When I began studying the martial arts, it was a brand of karate much like shotokan, I was fascinated by the tales of one punch one kill. The idea that you could drop an opponent with one punch was absolutely fabulous! And that you could actually kill somebody with a karate strike, well, that was more than just a TV show, you know?
Then, along came kung fu and the concept of the death touch, the idea of killing with a simple touch of the fingers. Man, now this was something I just had to have, and I know it doesn't speak well of my maturity, but, man! To actually just touch someone, with a finger or two, and have them drop dead, cowabunga!
We trained hard in pursuit of these killing philosophies. We did forms and push ups and techniques and endless hours punching the makiwara. Oddly, the more violent we got in the dojo, the more peaceful we came outside of the dojo.
Finally, age caught up with me, over forty years in the arts, and, finally, I began to understand some of this one punch, or even one touch, kill ability. I discovered that it wasn't in the fiber of muscularity. No matter how hard, strong and fast my body became, you see, there was something missing.
The missing element was the simple fact of Intention. Intention is the will to do something, the desire to make something happen. Consider it an invisible line between the having a thought, and and the accomplished reality of that thought.
Watch a fight between two boxers, they bash each other for fifteen rounds, and nobody falls down. The moment one falls down, you have seen the first real punch of the fight. The other punches were just wannabes, trying but not achieving. They were coming from the thought, but they never reached the completion, the reality, the actuality of that thought.
So, how do you train for the dim mak death strike of karate legend and kung fu mysticism? Don't make your arm tight when punching, for tense muscles lock up the intention, stop the intention from flowing through the limb. Forget that the opponent is standing in front of you, and thrust your fist, or finger, through the space of his body.
Now, this is the truth, what I have told you here, and perhaps you can find training methods that will help you implement this truth. The odd thing is that when you finally gain the ability of this strike, you will not have the lack of compassion to use it, and you will find that the ability you earned translates into methods of living that are far superior than just killing. In the martial arts it is the knowledge behind the technique that is valuable, the technique is merely a part of the journey to your true self. - 16887
Then, along came kung fu and the concept of the death touch, the idea of killing with a simple touch of the fingers. Man, now this was something I just had to have, and I know it doesn't speak well of my maturity, but, man! To actually just touch someone, with a finger or two, and have them drop dead, cowabunga!
We trained hard in pursuit of these killing philosophies. We did forms and push ups and techniques and endless hours punching the makiwara. Oddly, the more violent we got in the dojo, the more peaceful we came outside of the dojo.
Finally, age caught up with me, over forty years in the arts, and, finally, I began to understand some of this one punch, or even one touch, kill ability. I discovered that it wasn't in the fiber of muscularity. No matter how hard, strong and fast my body became, you see, there was something missing.
The missing element was the simple fact of Intention. Intention is the will to do something, the desire to make something happen. Consider it an invisible line between the having a thought, and and the accomplished reality of that thought.
Watch a fight between two boxers, they bash each other for fifteen rounds, and nobody falls down. The moment one falls down, you have seen the first real punch of the fight. The other punches were just wannabes, trying but not achieving. They were coming from the thought, but they never reached the completion, the reality, the actuality of that thought.
So, how do you train for the dim mak death strike of karate legend and kung fu mysticism? Don't make your arm tight when punching, for tense muscles lock up the intention, stop the intention from flowing through the limb. Forget that the opponent is standing in front of you, and thrust your fist, or finger, through the space of his body.
Now, this is the truth, what I have told you here, and perhaps you can find training methods that will help you implement this truth. The odd thing is that when you finally gain the ability of this strike, you will not have the lack of compassion to use it, and you will find that the ability you earned translates into methods of living that are far superior than just killing. In the martial arts it is the knowledge behind the technique that is valuable, the technique is merely a part of the journey to your true self. - 16887
About the Author:
Al Case has studied martial arts for forty+ years. A writer for the magazines, he has his own column in Inside Karate. You can find out about Intention and death punches at Punch Em Out, and a free ebook is available at Monster Martial Arts.
No comments:
Post a Comment