by Alex Lamas
This is not going to be what you think it's going to be. It is not a explanation of how to do Iron palm, nor is it a examination of the various techniques. It is an example of how two different view points of contentment versus ambition can define the individual. So please stick with me.
Once a generation or two ago, there were two martial arts masters. Both came from different countries and emigrated to the US, New York City to be exact. Both started teaching in the 50's or 60's and by the 1970's, were highly accomplished with large schools and many wonderful students. Both developed and practiced Iron Palm training from a young age and by the time of mastery, both were able to display almost super-human skill. What differed was their approach.
The first master worked brutally hard, smashing his hands with amazing force and at times fracturing them. By the time his hands healed, he had virtually turned them to iron, making them formidable weapons. He could crush boards, brick and ice, any hard substance would succumb to his power. His hands were legendary.
The other master took great care and treated his hands with gentleness. First, he would hit a rice bag, neither too hard nor too soft and after a few years he would eventually graduate to a sand bag. After each training session he would treat his hands with salves and medicine, massaging them whether they needed it or not. After a few yew years he would then graduate to a bag filled with metal shot, still hitting with force but slowly and gradually increasing the force of his strikes with the passing years. It took time and he could eventually condition his hands by hitting a can filled with lead but as always, neither too hard nor too soft and still treating himself with the utmost care afterwards. In time he too had achieved iron hands and he too could display his power with feats of crushing brick and stone.
After many years the first master had achieved world-wide fame, wealth and an abundance of followers. However, being human, with the passing years his health would slow and his hands deteriorated as fast as they were strengthened. Eventually his hands became crippled and he would need assistance to do the most mundane tasks. They were arthritic and twisted to the point of almost being useless.
The second master did not achieve the same level of status, however he enjoyed a small but fiercely loyal following. He was and is famous in certain circles and enjoys a high level of respect from the community. He on occasion will teach at his will or whim and has quite a healthy lifestyle with certain exceptions. His hands are to this day his best feature. They are strong, yet pliable and they look as if they belonged to a concert pianist. Don't be fooled, they can still make bricks crumble under his power.
It is wondered whether ambition and contentment are at odds. If one is content, does that mean they have no ambition? If one is ambitious, are they incapable of being satisfied and doomed to always chase more? Can these two qualities coexist? From the latter example it can. The second master did not lack ambition, nor was he lethargic or in any way a "slacker". He took care and was quite mindful of his processes. He also knew when enough was enough. He built a fine school, had hundreds of students but his concerns were more of the quality of his teaching and his practice, rather than accumulation of power, wealth or status. Even when power was bestowed on him he accepted it reluctantly and took it on as a responsibility rather than a privilege. Even to this day he shuns the lime light.
When our ambitions exceed our needs, that is when we start down the road to self-destruction. When we are obsessed with accumulation that is in adverse affect of our own well-being, it at this point we doom ourselves to the continuing cycle of more, faster, bigger, better. When we cannot find an end to this cycle, our discontentment becomes greed and leads to depression. Lack of satisfaction can be as dangerous as a total lack of ambition. We cling to defined outcomes and if they are met, we increase them and if the increase is not met, we suffer for our addictions. Addiction to more is an addiction to self and our egos, then we become nothing but beings bent on satiating our own gross appetites. The Buddhist concept of the "hungry ghost".
At some point we can find our contentment when we concern ourselves with the quality of our goals, rather than the quantity of our ambitions. Am I healthy? Can I live comfortably? Do I treat myself, my loved ones and neighbors with care and compassion? Am I mindful of the impact that I have on my body, mind and the world outside? Those are the questions that we should be motivated to answer.
Do not think of this as a critique of the first master. He enjoyed his life and his accomplishments. Even long after death he has a high level of respect but he made his choices and they were his. His results stood for themselves, as well as the consequences to his well-being. We can have ambition but what are we ambitious about? Do we want more or can we care more? Do we treat ourselves with kindness and can we transfer that quality to others? Let's treat ourselves with the kindness and compassion we would show our loved ones. Balancing the right ambitions with being satisfied and grateful for what we have can lead to true growth.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, June 11, 2009
What is…
by Alex Lamas
What is Uncertainty- It’s good to be in the space of uncertainty in that place is an opportunity for new discovery. It’s like the opening of a lotus flower one petal at a time each unfolding is new discovery to the center of truth. I love Kung Fu because it is a path to myself. Not from an ego sense or self-centered point of view but as a self-exploration.
What is Being Powerful- Being great and powerful is being true to who you are, being authentic and coming from a place of love and not from ego.
