Martial Development

MacGuyver could only stay on the air because he succeeded every time!

Please consider that before comparing oneself to MacGuyver!

Mind sharing the name of this person? It's always good to know where to go if you want to study some real tai chi.

I do not imply that everyone else is fake. But the person in question was Xie Bingcan.

Well back then Yang Chengfu and Yang Banhou were out there every day on the leitai establishing themselves, making a reputation, fighting and WINNING, given officially appointed positions, and the like. They took their skills right in the middle of where all the fighting was, and came out victorious.

I wasn't there. But I wouldn't rush to assign any more credibility to 100-year-old stories than to modern ones.

My view is that Taiji is potentially devestating. however I don't think one student in 10000 is afforded the opportunity to really develop and be exposed to the full curriculum of Taiji training as it had existed in the past.

This means that Taiji players rarely develop to their full potential. Probably more people exist in China who have experienced that level of training, but I doubt that proportion is very much higher than 1 in 10000 also.

I met a Taiji instructor who studied directly with the senior members of the Yang and Wu styles. He said that the number of students to whom he has taught everything he learned from his own masters, is zero. In over fifty years of teaching, zero. Not because he doesn't want to share, but because nobody has been both willing and able to absorb it all.

Some people like Taiji and others hate it. But how many are even capable of considering it--as it barely existed 100 years ago, and barely exists today--much less analyzing its strengths and weaknesses?

Is this what passes for combat science nowadays? If you issue a challenge and nobody answers it, then you can rightfully declare yourself (or your ideology, if there is any difference) champion? Well, I guess that would explain the proliferation of Grandmasters.

For people who want to volunteer themselves for a polite comparison of skills, DojoScore is a great resource.

Problem is, someone always wants to volunteer somebody else, to "defend the reputation of their shared art" or "expose fraud" or some other nonsense.

When you are trying to make a name for yourself by answering challenges, you have no choice but to attract attention. But those who would make the challenges don't need to say a word, they can just go forward and handle their business. "Put up or shut up" applies to them especially.

Watching Glee is bad for your chi. The ancients recommended watching LXD on Hulu instead. And you have to use a low stance because the episodes are only 5-10 minutes long. That is what the ancients said in their ancient Taoist manuscripts.

I wonder where that has its roots. Hehehe.

That sly old fox stole my ideas, then traveled time to take all the credit.

Since you brought up youtube, mind showing some clips of what would you call "ordinary kungfu skill", "extraordinary skill", and "no skill"? Just so we have a frame of reference?

I have never seen any great YouTube clip comparable to the best of what I've seen in person. Part of that is just the limitations of the medium, I'm sure. But then again, I have been specifically instructed not to post some stuff online, and I'm not the only one. The details are nobody's business...uh-oh, I feel another investigation starting?!

As for ordinary skills, you don't need me to point them out, and ditto for no skill. Cuz I'm not the martial arts police, nor do I play one on forums. Except when I do, but that ain't here and now.

On reading the links you posted, you talk about bullshido a bit. How much time have you actually spent on bullshido? How much time did you spend getting to know people there, or at least observing what ACTUALLY happens?

I've spent just enough time there to decide I don't want to spend more time there. The average poster is neither very smart nor very experienced, and their so-called revelations are Martial Arts 101 in my personal opinion. Hearing from the few decent people on there isn't worth suffering the rest.

Many of my past, current, and future training partners do not and will not share my low opinion of that forum. Some, like you I gather, disagree 100 percent. And that is OK. I offer alternatives for those who want them.

However, there is a core in bullshido of people who actually train martial arts (some of them train traditional arts like bajiquan) and who actively visit schools all over the country and organize tournaments where people can get together and test their skills in as real an environment as possible. Yes, there are "rules". Yes, they try to avoid "killing", "eye gouging", and "electrocuting people with chi." But they provide an environment where skilled (or potentially unskilled) fighters can get together and test their techniques against other skilled (or potentially unskilled), determined, resisting opponents.

Great. I hope you realize that is not their innovation, but great.

It's important to note that it is the anonymous bullshido user who has made it "cool" to random insult martial arts.

Absurd. When one student is wrong, you hold the student accountable. When they are all wrong, you hold the teacher accountable. Or the moderators. I don't need to hear (again) how their reputation is the victim of an anonymous user base--that is a cowardly excuse unbefitting any adult, much less a courageous martial artist.

If you want to know what the martial arts world would look like with those folks calling all the shots, just look at the entire forum as it stands now. No, not a small portion of it; not your favorite corner; all of it. Fcuk my life, I would have to take up fishing instead, before I could stand another worthless lecture about "fully resisting opponents".

Free market does not mean you are allowed to lie to people about your credentials, about what you can do, about what your art can do, etc etc. That is false advertising. That is illegal. The problem with the martial arts community (and also in the spiritual community, but that's a whole new can of worms) is that there is no set standard. And part of that comes from the community. The consumers.

