bodyoflight

To be happy or to save face? by B. Frantzis

Recommended Posts

As a third-degree black belt in karate, having trained daily

for nearly nine years, I went to study in Okinawa, the

birthplace of modem karate and tae kwon do. Both

because I met the minimum ranking requirements and because

of a lucky personal connection, I was admitted to a

select special research student program in karate via the

Shorin Ryu karate system, called in Japanese kenkyusei. Here, the innermost

secrets of karate are introduced to future teachers. Weapons

training, night fighting, and special breathing and martial techniques not

taught to most black belts were essential parts of the course.

 

After a few months, it became obvious that many of the most "secret"

techniques were ones I had already learned in my first two years of basic

training in the internal martial arts of tai chi, hsing-i, and ba gua. Many

karate people had to wait five to twenty years before being taught the

sarne material in Shorin Ryu karate. This kenkyusei situation was quite

similar to what was happening at the time with other karate styles in Okinawa

and Japan. My instructor in Okinawa was the senior black belt after

the elderly master of the style. I asked him how it was possible for me to

have leamed these things from Chinese masters in Japan and Taiwan that

he himself had not leamed?

 

Besides being an exceptional karate man, this instructor was also a

jazz musician. He was much more open-minded than the average

Japanese or Okinawan karate master. He answered more frankly than one

in his position normally would have to a foreigner. He said I was right. He

had sparred with martial art experts from Taiwan and he had been both

confused and beaten by them. He also acknowledged that the Chinese

martial arts knew how to efficiently combine traditional Oriental medical

principIes with martial arts training in ways that were mostly absent in

karate. The Chinese martial arts, he admitted, also had a better medical

knowledge of the body than was present in karate. He further said that

the martial art material in Taiwan was of a higher leveI, although the Okinawans

did have powerful and useful techniques that worked extremely

well, which was true.

 

I then asked him why he didn't go to Taiwan, which was next door to

Okinawa, and learn more. It was obvious that he loved karate and martial

arts in general, and his jazz background had given him a fondness for

experiments that would expand his abilities. His answer was typical of the

ongoing Asian battle between orthodox conservatism and new frontiers

of knowledge. He said he knew that the martial arts in Taiwan were better

than what he did. (This was quite a statement considering this man was

about as good as karate people got.) He then emphasized that he was an

Okinawan and, as such, would never consider learning from the Chinese

because this would cause his style of Okinawan karate to lose face. It was

a matter of national pride. Most importantly, however, it was a matter of

"face." Years later, my teacher in Beijing, Liu Hung Chieh, would

comment many times about life in a Confucian society, "You can go for

one of two things in life, to be happy or to save face. It is your choice."

 

This sense of competitive face has plagued the martial arts of Asia for

hundreds, ifnot thousands, ofyears.* This attitude causes people to

invest incredible status and pride in the specific martial art they do,

rather than investigate how to expand their already existing body of

knowledge by seeking new possibilities. Consequently, existing knowledge

of martial arts stagnates and tends to be lost because of misplaced secrecy

and pride. This situation is fortunately changing in the West. There,

practitioners of karate and other martial arts take advantage of an open

society in which they can freely adapt what is useful from other styles

without experiencing a sense of betrayal to their own.

 

This experience in Okinawa caused me to take a much more open

point of view regarding martial arts than many of my colleagues at that

time. (From the 1950s to the 1970s, the idea of borrowing from a martial

art that was not one's own was unheard of.) It also firmly moved me in the

direction of the internal side of martial arts, which I admittedly favor. I've

observed that, if one wishes an investment to pay off in the long term, it is

wise to be open to other proven, higher yielding investments, even if your

feelings of possessiveness and previous accomplishment must

temporarily be put aside.

Edited by bodyoflight

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting.

 

I think all play a role at different times. Not because I find any style to be sacred, or anything like that.

 

I think we have the dabblers, hobbyists, or people who want to make a few bucks.

Then we have the serious dogmatic types.

 

And then, we have the intelligent rogues. The ones who keep what works and throw out what doesn't.

 

I think saving face does serve a function. It's kind of like PR. I'm not saying it's all good, but I don't think it is all bad either.

 

I really believe that when things get too homogeneous, people become complacent. Even a bit lazy. What would there be to make you think, to discern and choose what you will do, if everything was a vague mishmash? Especially when you throw the dabblers and hobbyists in. Not that there is anything wrong with them, but even now, when we still have some strict adherents to different things, it can be hard for beginners to weed out what is right for them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this is a great insight. I've had a similar experience myself - I've been training "traditional" Japanese Budo inside the Bujinkan organization (which teaches 6 schools of bujutsu and 3 schools of ninpo) for several years now, and recently I realized that all the "inner" or "deeper" teachings are reserved only for instructors - 5th dan and higher. For a long time, I even thought that Bujinkan doesn't teaches about energy at all, because no one ever mentioned it. Then I spent a year in France, where I attended classes in a certain Dojo of a quite famous Bujinkan teacher and realized, that it actually is a part of Bujinkan teachings; it's just reserved to only very advanced students.

