DAILY PHOTO: Quán Thánh Temple, Hanoi
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Tag Archives: martial arts
PROMPT: Athletes
Muay Thai fighters. To survive careers spanning of hundreds of fights, taking knees and elbows, is a feat. While they might not be fighting as often these days, you still probably have to go through a period of a fight per week to raise up to the point where you can have a more sensible rest-to-fight ratio.
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BOOK: “Ma” ed. by Ken Rodgers & John Einarsen
Ma: The Japanese Secret to Contemplation and Calm: An Invitation to Awareness by Ken RodgersMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Tuttle
Release date: October 27, 2025
My introduction to the concept of ma came as a young martial arts student, where it was thought of as distancing, but not distancing in a static sense — rather in a way that incorporated timing as well [so, more of an interval in space-time.] I would later hear the term applied to domains such as joke telling in which perfection of pause could be as critical to a laugh as the words that comprised the joke. This book expanded my understanding to numerous realms I’d never much considered before such as architecture, photography, and gardening. (Incidentally, this book does contain a chapter addressing the martial arts aspect of ma, though not the comedic ramifications of the concept.)
I haven’t seen any other books that focus entirely on this concept. Ma is often mentioned in books on Japanese philosophy and aesthetics but rarely with such depth and singular attention. If there are other books that drill down into the concept in this way, I doubt they are as readable as this one (that is, I suspect such a book would be intensely philosophic and scholarly.) So, this book seems to have a solid niche.
There were a couple chapters that took my thinking on the subject to entirely new places. One was on ma in the domain of virtual reality. This raised interesting metaphysical considerations. Another was about the Heart Sutra and how the translations used have led to longstanding misunderstandings of that work.
If you are interested in art and or philosophy, I’d highly recommend this book.
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BOOK: “Seven Animal Postures” by Jeogun [Trans. by Dowon]
Seven Animal Postures by JeogunMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Information – Sunmudo Daegeumgangmun Foundation
I bought this book in the gift shop of Golgulsa Temple [i.e. Stone Buddha Temple,] in the countryside outside of Gyeongju, South Korea. Golgulsa is a fascinating place. It’s sort of the Shaolin Temple of Korea, teaching martial arts and qigong (energy work) alongside meditation and Buddhist philosophy. The Korean Buddhist martial art is called Sunmudo, and I’d never heard of it before traveling to Korea.
At any rate, this book is a 35-page guide to a set of qigong practices known as the “Seven Animal Postures” (or Yeongdongipgwan.) It’s a set of exercises that are similar to qigong practices like the Eight Pieces Brocade, and not greatly dissimilar to yogasana (i.e. yoga’s postural practices.) [FYI: The animals of these exercises are Tiger, Dragon, Deer, Monkey, Bear, Turtle, and Crane.]
The book offers a little bit of background on Sunmudo and the benefits of it, but is mostly a guide to the movement, breath, and postural details of these seven exercises. It has line drawings to help elaborate upon the text. My only gripe would be that the paper the book is printed on to make it more visually interesting has blocks of darker color that make it a little harder to read than is necessary.
If you are interested in qigong or yogic practices that are a bit more off the beaten path, you may find this one interesting.
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DAILY PHOTO: Golgulsa: The Korean Shaolin
PROMPT: Risk
I don’t know that I’ve ever regretted taking a risk. I’ve taken some bruises for them on occasion but not felt regret.
I did once try to block a staff strike with an ill-positioned / ill-timed wooden sword. I got a mild concussion that time, but still — I don’t think — regret (but I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, maybe it damaged the part of my brain that is capable of regret.)
I’m with Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote: “我事におゐて後悔を／せず” [“I will not regret my deeds.”] in his Dokkôdô [“Way of Walking Alone.”] Of course, he probably suffered his share of concussions as well.
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PROMPT: Technology
Technology has changed everything, for good and for ill. It’s the source of our vast growth in productivity, but also at the heart of our modern crises (e.g. I’m almost certain that no caveman ever experienced “imposter syndrome.” But like other crises of modernity, I suspect that technological dependence and an ever-continuing trend toward ultra-specialization are its cause.)
I count myself fortunate to be of an age to (probably) miss the (rapidly approaching) day when machines and artificial intelligence do all “productive tasks” better, faster, and with far less energy consumption than a human being. I don’t think most of humanity will be prepared for that day, and it will – in all likelihood – go down catastrophically. [I think we’re seeing the cracks in the dam already.]
I spend more and more time with the only technology-proof sector of which I’m aware: building a more capable human being.
I believe if every person spent some time learning skills like primitive living (sustainable wilderness survival skills) or unarmed martial arts (that train against armed opponents) society would be much better off. I pick these two as examples of skill sets that give practitioners a deep confidence in themselves [not in themselves + technologies that they can’t build, can’t fix, and which they don’t really understand.] I suspect that the core self-empowerment that would result would ease away much of the general shittiness of character we are increasingly prone to see in the world, shittiness that — like all shittiness — is ultimately rooted in fear.
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BOOKS: “Shaolin: How to win without fighting” by Bernhard Moestl
Shaolin: How to win without fighting by Bernhard MoestlMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site
This is a self-help book that nominally draws on the philosophy of Shaolin Kung fu and its Chan Buddhist underpinnings, but – more broadly – employs quotes and examples from many, mostly Eastern, sources. For example, the ideas and stories of Miyamoto Musashi are perhaps as common as any source (Musashi was Japanese, not Chinese, and was not noted for being Buddhist. In his own words, he respected the gods and buddhas, but didn’t expect their help.)
