The warriors of
If you have served in the
military you may remember such etiquettes as how and when to salute, or how to
address a superior officer in conversation. These rules govern a soldier’s
actions concerning the observation and acknowledgement of superior rank as well
as reinforce a certain social standing within the military. This has a direct
correlation with the bow in Japanese martial arts. Many other rules governed
the lives of the ancient Japanese warrior, as they do the modern military
soldier. It is a society within a society.
Part of the martial
training of the warrior remains constant throughout history. A soldier will
train with his primary and secondary personal weapon, train in military
tactics, navigation, modes of transportation, and forms of unarmed combat. This
hasn’t changed over the centuries. Modern soldiers do the same thing. Perhaps
the forms of weaponry and transportation have changed, and technology helps the
modern soldier, but the training methods are relatively the same.
Another aspect of warrior
society that remains constant is the percentage of soldiers to civilians.
Soldier always made up a small part of society, and soldiers are usually
heavily armed while civilians are lightly armed or not armed at all in a
peaceful society, but make up the larger segment. Soldiers can face a constant
combat environment during war or times of civil unrest, while civilians rarely
face violent confrontation during their lifetimes. When they do however,
civilians are at a significant disadvantage as they usually do not have a
weapon or training that will allow them to defend themselves. Most often a
civilian will have to resort to unarmed forms of self defense in order to
protect themselves against an attack by another.
From the necessity of the
unarmed to defend themselves came the adoption and
adaptation of military unarmed defensive methods by the civilian population.
Early on, soldiers who were not at war or who were unemployed began to teach
civilians methods of unarmed self defense for money. As wars dwindled, and
civilians became more interested in self defense, martial arts schools
developed, much to the disappointment of many soldiers of the day.
A unique aspect of the
martial way that was brought by the Japanese warriors to their civilian
students was spiritual development. Spiritual development in conjunction with
traditional martial arts is an accepted partnership today, but there was little
understanding of its role in the warrior ways. Even the civilian students of
the samurai did not understand.
Originally the spiritual
aspects were a separate discipline from the ways of war. A soldier became,
through harsh training, a dealer of death. His job was to learn to fight in
battle when called upon to do so by his lord. He was also required to perform
security details and collect taxes and debts for his superiors. All of these
duties provided ample opportunity for violent confrontations. A soldier had to
be highly trained.
In contrast to the harsh
physical and mental warrior training, soldiers would find mental and physical
solace in practicing spiritually oriented cultural arts quite apart from their
warrior training. I must note again – apart from their warrior training.
The search for inner peace
and tranquility led battle hardened samurai to arts such as Zen meditation, Tea
Ceremony, wood carving, painting, calligraphy, gardening and other typically
Japanese cultural and religious art forms. Whereas one side of the warrior was
fierce and deadly, the other was quiet, placid and polite. Whereas a warrior
could be harsh and brash if he had to, he could also be cultured and educated.
Training in these
seemingly diverse disciplines did not occur together however. One did not learn
meditation and the use of the spear from the same teacher. One did not learn
how to throw an opponent and break his bones from the same person who taught
him how to find tranquility in the austerity of the Tea Ceremony. These disciplines
were separate, as were the instructors for very good reason. The harmonious
spiritual arts were an escape and a tool to generate mental calmness for a
warrior whos martial life was anything but harmonious or spiritual.
So how have these diverse
disciplines become intertwined? Through misunderstanding.
For the warrior, it was important that he be able to keep a calm and focused
mind during the heat of battle so that he could think clearly and fearlessly in
chaos. Many of the spiritual disciplines he practiced apart from his warrior
training helped him achieve this calmness under stress.
When civilians began to
train, there was little understanding of the entire warrior lifestyle. To the
civilian, they were being taught the “secrets” of the Samurai, when in fact
they were being taught a mere fraction of the Japanese warrior’s knowledge.
There was little need to understand how to use the sword in battle as civilians
were not allowed to carry swords. It is the same today, as civilians are not
allowed by law to carry M-16 automatic rifles. What the civilians did learn was
how to use unarmed techniques in order to stop other unarmed or lightly armed
civilians from hurting or killing them. Such is the same today. Modern martial
art students are not going to learn how to disarm an American soldier in full
battle dress. It simply isn’t needed.
