally reserved for when it's really necessary–when you're the last line between your kids or kin and starvation, or an enemy. Though in cultures where women fighting rarely is actually necessary, women sometimes join in the show-off fights too. Which is too bad, if you ask me, because the females of the species are almost always the best fighters in kill-or-die situations (evolution knows what a mother bear might need in reserve), but put in an MMA ring, we're not as impressive, and I think it waters down the Fear of Angry Women that people ought to rightfully have. (Your gut knows: If you've got to beat someone up and your choice is a Marine or a woman protecting her child, pick the Marine — he won't suddenly develop the power to throw a car at you, or rip off his own arm to beat you to death with it. A cornered mom will.)
If I had my choice, women would train their butts off but never fight in competitions. Oh, and we would all dress like Sardaukar and spread rumors constantly about how much weaponry we might be hiding. (Can you see that I've got lots of ideas on how to end the rape culture? ;)
So, MMA tournaments and Ultimate Fights are natural things for human animals to do, and as such I don't see them as dangerous, or as signifiers of the downfall of humanity.
I don't think that means it's right, mind you.
I think "right" is a judgment of what we should be doing, and really, should we be acting like animals just because it's fun? Maybe, yes, sometimes we all need to explore that part of ourselves, even if it's just with some primal screaming or a bar-fight or skiing way too damn fast and seeing if we survive. We're all animals, and I don't think that's something to be ashamed of…but we're also more than animals, and I think it is shameful to ignore that, and not to strive to be better than your average critter-that-pees-on-things-to-show-ownership.
But there's a special normative force at play here, too: The "shoulds" of martial arts. And here's where I have a problem with MMA fights: Because they're used to showcase martial arts, and to compare and "represent" different styles, and because they make absolutely no apology for their claim (sometimes stated, sometimes not) that what makes a martial art "good" is how useful it is in hurting people.
THAT makes me go UGH, PEOPLE! It doesn't take ten seconds of study to realize that beating people up (or "self-defense" as it's politically re-labeled) isn't even in the top three things that martial arts is for.
Here are those three things, as I see them:
- Becoming enlightened through mastery of the body and mind
- Learning discipline, balance, acceptance, detachment, and other skills that you can use, and teach to others
- Being physically and mentally healthy, and learning spiritual awareness
.
…and here's some more, that apply specifically to the internal arts:
- Learning how energy flows, within and without, as this is a critical component of physical and mental mastery
- Learning how energy flows between people, and between you and the world
- Learning to control the energy in and around you, which will keep you healthy, let you heal others, and oh yeah, as a side effect, make you impossible to physically beat up.
I realize that people who want to fight get frustrated at the ancient (Traditional) Chinese arts for saying things like, "Why yes, self-defense is important. How do you defend yourself better than not getting into a fight?", and for being really, really unforgiving when it comes to unnecessary violence. (Oddly enough, in those arts you're more likely to see extreme violence condoned than un-extreme violence…if Bad Guy X is so very bad that you absolutely have to fight him, that he's threatening even to someone like you who has training, then what's your excuse for not killing or permanently disabling him to protect others? Fighting is not about glamour or fun or your reputation — it's about causing one person harm in order to protect others from it, and once you cross the line and start causing harm, you'd better make sure you get a LOT of protection out of it.)
Self-defense and fighting are two different things. Ninety percent of self-defense is done with the brain and the voice. If you're truly interested in avoiding violence, then guess what? You will probably not encounter any that you can't avoid, especially if you've been studying how to avoid it for years!
And guess what else? If you've mastered energy-flow, then you can literally stand there all day while people come at you, and just toss them aside. You know what a real master fighting looks like? It looks like a bunch of guys hitting the ground. And 99% of the time, the only reason you'll see it is for educational purposes — my master, who throws a punch like a cannonball, says that in over 40 years of practice, travel and living (in Detroit, for a while), he's never had to actually punch anyone, and never plans to. He didn't learn to do it so that he could hurt people. And most of the time, he told me, he can avoid all future violence simply by smiling into someone's eyes as he shakes their hand, letting them feel his ungodly grip and the weight of that cannonball fist.
