Calm as a Virgin
One of the philosophies of the Shaolin Arts says, “The martial artist should be calm as a virgin when defending and as fierce as a tiger when attacking.”
I don’t know what the monk who wrote this knew about virgins, but…okay.
The passage goes on to say, “Perfect skill should be employed to take advantage of the opponent’s force and momentum. Each movement, punch or kick embodies an organic combination of attack and defense. The attack is contained in the defense. The force attack and real maneuver are integrated with the sole purpose of surprising the opponent.”
I could stop this e-mail right here and you would have enough to practice for years.
Why.
Because in that paragraph are some of the fundamental keys that apply to ANY martial arts style – no matter where it is from.
Here is an example: many moons ago, I was in Tampa, Florida working with one of my coaches and mentors. After a long day of training and coaching, a group of us had gathered in the hotel bar to unwind, relax and rehydrate.
While we were there, a v-e-r-y large guy came into the bar and recognized my coach, who is a collegiate wrestling champion, kung-fu world champion and catch wrestler.
I’m fairly certain the big guy had already been lubricating at another establishment. I say that because he immediately thought it was a good idea to come up to Coach and challenge him to a wrestling match/sparring match – right there, right now – in the bar.
The Coach tried for about ten minutes to humor the guy, but it didn’t work. It finally got to the point where the big guy was positioning himself so close and in the face of Coach that it was getting dangerous; the big guy could have lashed out with a punch, kick or takedown and there wouldn’t be enough time to react.
So, the Coach smiles, says, “No problem” and gets up. We all scattered like flies because we didn’t want to get anywhere near what was about to happen.
It was over almost before it began.
In under a couple of minutes, the big guy had carpet burns all over his face, forehead and elbows; his nose was crooked and both his lips were cut and bleeding.
What was cool about it was that no furniture was broken, no other people were bumped, jostled or injured and unless you were in the part of the bar that we were, you didn’t even know anything had happened.
Coach was barely sweating when it was over. He sat there like a monk with a smile on his face as the big guy gave him a hug and thanked him for his lesson.
How did the Coach do it.
By following the principles mentioned at the beginning of this story. I never saw the Coach strain, struggle or go against anything the big guy tried – whether he was being offensive or defensive. He just went with it, used that energy and turned it against the big guy.
Dan Gable, the God of Wrestling, said, “I shoot, I score; he shoots, I score.”
By combining these principles with the Law of Practice, you can become as “Calm as a virgin and fierce as a tiger.”
Best,
Sensei Huff
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