[QUOTE=sanjuro_ronin;866670]I think it goes beyond that, very few faiths are “OK” with laying the smack down on someone’s candy ass and, lets be honest here, that is what MA TRAINING is about.
All the respect, discipline and whatnot doesn’t change the fact that you are learning how to drive your fist into someone’s face and your foot into their groin.[/QUOTE]
this is a little misleading. Buddha recognized that in some situations, war must come. Secondly, martial arts are relatively stagnant, if you are narrowing your definition to strict application of techniques you learn to cause damage to someone. In the past the study and development of these ‘arts’ were driven by necessity and effectiveness, and we see this quite easily when looking at the evolution of warfare and what has descended to us today. Elephants are different from tanks, yet the student of martial arts can learn about deploying tanks by studying Hannibal vs. Romans. A loose example.
Even the burgeoning field of ‘reality’ the ‘real’ and the so called MMA experience, all these pursuits basically feed into a bit of a fantasy scenario, often displayed as such when the proverbial sh!t actually hits the fan.
Depending on your job, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of practical and applicable benefits. I’ve used what I have learned in Shaolin in my work, but again, it fit the situation. And again, things and times change. And whereas weapon developments outmatch hand to hand and make various weaponry obsolete due to technological advance…people find that the training of certain disciplines have their own intrinsic value which might be quite different from the original purpose…which is pretty much an anachronism these days for the most part, but why there can be such a thing as a Ch’an butcher or woodchopper.
Take for example, fencing. Or shooting targets, by bow or gun.
To me it sounds like this guy wants a clarity of spirit and it should be obvious especially in this day and age that what most people refer to when they use the term ‘martial arts’ fully actualizes such a pursuit and it’s not necessary to burst someone’s spleen to gain these benefits- but because martial arts training was or is, depending, based on a singularity of deadly purpose and a kind of clarity arose from that pursuit, and hence became loaded with the mythic mechanisms to handle certain archetypal questions we ask of ourselves…well…it’s no wonder to me that martial arts have developed ulterior purposes which no longer satisfy original objectives.
What I would say though, is that if you are Christian, and wish to remain true to that, then you have quite a few spiritual mechanisms open to you, why not become a Christian monk. Just following Yashua’s teaching is pretty spiritually focusing. The thing about martial arts training is it is not supposed to be comfortable, growth comes at hardship endured. That is the original way Christianity was supposed to be too. Yashua didn’t go to Temple every sunday and say well, that is that. He was itinerant, mendicant. Fasted, recluse…in other words…his path and the path he taught was one of spiritual growth through hardship. Go, sell all that thou hast, and follow me…
Studying Buddhism is going to dramatically change your faith and perhaps focus it, rob it of several loaded illusions…
The martial art itself will not help you get closer to God other than helping you take care of your body. How you use it after you learn it is 100% up to you. Shaolin kungfu though does not all about defense. There’s quite a bit of aggressive offensive technique. Heck, Shaolin monks have hired themselves out as soldiers, and body guards in the past serving some people who weren’t exactly morally ideal.