The Scholar Warrior

At one time, the study of Chinese martial arts was a privilege bestowed upon a chosen few. These people were generals, monks, aristocrats, bandit warlords, land owners, and a few of their select family members. Whether they were religious, rich, military men, criminals or otherwise, they all had one thing in common that amplified their study of traditional martial arts. They were all known as, 'scholar warriors'. In today's modern society, the thought of a Marine, mixed martial artist or triad overlord being anything but a thick headed brute seems almost laughable. At the same time, imagining one of the members of the British royal family, a head of a corporation or priest being able to take out five attackers bare handed with ease, seems equally ridiculous. This may be true today (in a general, stereotypical sense), but could be nothing farther from the truth, as far as Chinese history is concerned. While it is not completely a completely, 'dead', concept, those who live by, and uphold, the term, 'scholar warrior', are nearly extinct.

What IS a, 'scholar warrior'? The two terms seem apparently contradictory when placed next to each other. Almost as conflicting as the term, 'martial art'. When someone of a privileged station was lucky enough to be able to study martial arts, it was not unlike entering a lifelong collegiate study of many different varying majors. Aside from everyday, grueling, martial arts practice, they were expected to study a wide variety of, 'soft', arts to improve their demanding physical routines in a mental, spiritual, and even emotional spectrum. While martial arts, are, obviously, 'hard', your understanding of, 'hard', is extremely limited if you do not understand, 'soft'. While I could write a book on the principles of, 'soft', and, 'hard' (many already have, and have been doing so, for the last 5,000 years!), I will only touch upon it lightly here. If one were to remain tense, high speed and aggressive at all times, your body, and mind, would, literally, collapse on themselves. Someone that understood re-directive techniques, suppleness, and how to, 'relax' (mentally, as well as physically), would, inevitably be able to defeat you in number of different ways. At the same time, one who is constantly relaxed, has no, 'power' (so to speak), and no initiative, would be about as useful as a slug, as far as conflict resolution (martially or otherwise) is concerned. Someone who was aggressive, would just trample them, mentally and/or physically speaking. Being in the middle of these two principles is what the scholar warrior desired more than anything else. Bread that is not cooked long enough is soft, chewy, bad tasting and inedible. Yet, the same bread, cooked for to long, becomes burnt, impossible to even bite, and is about as suitable for food as a paper weight. While some prefer softer breads than others, and some people enjoy a stiffer crust than the next person, in the end, a good bread must have BOTH the qualities of, 'hard, AND, 'soft'.

The idea of, 'hard', training, is, in my mind, obvious. Hitting rocks, muscle burning exercises, cardiovascular, sparring, endless, painful conditioning, and so on. What is, 'soft', training? Soft training is found within martial practice, this is true. But, TRUE, soft training is found in things like calligraphy, poetry, painting, sculpture, music, medicine, studying/writing philosophy, tea ceremonies, flower arrangement, and even gardening. Generals, monks, noblemen/women, and even warlords, were often times, experts in many, in not ALL, of these fields. The same was true for government officials, actors and other educated people. They understood that mastery of their bodies through rigorous physical, and mental, martial practice would vastly improve their intellectual aptitude beyond pure book study and debate. Where the ancient martial artist is concerned, aside from being, apparently, 'superhuman', warriors, they were poets, artists, historians, philosophers and talented musicians, more often than not. One who only studies war, can only see the world in a one hundred and eight degree perspective (if that!), while one who studies the intellectual arts can see the universe in its three hundred and sixty degrees of glorious beauty. When one understands the abstract concepts of artistic expression and philosophy, they are able to execute these things in combat on a subconscious level. They can think creatively, utilize tremendous patience, intellectually dominate their opponent, and find an unseen method of victory that would be impossible for a brutish brawler to even begin to comprehend.

My ba gua zhang (eight triagrams palm) instructor used to say, 'without culture, your intelligence is limited, and you are destined to be an idiot'. He always told me that the true principles of his peculiar system of martial arts were to be found in calligraphy, painting and music. He himself was an expert calligraphist, painter, Chinese medicine practitioner, philosopher, and Chinese flute player. Yet, at the same time, he is/was one of the most dangerous people I have ever met. I'd often find him slapping the sides of trees with his bare hands with incredible force as I approached him in the quiet secluded grove where we practiced in old Shanghai. His proportionally large hands were like thick pads of orangey leather, more akin to a bear, or a tiger, than a sixty one year old Chinese man. However, you could see in his incredibly fluid motions that went from slow to fast, with no disruption of flow or jerkiness whatsoever, that he had truly mastered some these, 'soft', arts. While he was a poor laborer from a tiny village in northern Jiang Su province who spent most of his life in Shanghai driving trucks and forklifts, not even being able to speak any of the three dialects he learned with any sort of total or complete fluency (he spoke a weird combination of Mandarin, Shanghaiese and whatever his village dialect was called. Often times, I'd have to ask the Shanghaiese students what he just said, and even THEY would shrug, shake their heads and smile. Eventually, all of us, collectively, were usually able to piece together his strange, and completely unique, dialect over time), he is, in the truest sense, a living example of the, 'scholar warrior'.

Today, we cannot afford the luxury of an all encompassing martial education that our warrior ancestors were so fortunate to have. We must put food on our tables, and in order to do this, study from the age of five until our twenties (usually), just to answer the demands of basic modern day living. One who is able to study martial arts on a daily basis is a rare person indeed. Even three, one hour classes a week makes someone a, 'full time', martial artist by today's standards. There is nothing wrong with this, I encourage ANYONE and EVERYONE to study martial arts, whether it is for fun, a hobby, health, self defense, or even just out of curiosity. I myself had made a decision a long time ago to dedicate my life to Chinese martial arts on an epic scale. I knew the moment I walked into my first kung-fu school that I wanted to study, practice and teach Chinese martial arts for the rest of my life, or die trying.

About eight years ago, my tremendously supportive mother (who has always supported my study and passion for martial arts, bless her heart) and I were in a discussion one day and she said, 'You know, there is more to life than kung-fu'! I immediately replied, 'No, there ISN'T'! And at the moment, she understood that it was my true passion, my purpose, and my way of life. I have suffered tremendously in many different ways, but I do not regret it, for I cannot imagine any other way. Yes, I have been homeless, lost a girlfriend here and there, strained my friendships, refused incredible opportunities to make huge amounts of money, and even now, struggle daily just to survive because of my dedication, but I would rather be dead than give up practicing Chinese martial arts. With my choice in lifestyle, I am able to study philosophy, practice illustration, calligraphy, painting, and create/play music, if I so desire, for hours on end on a daily basis. I do these things between my usual five to eight hours of daily martial practice (which is small compared to my previous regimen of eight to fourteen!), but I am able to do these things because I made a choice, throwing away a life of wealth and comfort. I took a chance, I continue to do so today, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I have sacrificed everything, taken a tremendous risk, and gave it all up for my passion. Why would I do such a thing? Why would I put myself in such seemingly dire circumstances? Because I understand, and have embraced, the philosophy, the idea, and the lifestyle of the way of the, 'scholar warrior'.