False advertising is usually legal. Lying is legal. And being lame is legal, obviously. Now, who has the strength and fortitude to stand up and protect the freedoms of the lamest, from the zealotry of the fundamentalists?

Very few, I tell you what. Enough said about that. I don't want to chat about them any more.

In other news, over here in Seattle, yet another citizen video of police brutality was released yesterday. After the cop got the guy cuffed, he started kicking that guy in the groin and head. These are our volunteer champions of law and order. Clearly, we need better screening and training of our volunteers, wouldn't you agree.

Everybody says that peace and happiness come from within. But if you actually act like it, people get real suspicious!

When people see ordinary kungfu skill on YouTube, they say, "That's just ordinary!"

When people see extraordinary skill, they say, "It must be fake!"

When people see no skill, they say, "Yeah I believe it!"

What is their frame of reference and credibility? Their own personal experience, nothing more.

For every humble student of the martial arts, there are 100 YouTube curators who fancy themselves a teacher. Not commenting on anyone here personally, of course--but "waking people up" is serious business and online education does not cut the mustard.

On the other side of the coin...there are fake masters, sure. And as I have written previously, we need fake masters, because we need someone to absorb all the fake disciples! It's a free market. If you don't like it, move to North Korea...where you'll probably learn more than you ever wanted to know about urban survival...and YouTube best practices won't get you very far.

Does anyone know of a good source or article on getting rid of the 'victim' mentality. One that doesn't patronize, and one that doesn't offend or insult. One that doesn't use hollywood memes and concepts, ie brainwashing. I'm looking for the REAL cure to the victim mentality. Not fear based conditioning.

Breaking the Drama Triangle

Here's a video that I came across a while ago:

 

 

And it's kinda the stuff I'm talking about. You see a lot of people doing the traditional training methods (heavy emphasis on standing), but you also see them working with modern training equipment (heavy bags, boxing gloves), and then (at the end) you see them sparring against resisting opponents.

 

So, yeah, I'm all for traditional arts. Just don't get so absorbed in what is "tradition" and what is "not tradition" that you forget to actually make sure that what you're doing WORKS.

There is nothing more traditional than beating a solid object with your fists. Nothing.

Standing around is not traditional martial arts--it can't be more than 2500-3000 years old, and besides, fighting with that stuff is an off-label use.

Was Musashi a traditional martial artist, or a modern fighter? Who should we ask? His "resisting opponents"? How about Genghis Khan?

Oh well. Just ignore my recent comments. I've been drinking green tea all day.

*ahem* Of the little yiquan stuff I've actually seen, most of it is pretty grounded in reality- I've seen yiquan guys training against boxing jabs, working with heavy bags, and generally addressing things that occur quite frequently in modern fighting, but that you don't see a lot of in traditional martial arts.

Modern fighting?

Traditional martial arts?

What are these things?

The more I hear about them, the less I know.

Believe me, I'd like to know a lot more.

I'd have to say we drifted into fairy land all the time, and its a pleasant place. Developing Mind Body coordination was top on the list and self defense secondary. That being said you weren't expected to be a push over or to compete in the MMA. Its good to cross train w/ other dojos and have other martial artists visitors. I'm lucky my instructor was good friends with an amateur boxer so we'd work more on jabs and the like then some others.

 

The important thing is know when you're in fairyland, and all martial arts traipse into that territory.

Surely I can't be the only one who found legitimate spiritual training to be unforgivingly brutal?

The fake stuff is fake. It doesn't have a redeeming quality, or need one. Spirituality and combat are not two ends of a spectrum, I would say they are closer to one end of the same spectrum. What exactly is spirituality without death?

Real life isn't the movies. Someone here had a clip of Penn and Tellers show B.S. on martial arts and much of its mocking rang true, whether its traditional or kill'em all 'realistic'. Still there is much gain out in most martial arts. My friends in 'harder' martial arts like kick boxing and amateur boxing got the crap beaten out them in class all the time. But we all got into better shape and honed skills and general awareness.

Penn and Teller on martial arts

Hardcore kickboxers in bad shape, and with little skill or awareness? I think you will find those results to be atypical.

The benefits of an exoteric martial art are...obvious. Indisputable.

If you can sell it, then it must be real. Merchantability is a kind of reality. There is a problem when that becomes the only reality...but if you list the styles of martial arts afflicted by that disease, boxing must be near the bottom of the list.

The amazing Ki-ai master may well lead a really good spiritual life and probably should be happy with that and not take into the ring

OK, he wasn't a great fighter, obviously. But his wisdom quotient was zero too. So if I were him, I'd ask my guru for a refund. Loudly, with kiai power.

why not put up a video when you are sparring an resisting opponent?I train mma and imo sparring with an resisting opponent is whats difficult.