What is Teaching Martial Arts- For me, teaching Kung Fu is not about cultivating killers but cultivating liberators. I try to show each student the way to their own personal freedom so they can express themselves honestly and without fear.
by Alex Lamas
What is Uncertainty- It’s good to be in the space of uncertainty in that place is an opportunity for new discovery. It’s like the opening of a lotus flower one petal at a time each unfolding is new discovery to the center of truth. I love Kung Fu because it is a path to myself. Not from an ego sense or self-centered point of view but as a self-exploration.
What is Being Powerful- Being great and powerful is being true to who you are, being authentic and coming from a place of love and not from ego.
What is Teaching Martial Arts- For me, teaching Kung Fu is not about cultivating killers but cultivating liberators. I try to show each student the way to their own personal freedom so they can express themselves honestly and without fear.
THE REALITY OF SUFFERING
by Alex Lamas
In the spring of 2005 I was involved in a rather nasty car accident. I was struck from behind while stopped at a stop sign. I suffered from a severe neck sprain, whiplash, and a broken tooth. After a series of doctors, physical therapists and an acupuncturist for the pain, I came to the suffering part. The bill, the insurance company only paid for a portion of my medical and dental procedures. At this point I realized that the pain was real and suffering, realized.
Luckily at that time I started practicing meditation under the guidance of Thai Buddhist monks. Meditation taught me that grand, ultimate awareness is the key. So many of us dull our senses and wander in the dark when we need the light the most. We watch too much television, drink alcohol and take drugs when we need to have ourselves at full attention. I'm not making a judgment on these activities, I love “The Sopranos” and German beer. But we medicate ourselves with entertaining distractions to avoid the pain. This is making a judgment on pain. There is a Zen saying, "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." In order to release pain we must experience it first. We must observe it and ourselves without judgment and allow ourselves to feel the full range of emotions good or bad. When we suppress our emotions or worse, avoid them, then and only then will they have power over us. I realized by using a non-judgmental observation of how I felt, I was able to experience the emotions so I could release them.
Non-attachment is the only way to end the suffering so many of us go through. In Buddhism we practice this daily. The Buddha taught that suffering is caused by our attachments to things, thoughts and emotions, good and bad. Our attachments serve us and allow us to believe certain things that we want to believe in ourselves. They allow us to have judgments on ourselves and the people in our lives, so we are able to feel frustrated by them. But all these attachments are not real, they cloud our reality and keep us in a state of delusion, so we can believe what we want to believe and not deal with reality. Why is reality so scary?
Reality is absolute. Things are exactly as they seem and life is just what it is. Nothing is hidden unless we make the choice not to see. Morality is relative but there are universal truths, lying, stealing, killing and harming others or nature are defilements of our own spirit. Sure you may say you are only hurting yourself but this is a defilement of your life and what of the other people who care for you? Why not honor their love by honoring yourself every day and how do we achieve this honoring? By honoring our word, by living in the present moment as much as we can and by allowing all our emotions, thoughts and feelings to arise so they can cease. The most important lesson that I have learned is from the Buddha's first sermon to his followers; "All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing" what has a beginning, has an end. Every bad situation that we find ourselves in has an ending, because it's all temporary and by being aware of how we feel and act in those situations we can transcend them, learn and grow. All that has a beginning has an end, the spirit is the only thing that is deathless.
You need not become a Buddhist to use meditation or to believe in the philosophy of the nature of suffering. Many other religions come to the same conclusions through different paths. The techniques and principles are quite secular and follow sound psychological understanding on how the mind works. It was Carl Jung who coined the phrase, "what you resist, persists." In other words, whenever you suppress or avoid an emotion or situation that thing will haunt and control you until it is realized. Once done and brought out into the light it loses all power. If starting out on a path of meditation be warned, at the beginning I found that I felt much worse than better. I became angry and was given to quick bouts of depression during this time. The difference was that the spells of bad emotions although very intense were short lived. This was because I was uncovering all the hurt, frustrations and anger I had suppressed for 30 years. I wasn't alone many other meditation practitioners have had similar experiences.
It's a clearing of the mind and it's important not to judge these experiences but to just be in them and forgive yourself and others for what ever may come up. We constantly judge, we are judging machines and it may be easy to say that we mustn't, we still judge everything and everyone that comes into our lives. Instead, be aware of when we judge. Observe it so then we can let it go and make choices based on the choice itself and not on considerations from meanings that we make up. Judgments are based on pure ego and have nothing to do with reality. They are the consideration created by us, to make us feel better about accepting or rejecting something that is presented in our lives. These judgments aren't real, they're fantasies created in our mind. When we release our judgments we can have opportunity to truly be free to make choices and not worry about making mistakes. Worrying is also created by ego and has no basis in reality. It's a fantasy about the future and story that is given power so we don't have to responsible about the choices we may have made. Awareness brings us back to the present moment and forces us to deal with what is happening now. Worrying is a distraction from dealing with reality because we know that reality is absolute. Only by being aware can we eventually come to the cessation of what we were suffering from and realize that many of our fears, worries, anger and judgments are creations of ego and don't exist in reality.