When westerners were first
introduced to Japanese martial arts at the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th century, not only were they fascinated with unarmed self defense training,
and how easily it defeated western boxing and wrestling, but also with Japanese
society as a whole. When Japanese traditions were brought back to the
To the Westerner, martial
art techniques meant you would be the winner in a fight. To the Westerner, the
Samurai used meditation and learned Zen and made gardens in order to help them
in battle – therefore martial art technique combined with the spiritual arts
made you a better fighter. Wrong. Because these disparate disciplines existed
in the same society, and sometimes within the same person does not mean they go
together or are to be learned together. They are quite opposite, and their
value exists in the fact that they are opposite and must be learned and
practiced apart from the other for their full value to be realized.
The modern warrior, the
military soldier does not need to meditate or garden, or observe rock
formations, or grow small Japanese trees in order to be effective in battle.
His technical and tactical knowledge (along with some luck) will make him
successful or unsuccessful in battle. However, if a warrior finds himself with
an unruly and chaotic mind because of the constant rigors of battle and
unending harsh training, he may find benefit in what spiritual endeavors bring
to the mind and body. Then again he may not. There are many soldiers who thrive
on adrenaline and chaos, and find themselves at a disadvantage in the
spiritual, social or educational realm. It is a very individual thing. But a
common thread exists here – modern combat training does not include spiritual musings,
and few spiritual endeavors include fighting and killing. They are exclusive of
each other, and thus retain their value and power over the individual.
YET – the misunderstanding
still exists and is repeated generation after generation in the civilian
martial arts in the West. Why? Because there is still a fascination with the
cultural aspects of the country of origin of the martial arts civilians
practice. They are enamored with the clothing, the language, the decorations,
the spirituality, the ceremony and the etiquette. These things are of little
value when combined with fighting methods. They only hold value outside of the
training and discipline of the warrior methods.
So what can be done to
increase both the value of warrior training and spiritual training? Simply
learn and practice them separately from each other. Set aside time to train
your body and mind in the martial ways, and set aside other time for calming of
the mind and spirit through other proven means. Then you can feel the power of both
individually. Mixing them together does nothing but muddy the waters. The mind
finds it difficult to allow itself to be brutal enough to defend ones self, at
the same time as it tries to find peace and harmony. At that point, both
disciplines become less of what they are meant for and mostly neutralize each
other.
The methods of self
defense are brutal and dangerous. Training can be physically harsh in order to
harden the mind and body against the realities of a physical attack. You must
allow your mind to embrace the moment and respond violently to an attack,
unencumbered by any moral or spiritual restraint. This is the only way one can
survive a brutal attack by someone of superior size and strength, or with a
small weapon such as a knife, club or gun. Do not allow this training to
dominate your life however. See it for what it is. You have made the decision
that you might need to defend yourself against an aggressive encounter, and you
train in order to be able to fend off any attack against you or your loved
ones. That is a smart and noble pursuit. But do not let it make you become a
“weekend warrior” or an imaginary soldier in your mind. You are not – you are a
civilian using martial arts (arts of war) in order to increase your chances of
success in a fight.
In contrast to the
violence in society and the violence of martial art training (if you are
training correctly), find solace in meditative or spiritually contemplative
arts if you find that helps you deal with life in a calmer and more controlled manner.
If you have a violent personality and are full of rage, these methods of
harmony may help you remain more stable. If you are over emotional, some of
these arts may help you separate yourself from uncontrolled emotions. If you
find yourself in constant altercations because you are a Corrections Officer,
Police officer, Bodyguard or a Bouncer, you may find spiritual training an
asset to offset the chaos and violence of your job. But this is an individual
pursuit. It is not for everyone, and is not necessary for everyone.
The point I would like to
drive home is that training in the martial arts, those arts designed to escape
from, strike, throw, choke, break, injure, maim, and possibly kill an attacker
should not be learned in the same place from the same person as the spiritual
arts. Nor should they be practiced in the same place or at the same time. When
this is done, you are perpetuating a cultural misunderstanding that has existed
in the West for a century, and has done nothing but lessen the effectiveness of
both disciplines.