The True Goals Of Martial Art Training: Goal 1 - Good Physical, Mental & Spiritual Health

Never Forget "Its Better To Die In A Fight That May Never Take Place, Than To Live EVERYDAY OF YOUR LIFE Physically, Mentally & Spiritually HANDICAPPED, ILL AND IN PAIN, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE Because Of Needless Violent Uncontrolled Training"

The goal of most Martial Arts/Sports/Combat Systems preach of good health and longevity. But Unfortunately not all of them actually succeed in this goal...

If we talk about only the Physical aspect of Good Health and if your training system ends up making you Disfigured, Handicapped, Deaf, Blind, or Infertile... what good is it going to do to you, living a life like that, and do we honestly think we would be able to defend or protect ourselves and our dear ones in such a helpless deplorable condition...

Unfortunately many ignorant newbies in the field of martial arts, start attempting to break bricks and board without first going through systematic training. Or rush into full contact sparring with out proper training and without conditioning one's body and reflexes, resulting in unwanted and avoidable injury and pain possibly for life... But it is something that is less a mistake of the Student and more that of the Teacher for not educating his students...

But what becomes absolutely unacceptable is when certain Bad Teachers themselves cause harm to their own Students and make them into punching bags/guinea pigs to test or show off how strong they are...
In addition to getting badly hurt physically, these victimized students also end up disturbed mentally and spiritually... In many cases these victimized students harbour their grudges and wait for a chance to hurt or cause disturbances in their Teachers life and worse challenge their very own Teacher...
In some cases the seniors do the same thing towards their juniors by aping their Teacher...

The recent news about a Krav Maga Instructor in India hitting his own instructor in the groin and stabbing another is a perfect example of the above...

To be updated with more info...

The Destruction Of The Sanctity Of Martial Art Dojos By The Invasion Of "Gym Culture"

PLEASE NOTE: 
# This article is related to Real Martial Art Teachers who are the Epitome of what a Martial Artist and Guru/Teacher is and related to Real Dojos that are Treated as a Temple and Place of Enlightenment.
# This article is based on Asian/Eastern Philosophies and Cultures like Indian "Guru Shishya Parampara" and very identical Chinese and Japanese Philosophies which may seem too silly, orthodox, or promoting "Teacher Worship", etc  for people of Western Culture to understand.
# This article has been inspired by all the indiscipline, protocol violations, disrespect I have been personally observing in the new gen students for my/their "Teachers" and my/their "Dojos" where I have trained and am training or visited... 

One needs to understand that, there are more deeper reasons that, don't meet the eye of people with a shallow and biased insight, as to why Traditional Eastern schools of education & art created, followed, encouraged and ensured the implementation of such Strict Protocols (and consider violating them as Taboo). t gives the Teacher the much needed control and necessary distance in order to prevent any possible Unproductive Talk, Unhealthy Relationships, Indiscipline, Disrespect, Disturbance in the Decorum of the dojo etc.
THE BEST PART OF IT IS THAT, DEDICATED AND GOOD STUDENTS FOLLOW THESE PROTOCOLS NOT OUT OF FEAR OR AS A MEANS OF BUTTERING, BUT OUT OF PURE LOVE AND RESPECT FOR THEIR TEACHER AND THEIR DOJO AND SO TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN IT.

ITS SAD TO OBSERVE HOW GYM CULTURE HAS INVADED THE DOMAIN OF ALMOST ALL MARTIAL ARTS BEING PRACTICED IN THE WORLD TODAY AND HAS POLLUTED & PERVERTED THE PURITY, SANCTITY & DISCIPLINE OF MARTIAL ART DOJO'S IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE...

Lets discuss some of the most common ones:
1) Violations Against Teachers:
A Martial Arts Teacher who teaches us to defend ourselves not just Physically but Mentally & Spiritually as well and is actually more than a guide for life, but for many he/she is no different from a Coach in the Gym.

