PLEASE REINSTALL YOUR DO...

 by Phillip Starr

The word “do” is used in various martial art disciplines such as judo karate-do, taekwondo, and aikido, as well as numerous other art forms such as chado (the tea ceremony), shodo (calligraphy with a brush), kado (flower arranging) and so on, pronounced “dao” (道) in Chinese (and Korean) and refers to “a way”, “a path…” MANY practitioners of these arts really don’t understand what it means and if that’s the case, theirs is a shallow method. So what does this really mean?

Put simply, a “do” is a way of living. It’s not something that you practice on Monday and Wednesday evenings for an hour or so. It permeates your very being, regardless of what you’re doing; ay your job, brushing your teeth…whatever. It affects and improves your character and the strength of your spirit. It is always there; in your speech, in your relationships, in the quality of work that you do, in how you view yourself and the world.

Judo came from juJUTSU, just as kendo came from kenJUTSU. The same is true for karate-jutsu, aikijutsu, and numerous other martial disciplines of Japan. Jutsu (術, pronounced “shu” in Chinese, and “gisul” in Korean, 기술 ) means, simply, “technique.” In the martial arts, it refers to technique that is practiced solely for combative purposes. It does NOT refer to a way of life. Jutsu has no interest in the development of character or spirit. It is intended only for combat.

This is not to say that practitioners of a jutsu form cannot improve character and spirit through training. They can, but the teacher has little interest in such qualities. If he begins to look at improving such qualities through training, he is beginning to practice a “do.”

In China, there is no such differentiation in a given martial discipline such as we find in Japan. Wushu means literally, “martial art.” But because it’s been used for decades to refer to a performing art that combines gymnastics, aspects of Chinese opera, and martial arts, “wushu” is no longer used (in China) to refer to the traditional martial arts. They now call them “gong-fu”, which is a misnomer because that term actually refers to any fine skill that is developed through arduous practice over time. A highly skilled carpenter or painted can be said to have “a lot of gong-fu” or “really good gong-fu.”

So part of my personal mission is to establish the “do” in traditional Chinese martial disciplines. Many of them are wholly focused on being “jutsu” oriented. Learning technique isn’t easy; it takes time and a great deal of practice. But once you achieve “technique”, you must go beyond it – into the “do.”

In the art of painting, for instance, there is jutsu and do. A jutsu painter simply paints what he sees, kind of like paint-by-numbers. The end result may be an accurate depiction of what he saw, but it has no life; no soul, no FEELING or spirit. And there’s a huge difference between the two. A true artist must go beyond putting paint on his brush and simply stroking the parchment or canvas.

So I encourage you to go beyond the jutsu of what you practice. Seek out the do.