subject: The Way To The True Path Of The Martial Arts [print this page] I was in the army in 1969, stuck with drab duty and endless amounts of time in which to conjecture. I was supposed to go to Viet Nam and kill people. This was not a task I was looking forward to.
One night I fell into a conversation with a young private, and he asked me if I have ever read Lao Tse. I told him I hadn't and asked him what it was. He told me that it was...The Way.
Now, I had come across the concept of The Way in the martial arts. I had read of it, talked about it with fellow students, and considered it in light manner. Oddly, though I had been in the martial arts for a couple of years, I had no idea that there was a book expressly concerned with The Way.
Not long after that I found a copy of the book and began to examine it. I dwelt upon the passages, translated the ancient Chinese terminology into terms I understood as best I was able. I was to find that the mere reading of the book, which is not a sizable volume, was a journey in itself.
There is no low without high, there is no front without back, translated into the most fascinating dichotomy. Oddly, I found that these concepts, front and back, high and low, were usable in fighting. Indeed, as the years passed I was to find that the mere consideration of these concepts, even in the middle of chaotic freestyle, brought order and advantage of a sizable nature.
My favorite passage of the book is, Do nothing until nothing is left undone, was positively enlightening. I would exchange the whims of my life for the chance to implement this strategy. Eventually, the forms done ten thousand times, I would see the glimmer of truth, and my art would actually engage in the effortless principles that make up the True Art.
Not every time would I be able to make the concepts of The Way function in my real life actions, but the contest was in The Way, and this contest brought me out of the box, undid the normal way of thinking, and enabled me to actually be a seeker in action, and the whims of my youthful desire began to manifest. Emotions became a joy, age became a relaxation, and and still The Way nudges me hither and yon. My form transmogrifies to the lilt of this ancient rhyme, and another world beckons unceasingly.
A perfect world, where the realization that The Way is merely the unceasing time before me has settled upon me. A world where those obsessed with political intrigue and the almighty dollar fall sick by the wayside and envy me my youth and good health. A world where human beings exist, outside the realm of transgressions and judgment, this is The Way that I have found.