Reality just is.
Copyright 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
by Alex Lamas
In the spring of 2005 I was involved in a rather nasty car accident. I was struck from behind while stopped at a stop sign. I suffered from a severe neck sprain, whiplash, and a broken tooth. After a series of doctors, physical therapists and an acupuncturist for the pain, I came to the suffering part. The bill, the insurance company only paid for a portion of my medical and dental procedures. At this point I realized that the pain was real and suffering, realized.
Luckily at that time I started practicing meditation under the guidance of Thai Buddhist monks. Meditation taught me that grand, ultimate awareness is the key. So many of us dull our senses and wander in the dark when we need the light the most. We watch too much television, drink alcohol and take drugs when we need to have ourselves at full attention. I'm not making a judgment on these activities, I love “The Sopranos” and German beer. But we medicate ourselves with entertaining distractions to avoid the pain. This is making a judgment on pain. There is a Zen saying, "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." In order to release pain we must experience it first. We must observe it and ourselves without judgment and allow ourselves to feel the full range of emotions good or bad. When we suppress our emotions or worse, avoid them, then and only then will they have power over us. I realized by using a non-judgmental observation of how I felt, I was able to experience the emotions so I could release them.
Non-attachment is the only way to end the suffering so many of us go through. In Buddhism we practice this daily. The Buddha taught that suffering is caused by our attachments to things, thoughts and emotions, good and bad. Our attachments serve us and allow us to believe certain things that we want to believe in ourselves. They allow us to have judgments on ourselves and the people in our lives, so we are able to feel frustrated by them. But all these attachments are not real, they cloud our reality and keep us in a state of delusion, so we can believe what we want to believe and not deal with reality. Why is reality so scary?
Reality is absolute. Things are exactly as they seem and life is just what it is. Nothing is hidden unless we make the choice not to see. Morality is relative but there are universal truths, lying, stealing, killing and harming others or nature are defilements of our own spirit. Sure you may say you are only hurting yourself but this is a defilement of your life and what of the other people who care for you? Why not honor their love by honoring yourself every day and how do we achieve this honoring? By honoring our word, by living in the present moment as much as we can and by allowing all our emotions, thoughts and feelings to arise so they can cease. The most important lesson that I have learned is from the Buddha's first sermon to his followers; "All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing" what has a beginning, has an end. Every bad situation that we find ourselves in has an ending, because it's all temporary and by being aware of how we feel and act in those situations we can transcend them, learn and grow. All that has a beginning has an end, the spirit is the only thing that is deathless.
You need not become a Buddhist to use meditation or to believe in the philosophy of the nature of suffering. Many other religions come to the same conclusions through different paths. The techniques and principles are quite secular and follow sound psychological understanding on how the mind works. It was Carl Jung who coined the phrase, "what you resist, persists." In other words, whenever you suppress or avoid an emotion or situation that thing will haunt and control you until it is realized. Once done and brought out into the light it loses all power. If starting out on a path of meditation be warned, at the beginning I found that I felt much worse than better. I became angry and was given to quick bouts of depression during this time. The difference was that the spells of bad emotions although very intense were short lived. This was because I was uncovering all the hurt, frustrations and anger I had suppressed for 30 years. I wasn't alone many other meditation practitioners have had similar experiences.
It's a clearing of the mind and it's important not to judge these experiences but to just be in them and forgive yourself and others for what ever may come up. We constantly judge, we are judging machines and it may be easy to say that we mustn't, we still judge everything and everyone that comes into our lives. Instead, be aware of when we judge. Observe it so then we can let it go and make choices based on the choice itself and not on considerations from meanings that we make up. Judgments are based on pure ego and have nothing to do with reality. They are the consideration created by us, to make us feel better about accepting or rejecting something that is presented in our lives. These judgments aren't real, they're fantasies created in our mind. When we release our judgments we can have opportunity to truly be free to make choices and not worry about making mistakes. Worrying is also created by ego and has no basis in reality. It's a fantasy about the future and story that is given power so we don't have to responsible about the choices we may have made. Awareness brings us back to the present moment and forces us to deal with what is happening now. Worrying is a distraction from dealing with reality because we know that reality is absolute. Only by being aware can we eventually come to the cessation of what we were suffering from and realize that many of our fears, worries, anger and judgments are creations of ego and don't exist in reality.
Reality just is.