The book offers a fine discussion of Eastern philosophic thought in action, particularly that which arose from warrior sources, but it isn’t particularly ground-breaking in any way. For those who like homework, the book does include many exercises to make the reading a more interactive experience.
I enjoyed reading this book well enough, but it didn’t distinguish itself and will soon fall into the mind-space of a fuzzy amalgamation of similar books I’ve read over the years.
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BOOKS: “How to Fight Tough” by Jack Dempsey
How to Fight Tough by Jack DempseyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Read online at Archive.org
This book was put out by the Coast Guard during World War II as a commando fighting manual. The lead on the project was heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, aided by a small team of others — all with varied bona fides in Combatives.
This is a fun book to read. It’s loaded with 1940’s slang, over-the-top reminders to fight tough and mean, and jokes that — while dated — still amuse with their quirky language. Seriously, the voice in my head was playing in Trans-Atlantic dialect (1940’s radio announcer voice) or as James Cagney playing a gangster the whole time I was reading this book.
That said, while the text was campy, the actual techniques are solid. The book consists of eighteen lessons that are built on well-established grappling and submission techniques such as hadaka jime (rear naked choke.) Also, while there is often only one (or — at most — a few) photos per technique, they seemed to put some effort into doing them conscientiously. (And they are almost full-page shots, so one can actually see a bit of detail.) The techniques include: unarmed v. various unarmed attacks, unarmed v. knife, unarmed v. gun (holstered, and front and rear approaches,) and unarmed v. bayonet.
I’d highly recommend reading this book. It’s a quick and amusing read with some useful techniques inside.
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BOOKS: “The Book of Five Rings” by Miyamoto Musashi [trans. by Thomas Cleary] [w/ Yagyu Munenori’s “Book of Family Traditions”]
The Book of Five Rings: A Classic Text on the Japanese Way of the Sword by Miyamoto MusashiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Shambhala Publications
This edition, i.e. The Shambhala Pocket Library edition, contains two guides to strategy, tactics, and philosophy of combat by famous early Edo Period swordsmen. The titular work is Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, but the volume also contains Yagyu Munenori’s The Book of Family Traditions. The naming of the book is meant to capitalize on the continuing popularity of Musashi, who remains well-known to this day not only because of his own works and legend, but because of an afterlife in pop culture that ranges from Eiji Yoshikawa’s novel to a recent Netflix animated series. That said, one shouldn’t conclude Yagyu Munenori was some sort of slouch. He was, in fact, a martial arts teacher to the Shogun’s son, and he founded a branch of his family’s martial arts school that continues to this day.
It is interesting to see these two guides back-to-back, being by authors whose lifespans largely overlapped, though – in other ways – their lives were quite different. While there is some conceptual overlap in these guides, the two definitely show two very different minds at work, Musashi the pragmatic eccentric and Yagyu the Zen philosopher of noble standing.
Miyamoto Musashi is probably the most famous swordsman in Japan’s history. Oddly enough, he’s not known for his experience in battle (he lived at the tail end of the Warring States period and was only in a couple battles), but – rather – for his 62 duels. The Book of Five Rings and other works he left behind are certainly important factors in his continuing fame. Musashi was a bit of a renaissance man: painter, poet, and sculptor in addition to a swordsman. He also left behind a school of swordsmanship, Niten Ichi-ryū.
The Book of Five Rings is divided into five parts: earth scroll, water scroll, fire scroll, wind scroll, and void scroll.
The earth scroll provides an overview of martial science and an introduction to Musashi’s school, which is noted for its simultaneous use of both the large and short sword. A section is devoted the rhythm of martial arts, a crucial topic. It also includes what might be considered Musashi’s 9-point budō kun (a list of warrior precepts.)It’s worth mentioning a couple of these:
#7 Become aware of what is not obvious.
#9 Do not do anything useless.
The Water scroll describes Musashi’s approach to swordsmanship. It covers a range of elements of a martial art including footwork, the focus of one’s eyes, physical posture, mental posture, techniques, and approaches to cutting and thrusting.
The Fire scroll deals with the strategic or interactive aspects of the battle.
The Wind scroll explores other martial arts. Musashi discusses martial arts that use an unusually long sword, an atypically short sword, that focus on powerful strikes, and those that focus on many rapid strikes. He contrasts other martial arts with his own on subjects such as their focus with the eyes and their footwork.
The void scroll deals with, well, emptiness. It’s actually a short wrap-up.
Yagyu’s guide is much more philosophical and mind-centric. It’s not that Musashi doesn’t deal with such topics, but he also devotes considerable space to more practical nuts and bolts of swordsmanship and strategy. It’s also true that Yagyu gets into technical considerations such as control of distancing (if in a bit more poetic way than Musashi.) One can get a feel for the nature of Yagyu’s Book of Family Traditions [on the Art of War] by seeing how it is organized into three parts: “The Killing Sword,” “The Life-Giving Sword,” and “No Sword.” The latter two indicating the author’s belief in the importance of not equating warrior and killer (nor winning with killing) as well as not fixating on the sword.
These two men had great insight into strategy and the tactics of swordsmanship, their guides are worth being read and reread. And the two authors do offer two intriguingly different approaches to a similar subject.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 