That's self-defense, at least in regular-people terms. When you're talking about real masters, people who've gone exceptionally far with it to the point where Normal Human behaviors no longer make sense, well, you won't see them in a ring anywhere, but sometimes you get stories like this: "Two masters of taiji agreed, at the behest of their students, to face off in a tournament. There was great excitement beforehand, and a huge crowd. The two masters got in the ring and bowed to each other. They stood quietly for a moment, and then, to the astonishment of the crowd, they declared one of them the winner.
"What happened?' asked a student.
"'We assessed each other's energy, and determined which of us would overcome the other," one Master said simply. "He won."
…I don't remember where that story's from, but it's always stuck with me. In a similar vein, the Master who created the martial art Aikido said in one of his writings (I paraphrase), "No-one can win a fight against a Master, because the Universe is on the Master's side. The fight is over before it has even begun." –And that's probably the best short description of what "self-defense" in martial arts is really supposed to mean: It means that you've studied yourself and the world, you've learned how to feel and judge and act in concert with the underlying state of things, and therefore, you've got the world on your side, and anyone opposing you is opposing not just you, but the whole natural order. This leads, not even "just" to guaranteed physical victory, but to a truly Obi-Wan-Kenobe type situation, where even if the Master "loses", he still wins. (Yeah, I could go on all day. But look! I'm about to get back on-topic!)
In closing, there's probably no horrible harm caused by the occasional good-natured sports-fight, though as people we should be striving to be better than that, overall.
But there IS harm in the MMA's reduction of martial arts to "fighting arts" (which to be fair, some styles are explicitly about; but many aren't) and especially in the corruption of the term "self-defense" to mean "fighting", which is doesn't.
I'll close with one of my favorite quotes by Confucius (who as a Taoist, I don't always agree with, but he does have some gems):
A wise person NEVER competes.
--Confucius
[awesome Creative Commons picture by Clemson]
12 comments
I absolutely loved this post.
I've been thinking about picking up a martial art for a while, mainly because I feel utterly unprepared in some situations, and even though they're few and far between, they're always near.
This completely drove it home for me.
I want an ungodly grip too! :)
Nice post. But "bollocks?" Come on, now. :)
There's a great story about the great tai chi master Chen Fake, who died in the 1950's I believe and was the grandfather of Chen Xiaowang.
Many decades ago, Chen Fake was challenged by another master. People gathered and the two men came together and touched hands as if preparing to do push hands. They stood there for several minutes, not moving.
Suddenly, both men started laughing and embraced each other, and the master who issued the challenge declared Chen Fake the winner. He asked if he could study with Master Chen. When you get to a certain level, you can touch someone in this way and determine instantly how much skill the other person has. It isn't magic — it's physical skill and many years of training.
Both were wise enough to know that no violence was necessary.
When I was growing up, I was in many fights. I was picked on. If there were 50 boys and a bully walked up, he would pick me out of the crowd. I always tried to get out of it, but usually that didn't work, but once the fight started, I loved it and I learned quickly that one good punch would cause the bully to back down. I was always tougher than I looked. :)
I can't imagine getting in a fight today, even though I'm always ready. At a concert a few years ago, I was on the front row and a drunk guy behind me was singing loudly and off-key, ruining the songs. Everyone around me was annoyed and had spent a lot of money. I turned to the guy and asked him to be quiet. One of his two friends, who wasn't drunk, replied, "The three of us can take you on."
I looked at them, turned to my wife, and she laughed. We both knew that I could actually take the three of them. And I would hit the guy who spoke first. But instead, I remained centered, diffused the situation and there was no violence. Why risk getting in trouble, going to jail, going to court, or losing my job over some jerks? The guy did stop singing, though, and people around me thanked me afterwards.
Ueishiba (the creator or Aikido, which has a reputation for being the most non-violent of martial arts) also said something like: "90% of Aikido is atemi (hitting)", which implies that you can't be non-violent unless you are willing to cause damage.
It's the original version of "Peace through superior firepower"….
And while I agree that reducing martial arts to "fighting arts" is not the object, but I also have to respect anyone willing to get in the ring and put their skill on the line.