Copyright 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
WHERE THE LAND TOUCHED THE SKY: A Key to Wisdom
by Alex Lamas
I once had a meditation teacher who was a Buddhist monk from Thailand and one night he gave us a wonderful Dharma talk in the form of a story from his childhood. When he was four years old he dreamed of going to that distant place on the horizon where the land touched the sky. So one day he and a few of his friends decided to do just that.
They set off from their village to find this magical place. Through the forest, across farm fields and into wilderness they traveled but the farther they walked, the farther away their destination appeared to be. They couldn’t understand why that place kept moving away while they kept walking toward it. They were frustrated because they kept chasing something they could never reach.
The kids soon noticed that they were hopelessly lost and the sun was beginning to go down. My teacher and his friends saw a farmer in the distance and they all ran to him for help. The farmer informed them that they were more than 10 miles away from their village but he could help them get home.
A year or two later, like most children his age, my teacher learned in school about geography, astronomy, the planets and the solar system. Through knowledge he gained wisdom about the curvature of the earth and how what he saw was an illusion. From his story I realized what he was trying to tell us, that you can’t always trust what you see and if you want to have wisdom and insight you first must drop your assumptions.
Assumptions are the lies we tell ourselves to strengthen our attachment to false beliefs and ideas. Assumptions feed delusion and cause needless suffering. Think of how many times we’ve assumed something only to find out we were completely mistaken. How many times have we imagined how someone will react to a situation or confrontation only to be surprised or disappointed by the reality of the event?
True wisdom comes from the awareness of what is and not from anticipating, judging or assuming. Insight is to see things as they truly are and not to be clouded by the false judgments of our busy minds. In martial arts one must never over-estimate or under-estimate an opponent, just deal with what is in front of you. To assume someone is powerful because of their large size is not to take into account that they may be slow, or not. This creates a false fear. To judge someone because of there gender is not to take into account their skill and accuracy in aim, or not. This can create false confidence. The key is not assume or judge but just be ready. Be in a state of readiness is the ideal of all martial artists and is important in all aspects of life.
Bruce Lee had the perfect philosophy when he once said, "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."
Wisdom begins when we drop our assumptions; otherwise insight becomes as illusive as that far off place where the land touches the sky.
Copyright 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
by Alex Lamas
I once had a meditation teacher who was a Buddhist monk from Thailand and one night he gave us a wonderful Dharma talk in the form of a story from his childhood. When he was four years old he dreamed of going to that distant place on the horizon where the land touched the sky. So one day he and a few of his friends decided to do just that.
They set off from their village to find this magical place. Through the forest, across farm fields and into wilderness they traveled but the farther they walked, the farther away their destination appeared to be. They couldn’t understand why that place kept moving away while they kept walking toward it. They were frustrated because they kept chasing something they could never reach.
The kids soon noticed that they were hopelessly lost and the sun was beginning to go down. My teacher and his friends saw a farmer in the distance and they all ran to him for help. The farmer informed them that they were more than 10 miles away from their village but he could help them get home.
A year or two later, like most children his age, my teacher learned in school about geography, astronomy, the planets and the solar system. Through knowledge he gained wisdom about the curvature of the earth and how what he saw was an illusion. From his story I realized what he was trying to tell us, that you can’t always trust what you see and if you want to have wisdom and insight you first must drop your assumptions.
Assumptions are the lies we tell ourselves to strengthen our attachment to false beliefs and ideas. Assumptions feed delusion and cause needless suffering. Think of how many times we’ve assumed something only to find out we were completely mistaken. How many times have we imagined how someone will react to a situation or confrontation only to be surprised or disappointed by the reality of the event?
True wisdom comes from the awareness of what is and not from anticipating, judging or assuming. Insight is to see things as they truly are and not to be clouded by the false judgments of our busy minds. In martial arts one must never over-estimate or under-estimate an opponent, just deal with what is in front of you. To assume someone is powerful because of their large size is not to take into account that they may be slow, or not. This creates a false fear. To judge someone because of there gender is not to take into account their skill and accuracy in aim, or not. This can create false confidence. The key is not assume or judge but just be ready. Be in a state of readiness is the ideal of all martial artists and is important in all aspects of life.
Bruce Lee had the perfect philosophy when he once said, "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."
Wisdom begins when we drop our assumptions; otherwise insight becomes as illusive as that far off place where the land touches the sky.
