Wen Hsiu Quan

Hi, everyone. This week I have gotten started on a new book that I could have read much earlier, but now finally got down to reading. That book, my friends, is the famed Bhagavad Gita. Sun Tzu's Art of War and Lao Tze's Taode Qing are actually very thin and make for relative easy reading. If you manage to get your hands on Musashi's Book of Five Rings you can find yourself finishing it within a month. The Baghavad Gita, on the other hand, is a montsrous volume of approximately 500 pages. The copy I have contains commentaries and translations that raise this number to over a 1 000 pages. Yes- It is a lot to read. One of the main protagonists in this book's story is a man called Arjuna. Now- if you are like me who does not know anything about Hinduism whatsoever you might never have heard of him, but since he is a close friend of Lord Krishna I am certain that the followers of the Hindu faith know very well who he is. Here is a bit of what I have ...

Yes. I know very well that what I am saying is not making sense to many of you. That does not bother me if it doesn't make sense to someone who does not know any martial arts, because it gives me something to teach and then I can actually show how martial arts can solve the world's problems instead of adding to them. What does bother me, however, is that there are high ranking martial artists- not only in MMA- but in Karate schools- who don't get it either. I often imagine how dangerous this guy will be if Goku taught him to control that rage... I trust however that there are still some old-school Karate teachers around that know the Japanese Okinawan proverb that starts with something like " Njiraa te hiki ..." or something like that... Anyway- it translates to: "If you are angry- withdraw your fists. If your fists are out, withdraw your anger." A little help here, please Jesse Sensei- if you are out there and reading thi...

This year is the year in which I will turn 40. Looking back at how I have trained ever since I have joined my first karate class at the age of 14 I am grateful for always having had a way for my training to continue, regardless of moving to another town, another house, changes in work hours or whatever life threw at me. I have always found a time and a place to train. And- I always will. Don't be surprised if I end up starting a martial arts class in the old age home when I am 94! Getting between me and my training is about the same as getting between a hippo and the water. If you live in South Africa and know the bush you would know that doing so is a very bad idea. Today my usual training space was occupied. Lots of tree cutting being done and so forth...That did not mean that I was not going to train today, though... I just took the weapons to another part of the yard and kicked off my training there. The usual exercise with the coffee tins filled...

I think we have by now come across a couple of people who are studying some martial art or the other on their own. Back when I tried doing it at the age of 10 I used a book and later more books followed. Well- even after I did join an actual dojo more books followed even then... People are quick to say that you can't learn a martial art from a book. That is understandable. I for one know that you can't work as a lawyer if you have only gotten your law degree. In fact- few people feel as incompetent as a bright graduate starting out as a candidate at a law firm. The main reason why martial arts can't be learnt by reading alone is that experience plays a large part in developing the skills that any martial art has to offer. Knowledge is not enough. Nonetheless- self study is possible. We may argue about to which extent, but the history of Chinese and Japanese martial arts feature instances where people studied a scroll or a f...