Before I can proceed with the various aspects of training the body, mind, and soul, I must make a note of something important. I have been searching for others with whom to explore this way, and have found several. Last night, we began to do a bit of training, focusing on ways to protect or aid others in distress. In particular, we focused on a specific situation and how one could address it without escalating the situation into greater violence, and most specifically how we could ensure the safety of the Other. We found that certain responses were more effective than others, and certain techniques more valuable than others. At the time I thought the exercise fruitful and valuable. I realized today that if it bore fruit, that fruit tasted more like failure.
What do I mean by this? I mean that I forgot my own lessons. If the human person is not simply body, mind, or spirit, but all three, then any response in a given situation must involve all three. But we focused almost entirely on the physical. We fell into the same trap as most martial arts. Even focused on helping another instead of on defending the self, we did not respond with the whole human person, nor did we attempt to address whole human people, save in rare moments. We discovered that our instincts tended towards solving situations with violence, what we didn't discover was how we objectified both the aggressor and the victim.
A Christian martial way must, by necessity, recognize the human persons involved in any situation. We cannot deal with objects called the victim, or the attacker, or the back up, or whatever we might come up with while training. The Christian in such a situation must give his whole self, his whole person to the saving of all the persons in a given moment of need. The person attacking needs help no less than the person being attacked. Both are hurting, both broken, both in terrible need and great danger. How can we possibly do this?
I am not utterly certain yet, but one thing I have realized is that the most important technique we could possibly have in any situation is not a punch or a grab or anything of the sort. It is a smile. The smile disarms, instead of arming. It blesses instead of cursing. It invites instead of escalating. The only way to help both persons is to meet them as persons, persons whom you love, the one no less than the other, even though their conduct may be utterly unacceptable. St. Vincent de Paul said something along these lines, that the poor would only forgive us for serving them or helping them if they knew how much we loved them. Well in any situation where human persons are being assaulted there is a terrible poverty present. And any action of ours, particularly one that thwarts a selfish will, might be reciprocated with the sort of vengeful pride which we associate with even greater violence. We must make ourselves the servants of the very men or women whose actions we despise.
Christ said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." Today I learned that this is the essence of our way, to make peace. I don't know the origins of the proverb, but it was said, "He who desires peace would do well to prepare for war." I think this especially valuable. We will only be able to respond appropriately, with love, with patience, with joy, if we prepare for such times as when they will be most tried. We will train for war - physical, mental, spiritual, and all three commingled. We will train for them so that when war comes, we can make peace. We may study violence. We may even at times be forced to use violence. But what we must take care to do is be the one humiliated, not the one humiliating. And for that, we have to be strong enough to take it. Thus we must respond with our whole self, our minds and spirits no less than our bodies. It isn't enough to interpose or intervene. We must cajole, convince, rebuke, implore, and offer up our own pride to gain even the smallest crack in theirs. We must recognize in them that grand beauty and divine mystery which is the human person. We must appeal to that whole person, defend that whole person, love that whole person. Nothing less will suffice. More on this to come.
A Christian Martial Way
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
A Unified Whole
It seems to me that having established my purpose in the martial arts and why I am writing in previous posts some time should be spent upon the arenas in which a Christian martial way would be practiced. A Christian martial way must involve the whole of the human person engaged in it. It can never be purely physical, or purely spiritual. It cannot be solely mental. It must be an integrated path in which a complete person is formed by Christ to a life of service and the protection of others.
The Christian martial artist must therefore train not only the body, but the mind and the spirit. How does one accomplish this, especially keeping in mind the unique purpose of martial arts to the Christian? No martial art or martial way I have encountered spends anything like an equal amount of time on these arenas. The vast majority of martial practice is with the body. Very little is spent training the mind. Indeed in most cases the mind is considered trained through the disciplining of the body. And often spirit is reduced to breathing and vocal exercises. The training of the body tends to focus, as noted in an earlier post, on how to block, dodge, hit, throw, break, etc. for the sake of one's self. So not only must the amount of relative training spent on each of these change, but the sort of training we normally subject the body to must also change in the practice of a Christian martial way.
Let us begin. A Christian martial way is about defending others. So while that may at times involve the same sorts of techniques upon which other martial arts primarily focus, it will also demand at least one special training, that of accepting being hit. Now, there are martial arts in which one learns how to take hits. There are even martial artists who specialize in strengthening or hardening some part (or even all) of their bodies in order to be virtually impregnable. I am not talking about this kind of training, though it might prove very useful to have. What I am talking about is training the body not to respond to pain with violence, training the mind not to respond to aggression with escalation, and training the spirit not to respond to humiliation with pride. To achieve such a thing, it becomes very apparent that the sort of training often practiced within other martial ways will not be enough, for other martial ways eventually give way to the defense of the self. The Christian martial way is an active training in how to surrender the self to save others.
