An Antidote for Martial Arts Poison

Patrick Parker (of Mississippi’s Mokuren Dojo) asked for comments on the article, Martial Arts Poison. Unlike author Kim Soo, I am not a 10th-dan black belt and do joo nim (founder) of my own Karate style. Nevertheless, I venture to offer my own perspective on the topics he addresses.

How do martial arts build character?

Many people believe martial arts training is helpful in building one’s character. This is especially important for growing boys and girls — to build their characters, and
give them self-defense skills for life. Parents often want to send their children to martial arts schools, for they have heard of the benefits of traditional training.

But all too often, the negative consequences of poor martial arts teaching appear, and very quickly — injuries in the dojang; development of radical, trouble-making attitudes; declining grades; fighting; discipline problems in school. When children turn out to be aggressive, parents regret sending them to the dojang. But the problem is not martial arts, but poor instruction and improper values (such as emphasizing competition and fighting).

So, parents may think the dojang is a source of such troubles, but the children still are drawn to martial arts training because of consistent exposure to movies and TV—that constant advertising for martial arts schools. Parents may not think martial arts training is good for children, yet the children still nurture powerful and glamorous images
they are getting through the media. This can also set the stage for discord and strife in the home and family.

I am among those who believe martial arts practice has character building potential—a potential that many students and teachers never realize. Therefore, when a Karate dojang (dojo) claims their lessons will build character, I expect to hear some illuminating details.

Why do so many schools tout character, without defining what they mean by the term? Frankly, some instructors do not know what it means. Others rely on each customer to project their own positive meaning into the void. A few use “character” as a palatable euphemism for obedience; their offering is not so much self-defense as outsourced discipline for busy parents.

The psychological influence of training

As a lifelong martial arts instructor, I know that while traditional training can bring many benefits, it is also a double-edged sword.

When abused or misunderstood, or when seen as a way to power and control, martial arts can bring harm and regret to the unfortunate practitioner. Undoubtedly, martial arts training has strong potential physical and mental influence—for both good and evil—on students. The mental influence does not come from movements but from an individual instructor.

Movement is personality; when you adjust one, you are unavoidably altering the other. This is one of the lessons you learn by repeating a single movement thousands of times, for thousands of days (or in other words, training in a traditional martial art).

Spirituality, competition and martial arts

This is why it is critical that any student (or the parents of any student) must consider carefully, above all else, what kind of individual one would study with for mental and spiritual guidance and influence.

A tournament, sport, and sparring-oriented instructor will teach values such as aggression, dominance, and mental focus on one thing above all else: winning the match and taking home the trophy. To achieve the mental strength and focus required to triumph above all competitors is a great achievement of athletics. But pursuit of this goal and these values can rarely come without scorning development of humility, patience, respect, and sincerity. Those contrary, aggressive traits do not have to be spoken aloud for their influence to be felt in students’ lives.

Unfortunately, although martial art movements do not develop aggressive personality traits, some organizations’ consistent over-emphasis on competition has resulted in a negative, harmful spiritual environment in martial arts dojangs.

My reservations on character-building benefits apply doubly to spiritual guidance. Somewhat like the catchall art of “Kung Fu”, “spiritual training” is a generalization favored by outsiders; whereas, a traditional master of these arts is by definition an insider. Don’t be fooled. A martial art with no ostensible moral or spiritual component can still benefit its practitioner, but one with false spiritual credentials will likely bring harm.

Now, putting spirituality aside: should a martial artist learn to be aggressive, dominant, and focused? Yes, yes and yes! As the saying goes, “A warrior may choose pacifism; others are condemned to it.” There are times in life when these skills are essential, and the dojang is the best place to learn them. Of course, they must be tempered with caution and compassion for safety reasons.

When two people come together to train aggression and dominance, the natural result is competition. There is nothing wrong with competition, in a venue set aside for it, and so long as we avoid a dangerous extreme.

Far from scorning humility, well-matched competition strengthens this quality, by viscerally reminding the contenders of their many imperfections. As for sincerity, we find it where there is no time and space for pretense. Reciting oaths in the training hall does not cultivate these qualities, any more than wearing Batman pajamas can transform us into the Dark Knight. The symbol is not the substance.