What a Martial Art Teacher actually is?
The graphic above and its content is not my creation.
The copyright of the contents in this Graphic
belongs to its rightful Anonymous creators

The moment a Teacher becomes friendly towards his/her students they start committing all the worst protocol violations that one can think of...

• Teachers are no longer addressed by their Respectful Titles "Sensei", "Shifu", etc and are replaced with very informal means of addressing, in worst cases they are even called by their first names.
• No longer are the Protocols and Limitations in Physical Contact/Interaction respected by the students.
• No longer do Students maintain silence when their Teacher is talking... They have their own important things to discuss.
• No longer do Students observe their Teacher when he is demonstrating as they have better or too many more important things on their minds.

UNFORTUNATELY FOR STUDENTS TODAY, A TEACHER IS NO LONGER A TEACHER FOR LIFE... (Many PARASITIC STUDENTS just come to take/steal the Teacher's knowledge and then dump their Teachers or worse use it against them)

IN FACT FOR MANY STUDENTS TODAY, A TEACHER IS NO LONGER A TEACHER OUTSIDE THE DOJO/WUSHU GUAN, OR AFTER THEY STOPPED TRAINING UNDER HIM/HER AND TREAT THEIR TEACHER LIKE HE/SHE WERE JUST ANOTHER ORDINARY PERSON THEY KNOW...

2) Violations in the Dojo/Wushu Guan...
Not following the Dojo Etiquette as Instructed by the Teacher or Seniors of the Dojo.

• Talking Loudly, Screaming, Sing, Joking/Fooling around and not being serious in the class, What's worse is when they do it in front of the Shomen/Alter in a Dojo/Wushu Guan.
• Swearing/Cussing and use of Profane Uncivilized Language
• Dirty/Cheap Talk
• Playing pranks on other students. 
• Deliberately not putting their mobile phones in Silent and worse using their Mobile phones inside the Dojo while training is in progress.
• Dirtying the Dojo/Wushu Guan.
• Destroying the Dojo/Shaolin Wushu Guan or the training equipment present in it.
• Many Students forget that a Dojo/Wushu Guan is a "PLACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT" and is as holy and pure as a Place of Worship and not a place of fashion or a place to flaunt the sexiness of their bodies, end up coming to Dojo/Wushu Guan shamelessly and immodestly dressed. (Dress Code for Beginners Learning Martial Arts...)

To be honest, it is the responsibility of the Teacher to maintain the necessary distance with his students and the responsibility of the Senior Students of the Teacher to educate the new comers and Juniors in the proper etiquette and protocols that they (as a student learning Martial Arts), must understand from their core and implement:
# in their interaction with their Teachers and
# while practising in the Dojo

Being A Good Student...

PLEASE NOTE: This post will be constantly updated...

This post is dedicated to all my Teachers for having accepted me as their Student... and who themselves are very Good Students to their Teachers even Today...

In order to be a Good Student you must first have a clear understanding of certain facts & truths...

1. KNOWLEDGE OR SKILLS ARE WHAT HELP A PERSON HAPPILY & SUCCESSFULLY EXIST, SURVIVE & MULTIPLY(Our basic instincts) IN THIS WORLD.
2. Knowledge/Skills are numerous but we mainly Learn Knowledge/Skills that will Benefit/Aid/Assist/Satisfy us:
   • Physically, Mentally & Spiritually
     
