Warrior Vs. Fighter

The spiritualism part of it stems from buddhism, for them, true martial arts is a spiritual journey that takes a number of lifetimes to master. unfortunately, for those of us in america, its hard to find that kind of training. (though it does exist here) To me, the difference between a solder and a warrior is nothing more than a solder gets regular pay, a warrior has to make war to get money. and a fighter is anyone who fights on a regular basis, for money or not.

MARTIAL- "of or pertaining to war"

Martial arts has nothing to do outwardly with a spiritual journey. It has to do with the practice of killing people.

It CAN be made into a spiritual journey but like Umar said, that's up to the individual. Some individuals have turned their ideal of this into what they teach and so it has become inherent in there "martial art", but again, that's "Americanized" based on the romanticism and the Bhodidharma type myths.

Peace-
Cam

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Rock On!
Cam
"Raise up your mind....."

Yeah, I didn't have a good answer either. Cam is right when he says these things. For me personally, I don't train MA to become a compassionate, caring person. Let's be real about this... most people train for the physical rewards.

Yay... or nay.


Don't get me wrong, I'm aware that things learned through MA training can be applied to everyday life.

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It's all about the nitty gritty.......

Ok, so I thought about this and read up on it alot, and when you cut through the literary crap about someone who stands up for "good" and justice you can find some books that really illuminate this subject.

When you strip away a warriors Cause and ideals, IMHO you get someone who knows what his/her life is worth and is willing to suffer and die for something that is greater. No zen, No enlightenment, No "esoteric crap" .
Just a simply cold, unfeeling and calculating person who knows the worth of himself and his ideals.

Anyhow this is just the opinion I formed after really looking into the subject.

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Soldiers Die Saints

ah.... MOST american types. When you have a teacher who was trained by a grandmaster in the country of the arts origen, you dont get a lot of americanism.... except for the belt system... i HATE the belt system. DAMN YOU TAE KWON DO!

“	Originally Posted By: SpearMeister ah.... MOST american types. When you have a teacher who was trained by a grandmaster in the country of the arts origen, you dont get a lot of americanism.... except for the belt system... i HATE the belt system. DAMN YOU TAE KWON DO!	”

WTF

I don't know about Chinese belt systems but heres a quick history on Japenese belts:

Origionally belts were used to simply hold a Gi' in place during training, and despite your rank you still wore a white belt. However it was common practice to wrap your clothes with the belt...and since u were not allowed to wash a belt, it got dirty. Eventually the amount of dirt on a belt was a sign of rank. It went White->dirty->dirtier->white again. The invention of Belts as a rating system is purely american.

If i had to guess id say it became common practice in all american training centers.......

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Soldiers Die Saints

The colored belt ranking system came from judo.

Peace-
Cam

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Rock On!
Cam
"Raise up your mind....."

Nevermind about the belts we've been through this already.

Would you consider Jet Li a "martial artist" ..
I think he is a good example of one.He shows us that maybe mastering ourselves,and the forms is possibly a harder challenge than actually fighting.
And there is something to be learned from this spiritual side of the MA's.

What about the movie "Hero" anyone see it ..

In the latest issue of Mens Health he talks about the movie and his very accomplished MA's arts career.
For a man who has been at it for more than 30 years well I think he is quite masterful,and very adept fighter.

You know it's funny he's a very spiritual person too.Hmm.. why is that .Just what were talking about.It is kind of a co-incidence.Hmm..

Actually, I believe that Jet Li was temple trained. Answers a lot of your questions right there.

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It's all about the nitty gritty.......

Who cares if he's religious, I know many MA'ists that aren't.

despite all this zen stuff, religion doesnt co-exist well with training that is essentially tailored to handle violent situations.

You want zen...become a priest...I just wanna train

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Soldiers Die Saints

“	Would you consider Jet Li a "martial artist" ..	”

Yes. And an actor.

“	For a man who has been at it for more than 30 years well I think he is quite masterful,and very adept fighter.	”

Are you still talking about Jet Li here What are you basing the statement "he's a very adept fighter" on When have you seen him fight Who has he fought

Peace-
Cam

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Rock On!
Cam
"Raise up your mind....."

“	Originally Posted By: Lugaldamhara What are you basing the statement "he's a very adept fighter" on When have you seen him fight Who has he fought Peace- Cam	”

Exactly. Movies make people look better than what they actually are.... BUT, being that Jet Li is temple trained... I wouldn't want to find out otherwise. I'd like to watch someone else figure that out.

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It's all about the nitty gritty.......

Im not sure saying he was temple trained is accurate; Not sure if this still happens but China used to have a summer progrm set up for youth; One of the programs was a Wushu program and Jet Lie just so happened to go into that. He was good so at the end of the summer they invited him to keep coming. As he got older the government kept training him. So he was trained in a serious manner since he was young, and has been to many competitions, including the first Wushu team demonstration in America...but Im not sure you should call it "temple training".

Theres no doubt hes an amazingly skilled artist; thats why his movies look so great. But Im not sure how "martially" focused his mindset is or was...Surely though I dotn wnat to find otu first hand either! =)

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PlumDragon Herbs: Dit Da Jow and Iron Palm Liniments

"When a handshake passes the elbow, it becomes Judo."

Didn't omeone mention that by Jet Li's own admission he has never been in a street fight...

I don't know who agrees with me on this but if you want to be a good fighter, a couple real fights helps alot.....when pain and danger are involved you find out whats usefull and when, IMHO no matter how much training is involved rel encounters make good fighters

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Soldiers Die Saints