Breaking Boards and Bricks

This is an old practice in China and Okinawa. It is meant to be a way of showing strength of technique and mentality. However, it has been proven many times that it is based on physics and the make-up of whatever is being broken, rather than some special ability to break things that can only be acquired through years of relentless training. By following through in the right way, and by using the right boards, tiles, etc., even a novice can break things. If you want to show something special, rather break something that shouldn’t be breakable. That would be remarkable! Or, better yet, don’t break anything at all because it is wasteful and does not set a good example for our times. I do, however, see the value in the practice for martial development. It can help you to develop confidence in your technique and your hardness, and to improve your ability to follow through your target. But, like I said, it’s an old practice and it is wasteful. If you want to break something, perhaps use stones and then reuse the remains for something in your garden, for example. Or you could create a block of ice and try breaking that. Considering the environment on which depend, reusing, recycling, etc., is a product of the Way. Destroying useful objects is not. Think about it first, and rather devise a method to ensure it is sustainable before callously breaking anything. 

Competition in Karate

Not all competitions in martial arts are detrimental to real skill for real fighting. They can, however, be degrading to the positive development of character, but this depends on the individual and their teachers. Not every western-style boxer is arrogant and aggressive, for example. The trouble is that in certain types of prize fighting the danger is taken away. This is particularly true when using protective equipment. It is not an effective method as it only serves to aid sports, all the while it is greatly harmful to your ability to actually fight, be prepared to handle the adrenaline of an actual conflict, or have any degree of the mental preparation necessary for real fighting. If you can hit someone because they are wearing padding, they don’t mind because they know they won’t be injured. And vice versa. The element of danger, as if you and your opponent/s are in a life-and-death situation, is imperative to properly training your fighting skill. 

The Secrets of Karati

In the old days - the real old days - anything could be a secret. If you weren’t shown it, it’s a secret, at least from you. There are, however, actual secrets. Some are just tricks that help your technique, while others are genuinely “secret techniques”. They can be for fighting or healing. It can be as simple as a change in hand form, or a different version of an entire kata / system. A good example of this is the version of sochin taught to Gigo Funakoshi for his father, specified as being the correct version over any other the master had taught. So even “if” other students learnt effective techniques, they did not learn the master’s real techniques. However, all of this doesn’t necessarily matter in an actual fight. You can know all the special techniques that exist, but they alone will not save you. Only hard, daily, basic training can do that. And nothing can replace the great effort (gongfu) required. And then, all of the so-called secrets will be achieved naturally, anyway, because that ceaseless effort in the fundamentals and basics leads to the tricks and secrets and special techniques through the gradual development of understanding, which can’t be rushed as the mind is complex and takes time to learn and make things second-nature. Skill is continually progressed over the practitioner’s lifetime. Special techniques cannot be understood, nor applied effectively, or indeed responsibly, without first achieving the great transformative benefits of diligent basic training, and constantly returning to the basics as if they are the entire system in themselves. In a real fight, the skills, control and fortitude attained during extensive basic training will give you a chance of surviving, whether you know no secrets at all, or 100 secret techniques. Knowledge of certain points alone will not afford you the speed, stamina and basic skills you need to defend yourself and, if necessary, others. Hence, the real secrets lie simply in diligent daily training in the basics (provided what you’ve learnt is effective), and special techniques are for enhanced effectiveness in certain situations, but are not what make a capable fighter / boxer / warrior. The sheer speed and viciousness of attacks in real situations can be staggering. Actual fighting cannot be taken lightly. It is dangerous and demands primarily what only the basics can provide.