I think if you don't have self defence pretensions, then Chi Gung, Tai Chi, etc, is the direction to head in. BUT, if you want to be able to defend yourself, then the 'internal' arts are just going to give you false confidence.
There was a martial arts tourney in the 70's, where several Muay Thai (From Thailand) practitioners came over to China/ Hong Kong (somewhere like that) and each had fights with Kung Fu masters. There was about 5 minutes of action in 7 fights. The Muay Thai guys won every match, severely hurting the 'masters'.
To be in with a CHANCE of being able to fight with internal energy against a strong/ motivated attacker, you would have to A) Start fairly young, B) Be naturally talented at it, C) Have spent several hours per day, every day, for at least 10 years training.
FWIW- I know lots of MMA fighters, who are almost all very nice people. When I do martial arts, I get hurt sometimes. I shrug it off. You have to be like that. In time, getting hurt doesn't actually seem to hurt as much. Sometimes in a real fight, the first you know about it is AFTER you've been hit. It's good to be ABLE to fight then. People who aren't used to being hit will always fold.
Lastly, many internal practitioners will advocate training like a real fighter, at least for a period, so that they develop the necessary hardness. It's an experience very different than you'd think.
Aw, Nick, do I really scan as someone who hasn’t been hit? Hmm, I sense a YouTube opportunity…Where’s Tyler Durden when you need him?? (I will say that I’ve never been hit in any setting that had anything to do with martial arts.)
I agree; if you want to learn to fight, learn to fight! (In which case, I agree with several bloggers I’ve read, that martial arts may not be your best bet anyway…almost everyone I know who could “take anybody” learned how by being a bar-bouncer: i.e. by fighting. Fighting is fighting, and has very little in common with practicing forms!) And I would think that masters of the internal arts would probably be the first to tell you that: Yes, *mastering* those arts (which you’re right, takes decades for most people) may make you nigh invincible at all, but it’s because you’ll have mastered not-fighting, which is quite useless in a ring!
(FWIW, by far not all forms described as “kungfu” are internal — the practice has a long history, and it branched away from the temples at several points to become various fighting-based traditions. Muy thai is definitely all about fighting, though, so I would expect it to do “well” up against people who studied kungfu, since even if that form of kungfu was about fighting–and it would really have to be; nobody in the tradition I practice would have been allowed to take part in that tournament–it’s valud in fighting would probably be “tainted” by the non-fighting elements that inform all kungfu on a level. Yet another reason to stay away from kungfu, and possibly all kungfu-based forms (which is a darn lot of them), if fighting is your interest.)
MMA is about fighting, and I have no issue with that. I do have issues with it, and other things, perpetuating the idea that *martial arts* is about fighting. Almost all martial arts with Asian origins come from kungfu at its root, and at its root kungfu is simply (if one can say “simply”) a movement-based form of meditation. The goal of it the same as the goal of all meditation: To gain insight, awareness, and eventually enlightenment.
It’s not that I have a problem with people fighting: I think it can be warranted, and I even think it can be fun and/or character-building, in the right circumstances. But when people claim that martial arts is about fighting, or that a martial art that “beats” another art in a tournament ring is a “better” art, well, to me it’s rather like someone judging your church based on how it ranks against other celebrity mansions.
“Missing the point” is one way to say it, but it just doesn’t seem to cover exactly how horrendous I find that kind of conclusion, you know? So I write long posts about it. Que sera. ;)
Good for you, Leonardo! One thing that’s always helped me: Be very clear with yourself what you want to get out of studying a martial art, and you’ll naturally gravitate towards the styles that suit you.
Thanks for the response, Sifu! That’s very close to the story I remember; maybe it is the one I heard, but regardless, thank you so much for leaving it here! I sense the issue of violence and its relationship to martial arts may never be fully laid to rest, but as long as there are people holding up the “martial arts=fighting” sign like the MMA is, then there’ll always be a place for people like me, who think the two are actually pretty mutually exclusive. ;)
I love your site and again, thanks for dropping by!
Hi Matt — Thanks for the further info on Ueishiba! I wonder, though…for the life of me I can’t see what’s “on the line” in a ring, besides ego…but then again, I’ve always been the “least competitive” person anybody knows, so maybe I’m just fundamentally not wired to get it. ;)
Thanks!