It is, in fact, relatively easy to accept physical pain from a strike without striking back. This is something most martial artists can easily accomplish. Training the mind not to react instinctively and selfishly to aggression towards itself, and training our spirits to accept humiliation as a key to humility rather than as a trigger to rage - these are the difficult tasks which we must somehow accomplish if we are to walk in this way. Further stressing this need for integrated training of the human person, we can also see that the battlefields upon which a Christian must fight are not simply physical. We are called to be able to give an account for our hope to any who might ask (1 Peter 3:15), and we are reminded that we struggle not with physical powers, but spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12). We are engaged not only in physical struggles, but in mental and spiritual warfare every single day. In fact, we are more involved in these two than we are with physical struggles. Therefore, while others might train their bodies almost exclusively, we must train all three, and their training must be integrated at some level, even if they proceed largely independently. More on how to come.
The Christian martial artist must therefore train not only the body, but the mind and the spirit. How does one accomplish this, especially keeping in mind the unique purpose of martial arts to the Christian? No martial art or martial way I have encountered spends anything like an equal amount of time on these arenas. The vast majority of martial practice is with the body. Very little is spent training the mind. Indeed in most cases the mind is considered trained through the disciplining of the body. And often spirit is reduced to breathing and vocal exercises. The training of the body tends to focus, as noted in an earlier post, on how to block, dodge, hit, throw, break, etc. for the sake of one's self. So not only must the amount of relative training spent on each of these change, but the sort of training we normally subject the body to must also change in the practice of a Christian martial way.
Let us begin. A Christian martial way is about defending others. So while that may at times involve the same sorts of techniques upon which other martial arts primarily focus, it will also demand at least one special training, that of accepting being hit. Now, there are martial arts in which one learns how to take hits. There are even martial artists who specialize in strengthening or hardening some part (or even all) of their bodies in order to be virtually impregnable. I am not talking about this kind of training, though it might prove very useful to have. What I am talking about is training the body not to respond to pain with violence, training the mind not to respond to aggression with escalation, and training the spirit not to respond to humiliation with pride. To achieve such a thing, it becomes very apparent that the sort of training often practiced within other martial ways will not be enough, for other martial ways eventually give way to the defense of the self. The Christian martial way is an active training in how to surrender the self to save others.
It is, in fact, relatively easy to accept physical pain from a strike without striking back. This is something most martial artists can easily accomplish. Training the mind not to react instinctively and selfishly to aggression towards itself, and training our spirits to accept humiliation as a key to humility rather than as a trigger to rage - these are the difficult tasks which we must somehow accomplish if we are to walk in this way. Further stressing this need for integrated training of the human person, we can also see that the battlefields upon which a Christian must fight are not simply physical. We are called to be able to give an account for our hope to any who might ask (1 Peter 3:15), and we are reminded that we struggle not with physical powers, but spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12). We are engaged not only in physical struggles, but in mental and spiritual warfare every single day. In fact, we are more involved in these two than we are with physical struggles. Therefore, while others might train their bodies almost exclusively, we must train all three, and their training must be integrated at some level, even if they proceed largely independently. More on how to come.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Failure
Yesterday I failed.
I took care of one of the kids of some friends of mine, and being the spoiler of children that I am I bought him frozen yogurt after a day spent adventuring. Walking back to my car, I heard some terrible things. Parked a couple spaces away a man used horrible language to abuse a young woman in his car. I mean terrible profanity. The sort of stuff none of us should use, and yet so many of us use regularly.
My whole point in practicing the Christian martial way is to protect others. I did not protect that young woman. Hearing those terrible things, I thought only of getting the child who was my charge away from there, I didn't stop to address the horrible treatment of a human person. Driving away I felt shame such as I have rarely known. And regret. And burning rage.
I seriously considered fighting this person. Or at least yelling at him. Or something. But every thing I thought of only meant it might be harder to protect the child. If I spoke up, not only would it draw the boy's attention to what was being said, but it would likely have brought more abuse directed towards us. If I physically acted, what message would I be sending a young man whom I have tried to drill lessons into regarding the appropriate times for violence? He didn't know what was going on. I didn't want him to know what was going on.