What is a traditional martial art?

The instructor interested in assisting students become better human beings, build their characters, develop self-esteem, confidence, sincerity, humility and responsibility is not likely to have trophies lining the front windows of his school. In a traditional class, the visitor is much more likely to see emphasis on formality, etiquette, non-violent behavior, full control of techniques, forms of old Grandmasters, student cleaning of the dojang, and a Training Hall Oath.

Instruction which only teaches the physical, technical side of martial arts, in order to fight and win tournament trophies, will turn out violent people with troublemaker attitudes. Traditional values and a scientific teaching method will shepherd students’ bodies, while instilling virtues of sincere attitude, confidence, self-esteem, and modesty. Such traditional training will produce a mentally and physically balanced person. A scientific teaching method entails (among other things) proper breathing, rhythm, dynamic balance, and movements which are studied and refined to allow the maximization of speed and power without causing either sudden or progressive injury to the body.

Choi Hong Hi
Founder of Taekwondo

Born in 1955 from a government mandate, Taekwondo is arguably an “invented tradition”. To a slightly lesser degree, the same is true of Japanese Karate-do, and many other commercially popular styles. Each of these practices carries its own set of values, each imperfectly aligned with the modern American definition of “martial arts”. It is therefore not very meaningful to classify an art as “traditional” or “non-traditional”. In fact, it is misleading.

So, formality, etiquette, non-violence, and an emphasis on poomse (forms) over kyorugi (sparring) are not traditional values; they may be one particular lineage’s traditional values (e.g. Kim Soo’s Chayon-Ryu).

Hopefully, a dojang can justify its approach to training within its immediate modern context, rather than merely citing its age as a testimonial. It is fair to ask whether the art of an 18th-century subsistence farmer is equally relevant and valuable to a 21st-century desk jockey.

Searching for the right teacher

The important goal is to find the right teacher. The teaching method, and the personal life values of one’s instructor—not the particular martial arts style he or she teaches—determine the quality of the learning experience.

Unnatural or harsh body motion, repeated over time, will result in damage to the knees, hamstrings, and lower back. Undue emphasis on sparring puts fingers, toes, knees, eyes, teeth and noses at risk. Natural motion and breathing can be briefly disregarded when students are young and energetic; but such bad habits have a cumulative effect, and will inevitably damage their health and vitality.

Some symptoms of this kind of mistraining include: back and knee problems, pulled muscles, hernias, ulcers, and digestive problems. Instead of relieving stress and building vitality, bad training methods yield the opposite results; they will build stress and destroy the health of the practitioner. In this way, martial arts training under faulty instructors can become poison.

I advise prospective students and parents to do this: Instead of choosing a training hall by comparing tuition prices and convenience of location, be most concerned with the qualifications, teaching methods, personal style, and life values of the martial arts teacher who will be influencing the students.

Prudent warnings, and good advice.

The choice of a martial arts instructor should be far more important than deciding on a daycare center or baby-sitter (and those are important decisions). The potential benefit or harm derived from the dojang is even greater than a negligent or non-nurturing daycare environment. Surely the extra mental and physical well-being one will gain is worth an extra $l0 per month, or five miles more of driving.

Martial arts training is like taking medicine. Follow the doctor’s guidelines on how to take it, how much, how often, and enjoy good health. Ignore the doctor’s instructions, go to an unqualified doctor, take too much medicine or the wrong kind, follow self-destructive patterns, and one’s life can be shortened—or ended.

The greater your expectations for a sabumnim (master), the harder your search will be.

Self-defense, sport fighting, and fitness are all distinct (if overlapping) skills, to say nothing of spiritual training and social acumen. If your local dojang is run by an expert in all these areas, you are exceptionally lucky, or more likely your standards are exceptionally low!

Chinese martial artists say that it is better to spend three years searching for a good teacher, than three years learning from a bad teacher. Even if you do not know how to distinguish one from the other…the harder you try, the luckier you will get.

Do you agree or disagree with “Martial Arts Poison”?