Is Self-Defense Spiritual?

My Tongbeiquan teacher here in China used to run an enforcer business.😏
My Chinese wrestling teacher was an assassin for Chinese national party spy leader Dai Li 戴笠 (against communist party). His mission was to hide near a national party's general. If my teacher could find any evidence that general had any communication with the communist part, my teacher would kill that general. My teacher's last mission was target to Long Yuan 龙云 (ruler in Yuana 云南王). He failed in that mission. But he escaped. All his life, he hated dog.

Long Yuan:

long_yuan.webp
 
Last edited:
All his life, he hated dog
Wow, it's funny you said that. See what I posted in the other thread. Didn't know you were a mind-reader.

Man and dog. A very martial spiritual connection, one of the oldest in human history.

There's a great movie about this, Alpha. It's about an ancient hunter and his dog, and the ending is surprise I won't spoil, but outstanding.

 
My Chinese wrestling teacher was an assassin for Chinese national party spy leader Dai Li 戴笠 (against communist party). His mission was to hide near a national party's general. If my teacher could find any evidence that general had any communication with the communist part, my teacher would kill that general. My teacher's last mission was target to Long Yuan 龙云 (ruler in Yuana 云南王). He failed in that mission. But he escaped. All his life, he hated dog.

Long Yuan:

View attachment 32312
It would seem that dogs haven’t been particularly liked from the Middle East to the far east. Only for the last 20-25 years having pet dogs been a thing in China
 
I don't see "do" as being spiritual (in the sense of spirit being something ethereal or mystical, some outside force or concept that one internalizes - my definition), but rather something a bit more concrete. Funakoshi wrote Karate-do, My Way of Life and that title I think best describes "do" - the way you walk the path of everyday life using the concepts and methodologies of karate. "Do" is dedication, commitment, respect, self-discipline and improvement and morality.

Funakoshi's book came out in 1923 (don't know when "do" was first used, but this made it popular), the time karate was being established into the Japanese school system. Karate started to change from pure self-defense (jutsu) to a system of self-development and behavioral model as befitting an educational venue molding boys and girls. This grew into the modern popular view of karate.

While karate-jutsu developed many of the virtues of "do," they were a natural by-product of the art, not a major focus of it as in karate-do.

One can insert/visualize spirituality into their karate practice, like anything else, if they wish, but it's not an inherent part of it.

It's the do/jutsu rabbit hole again!

The whole Do vs. Jutsu discussion only gets a lot of play outside Japan. It's something that Donn Draeger came up with. It was an interesting idea, but, frankly, he was wrong. There is no opposition between the two concepts. To have a way (Do 道) you must have skill (Jutsu 術) to build it from. In order for skills to be coherent, they must be organized in a way. 道 is founded on 術、while 道makes sense of 術。  

 
if you don’t like dogs, there is something wrong with you.
When my teacher escaped his failed mission, he was chased by a group of hunting dogs. He must have bad experience from that event.

When my teacher lived in my house, he had never touched my border colli dog.

I love dog. I have 5 Yorkies - Ja Ja, Ya Ya, Ki Ki, bandit, and cowboy. Last week, my bandit got sick. My wife and I took him to the dog urgent center. It costs me $1,250. It's not cheap to have dog. I don't believe there is any dog medical insurance available.
 
Last edited:
The whole Do vs. Jutsu discussion.... There is no opposition between the two concepts.

While karate had been taught in the schools for a decade or so in Japan, it's official recognition in 1936 as "karate-do" marked a cultural shift in seeing karate as a discipline that has benefits for everyone in all walks of life.

IMO the only opposition between jutsu and do is when important self-defense aspects of the former are sacrificed and replaced with the emphasis of the latter. I think both aspects are possible to exist in the art, but historically, jutsu applications have suffered. I personally embrace both aspects.
 
Man and dog. A very martial spiritual connection, one of the oldest in human history.
Last week, one of my dogs got sick. My wife cried. I told her, "We have 5 dogs. If you cry when one of our dogs is sick or die. You will cry twice for each dog. That will be 10 cries for 5 dogs. Are you ready to do that?"

I don't know any spiritual solution for this.
 
dog was on the menu in parts of southern China
Sure I know people who have eaten it. I’ve eaten squirrels, raccoons, opossum, horse, frog, alligator, snake, turtle, a host of invertebrates etc. but THE BEST was…. Wait for it….
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0306.webp
    IMG_0306.webp
    160.3 KB · Views: 0
So. As far as internal learning and development goes. Self defence can be spiritual.

And possibly more spiritual than a lot of the spiritual stuff. Which all seems a bit fabricated anyway.
 
When my teacher escaped his failed mission, he was chased by a group of hunting dogs. He must have bad experience from that event.

When my teacher lived in my house, he had never touched my border colli dog.

I love dog. I have 5 Yorkies - Ja Ja, Ya Ya, Ki Ki, bandit, and cowboy. Last week, my bandit got sick. My wife and I took him to the dog urgent center. It costs me $1,250. It's not cheap to have dog. I don't believe there is any dog medical insurance available.
There is dog health insurance. VPI.
 
I love dog. I have 5 Yorkies - Ja Ja, Ya Ya, Ki Ki, bandit, and cowboy. Last week, my bandit got sick. My wife and I took him to the dog urgent center. It costs me $1,250. It's not cheap to have dog. I don't believe there is any dog medical insurance available.

It turns out that your belief is incorrect.
 

It turns out that your belief is incorrect.
Thanks! To have dog insurance seems to be a good idea.

Here are 3 of my 5 dogs.

 
Last edited:

Latest Discussions

Back
Top