In my previous post, I talked about an aggressive spiritual attack-cum-protection method as formulated by a well-known Japanese practitioner （高籐聰一郎）based on the secretive practice of "Eight Doors to hide the leader" (奇門遁甲). By definition nobody really can be sure about something secretive, but the Japanese master's approach does fall within the general approach of traditional Taoist or magical texts. In the arena of martial art, there are practitioners who do follow some form of spiritual approach in combat training. I'm talking about "non-contact jing 淩空勁". Don't laugh, it has been practiced by a very small number of martial artists, including the famous Wu-style tai-chi master Wang DiXian （汪棣賢), the master who first made public the "once-closely-guarded" Tai-chi Nei Gong 24 styles!
I watched a video of an open demonstration by Master Wang who practiced with his students. And off they fell without being touched by the master physically. I have no way to check with Wang on the objective of his training. It seems that it is some kind of spiritual protection, in addition to break-fall training under a relaxed meditative state of mind.
In our society with less physical intimidation in everyday life (some of you may disagree!), psychological intimidation though is still prevalent. The outraged boss and nagging spouse, just two common examples! Spiritual attack or intimidation always come from people who are in position of power, and can be quite menacing! Those who have read some modern literature can perhaps recall some menacing scenes in Kafka's fictions; or to a lesser extend the Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter's plays, with pauses and suspense.
The question is: How to protect against spiritual intimidation or attack? Answer: by relaxation, total relaxation.
The advice of the Japanese master is that if you feel you can't stop the "weapons" coming from your practicing partner, just relax, relax completely, and his weapons will fly pass your body as if pass through space. And you will not be harmed.
In the case of master Wang, his students simple relaxed, let go and fell down - without struggling against the non-contact intimidation of their master.
In summary, total relaxation is the key to psychological or spiritual protection.
Corollary, a spiritual aggressor has to be in a position of power before his intimidation will become effective (like a master, a boss, or a spouse in some position of power). That's why when we browse videos uploaded on YouTube, we can sometimes find videos of some martial art masters practicing spiritual intimidation failed miserably when having a friendly fight (intended to demonstrate their non-contact combat skills!!) with an average martial artist (like a common MMA fighter)whom the master doesn't know! These masters should have known better the limitation or objective of their training methods.
Cheng Man-Ching was supposed to have said something like: "Less less afraid you are, the more relaxed you become. Becoming more relaxed, you fear less."
ReplyDeleteRick, I certainly agree with your quoted comment of Master Cheng. Thanks for sharing.
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