Great Quotes - Discuss

[Shirindo]

These quotes were posted on another forum, I have been given kind permission by the original poster to post them here for our discussion. Please do them the justice I feel they deserve; ie discuss them respectfully whatever your viewpoint on them might be.

Quote:

My Master, a very wise Sabomnin has told me that

1. There is no best martial art

2. A fight will always be determined by the rules
A ground fighter and a stand up fighter from say Krav Maga and JuJutsu... a ground fighter can do whatever he wants... but the Krav Maga fighter who knows how to kill... is very limited.

3. Respect is the basis for everything, if you have no respect you are no martial artist.

You can see the original conversation here

[sirdarksol]

I agree entirely with these statements.

In particular, I am bothered by ultimate fighting type people who think that, because they've done ultimate fighting they could take anyone on the street. There are so many targets, attacks, etc... that aren't allowed in these fights because they are very harmful. On the street, on the other hand, if you're attacked by a guy, there's nothing wrong with breaking a finger or two to defend yourself.

And I cannot agree enough with the respect statement. Anybody can fight, anybody can learn techniques. Technique does not make you a martial artist, it just makes you an effective brawler. Respect for yourself, your opponent, and your art are what separate you from a brawler.

[Shirindo]

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

And I cannot agree enough with the respect statement. Anybody can fight, anybody can learn techniques. Technique does not make you a martial artist, it just makes you an effective brawler. Respect for yourself, your opponent, and your art are what separate you from a brawler.

This all stems back to something one of my instructors once said to me.

'Some people do martial arts, some people are martial artists.'

Just because you train in martial arts doesn't mean you are a martial artist. To respect peoples opinions when they are opposed to your own is one measure of having what it takes to be a martial artist.

I cant think of many pioneers within martial arts who went around disrespecting everyone with a different viewpoint to their own.

[sirdarksol]

Think about current well-known martial artists. Which of them spends a significant portion of their time bashing other styles? The ones that put out a ton of books coughAshida Kimcough that don't match with what any other style, or even history teach. The ones whose systems lack power in their own right. If a system is useful, if it holds truth, a true master will be too caught up in learning and teaching to waste time slamming other artists.

There are, of course, going to be times when an instructor might say something like "shorin ryu has a block like this. The problem with this block is that this attack will easily defeat it."

[Shirindo]

But I think that completely justifies the original post, that there is no perfect martial art.

I once was at a seminar and the instructor there said something very similar;

"the high block in style 'x' is good but has a weakness to technique 'y' from style 'z'."

What I particularly like was what he said next.

"In my style we do the high block like this; which unfortunately is susceptible to this technique from the first style 'x'."

[disgruntled]

wow! wise guy! it takes someone truely confident in their style to see the weaknesses and TEACH them!!!

[Shirindo]

The more you understand about your style the more you can prepare.

Its also the reason why I fell that cross training is the answer.

[sirdarksol]

Every art either grows or stagnates. Even if you don't specifically cross train, if you recognize weaknesses and work to make adjustments for them, that's incredible growth.

And yes, I think that my statement most definitely does qualify the statement. I was just pointing out the difference between bashing another art and pointing out weaknesses in it so that students may learn.