Copyright 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
Monday, June 25, 2007
MY THREE C’S OF FIGHTING
by Alex Lamas
Before one engages in combat, be it for sport or in a real situation of self-defense, we must be mindful of our mental state. Fear will always be present, but courage is having fear and acting anyway. Fearlessness doesn’t truly exist, for all of us have that feeling of fear deep down inside. It’s part of being human. Some of us may feel fear on the surface while others may have it only in the subconscious. Fear will be there, but we have the power to decide if that fear will control us. The “flight or fight response” is part of our genetic code, but a disciplined mind has the power to decide. If one makes the decision to fight, the individual should be mindful of what I call My Three C’s of Fighting:
• Calm
• Cool
• Committed
Calm. You must be relaxed, uncluttered in your mind and unclouded by fear or worry. Anger is deadly—it may give you a rush of adrenalin, but it will also cause one to make mistakes in judgment. If your opponent is calm, he will have the edge of a clear mind and will be able to use your anger against you.
Cool. People who are cool are ready—ready for anything. They’re relaxed, but they are also in a state of readiness and easily adaptable to any situation. Bruce Lee once said, “Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being ‘wholly’ and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”*
Committed. Often a fight, game, or tournament is decided beforehand by the one who is the most committed. If your opponent can see the level of commitment in your eyes, he or she will most often stand down and choose to walk away. Most people really don’t want to fight, and neither should you. However, if one must make the choice to fight, then it must be a commitment; it can mean life or death. If a person is committed, then most likely the individual will be the one who walks away.
Martial combat is a complex human endeavor, and no one way is the right way and many factors will always be in play. The important thing to remember is that if you are aware of your surroundings, then most likely you can avoid any dangerous situation. I avoided several threatening encounters recently, merely because I was aware of where I was and who was around me. When the would-be assailants realized that I was ready for them, they were the ones to walk away. Most people who are mean enough to cause a person harm will do so only if they can hit the target without the individual knowing what hit them. No one wants confrontation, be they a mugger or an honest person. Only by being ready and aware can one be relatively safe. There are no guarantees, but awareness is more powerful than cautiousness. One stems from wisdom, the other is rooted in fear.
* Bruce Lee, In His Own Words, Dir. John Little, Warner Bros. 1998
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, all rights reserved.
Before one engages in combat, be it for sport or in a real situation of self-defense, we must be mindful of our mental state. Fear will always be present, but courage is having fear and acting anyway. Fearlessness doesn’t truly exist, for all of us have that feeling of fear deep down inside. It’s part of being human. Some of us may feel fear on the surface while others may have it only in the subconscious. Fear will be there, but we have the power to decide if that fear will control us. The “flight or fight response” is part of our genetic code, but a disciplined mind has the power to decide. If one makes the decision to fight, the individual should be mindful of what I call My Three C’s of Fighting:
• Calm
• Cool
• Committed
Calm. You must be relaxed, uncluttered in your mind and unclouded by fear or worry. Anger is deadly—it may give you a rush of adrenalin, but it will also cause one to make mistakes in judgment. If your opponent is calm, he will have the edge of a clear mind and will be able to use your anger against you.
Cool. People who are cool are ready—ready for anything. They’re relaxed, but they are also in a state of readiness and easily adaptable to any situation. Bruce Lee once said, “Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being ‘wholly’ and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”*
Committed. Often a fight, game, or tournament is decided beforehand by the one who is the most committed. If your opponent can see the level of commitment in your eyes, he or she will most often stand down and choose to walk away. Most people really don’t want to fight, and neither should you. However, if one must make the choice to fight, then it must be a commitment; it can mean life or death. If a person is committed, then most likely the individual will be the one who walks away.
Martial combat is a complex human endeavor, and no one way is the right way and many factors will always be in play. The important thing to remember is that if you are aware of your surroundings, then most likely you can avoid any dangerous situation. I avoided several threatening encounters recently, merely because I was aware of where I was and who was around me. When the would-be assailants realized that I was ready for them, they were the ones to walk away. Most people who are mean enough to cause a person harm will do so only if they can hit the target without the individual knowing what hit them. No one wants confrontation, be they a mugger or an honest person. Only by being ready and aware can one be relatively safe. There are no guarantees, but awareness is more powerful than cautiousness. One stems from wisdom, the other is rooted in fear.
* Bruce Lee, In His Own Words, Dir. John Little, Warner Bros. 1998
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, all rights reserved.
MEETING CHALLENGES
by Alex Lamas
I recently had a student who stopped showing up to class. He didn’t want to disappoint me, but I could tell that he felt the classes were a bit too challenging for him, and he was getting discouraged with his slow progress. I assured him that he wasn’t alone, that many students feel that way at the beginning (as I did), and that nobody in the school would judge his abilities. I realized that the challenge for the student wasn’t with the difficulty of the class, but rather with the difficulties the student was facing within himself.
Often in life we encounter seemingly overwhelming obstacles. We see a mountain in front of us, yet we have no idea where to begin our ascent or even if we should endeavor to try. From attending a martial arts class, to moving from one place to another, to being out of work, to experiencing a divorce, or to mourning a death in the family, these difficulties can push us to the point where we feel like the situation is utterly hopeless.
