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If one does the martial arts as a sport, he engages in contest, and that actually defines the difference between sport and art. If one practices the martial arts as art, he is attempting to conquer himself. Subdue the self, or subdue another, the difference is easy to see.
If one is attempting to subdue another, he is holding the world responsible for his problems, fighting the world, not taking his own responsibility. Wether the accumulation of wealth, or just trying to beat somebody into a bloody pulp, the student is not using the art the way it was designed, as a mirror for the soul. It is the soul, the individual, the spirit, the I AM that is the point of the martial arts, not the smacking down of somebody else.
When one is doing the art as sport, he is creating the strongest body, and then tossing that body to destruction. When one is doing the art as art, he is obsessed with finding out the truth about himself and what this thing called life is really all about. He is engaged in defining what impulse is behind the muscle and quiver of fighting his fellow man, and then defeating that impulse
This all said, the True Martial Way can be defined by analyzing the degree of motion within the art. A young man practices Karate and Shaolin and that excessive type of motion. As the student ages, he may move into taiji, slowing his motion down, looking at it, trying to understand his every action.
Eventually, man becomes tired, still, and begins to think about what it all means. At this point he has become motionless, a person who watches the movement of the universe, and this is where he finds the truth. In motionlessness, he sees the truth of who is behind all motion.
When one does Yoga one is exercising, making the body strong, but not through the make up of combat. This does create a weakness, as the universe is motion, and we should duplicate that motion to understand it. That one weakness aside, yoga does allow one to go to the heart of the matter.
Putting the body through slow exercises, breathing, watching, we slowly become aware of who is doing the watching, who is making the motion. We find the I AM that is behind all the motion of the universe, and thus we transform into souls, individuals unique and creative and filled with passion. We could wait, and grow old without any discpline, or we could pursue violence through the martial arts until violence is exhausted, or, we could just accelerate the process with yoga, through posture and slow breathing, and find out who we really are.
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