What is your understanding of martial arts philosophy, in general?

What is your understanding of martial arts philosophy, in general? OR in your particular art of choice, in particular? (VERY IMPORTANT: Cite your web, authoritative


historical/philosophical university-level scholarly sources highly desired, but not required)|||You are asking people for their personal takes on martial arts yet you want them to cite sources? If any of them cites a source other than him or herself, it%26#039;s really not their understanding is it?|||people cannot cite sources for their own individual understanding of things. IN martial arts, you understanding of it gets developed while you train. I take three martial arts and yoga, and I understand each one in my own way.





However, this understanding did not come from research, scholarly sources, or websites. The philosophy of each martial art, and yoga, had to get pounded in through blood and sweat.





A person who would offer you cited reference is someone without empirical experience in the way of martial arts.





The only thing I can tell you is that each martial way is a path for self-improvement. You meet many friends and good people who train continuously to be better. This does not mean to be able to beat another person sensless; it means to become a better person. Every martial art strives to create a community of such people.





We always seek new friends and have fun with each other, while training.|||My personal philosophy is to seek peace, balance and harmony. I study the art of self-defense because I dislike violence. I study so that I will not be a victim of it.





I do not really feel like listing my personal information but know that I am quite educated in the martial arts an outside the martial arts as well.|||to build a person up so that they can deal with any challenge not just in self defence but in all walks of life





just my opinion|||Through training in the Martial Arts one learns self discipline, self confidence and respect for others, as well as the importance of honor, commitment and trustworthiness.|||I gotta tell you bro, I%26#039;m a pretty deep dude. I%26#039;ve learned alot over the past several years. I went from believing that chinese kung fu and Bruce Lee are superior to all other forms of fighting and fighters to ounderstanding how pretty much anyone can get ICEd, regardless of their style. I%26#039;m actually past that point now, and what I%26#039;ve come to realize, I actually can%26#039;t tell any of you dudes.|||In general, the martial arts that involve a lot of philosophy are Japanese based or Chinese based philosophy.





The Japanese based philosophy is rooted in Bushido and a main component of Bushido is Japanese Zen Buddhism. In Zen, you try to seek emptiness in yourself. The goal is to be strict to yourself before anything else. Most practices start and end with a Zen meditation.





Chinese martial arts are more Taoist, and the goal is to seek harmony with your natural surrounding. This requires less discipline than the Zen based martial arts, but also takes much longer time to learn. In general, Chinese martial arts take a LONG time to master.





There are, of course, philosophical aspects in many other martial arts, but I think Japanese and Chinese martial arts are the ones where philosophy is the biggest part of it. In general, those who devote their lives to some of these arts feel very in tuned with the philosophy of the art.





Another thing is that, even though the Taoist and Zen philosophies initially are very different. The highest level martial artists%26#039; mentality are all the same. It is just the road you take to get there.|||What is your view on them?|||my personal thoughts on martial arts is to have the skills neccessary to defend myself or loved ones in any given situation that might put us in danger. i dont go around starting fights just to prove to no one that im tough but if i am threatend i will not hesitate to unleash my skills on my adversary. its better to have the skills and not need them, than to need them and not have them|||Martial Arts philosophy?





the core of ANY AND ALL martial arts training must be:





Learn to hit, and don%26#039;t get hit.





This applies to weapons, hand to hand and ALL styles.





Each style and teacher has its own way for itself to teach students this and that is what becomes so detailed. This MUST be the PRIMARY philosophy behind any martial art or else it is not a martial art.|||My philosophy of MA is...





No belt system because people view it as a %26#039;get out of a fight unhurt card.%26#039; Katas are useless in a fight because an attacker doesn%26#039;t give a flying monkey about your katas. No high kicks because they are easy to block %26amp; often miss their targets more than hit them.





MA is about self defense not self offense. MA is for a last resort %26amp; even if you win the fight you lose. MA is not about hurting others, it is to prevent others from hurting you.