The truth is—no situation is forever, and no situation is truly out of our control. No matter what happens, life goes on, and situations are always in a state of flux whether we notice it or not. Sometimes we may have to wait for the right opportunity or meditate on what course to take. We may wind up in a class that isn’t suited to our bodies or needs, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up. We just need to find what works and commit.
The one thing I love about the martial arts class I belong to is that there are no judgments. Everyone is at a certain place in his or her development, and these individuals are perfect right where they are. You are perfect for where you are in life, and you are exactly where you need to be. I know this may not sound satisfying, but believe me, we all go through it. We all have to start at one place, and where we end is just the beginning of something else. And the cycle repeats, again and again and again. Each summit reached reveals yet another mountain to climb. Each problem solved brings about a new one to tackle. This is the learning process of life, and we often find ourselves in these situations because of past lessons that we failed to notice or address.
This is actually a very positive point of view because when we think we are done, we have new challenges to take on, to move us forward in a new direction. If we feel that we're getting stuck in one place, then there is a lesson there as well. Try a new approach or point of view (wish they could learn that in Iraq), though it is an old axiom that “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
The answers to life’s problems don’t exist in a church, monastery, or school of any kind; the answers lay within ourselves and only ourselves. We have no one else to blame, and if we give in to blame at all, that, too, is a mistake. Get away from blame altogether and only search for the resolution. “Do not believe what your book says. Do not believe what your teachers say. Do not believe what your traditions say. Do not take anything merely because it comes to you with the authority of someone else. Make it a personal experience. Think for yourself. Be convinced, and once convinced, act.” – The Buddha speaking to his disciples
The ultimate challenge is the one within ourselves—the only situation that is permanent happens after we depart this life. And even then…who knows?
“He who conquers men has force; He who conquers himself is truly strong.” – Tao Teh Ching (33), Lao Tzu
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
I recently had a student who stopped showing up to class. He didn’t want to disappoint me, but I could tell that he felt the classes were a bit too challenging for him, and he was getting discouraged with his slow progress. I assured him that he wasn’t alone, that many students feel that way at the beginning (as I did), and that nobody in the school would judge his abilities. I realized that the challenge for the student wasn’t with the difficulty of the class, but rather with the difficulties the student was facing within himself.
Often in life we encounter seemingly overwhelming obstacles. We see a mountain in front of us, yet we have no idea where to begin our ascent or even if we should endeavor to try. From attending a martial arts class, to moving from one place to another, to being out of work, to experiencing a divorce, or to mourning a death in the family, these difficulties can push us to the point where we feel like the situation is utterly hopeless.
The truth is—no situation is forever, and no situation is truly out of our control. No matter what happens, life goes on, and situations are always in a state of flux whether we notice it or not. Sometimes we may have to wait for the right opportunity or meditate on what course to take. We may wind up in a class that isn’t suited to our bodies or needs, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up. We just need to find what works and commit.
The one thing I love about the martial arts class I belong to is that there are no judgments. Everyone is at a certain place in his or her development, and these individuals are perfect right where they are. You are perfect for where you are in life, and you are exactly where you need to be. I know this may not sound satisfying, but believe me, we all go through it. We all have to start at one place, and where we end is just the beginning of something else. And the cycle repeats, again and again and again. Each summit reached reveals yet another mountain to climb. Each problem solved brings about a new one to tackle. This is the learning process of life, and we often find ourselves in these situations because of past lessons that we failed to notice or address.
This is actually a very positive point of view because when we think we are done, we have new challenges to take on, to move us forward in a new direction. If we feel that we're getting stuck in one place, then there is a lesson there as well. Try a new approach or point of view (wish they could learn that in Iraq), though it is an old axiom that “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
The answers to life’s problems don’t exist in a church, monastery, or school of any kind; the answers lay within ourselves and only ourselves. We have no one else to blame, and if we give in to blame at all, that, too, is a mistake. Get away from blame altogether and only search for the resolution. “Do not believe what your book says. Do not believe what your teachers say. Do not believe what your traditions say. Do not take anything merely because it comes to you with the authority of someone else. Make it a personal experience. Think for yourself. Be convinced, and once convinced, act.” – The Buddha speaking to his disciples
The ultimate challenge is the one within ourselves—the only situation that is permanent happens after we depart this life. And even then…who knows?
