tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232825159765940340.post1438485590041299365..comments2023-12-29T22:43:36.136+02:00Comments on Soo Shim Kwan 水心館수심관: A Principle Based (Martial) ArtSkryfblokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00329458286217107784noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232825159765940340.post-67735295061320332012-05-21T01:28:13.728+02:002012-05-21T01:28:13.728+02:00Glad you liked it. The Chinese have some funny mor...Glad you liked it. The Chinese have some funny moral and military esque stories given their long history of literacy. Mao tried to wipe most of it out, but he didn't succeed as well as he thought. Btw, in Japanese "Maou" is pronounced the same and means Demon Lord. A fitting name sake.Ymar Sakarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232825159765940340.post-57194635192525847242012-05-20T12:38:01.922+02:002012-05-20T12:38:01.922+02:00I like the story.I like the story.SooShimKwanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08864922377526465321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232825159765940340.post-15932001931002406412012-05-19T17:35:37.726+02:002012-05-19T17:35:37.726+02:00This is similar to how in the military orders are ...This is similar to how in the military orders are absolute. But it's up to the subordinate to come up with a way to carry out those orders. So if the orders are good, the subordinate can still fail due to incompetence or lack of imagination/preparation. If the orders are insane, then the subordinate has to somehow find a way to obey and yet survive.<br /><br />One of the historical strategists in China had this story about how he was ordered to go collect 100k arrows, while his army was about to cross a river invading another nation. His superior used this as a good way to get rid of an upstart subordinate, thinking that he'll either won't be able to get enough arrows off the battlefield, which he will be executed for insubordination, or he will die trying. The strategist in question decided to build some mock rafts with straw stick men on them and sent them down the river and received them after they passed in front of the enemy archer range. The enemy thought that they were seeing the enemy army cross the river, so they put out a bunch of arrows.<br /><br />In the process, the strategist survived, collected 100k arrows, and obeyed the order.<br /><br />That is the "art" in the Art of War. People who place too much import on "science" in human conflicts have forgotten that it is humans they are fighting... not machines or the natural world.Ymar Sakarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1232825159765940340.post-2184843855686538472012-05-19T17:29:07.092+02:002012-05-19T17:29:07.092+02:00The thing about martial arts is that it takes scie...The thing about martial arts is that it takes science and makes it into an art. Meaning, if an engineer had a set of laws such as Ohm's law that could describe everything seen in a basic electrical circuit, all he would need are the principles to manipulate the circuit. The principles and the various components such as resistors, capacitors, etc made by others. Now these components have "specs", meaning they can handle a certain voltage to turn on or off. An engineer then deals purely in the numbers and using the mechanical specs, creates an electrical circuit and checks it using the laws.<br /><br />But a martial artist can't do that. A martial artist can learn principles and laws, yes, but to actually make them work, they need to adapt those laws to their own body. So it'd be like an engineer trying to make a circuit work when he doesn't even know what is IN the circuit let alone what the specs are. The only way that engineer can know whether something has a capacitor or a resistor is to physically touch it or test the circuit without touching it (you might be electrocuted if you touch it). That is then the "art". The art is the decisions the user makes when combining knowledge with practical application, that is where the "skill" comes into play, where the individual matters and not the numbers on a sheet of paper.<br /><br />Now that analogy might only make sense to engineers, but it's a start.Ymar Sakarnoreply@blogger.com