It Really Shouldn’t Take So Long to Learn Martial Arts
The bully charges out of the alley and tosses a whole, darned trash can at you! Do you ask him to take that garbage can back because you’re only on your ninth Karate lesson and haven’t reached the deflecting the garbage can lesson? Or do you ask him go away because, here it comes, you forgot to pay your dues at the local dojo?
There is a point to all this silliness, why do the martial arts take so long to learn? You can teach a guy to fly a jet, get in a dogfight and get shot down, spend time in a concentration camp, get released and run for political office, and become a senator, and retire, in the time it takes to learn some systems of the martial arts. I heard of one system that it takes seventeen years to get to Black Belt in!
Some people will make the excuse that you’re learning more than self defense. You’re solving martial mysteries and its all about the lifestyle and you need to invest in your old age, you know? But you’re still lying under that trash can and the guy is pulling out a knife, and no matter how many lessons you’ve taken, you have to do something!
One of the old sayings that I heard, long time ago, is garbage in, garbage out. The sad fact of the matter is that if something is hard to put into your head, then it might not be easily accessed and used. Maybe it would be appropriate to find an art that is as easily absorbed as track, or boxing.
It is true that the Martial Arts are not a sport, they are an art, but they can still be learned easily and quickly. They just have to be taught not by one mystical technique after another, but rather by understanding concepts behind them. Those endless techniques that you memorize, to be truthful, are random data, and, often as not, they don’t really relate to one another.
That is a problem, to be sure, even if you learn a thousand techniques, you might not have enough data to be able to make sense out of the whole thing until you reach one thousand and one. And, let’s face it, a hundred years is to long to become competent. And then go to heaven.
The solution is that the martial arts must be taught on a conceptual basis. Instead of having a fellow memorize endless strings of tricks, have him learn the rather simple principles behind those tricks. Have him learn conceptually and he’s suddenly going to be able to figure out those thousand techniques without any need for endless memorization.
Give him an acorn and throw in the watering pot, that’s what I believe, and then watch the oak shoot upwards. Most martial artists, and I don’t mean to be mean in this observation, are lost in the limbs of the trees. The real way to teach, however, is to show the guy the principles, then have use those principles, and, faster than a rabbit on steroids, you’ve got yourself a fast and competent martial artist.
Been into time lately, realized it ran backwards three decades ago, figured out what it meant the other day.
Martial Arts Timing means seeing what he is going to do before he does it…
People who study history are reading what is written by the conqueror. They are getting what the historians feel like blabbin’ about. They are contributing to history by going forward.
When you study the martial arts, however, you are trying to go backwards to the original concepts, find out where the art came from, what part of your soul it tweaks.
Lose your reaction time. Stop thinking. Be.
Easy, eh? Well, it is so easy it is hard. Haven’t seen any schools of martial arts that address this, or try to do it, except in the most by the way method, or through passed down stuff they don’t understand and so can’t really apply.
I, however, obsess on it. To lose your reaction time, to lose your mind, to exist in the now, that is what it is all about.
Well, come visit me at Monster Martial Arts. That’s where my stuff is, and I have a truck load of articles on the Martial Arts. Heck, maybe you’ll lose your reaction time.
Happy work out!
That’s not dangerous,
that’s probably the best blessing in the world.
An actual time when you can dedicate yourself
to making the body strong, the mind quick and sharp,
and the pure enhancement of you,
and NOBODY can get in your way
All of which leads us to the most dangerous words in the universe.,
and what you can do to defeat them.
A man guilty of these two words is in an eternal box of limited potential.
Before I tell you what these dangerous words are,
and what you can do to undo them,
let me ask you a question.
Would you like to do one thing for the rest of your life?
Maybe build outhouses.
Let’s say you discovered that you’re a fair carpenter,
and that you build outhouses that are far better
than the outhouses built by anyone in the world.
You become famous for building outhouses,
and the government discovers that you are a natural treasure,
so they pass a law dictating that you will be
the sole and only national outhouse builder.
And they even give you lots of money for doing this.
So you go to work,
and,
at first you are happy.
Such luxurious outhouses.
Brass rails and furry seats,
endless supplies of the softest paper.
Believe me,
you are making a world happy.
And it’s good…for the first few years.
Then,
you wish you could do something else.
I mean,
as good as your outhouses are,
it’s all you do,
and it’s getting boring.
Polish the handrails,
glue the velvet on the seat,
put the paper on the roll.
Man,
maybe you’re the best,
but it feels like you could train a chimp to do it.
But,
there’s that darned law,
people expect you to make outhouses,
and the money is so good…
so you keep going.
A few more years pass,
and you are going out of your mind!
Same old same old
dat after day,
the goldurn railing,
the Frigging velvet glued down,
you even hate gluing the half moon to the door!
So you try to quit,
but nobody will give you a job because,
darn it,
you’re the supplier of America’s bottoms!
People wouldn’t be able to,
uh,
do their business…
without you!
You are more important than a national treasure!
You are the sole industry and you are the only one who is allowed to do it it and…
and you start buying drugs to escape the pain of the same old same old.
but you can’t escape,
you are doomed to building outhouses until the day you die,
which can happen none too soon,
if it was up to you.
but it can’t happen because of Obamacare,
you are taken care of,
not allowed to die,
doomed to polish handrails and glue velvet,
and,
hate to say it,
but congress is considering another bill,
they are considering making you the sole outhouse builder of the nation
next lifetime.
That’s right,
reincarnation.
