Tips and Tricks School

The martial arts have long been held up as a vehicle for enlightenment. Indeed, this is the goal at the end of the path of The True Art. This article is about why this is so, and to enable the reader to reach the end of that path all the sooner.

Enlightenment is when light shines forth from the individual. With that light the enlightened being views the world differently. His perceptions are heightened, and he has a superior viewpoint.

If enlightenment happened because of the fact of motion, then movement would result in enlightenment. Hockey, ballet, football, all would result in an enlightened individual, but they don't, so one must ask oneself, what is it about the Martial Arts that they result in enlightenment of the human being?

What is different is that there is fighting, and when one understands what fighting truly is, one becomes enlightened. What is the essence of this thing called fighting? One could sum up the subject by saying that when one finally understands that when he is fighting he is only fighting himself, he becomes enlightened, and a study of the martial arts does result in this realization.

The universe, you see, is a space filled with moving objects. Every object in the universe has a direction that it is going in. It is only in the martial arts that one actually engages in the study of the directions of objects as the one who creates the direction.

A fist flies at you, and you go through a range of emotions. Eventually, you give up emotions so that you can analyze. Thus, you rise above base reaction and become cause.

A person threatens you, he holds a knife and approaches you, and you must divine the direction before it manifests. You must look at the world the way it exists, and not through some fantasy, and thus you look at the world you created. Thus, you rise above being the flotsam and jetsam of a universe awash with random motion, and thus you take control of the motions of the universe.

There is no motion in this universe, you see, that you have not created. That star shines for you, because of you, if it wasn't for you, there would be no purpose for that star to shine. And through the tempering of form, the steeling of will, the martial artist engages in combat, to give up combat and become what he truly is, an enlightened being free to enjoy the universe.