Worse yet, had I been injured in some way, this child would've been by himself, without even a phone, as mine had broken a couple hours earlier. And if I'd been arrested for fighting? I don't even know what would've happened to him. Or his parents for entrusting him to me. After I dropped him back off with his mother, I spoke to a moral theologian at my parish about the situation. I didn't know what else I could have done. I still don't. He said because there was no physical violence being directed at the young woman in the car that my primary responsibility was to do exactly what I did, which was get the child away from the situation. Everyone else I have told about this has said exactly the same thing.
I am not soothed by this. I am still ashamed. I should've been able to do more. That woman was someone's daughter, someone's sister. In fact, I know exactly whose. She was a daughter of God. I failed to protect her. That man was a son of God, I failed to teach him a better way. There were three people who needed help. I only helped one of them.
I realize it isn't enough to talk about moral problems or dilemmas. I just lived the sort of situation that sometimes we only theorize about. I pray to God I chose well. I pray both for the man and the woman. But what good is prayer when one whose hands should be Christ's, whose feet should be Christ's, whose voice should be Christ's drives away silent? He has no hands or feet on Earth but ours. He had none there but mine.
So I pray for the Grace and knowledge to do better next time. And I pray He will forgive me for not doing more. I pray He will teach me His way, the way to help every soul in need.
I took care of one of the kids of some friends of mine, and being the spoiler of children that I am I bought him frozen yogurt after a day spent adventuring. Walking back to my car, I heard some terrible things. Parked a couple spaces away a man used horrible language to abuse a young woman in his car. I mean terrible profanity. The sort of stuff none of us should use, and yet so many of us use regularly.
My whole point in practicing the Christian martial way is to protect others. I did not protect that young woman. Hearing those terrible things, I thought only of getting the child who was my charge away from there, I didn't stop to address the horrible treatment of a human person. Driving away I felt shame such as I have rarely known. And regret. And burning rage.
I seriously considered fighting this person. Or at least yelling at him. Or something. But every thing I thought of only meant it might be harder to protect the child. If I spoke up, not only would it draw the boy's attention to what was being said, but it would likely have brought more abuse directed towards us. If I physically acted, what message would I be sending a young man whom I have tried to drill lessons into regarding the appropriate times for violence? He didn't know what was going on. I didn't want him to know what was going on.
Worse yet, had I been injured in some way, this child would've been by himself, without even a phone, as mine had broken a couple hours earlier. And if I'd been arrested for fighting? I don't even know what would've happened to him. Or his parents for entrusting him to me. After I dropped him back off with his mother, I spoke to a moral theologian at my parish about the situation. I didn't know what else I could have done. I still don't. He said because there was no physical violence being directed at the young woman in the car that my primary responsibility was to do exactly what I did, which was get the child away from the situation. Everyone else I have told about this has said exactly the same thing.
I am not soothed by this. I am still ashamed. I should've been able to do more. That woman was someone's daughter, someone's sister. In fact, I know exactly whose. She was a daughter of God. I failed to protect her. That man was a son of God, I failed to teach him a better way. There were three people who needed help. I only helped one of them.
I realize it isn't enough to talk about moral problems or dilemmas. I just lived the sort of situation that sometimes we only theorize about. I pray to God I chose well. I pray both for the man and the woman. But what good is prayer when one whose hands should be Christ's, whose feet should be Christ's, whose voice should be Christ's drives away silent? He has no hands or feet on Earth but ours. He had none there but mine.
So I pray for the Grace and knowledge to do better next time. And I pray He will forgive me for not doing more. I pray He will teach me His way, the way to help every soul in need.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Heart and Soul
Having established my purpose in writing, a greater task yet remains before I can really enter into the meat and potatoes of a Christian martial way. That task is to outline the purpose of martial arts for the Christian, as opposed to their purpose in the general population and within their normal context.
It should be noted in advance that the martial arts can be said to have many purposes. Ask ten martial artists why they practice the martial arts, and you are likely to receive ten answers - answers which will vary by extraordinary degrees, and yet share certain common points. Such answers might involve everything from the desire to be more physically fit, to gain inner peace and calm, to develop better focus and concentration, to be better able to defend one's self, to engage in competitions, to be the best person one can be, etc. Each of these are legitimate reasons to practice the martial arts within the traditional Buddhist structure, and one can reasonably expect to combine any or all of them within one's personal practice.