 

Bujinkan is a Japanese organization and I've been told that this is the way the Japanese want to have it. But I found it strange all the same - not that some stuff is reserved to advanced students per se, just that most beginners are not even aware of it. In my Dojo, a lot of people (not the instructor, of course, but some fellow-students) are even making fun of the whole "energy" idea in general, as if it was some kind of fairy tale. I've been doing Qigong for a year now and when inside the Dojo, I mostly keep it to myself. But I don't want to leave Bujinkan, for I find the traditional Budo fascinating and effective. It's just strange sometimes, like living in some kind of lie.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this is a great insight. I've had a similar experience myself - I've been training "traditional" Japanese Budo inside the Bujinkan organization (which teaches 6 schools of bujutsu and 3 schools of ninpo) for several years now, and recently I realized that all the "inner" or "deeper" teachings are reserved only for instructors - 5th dan and higher. For a long time, I even thought that Bujinkan doesn't teaches about energy at all, because no one ever mentioned it. Then I spent a year in France, where I attended classes in a certain Dojo of a quite famous Bujinkan teacher and realized, that it actually is a part of Bujinkan teachings; it's just reserved to only very advanced students.

 

Bujinkan is a Japanese organization and I've been told that this is the way the Japanese want to have it. But I found it strange all the same - not that some stuff is reserved to advanced students per se, just that most beginners are not even aware of it. In my Dojo, a lot of people (not the instructor, of course, but some fellow-students) are even making fun of the whole "energy" idea in general, as if it was some kind of fairy tale. I've been doing Qigong for a year now and when inside the Dojo, I mostly keep it to myself. But I don't want to leave Bujinkan, for I find the traditional Budo fascinating and effective. It's just strange sometimes, like living in some kind of lie.

 

It is an insight which can be applied to all areas in life including spirituality and magick.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Of course. I think western psychology says that the basic conflict is between what we want and what is expected of us - being happy or saving face, in other words.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I suppose the "other" Bruce - Bruce Lee - is noted for his willingness to both incorporate and discard as pragmatism dictated, although he was eventually scorned by his teacher Yip Man for the way he modified Wing Chun and refused to teach him ever again. Of course, Bruce was a pretty cocky movie star by that point.

 

This is a fascinating subject and if anyone's interested in a similar read there's a chapter called "Epistemological Anarchism: The Philosophy of Jeet Kune Do" in the book "On the Warrior's Path" by Daniele Bolelli. He opens the chapter with three great quotes -

 

Whoever heeds commands does not heed himself. break, break, you lovers of knowledge, the old tablets! - Nietzsche

I am a man who wishes nothing more than daily to lose some reassuring belief, who seeks and finds his happiness in this daily greater liberation of the mind - Nietzsche again

I must invent my own systems or else be enslaved by other men's. - William Blake

 

On a footnote, it's too bad he died early. He might have eventually pursued his country's internal arts and who knows what he could have taught us as an 80-year old man.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I suppose the "other" Bruce - Bruce Lee - is noted for his willingness to both incorporate and discard as pragmatism dictated, although he was eventually scorned by his teacher Yip Man for the way he modified Wing Chun and refused to teach him ever again. Of course, Bruce was a pretty cocky movie star by that point.

It is my belief, that had the man survived, he would have come full circle. I agree, what could he have taught at 80?

 

I also think that a circle has its path. Some times things are secret. Some times they are strict. And some times, maybe even at the right time, someone comes along and changes it all, because they had motivation to do so. They left the nest, and flew like a bird.

 

I think there are various ways to leave the nest. Some times you get sick of it and leave it - and some times that is right. Some times the master, parent bird, or whatever we might call it, kicks you out. Some times that is right too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Synchronicity:) I read the quoted passage in The Power of Internal Martial Arts and Chi this week.

 

Personally I agree and prefer to be happy B)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes, it certainly applies to many things.

 

I think back, and a couple of the fights/physical altercations I've had with/against people tended to arise because one or both parties wanted to save face- you disrespected me, I can't let you get away with that, I need to show everyone what I can do, look at me, rawr, etc etc. Seems like a good idea in the moment, but it definitely doesn't lead to happiness. One or both parties get injured, you worry about retaliation, who's going to get involved later on, are the authorities gonna get involved, legal ramifications, etc etc.

 

Conversely, you could lose a little face by apologizing, bowing out, avoiding certain people or places, and generally move on with a happy life. Maybe not everything can be avoided like that, but doing what you can when it's possible certainly goes a long way, I think.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites