Virtues from Martial Arts

I started my martial arts training during my first year of high school with the motivation to gain some knowledge on fighting back bullies. I have experienced a bullying incident which happened inside a parish church’s compound when my younger brother and I were on our way home after attending a Sunday meeting for altar servers. An older guy approached us and pushed me for no reason at all. My heart pounded so hard, and my hands and feet felt numb. I felt helpless and got surprised that such an incident could also happen inside the church’s premises. This has then conditioned my mind to really injure the next bully that I will encounter once I have developed fighting skills.

As time progressed, I have become fully dedicated to the art. I even passed the tough training for the Taekwondo Varsity Team which was composed mainly of senior students who are better and bigger than me. I took it as an opportunity to learn faster and gain superiority in terms of techniques, speed, and power. Apparently, the sacrifices have paid off—I defended my championship title for three consecutive years. Also, outside the dojo, I was just waiting for the opportunity to dispatch bullies with my newly-acquired and highly efficient fighting techniques.

However, when I finally got the black belt, my perspective towards practicing the art has changed dramatically. Perhaps, the level of responsibility given to me as the club junior instructor has shaped me to become a better version of myself mentally and spiritually. The tremendous training involved in the physical sparring with an opponent has been extended to my life’s daily battles – financial management, parenting, self-control, nurturing relationship with loved ones, and being a good steward of God. One of the turning points in my martial arts journey was when our Grand master paid a visit to our dojo, and he told us an inspiring story.

It is a story of a guy named Wilson who was betrayed by his close friend and girlfriend. With a heavy heart and shattered soul, he wanted to take revenge. He decided to train in the shaolin temple to learn martial art, to challenge his former friend to a mortal combat. After the years of enduring the harsh and merciless training of shaolin monks, his physical and mental strength have changed. During his final test, the master asked him: Are you still motivated of killing your former friend?

Wilson answered: “In my pursuit of mastering the art, I discovered a more compelling reason to live. Yes, I have forged my hands and feet to become lethal weapons, but my once merciless heart was tamed by the principles of martial art’s virtues of humility, patience, dedication, and reverence to the Almighty.”

This story echoes the words of Zeus in a 1997 Disney movie entitled “Hercules”: “For a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart.” With all the values and virtues being taught in martial arts, it seemed that I was missing out on an important feature—that martial art could be translated into a Christian way of life.

Similar to practicing martial art as a passion, it could also direct us in our way of life. As we fix our eyes to the Lord, our passion for Christ shall be embedded in everything that we do. As Master Han (Jackie Chan) said to Dre (Jaden Smith) in the 2013 movie The Karate Kid, “[Martial art] lives in everything we do, Xiao Dre! It lives in how we put on the jacket, how take off the jacket. It lives in how we treat people!” (Francis Manayan)