I don't have anything against any martial artist who practices martial arts for these reasons, but I don't think that any of them can be the basis of a Christian martial way. For a thing to be Christian it must necessarily aid us in cultivating holiness - communally within the Body of Christ and personally within the framework of our daily lives. I submit that there is one basis upon which one can practice the martial arts as a Christian and grow in holiness - and that most of these other reasons may be use in conjunction with or support of that one reason. The purpose to which I refer is to defend others, but not one's self. Why do I believe this?
One could argue that the most purely practical purpose of martial arts is the ability to defend one's self from an aggressor. While calm, focus, compassion, competitiveness, physical fitness, et al are notable accidental benefits, they still come about as a result of learning how to block, punch, kick, throw, lock, and all manner of other essentially violent actions of the body. These actions, varying in form and style from one branch of the arts to another, yet remain the substance of martial arts. These are the things with which we have to work, these are the building blocks of any martial art. They give the essential martial character. Which really means that they can be used in only a very few ways.
They can be used as the tools of an aggressor. They can be used as the tools of the self defending itself from an aggressor. They can be used as the tools of a self defending another from an aggressor. To the best of my knowledge, there are no other options. One can either attack, defend one's self, or defend another's self. I here leave out the competitive aspect, because I believe the competitive usage of martial arts a further secondary aspect, not a primary or essential feature of them. One can be a martial artist without competing. One cannot be a martial artist without learning punches, et al.
For the sake of clarity, let us understand from the beginning that when I refer to an aggressor, I refer to someone who unjustly attacks another person. Any given combat will, if it is of more than the most cursory duration, involve a certain give and take between offensive and defensive movements. "Aggressor" does not refer to one using offensive movements, but to the primary motivation for engaging in physical combat. That the attack is unjust is of crucial importance, because justified violence would mean that an action was of its nature defensive, even though it might appear otherwise. That which does or does not justify violence will likely be a further post in and of itself. To be an aggressor is not acceptable in any martial art that I am aware of, nor is it justified by any martial way I know. More to the point, it is certainly not acceptable to mine. A Christian cannot be the aggressor, ever. Nor can the Buddhist. We are all agreed on this critical point.
The two remaining possibilities present an interesting issue for examination. Typically, one hears more references to self-defense within the sphere of martial arts than to the defense of others. The various ways of practicing martial arts, whether sparring, forms, one-steps, or some other strategy almost exclusively work from the perspective of protecting one's self. In years of study, I never once learned a form that was about protecting another. I never once sparred where the purpose was to protect someone else or something else. I never once blocked a strike intended for another. Perhaps there are schools where this is the focus, but I have not encountered any. In truth, this should really not surprise us. The martial arts in their Buddhist context were about the self, specifically, as already noted, about destroying it in accord with the four Noble Truths of the Buddha's teaching. And it is not as if there was the same sort of chivalric tradition in Asia as in Europe, indeed the same philosophic path which resulted in Hinduism and Buddhism could never have produced a chivalric code which placed the weaker on a pedestal to be protected. Why not? Because in a world of karma and reincarnation, those who are weaker are weaker because of their choices (principally their failings) in previous lives. If they are poor, weak, helpless, feeble, or what have you, it is nobody's fault but their own, and to succor them is to thwart justice.
This understanding clashes violently with the charity of Christian practice, which sees our God who willingly forsook the splendor of divinity for a life of hard labor, poverty, betrayal and ultimately total self-sacrifice in every person - especially in all those who we see hungry, naked, homeless, and suffering. Buddha renounced Earthly wealth, Christ renounced something far greater. Buddha came to the conclusion that suffering should be defeated by destroying our selfish desires. Christ showed us that suffering must be embraced, the Cross must be carried, to destroy our selfishness and yet live more fully.
Therefore, we can see that within the Buddhist sphere, the truly substantial core of practicing the martial arts is the defense of the self. Their martial character serves only one purpose, all other purposes are secondary and accidental to it. I propose that the Christian martial path follows the other - that is: it defends others, but not the self, in imitation of He who said not one word in His own defense, struck no blows against His assaulters - nay even healed the one who had been struck by His followers! I understand this to be the heart and soul of the Christian martial way. I also know it will be intensely difficult to accept. I'll be writing more on this, on its necessity and on its fruits, in later posts.
It should be noted in advance that the martial arts can be said to have many purposes. Ask ten martial artists why they practice the martial arts, and you are likely to receive ten answers - answers which will vary by extraordinary degrees, and yet share certain common points. Such answers might involve everything from the desire to be more physically fit, to gain inner peace and calm, to develop better focus and concentration, to be better able to defend one's self, to engage in competitions, to be the best person one can be, etc. Each of these are legitimate reasons to practice the martial arts within the traditional Buddhist structure, and one can reasonably expect to combine any or all of them within one's personal practice.