What's "on the line" in the ring IS your ego. Stepping into the ring says that you are willing to risk losing to see if what you think you know is real (if what you think you know is how to fight).
It is a useful experiment for almost any martial artist that aspires to have a useful defense to go up against an opponent in a reasonable no-holds-barred situation just to see where their limits are. Sometimes they aren't where you expect them to be…
Martial arts=fighting arts. In Western thinking we like to divide fields and disciplines, and I think it would be more fair to keep the term "martial arts" to fighting disciplines, and paths to enlightenment as something specifically spiritual or religious. I think trying to port an Eastern view of mediation disciplines into Western understanding will only confuse people. I think the term "martial arts" should exclude any practices which do not relate to fighting.
I think any strategies used to avoid or diffuse a fight which has not actually occurred should not fall under the term "martial arts". That would better be called "deterrence". There is a very distinct line dividing the skills and strategies used by deterrence and fighting that I think that a semantic division is warranted. Someone avoiding a fight, and someone engaging in a fight, are doing two very different things.
I know you want to lump spiritual enlightenment, deterrence, and fighting all under one great banner, because that is what is done in the East. In the East, you would have one master teach all these different things. But if you are speaking to a Western audience who learned in a university setting (classes divided by field), you'll probably go further if you use a language that is more specific.
For example, someone unable to fight would benefit from a self-defense strategy of deterrence: how to stay safe and avoid conflict. This is taught in elementary schools. I would not call this martial arts. But MMA was spawned by the U.S. military while looking for the superior fighting discipline. Deterrence has no place in MMA. MMA is exactly martial arts.
A few things:
On Marine vs. Protective Woman: If picking based on who would be an easier challenge, I would definitely pick the woman. But your idea is still a nice novel fantasy (and who's saying the woman won't suddenly pick up a knife? so in that case I'm not saying she wouldn't be a challenge) but let's not pretend she'll suddenly become superhuman, no matter how cornered she is.
On MMA:
I can see where Ken is coming from. The difference is that most people who watch the sport are casual fans who thirst for blood and thirst for the knockout.
People as a collective mass are more like animals than humans and unfortunately these people who are more prominently viewed watching the sport are seen as "fans" of the sport and seem to represent the sport to the uninitiated. But they're not fans of the sport they're fans of the brutality.
The minority, the true fans, the hardcore fans who "get" the sport are the ones who watch it for the love and understanding of competition, of skill, of match-ups, of fighting, and respect that the fighters have the balls to showcase their skills, win or lose, who don't do it just to inflict pain on someone but love competing and love fighting and love the sport.
They understand that fighting is not about brutality and is an art form in it self and is pure. The idea of match-ups, of one man against another, each having differing attributes unique to himself is totally fascinating, and this fascination, I think, has intrigued me since as early as I can remember.
But the problem with combat sports is that they attract too many meatheads. It annoys me. They're the same fools who compare MMA to WWE. And people make the mistake of thinking the masses' perception of it is the most popular and therefore the closest, most incisive opinion of it. It seems to me that the more popular a thing becomes and the more mainstream it gets, the more polluted and tainted it becomes; it becomes diluted with the poison of the masses.
Regarding martial arts as a whole, I think everyone, deep down, at one point at least, would like to be considered tough, tough enough to handle himself, and some of these martial artists who aren't fighters who despite being "masters" of their respective discipline couldn't fight their way out of a school-yard brawl. They take the high road and hide behind a veil of mysticism by saying, "A true martial artist would not lower himself by fighting in such a thing as MMA." But really, a true master who doesn't fight, who is a disciple of self-mastery will not care that he can't fight or whether he can, he will be beyond entertaining the thought, because he doesn't learn the art to be a fighter, he learns it to master himself, not others.
Finally, to puredoxyk, I must say that I really like your site and your views and philosophy (well, I haven't read much but I like your style) and even if I ever disagree with you, it doesn't mean I don't respect your opinion. You're insightful.
Kobajack
I really love martial arts, and yes I'm willing to get hurt in a fight just to feel the
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