MARTIAL ARTS AND LEGOS

 by Yang Shuangxing

“We're traditionalists and we don't ever change anything in our art.” For many people, this kind of statement is considered a worthy, even a noble sentiment. For others, such statements are the epitome of “stuck in the mud” mentality.

Arguments ensue. It's hard to say who's right. I tend to look at it in the same way that I look at LEGOS... If you're a parent or a younger person, you're probably familiar with them. Those God-cursed little bricks can be found scattered all over the floors of many homes and the number and varieties of LEGO pieces is truly amazing. My litte boy loved them and we'd build all kinds of houses, cars, towers...you name it. The company also sells kits that comes with excellent instructions for building a LEGO world. From the Eiffel Tower to helicopters, batmobiles, and submarines...some kits contains as many as four or five THOUSAND pieces, all of which are to be assembled according to precise, multi-page instruction booklets, into those pirate ships or the Taj Mahal. You'd think that with so many pieces, you'd eventually purchase one that's missing a couple of bricks. I'd open the instruction booklet and worry that one piece would be missing. But I never ran into this problem! There are probably microchip manufacturers that don't match up to LEGO'S quality control...

I think LEGOS are a good metaphor for “traditionalism” in the martial arts. Like the kits, the arts that have withstood the test of time are remarkably complete. If all of the parts of an art aren't present, it's likely the fault of the teacher who didn't completely learn all aspects of the art before trying to teach it. This, more than any other factor, is what's dysfunctional in the bulk of the martial arts of today, worldwide. If you follow the “instruction manual”, you can assemble what a given art intends to be built. Simple? Well...if you've bought a LEGO spaceship kit, you're going to have problems building a skyscraper.

The “eclectic” variations of martial arts could be compared to the LEGO spin-offs that look like LEGOS...but they don't fit well with LEGO pieces at all. It's pretty tough to build anything meaningful if you mix pieces of the two.

One fellow I met a while back said he was going to take up aikido because he wanted to be able to handle multiple armed aggressors. I doubt he came up with this idea after talking to a competent aikido teacher; it's more likely that he watched a cute action movie. I think most aikido teachers would suggest that he look elsewhere. In effect, he was thinking of picking up a LEGO kit, planning to build a race car but failed to see that it was for making a helicopter. So he's going to be disappointed in the aikido school but that's not the fault of the school, is it?

Another aspect of LEGOS is that once you've learned how the pieces fit together, you can begin to adapt them. You can build structures other than the ones advertised on the box. While the potential for creating various structures with LEGOS is very large, it isn't limitless. For instance, you'll never successfully construct a working barbecue grill. And although the martial ways have a very broad spectrum, they cannot be expanded infinitely; if you're wanting to learn an art that will enable you to dodge bullets, fly through the air (without anyone else's help), or become immortal, you're out of ruck. The martial ways aren't magic. They won't solve your personal problems or make you fearless. They have limitations. But their capacities are so remarkable that most of us will spend the rest of our lives studying them.

“Tradition”, as we speak of it in the martial ways, exists only when it is passed down. A suit of armor in a museum isn't a “tradition”; it plays a part in tradition only when it is used from one generation to the next. The same is true for martial arts. They aren't “traditional” if they're not transmitted; they're dead...or at best, a stuffed taxidermy exhibit. And it is our insight into the art, fortified correctly through years of arduous training in the fundamentals, that allows us to better interpret our arts. Those who follow a traditional path don't do it for the sake of tradition itself; rather, tradition is a means to an end. Tradition depends on the continued contributions of of personal insight into the art. Conversely, those insights are meaningless if they're not grounded in the established traditions of the art. It's a cycle.

The idea that tradition and personal insight and interpretation are mutually exclusive is not one that has ever been a part of the original martial ways. The two are, by necessity and the definition of “art” (martial or otherwise), absolutely viable in their harmony. If you don't believe me, pick up a box of LEGOS...