MARTIAL VIRTUE (武德）
The proper term for martial arts in China is Wushu
(武術).
The word “wu” (武)
is made up of zhi止
(to stop) and ge戈
(an ancient Chinese weapon). Wushu is therefore often taken
to mean “the art of stopping violence.” This is in keeping
with the understanding that most masters come to - that the
purpose of practising a martial art is to seek peace and
harmony in a seemingly violent world.
This is the higher purpose of traditional martial arts.
Great masters have gone so far as to say that “The true way
of the martial artist is the way of Love.” This is not
merely idealistic poetry. It is very practical. Love,
enlightenment, and harmony with all things, is the most
efficient way to victory. Great warriors throughout history
have known that victory depends on knowing yourself and
knowing your enemy. But you will never truly know anyone by
hating them.
This practical idealism is also why being a martial artist
has traditionally been very different from being a soldier.
Soldiers in times of feudal warfare were seldom well
trained martial artists. They simply didn’t have the time.
They were usually poor uneducated peasants conscripted into
the army and given a few weeks of combat training. A
martial artist, by contrast, would spend a lifetime
refining his or her skill.
Much of the soldier’s training would, out of necessity,
consist of learning to follow orders, march, and embrace
such emotions as fear, bravery, pride and discipline. To a
martial artist, fear and pride are not virtues, and
discipline can have a very different meaning to a martial
artist than it does to a soldier.
A martial artist’s training includes profound and subtle
refinement of combat skills, as well as a concurrent
refinement of personality, calming the mind, and
cultivating virtue. Traditional wushu incorporates the
study arts, sciences, religion, medicine, psychology, and
philosophy. No form of study is beyond the scope of martial
arts. Everything that helps one to understand the Universe
and one’s place in it, is a part of wushu.
Mastery includes the mastery of one’s life. A martial
artist - using love and kindness as a guiding foundation -
pursues chivalry, righteousness, modesty, faithfulness,
honesty, integrity, and courtesy. These are not laws that
one must follow. They are the natural result of seeking
wisdom. Virtue is not the carrot or the stick. It is the
horse.
Wude
武德 (martial virtue) is not an adjunct to combat
training. It is an essential part of it. If one does not
cultivate virtue, one will never achieve the high level
skills of a martial art. It is possible to achieve a
mediocre level of skill without virtue. But the highest
level of combat skill has traditionally belonged to the
people of highest virtue. That is why one is not surprising
to look through history and find the greatest and most
famous martial artists were not always soldiers. They were
also monks, nuns, healers, teachers, and sometimes
performers, engineers, aristocrats, and peasant farmers.
There are exceptions to every rule. But when martial
historians find a famous martial artist who did not appear
to be of high moral character, it is usually the case that,
if such masters were not beaten in combat, they did tend to
destroy themselves.