   • Economically, Financially, Socially etc.
3. But Attaining/Obtaining/Gaining Knowledge/Skills is not an easy task, as in order to attain/obtain/gain Knowledge/Skills you need to Learn it, Practice it and continue to Increase, Enhance & Perfect it.
4. To Learn you have to either
   • Teach/Train yourself (The Difficult way)
     By Understanding the Importance & Need of that Knowledge/Skill, Observation, Thinking(Imagination & Creativity), combined with Experimentation (Trial & Error) that is not only dangerous/risky but may also cause serious loss/damage physically, mentally & spiritually in addition to financial and other losses.
   • Learn it from a Documented Medium like Books, Dvds etc (The Limited Way).
   • Learn it from a Person "A Teacher", (The Easy Way) who has learnt it by himself (The Difficult Way) or from another Person (The Easy Way). 
5. But fortunately or unfortunately Not everyone has the caliber, intelligence, time and patience to first research/experiment/figure out the How, When, What & Why of things and then document it and learn it. Neither are they able to learn anything of quality from Books, DVDs etc.
6. Most People possessing any kind of Important, Life Saving Knowledge/Skill would NEVER want to share His Complete Knowledge/Skill with any third party, because He or his Children and Family could in turn be Challenged Or Would have to Compete with the very same ungrateful person (or his family/students) they taught and shared their knowledge with, That is Why Most Secret Arts/Knowledge/Skills were and even today are still being transferred, only within the same family from father to Child for generations.
7. YOU WANT TO BECOME A STUDENT ONLY BECAUSE YOU WANT TO LEARN/BE GUIDED IN THAT KNOWLEDGE/SKILL THAT YOU DON'T KNOW OR LACK.
8. YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BE YOUR TEACHER  ONLY BECAUSE YOU WANT THAT PERSON (TEACHER) TO TEACH YOU/GUIDE YOU IN THAT KNOWLEDGE/SKILL THAT YOU DON'T KNOW OR LACK.
9. So to be a Student, you must have a Teacher
   Many think that they can learn from Books, Audio & Videos etc, because they are oblivious or ignorant of the fact that, these lifeless, insensitive, unintelligent mediums are:
   
   • Only documentations of a person's (teacher's) Knowledge/Skill and each medium has numerous limitations in being able to replicate & convey that Knowledge/Skill completely and exactly the way, the Teacher knows and understands it.
   • No Teacher (there may be a few exceptions) would or even want to give out all his/her knowledge to the public domain where it could be misused etc.
   • Unable to impart the Ethical, Philosophical & Spiritual Aspects related to a Knowledge/Skill that, can be only Learnt from & Practiced under the guidance of a teacher.
   • Not intelligent or able to OBSERVE and CORRECT you when you are wrong WHICH IS THE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON WHY ONE NEEDS A TEACHER.
   • Unable to customize your training depending on your physical, mental and spiritual needs, abilities, changes or  limitations.
   • Unable to sensitively boost your morale, encourage and push you to the max, thus helping you to achieve your maximum potential, that is possible only in the presence of a Teacher.
10. To have a Teacher you must have a Person Willing To Teach YOU Everything He Knows Completely, Selflessly, Without Bias, Fear of Competition or Challenge.
11. No matter who you are, What you are, Where you are from, What you do...
    You can never force anyone to teach you anything or everything that they know(No matter how much or how little they know) or accept you as their student/disciple.
    If you think you can threaten a teacher to teach you, then don't forget "Only a Teacher knows How much he knows, What he knows, and every minute detail of what he knows", you are foolish to think you can get everything out of him
12. IT IS YOU WHO IS IN NEED OF THE KNOWLEDGE/SKILL THAT A TEACHER HAS.
13. IT IS YOU WHO IS GOING TO THE TEACHER, REQUESTING/BEGGING FOR HIM TO TEACH YOU AND ACCEPT YOU AS HIS STUDENT/DISCIPLE.
14. Don't think that you are doing your teacher a favor by learning from him.
15. If you think you are too great a person to fall at the feet of a teacher THEN YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE A STUDENT - GO FIND YOUR OWN WAY, waste your time INVENT THE WHEEL.

Now that you have comprehended the much needed truths and facts, let us understand the concepts of Being A Good Student.

Let me start by clearing the meaning of the words "Student", "Skilled Student" & "Good Student":
A "Student" Is One Who Learns From A Teacher/Instructor
A "Skilled Student" is one who is very Good in the Skills he has been taught, BUT it in no way does it define him/her to be a "Good Student"...

