Early STUDY of VIETNAMESE MARTIAL ARTS – Section 2
Hits: 495
… be continued …
HUNG NGUYEN MANH
2.7. Study of martial arts is treated as a medical profession because clearly masters of martial arts were herbalists who cured illness, broken bones4 (Figure 5), felt the pulse for prescriptions, …. They were the ones who accessed to the sufferings of people the most.
2.8. In another aspect, martial arts study is considered as a part of philosophy because the study of martial arts portrays human thoughts. The portrait is based on the I ching to describe the rules of Heaven and Earth: Yin and Yang, behaviors and spoken words in accordance with morality, ethics, with philosophical dialectics. Behaviors and spoken words were recorded by Truong Tai (China) in Dong minh (texts pasted at the east side describing behaviors of human beings, or Tay minh, pasted in the west side) which has mentioned by Nguyen Dinh Chieu in Luc Van Tien “Trước đèn xem chuyện Tây minh, Gẫm cười hai chữ nhân tình éo le.”
2.9. Experts of martial arts can also be considered as experts of somatomancy, astrology, or meditation, …, because of the relation to human shapes and appearances expressed through behaviors and gestures in community relations5 (Figure 6) or serenity as monks reach for6 (Figure 7).
2.10. Moreover, experts of martial arts can become physical therapists because they have a close look at human muscles during practicing martial arts as the view of human anatomists.
However, human anatomy is configured to replace the large animals like dinosaurs (eating all the assets of nature) by smaller creatures (consuming less food, intelligent, using their intelligence more than muscles).
Therefore, experts of martial arts not only train their muscles with spectacular kicks and punches to perform and promote contours “powerful individuals” or to open martial arts schools to make a living but also express by the mixed culture behaviors and spoken words. Moreover, if seen by the eyes of the world image of Steve Jobs (Apple with a bite) to dominate the game of electronic information under the Apple family, we replace the apple with the heart with hands squeezing each other.
2.11. However, looking at the study of Vietnamese martial arts today, it seems to be still in the stage of technique description. One practices martial arts with moves that come from animals’ behaviors which humans can imitate such as toads, tigers, monkeys, eagle, phoenixes, …, or imbalance gestures of heros faking to be drunk to defend themselves. These moves belong to movements of the livings, not reflecting humanity.
Humanity are expressed through behaviors such as both hands of experts of martial arts. The index finger of one hand pushes into the palm of the other hand (Figure 8) for concentration, the property that Prince Siddhartha owned thanks to the special human genome. The hands are the hands acupressurists, not the hands with powerful punches of experts of karatedo, jiujitsudo, aikido, ….
The two human hands like the hands of a mother caressing her baby while still in the womb. When the baby is born, the two hands fondle its nose for it to breathe and the end of its life, stroke again on its eyes to say farewell to the visible brutal and compassionate world, to see the metaphysical world of noble souls in Thursday afternoons as one professor from Harvard University announced it would appear in the near future.
The image of two hands massaging each other (Figure 9) is condidered as a therapy to grasp the law of the collision of heaven, earth, humans. The act of touching can soothe the wounded soul and body from the collision in the complicated social life. Touching the body helps acupressurists (Shiatsudo) regulate human blood and oxygen. Touching the body can also be expressed through two human hands, as a welcome to heaven and earth, of experts of pranic psychotherapy (according to Koh Sui Choa – The Ancient Science and Art of Pranic healing – P.51 – Institute for Inner Studies Inc. Manila).
Collision rule is a universal rule which can be seen in meteorites hitting the earth to generate large explosions and incentives to dismantle a glacial period, to warm the earth, to give birth to new animals, including humans.
Experts of martial arts in modern and contemporary history only their bare hands to protect themselves. Weapons were dispossessed by feudal empires (medieval age) to carry out the punishments such as dismemberment, beating, or decapitation7 (Figure 10).
Overall, experts of martial arts use inner strength to move their body not to beat a rival like a medieval warrior but to lower the self to avoid the disturbance, the desire, the lust, ….
If the study of martial arts can be described like mentioned, it covers many branches of science and it deserves to be in the evolutionary history of mankind to gradually improve the human personality.
Nowadays, experts of martial arts like Shaolin Kung Fu masters practice martial arts not only to perform the “outside” skills in international tournaments but also to harmonize with heaven and earth and human beings. Inside remote and quiet temples, Shaolin Kung Fu masters are secretly practicing Shaolin for the soul./.
NOTE:
1…7: Excerpted from “Kỹ thuật của người An Nam” (Technique du peuple Annamite) by H. Oger in Hanoi (1908 -1909). Assistant Professor, PhD. Nguyen Manh Hung researched, introduced, and proclaimed in Vietnam (1984), America (2004), France (2006).
SEE MORE:
◊ Early STUDY of VIETNAMESE MARTIAL ARTS – Section 1.
BAN TU THU
11/2019