I don't have anything against any martial artist who practices martial arts for these reasons, but I don't think that any of them can be the basis of a Christian martial way. For a thing to be Christian it must necessarily aid us in cultivating holiness - communally within the Body of Christ and personally within the framework of our daily lives. I submit that there is one basis upon which one can practice the martial arts as a Christian and grow in holiness - and that most of these other reasons may be use in conjunction with or support of that one reason. The purpose to which I refer is to defend others, but not one's self. Why do I believe this?
One could argue that the most purely practical purpose of martial arts is the ability to defend one's self from an aggressor. While calm, focus, compassion, competitiveness, physical fitness, et al are notable accidental benefits, they still come about as a result of learning how to block, punch, kick, throw, lock, and all manner of other essentially violent actions of the body. These actions, varying in form and style from one branch of the arts to another, yet remain the substance of martial arts. These are the things with which we have to work, these are the building blocks of any martial art. They give the essential martial character. Which really means that they can be used in only a very few ways.
They can be used as the tools of an aggressor. They can be used as the tools of the self defending itself from an aggressor. They can be used as the tools of a self defending another from an aggressor. To the best of my knowledge, there are no other options. One can either attack, defend one's self, or defend another's self. I here leave out the competitive aspect, because I believe the competitive usage of martial arts a further secondary aspect, not a primary or essential feature of them. One can be a martial artist without competing. One cannot be a martial artist without learning punches, et al.
For the sake of clarity, let us understand from the beginning that when I refer to an aggressor, I refer to someone who unjustly attacks another person. Any given combat will, if it is of more than the most cursory duration, involve a certain give and take between offensive and defensive movements. "Aggressor" does not refer to one using offensive movements, but to the primary motivation for engaging in physical combat. That the attack is unjust is of crucial importance, because justified violence would mean that an action was of its nature defensive, even though it might appear otherwise. That which does or does not justify violence will likely be a further post in and of itself. To be an aggressor is not acceptable in any martial art that I am aware of, nor is it justified by any martial way I know. More to the point, it is certainly not acceptable to mine. A Christian cannot be the aggressor, ever. Nor can the Buddhist. We are all agreed on this critical point.
The two remaining possibilities present an interesting issue for examination. Typically, one hears more references to self-defense within the sphere of martial arts than to the defense of others. The various ways of practicing martial arts, whether sparring, forms, one-steps, or some other strategy almost exclusively work from the perspective of protecting one's self. In years of study, I never once learned a form that was about protecting another. I never once sparred where the purpose was to protect someone else or something else. I never once blocked a strike intended for another. Perhaps there are schools where this is the focus, but I have not encountered any. In truth, this should really not surprise us. The martial arts in their Buddhist context were about the self, specifically, as already noted, about destroying it in accord with the four Noble Truths of the Buddha's teaching. And it is not as if there was the same sort of chivalric tradition in Asia as in Europe, indeed the same philosophic path which resulted in Hinduism and Buddhism could never have produced a chivalric code which placed the weaker on a pedestal to be protected. Why not? Because in a world of karma and reincarnation, those who are weaker are weaker because of their choices (principally their failings) in previous lives. If they are poor, weak, helpless, feeble, or what have you, it is nobody's fault but their own, and to succor them is to thwart justice.
This understanding clashes violently with the charity of Christian practice, which sees our God who willingly forsook the splendor of divinity for a life of hard labor, poverty, betrayal and ultimately total self-sacrifice in every person - especially in all those who we see hungry, naked, homeless, and suffering. Buddha renounced Earthly wealth, Christ renounced something far greater. Buddha came to the conclusion that suffering should be defeated by destroying our selfish desires. Christ showed us that suffering must be embraced, the Cross must be carried, to destroy our selfishness and yet live more fully.
Therefore, we can see that within the Buddhist sphere, the truly substantial core of practicing the martial arts is the defense of the self. Their martial character serves only one purpose, all other purposes are secondary and accidental to it. I propose that the Christian martial path follows the other - that is: it defends others, but not the self, in imitation of He who said not one word in His own defense, struck no blows against His assaulters - nay even healed the one who had been struck by His followers! I understand this to be the heart and soul of the Christian martial way. I also know it will be intensely difficult to accept. I'll be writing more on this, on its necessity and on its fruits, in later posts.
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