Discovering The Perfect Martial Art
David John Hall Is a Perfect Martial Art possible? I considered this question much back in the 70s, and there seemed to be no answer. The most I found was students making the claim 'My martial art is the best art.'
I have no problem with people saying that their art is best, because people should believe in what they are doing. I was looking a little deeper, however, and I wanted a martial art that actually was best. Whether a person was squat or big or green-eyed or whatever, the art should be perfect, and should take the martial arts practitioner to perfection.
One day I was in an Aikido class, and the teacher said, "The perfect art cannot be heard." His words impacted on me like an atom bomb. I walked out of the dojo with my head abuzz with new thoughts.
He had been discussing rolling out of a throw, trying to get us to be more silent and efficient. So we rounded our hips, kept the foot from flopping, and slowly rounded our shoulders. This made me think that maybe the perfect art was a circle.
But, no, while a circle can be perfect, a circle with no edges or protrusions is not perfection. The concept had more to do with sound, and I began to extrapolate the concept. The perfect martial art cannot be heard, cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be...?
I entered a universe which was not measured by rulers and scales. I left the world of physics and began to explore the universe of myself; the perfect art was that art wherein I never 'ran into' with the universe. I would later define this concept more in the science of Neutronics.
If there is sound, there is collision, collision can be felt...but the perfect art cannot be felt. If there is sight, there is potential to be seen...so for a martial art to be perfect it must not be visible. If there is perfect alignment of motion within space; if two objects can come into perfect parallelity, never growing farther apart and never growing closer together...then there can be perfection.
Thus, when I do the Martial Arts these days I seek to execute my techniques without my partner being able to feel what I do, without being able to see my technique or hear it. The line becomes finer, and I approach that appreciation of speed and distancing wherein I am not perceived; I seek to make my martial techniques work without touch, but rather with only the 'sensationless' sensation of thought. It is the perfect Martial Art, and it calls me, and am possessed by it.
I have no problem with people saying that their art is best, because people should believe in what they are doing. I was looking a little deeper, however, and I wanted a martial art that actually was best. Whether a person was squat or big or green-eyed or whatever, the art should be perfect, and should take the martial arts practitioner to perfection.
One day I was in an Aikido class, and the teacher said, "The perfect art cannot be heard." His words impacted on me like an atom bomb. I walked out of the dojo with my head abuzz with new thoughts.
He had been discussing rolling out of a throw, trying to get us to be more silent and efficient. So we rounded our hips, kept the foot from flopping, and slowly rounded our shoulders. This made me think that maybe the perfect art was a circle.
But, no, while a circle can be perfect, a circle with no edges or protrusions is not perfection. The concept had more to do with sound, and I began to extrapolate the concept. The perfect martial art cannot be heard, cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be...?
I entered a universe which was not measured by rulers and scales. I left the world of physics and began to explore the universe of myself; the perfect art was that art wherein I never 'ran into' with the universe. I would later define this concept more in the science of Neutronics.
If there is sound, there is collision, collision can be felt...but the perfect art cannot be felt. If there is sight, there is potential to be seen...so for a martial art to be perfect it must not be visible. If there is perfect alignment of motion within space; if two objects can come into perfect parallelity, never growing farther apart and never growing closer together...then there can be perfection.
Thus, when I do the Martial Arts these days I seek to execute my techniques without my partner being able to feel what I do, without being able to see my technique or hear it. The line becomes finer, and I approach that appreciation of speed and distancing wherein I am not perceived; I seek to make my martial techniques work without touch, but rather with only the 'sensationless' sensation of thought. It is the perfect Martial Art, and it calls me, and am possessed by it.
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