So to be a "Good Student" One must

1. First understand "Why One Is A Student", "How One Became A Student" and "How One Chose To Be A Particular Teacher's Student", most of which I have already explained above.
2. Be Dedicated And Passionate Towards And Always Respect His Art, Irrespective of whether he is Good or Bad in it. 
3. Be Perseverant and never brake down on failures, Everyone Has their own learning speed, but no matter how slow a student is, If he is determined and does not give up He will definitely Learn and most probably much better than the ones who learnt things pretty quickly.
4. Know How To Learn, Because "Even To Learn, One MUST Know How To Learn" (My next topic of Discussion)
5. Forever be Grateful and In-Debt to One's Teacher for having accepted him/her as a Student//Disciple.
6. Never Ever Dare Test. Disrespect, Compete or worse Challenge One's Teacher in anyway.
7. Understand and know That IT IS NOT AT ALL NECESSARY FOR One's TEACHER TO KNOW EVERYTHING, AND THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A BETTER MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE PERSON/TEACHER THAN One's Own Teacher, But That Can And Should Never Belittle Him in anyway.
8. Understand and know that One's Teacher Is A Human Being too and Not God, and So Is Entitled to Make his/her Own Share of Mistakes and Be Forgiven For It, The Same Way We Would Want To Be Forgiven For Our Own Mistakes.
9. Understand that the Money Paid as Fee, Is Not The Cost/Price of A Teacher's Knowledge, It is nothing more than a Token of Appreciation to compensate in the smallest way possible for The Teacher's Valuable and Precious Time That He Could Spend In His OWN PERSONAL TRAINING OR IN TRAINING HIS OWN FAMILY and Knowledge that he would otherwise share only with his own blood.
10. Never Misuse one's Knowledge/Skills.
11. [TO BE UPDATED WITH TIME...]

Hope this post helps enlighten most of the Lost Souls Who Think Be A Student Is As Simple As Sitting In a Classroom Or Making Someone A Teacher Is Similar To Buying A Commodity...

What Is it With Martial Art Students Trying To "Do Their Own Thing"...

Unfortunately Martial Art students today don't get happiness in seeing their teacher grow and get all the love, respect, fame, limelight or money that He/She earned through years of hard work and dedication and which He/She rightfully deserves.

They instead start wanting to be in their teacher's shoes and dream of getting equal if not all the gains, benefits and wealth for themselves, so that they too could feel like they are something big in life forgetting that there was once a time when they were nothing and knew nothing... and that it was their teacher who made them what they are today...

Unless a Teacher has passed away or has specially instructed His/Her student to do things independently, It is absolutely unethical and immoral for a student to even think of doing something that tries to be in par with/better or worse compete, over take, overshadow, impede with or come in the way of his own teacher.

This is more evil than a son foxily taking over his father's business even before:
1) his father dies or
2) his father formally hands over control of his business to his son
and with the son finally over throwing his own father out of the very business his father started, grew, supported and taught his son how to operate it.

Even if the teacher is not a good teacher and is trying to exploit his students, they should still show respect to him and not try to take is place... and should better do something different from what he has taught them.

In fact one of my Teachers was himself a victim of exploitation when he was a student. His teacher made him take all his classes make him work like a servant in his house and for all his dedication and hard work he was paid peanuts while his teacher feasted on the rest of the profits... Even though his teacher was so bad to him, he still prefers to stay in the shadows of obscurity even today, knowing that his teacher is alive, he still avoids coming to the limelight out of respect for him being his teacher in the past...

Sadly most of the students that come to learn martial arts today, only do so, so that they could start their own school tomorrow...

A good student would always want to be with and work for and along with his teacher forever. It is only after his teacher's death that He/She would ever be forced to take the responsibility of the School and the rest of his students when requested by the teacher's family or if it was willed by the teacher, in addition to looking after and supporting the Teacher's Family as long as it was needed....