Why not put up a video of your trampy girlfriend hitting you over the head with a chair? Forget about resisting opponents, I train WWE and IMO that is where the real money is.

Suppose, just for fun, that there are temples within temples, and that even if you are invited into the real temple, you might be sequestered inside the fake room for the duration of your one-week stay??

Anyway, here is their website: http://www.shaolin.org.cn/en/index.aspx

And here is the documentary you should watch first: The Real Shaolin

Why?

Because practicing martial arts increases chi, but dicking around and calling it "meditation" does not.

With respect to "increasing chi," you're better off learning martial arts from a good instructor than learning meditation with no instructor.

Yea, but if you try to investigate any evidence, there is none to find. So it's like they came, one person saw them, and went, and there is nothing left to find. It's like some kind of spy activity. The discussions themselves aren't secret, sure. But the alien activity is secret in the sense that you can't readily verify it.

 

Compare this to say Paris, which is not a secret. You can get a plane ticket and verify it 100% of the time.

Not so. If you touch down in Paris, and decide all the maps and street signs are forgeries, and all the townspeople are deluded or liars, then you may as well be in Toulouse. Or Quebec. Or Maui. I recommend the latter--it has a pleasant imaginary climate.

This is false. I remember this misinformation. That lady later said that she was never appointed as an extra-terrestrial point of contact, and that it was all a bunch of bullshit cooked up on the Internets, although she said it would be neat if it were true, if I remember correctly.

Some people said they were present at the meetings. Some other people said a different person was appointed. A third person said they were never involved, that the second group is lying, and the first group doesn't exist. Everyone else believes whatever makes them comfortable. It's no different than neigong I suppose.

Besides, China is famous for removing villagers from their villages if they want to build something in that village. So it's possible they simply bullied everyone out off the land, or just physically removed them all, or hell, even executed the entire village just to do something there.

Good point. We'll see in a few months whether those inscrutable aliens have decided to build a highway and shopping mall there.

Now, I am not saying aliens do not exist. In fact I think they probably do given how many planets and solar systems are "out there." But why would aliens monkey around with this planet in secret, it just makes no sense at all.

It's hardly a secret. It's a topic of discussion on a thousand different Internet forums, here included. And the Pope recently issued a release saying that aliens (if they exist) are our brothers, which was reported in the mainstream media. And the UN appointed an official diplomat in charge of extraterrestrial relations...again, just in case they exist?! More retired military officers are coming forward to testify that they are already here, and/or that we shot at them. And then, there are a few new alien shows on network television...

What more do you want, a hand- or tentacle-written invite to their Thanksgiving dinner? A mea culpa from those politicians who have been lying for decades? Don't hold your breath!

2 . Never heard of those pyramids before, ever. Has anyone else?

Yeah, you can find the information online.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?6938-OCTOBER-13TH-DISCLOSURE-Qinling-Mountains-VILLAGE-VANISHING

Apparently the village\people did not disappear, they ran away (from what seen in the vid), faulty translation to blame. However, this does not really make this case less interesting...

One has to choose their trusted sources carefully on topics like this. Not because the world is full of "government disinformation agents" per se, but because people are stupid, and quickly jump to unwarranted conclusions in their efforts to evade uncertainty.

I somehow missed this post on my first read through, sorry MD!

 

I highly suggest you (and anyone interested, for that matter) to take a look at Franz Bardon's "Initiation Into Hermetics." It operates quite from dominant religious organizational structures. It basically sticks to the framework that Stig outlined. So for the non-denominational magic practitioner, it's still pretty good. And that's kind of the model that I'm looking for.

Thank you, I was not familiar with that.

Nevertheless, it strikes me that someone who is literally looking for magic spells and advice on the Internet, has forsaken their right to disbelieve in, or "unsubscribe to" anything at all. Certainly including the lineages of a half-dozen real living masters whose names regularly come up here, just because their practice has some patina of "religious ideology."

I thought it was funny...for the first two minutes anyway...

then it gets hypocritically preachy...

enjoy FWIW.

Taoist Sorcery is a book that seems to come up frequently in searches. But from what I've seen of it, most of it seems to be from a religious Taoist angle- lots of prayer over alters, making offerings, usage of charms, and appeals to deities. Quite interesting, and no doubt useful for someone subscribing to a religious Taoist system, but I don't know how accessible it is to someone working a less regimented paradigm.

Your comment is truly puzzling. It works or it does not, and it is based in truth or it is not.

What were you hoping to find? Secular magic for the agnostic and casual philosopher? If so, here is a magic spell for you:

This statement is a lie.

Behold the wonders!

What the heck is Chai?

Peng You Taiji agreed to share their Tai Chi Hockey Stick form with me a few years back. In return, I recently gave them a secret Chai recipe, which they will be publishing in a few weeks in their fundraising cookbook.