“He who conquers men has force; He who conquers himself is truly strong.” – Tao Teh Ching (33), Lao Tzu
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
WHY STUDY KUNG-FU: The Spirit of Martial Arts
by Alex Lamas
While watching a friend participate in a kung-fu lesson, I heard the instructor tell my friend that he rarely teaches the particular style they were studying. Instead, the instructor teaches a military self-defense system that is used by elite European commandos. He said that most traditional Asian kung-fu systems are stuck in the 19th century and that the techniques don't have much practicality for today's urban environments. The kung-fu forms keep people limited within the structure of the forms and inhibit free form street fighting. I believe this is one of the reasons why Bruce Lee created jeet kune do.
The instructor partially is right. Kung-fu systems like Shaolin long fist, praying mantis, hung gar, and wushu don't have much to do with getting attacked on a subway or at an ATM. Few techniques teach how to defend oneself while sitting at a lunch counter or against a knife attack in an elevator.
What the instructor doesn’t take into account is the fact that fighting opponents on the street is not the only reason one studies kung-fu. More importantly, I believe that almost all martial arts styles offer good and practical self-defense techniques. The style of kung-fu I practice, Fu Jow Pai, has a proven history on the insane streets of New York City during the turbulent ’70s and ’80s. In addition, a friend of mine who studies a northern style of kung-fu successfully defended himself in a subway attack utilizing the style he practices.
My friend’s instructor also doesn’t mention that for many people who study kung-fu, the only true opponent is the opponent within oneself. An individual may be able to fight and defeat anyone who crosses his path, but until that person learns to conquer himself, his mastery of a fighting art will be limited, and that individual will never be better than who he is at that moment. The point of kung-fu—the reason why it was invented (whether or not it was Bodhidharma who brought it from India to the monks of the Shaolin forest)—is to better oneself.
To be better today than yesterday, in all aspects of being—that is the point of kung-fu. If we don't constantly try and improve ourselves, and progress to a higher state of being, we'll become stagnant and officially begin the process of dying. The Shaolin monks easily accepted the challenge of kung-fu because of this principle of self-improvement. It was central to the core of their beliefs as Buddhists.
Self-expression is another reason to practice kung-fu. Like all movement arts such as dance, yoga, etc., martial arts can be used as a moving meditation to discover one’s inner being and in the process express oneself authentically. Honest self-expression can be as essential to living as breathing. The word kung-fu literally means an acquired skill, not martial arts (martial arts literally translates into wushu). Therefore, any hobby or skill can be a kung-fu, such as cooking, car repair, or pottery making, and in that skill one can find a form of self-expression, if done so with passion. In classic kung-fu terms we use the forms as our access to self-expression.
It may be true that in practicing forms one could inhibit formlessness. But to prevent this, I offer that we learn forms to forget them. Put simply: Know the rules so you can break them. If we practice our forms over and over again, we will know them so well that they will become a part of us. We internalize the form to the point that when we need a certain technique, it's there without having to think about using it. It comes out as a natural expression of our being, with intent and without thought. This is the Taoist notion of formlessness, and what I believe Bruce Lee meant when he said, "Be like water my friend." Although he was talking about jazz, Charlie Parker offered one of the best kung-fu comments when he said, "First master your instrument, then just play." That is kung-fu.
I believe that ignoring forms in favor of individual technique is not necessarily better—both are equally important. To learn a form so well that one can express it with feeling and without thinking is the highest form of knowing. I won a forms tournament because while I was performing, I lost myself (the "I") and became the form. I was inside the form and it was using me. This may sound fantastic or esoteric, but any individual who has practiced anything to a great extent will know what I mean.
Years ago in the old Fu Jow Pai school in New York City, the students would rarely spar. My Si-Boks and Si-Suks (elder uncles and younger uncles) mostly practiced their forms, sometimes performing the same routine almost a thousand times. In those days, instead of open sparring in class, full-contact tournaments would be held, inviting any and all challengers. Without question the Fu Jow Pai students would almost always win.
Martial arts is an expression of the self rather than something one has learned. It is that type of knowing that is the domain of the master of the art. This is also why the martial arts are an art. Art is an expression of the soul of the artist; this is the same for all artists, whether they are painters, musicians, dancers, or masters of a martial art.
Art is done with intension, and the art is the form of that intension. The forms themselves are meaningless; they are just the body. The true spirit comes from the intention of the artist behind the form. The spirit of intention is the source of our power, and the life force of who we are as beings. The spirit of martial arts comes from the intention of the practitioner, not the style or the form. We are all on the same journey through life, but the paths we take differ. If we don't walk with the intention toward improvement, then like the proverbial shark that stops swimming, we cease to be. Kung-fu for me is a quest to connect with the divine source of being, and we can only make that connection through our quest of self-examination and self-expression.
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
Alex Lamas is an instructor at Kwan’s Kung-Fu Studio. For more information please go to http://www.kwanskungfustudio.com.
While watching a friend participate in a kung-fu lesson, I heard the instructor tell my friend that he rarely teaches the particular style they were studying. Instead, the instructor teaches a military self-defense system that is used by elite European commandos. He said that most traditional Asian kung-fu systems are stuck in the 19th century and that the techniques don't have much practicality for today's urban environments. The kung-fu forms keep people limited within the structure of the forms and inhibit free form street fighting. I believe this is one of the reasons why Bruce Lee created jeet kune do.
The instructor partially is right. Kung-fu systems like Shaolin long fist, praying mantis, hung gar, and wushu don't have much to do with getting attacked on a subway or at an ATM. Few techniques teach how to defend oneself while sitting at a lunch counter or against a knife attack in an elevator.
What the instructor doesn’t take into account is the fact that fighting opponents on the street is not the only reason one studies kung-fu. More importantly, I believe that almost all martial arts styles offer good and practical self-defense techniques. The style of kung-fu I practice, Fu Jow Pai, has a proven history on the insane streets of New York City during the turbulent ’70s and ’80s. In addition, a friend of mine who studies a northern style of kung-fu successfully defended himself in a subway attack utilizing the style he practices.
My friend’s instructor also doesn’t mention that for many people who study kung-fu, the only true opponent is the opponent within oneself. An individual may be able to fight and defeat anyone who crosses his path, but until that person learns to conquer himself, his mastery of a fighting art will be limited, and that individual will never be better than who he is at that moment. The point of kung-fu—the reason why it was invented (whether or not it was Bodhidharma who brought it from India to the monks of the Shaolin forest)—is to better oneself.
To be better today than yesterday, in all aspects of being—that is the point of kung-fu. If we don't constantly try and improve ourselves, and progress to a higher state of being, we'll become stagnant and officially begin the process of dying. The Shaolin monks easily accepted the challenge of kung-fu because of this principle of self-improvement. It was central to the core of their beliefs as Buddhists.
Self-expression is another reason to practice kung-fu. Like all movement arts such as dance, yoga, etc., martial arts can be used as a moving meditation to discover one’s inner being and in the process express oneself authentically. Honest self-expression can be as essential to living as breathing. The word kung-fu literally means an acquired skill, not martial arts (martial arts literally translates into wushu). Therefore, any hobby or skill can be a kung-fu, such as cooking, car repair, or pottery making, and in that skill one can find a form of self-expression, if done so with passion. In classic kung-fu terms we use the forms as our access to self-expression.
It may be true that in practicing forms one could inhibit formlessness. But to prevent this, I offer that we learn forms to forget them. Put simply: Know the rules so you can break them. If we practice our forms over and over again, we will know them so well that they will become a part of us. We internalize the form to the point that when we need a certain technique, it's there without having to think about using it. It comes out as a natural expression of our being, with intent and without thought. This is the Taoist notion of formlessness, and what I believe Bruce Lee meant when he said, "Be like water my friend." Although he was talking about jazz, Charlie Parker offered one of the best kung-fu comments when he said, "First master your instrument, then just play." That is kung-fu.
I believe that ignoring forms in favor of individual technique is not necessarily better—both are equally important. To learn a form so well that one can express it with feeling and without thinking is the highest form of knowing. I won a forms tournament because while I was performing, I lost myself (the "I") and became the form. I was inside the form and it was using me. This may sound fantastic or esoteric, but any individual who has practiced anything to a great extent will know what I mean.
Years ago in the old Fu Jow Pai school in New York City, the students would rarely spar. My Si-Boks and Si-Suks (elder uncles and younger uncles) mostly practiced their forms, sometimes performing the same routine almost a thousand times. In those days, instead of open sparring in class, full-contact tournaments would be held, inviting any and all challengers. Without question the Fu Jow Pai students would almost always win.
Martial arts is an expression of the self rather than something one has learned. It is that type of knowing that is the domain of the master of the art. This is also why the martial arts are an art. Art is an expression of the soul of the artist; this is the same for all artists, whether they are painters, musicians, dancers, or masters of a martial art.
Art is done with intension, and the art is the form of that intension. The forms themselves are meaningless; they are just the body. The true spirit comes from the intention of the artist behind the form. The spirit of intention is the source of our power, and the life force of who we are as beings. The spirit of martial arts comes from the intention of the practitioner, not the style or the form. We are all on the same journey through life, but the paths we take differ. If we don't walk with the intention toward improvement, then like the proverbial shark that stops swimming, we cease to be. Kung-fu for me is a quest to connect with the divine source of being, and we can only make that connection through our quest of self-examination and self-expression.
Copyright © 2007 Alex Lamas, All rights reserved.
Alex Lamas is an instructor at Kwan’s Kung-Fu Studio. For more information please go to http://www.kwanskungfustudio.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