Karma…
ain’t it a be-yotch?
Now,
pay attention here,
because I will tell you how to undo the effects
of the most dangerous words in the universe
in just a few sentences…
don’t just break the mouse and smash the computer because of these words,
but the two most dangerous words in the whole, entire universe are…
normalcy bias.
Normalcy bias is when you are happy that everything is normal.
The reason these words are so dangerous is because,
in the extreme,
you will be doomed to be the world’s best outhouse builder.
in the un-extreme,
these words are dangerous because
they make you content to just wallow your way through life.
Imagine being happy with minimum wage…
that’s normalcy bias.
Imagine being happy with a wife that cheats…
that’s normalcy bias.
Imagine being happy with a child that is a bone brain
who burns cats for fun…
that’s normalcy bias.
Now,
I know it all seems sort of…funny,
maybe quaint,
and maybe you’re not all that alarmed,
that’s normalcy bias.
But I’m not going to tell you the really scary thing about it
until I tell you what to do about it.
I want you to finish this page
before you go cry and hide in a corner.
It is very neutronic to say…
there are only three directions in this universe.
There is towards, away from, or with.
That’s it.
Every other direction in this universe
is just a shade of those three things.
A car is careening towards you,
you can run away from it,
you can run towards it,
or you can figure out how to hop on and take a ride.
If you choose any angle that is going away,
that is still away.
If you choose any angle that goes towards,
that is still towards.
If you can get the driver to slow down
so you can get in the door,
or hop on the hood,
or whatever,
that is with.
And this applies to a fist.
Let’s say somebody tries to hit you.
You can run away from him,
you could tackle him,
or you could guide his fist harmlessly past.
An aikido master has mastered this concept of going with.
But the master of ANY martial art (but not sport like MMA)
has mastered this.
Simply,
he has mastered the motions of the universe
so that he can do what he wants with them.
He is not the victim of a fist that smashes into his face,
he is the receiver of a blessing
that he can manipulate to his own enjoyment and satisfaction.
Joe Blow,
not knowing any martial arts,
is an accident waiting to happen.
When the fist flies,
he is going to eat knuckles.
Simply,
he is going to wallow around,
and has no knowledge
of how make the fist work for him.
How to slip it like in Pa Kua
or guide it in wing chun,
or absorb it in Tai Chi,
or harmonize with it in aikido.
Joe’s older brother,
Rollo,
has been studying karate for ten years,
so he can block and strike.
Their father,
Louis,
is matrixing,
so when the mugger flies out of the alley
with a knife in one hand and a club in the other,
screaming dirty words and exposing himself,
which of these three people is going to die because of normalcy bias?
Joe is dead meat.
He was so lame that he didn’t study anything.
He was happy to be a doofus,
going through life without working at anything.
This is the worst case of Normalcy Bias.
Rollo has a chance,
but not much of one.
After all,
the mugger is high on drugs and can’t feel anything,
and he is insane,
and even if Rollo manages to block,
his decisions are limited,
he only has a couple of choices,
and they are based on going towards.
You see,
he had normalcy bias, too.
He was happy to study one art for ten years,
not speeding up,
not looking into other potentials of motion.
Pap Louis will survive because he didn’t have normalcy bias.
He wasn’t satisfied with not knowing the martial arts,
and he didn’t limit himself to one martial art,
but he dedicated his life to learning ALL martial arts.
So the moral is this:
people who don’t accept normal as the rule
will live to fight another day.
Think about it like this:
you are the first person in America,
and you need to walk across the country.
You reach the first river,
and you are stopped.
But the guy who spent his life not just walking,
but learning to swim and climb and jump and…
he’s the one who’s going to make it across the country.
And if you are satisfied with one little corner of the country,
of living in one neighborhood,
and knowing only fifty or sixty people during your lifetime,
than…you go it…NB.
Normalcy Bias.
So go to Monster,
pick the course you don’t know anything about,
and get out of Normalcy Bias.
See to your survival
for ALL potentials of motion.
Not just the one dictated to
by one martial art,
or two.
Here’s the URL…
http://monstermartialarts.com
Al
Decided to make a separate newsletter for Monkeyland.
To sign up simply go to the ChurchofMartialArts.com
and subscribe at the top of the right sidebar.
Is it better to feel up or down?
up, right?
And a work out causes you to go up,
to feel better,
so,
I repeat…
a GREAT workout to you!
Now,
the big news is Monkeyland.
I’ll talk about it in a minute,
but first,
I wanted to share a thought
on what happens to your mind when you matrix.
First,
there is relief.
All the jumbled up techniques suddenly fit together.
You can see the blank spaces, where techniques were missing,
you stop hesitating and intuition starts to kick in.
Simply,
the techniques you have been memorizing suddenly make sense,
and become accessible without thought.
This thing of doing without thinking is incredibly interesting.
A baseball player takes off at the crack of the bat.
He’s all the way out in centerfield,
how did he know how to run at the crack of the bat?
He hasn’t had time to study the trajectory of the ball,
yet…he knows where the ball is going.
That is a zen moment.
That is a moment of intuition.
And the question here,
really,
is how do we make our entire lives into a zen moment?
Why do we have to leave the zen moment and return
to the old knock on wood world?
Why do we have to go back to thinking?
This is the purpose of the martial arts,
this is what they are all about,
to take us out of the reaction time, apple falls on head world,
and to put us in a zen universe,
a world where our every action is instant and intuitive.
Now,
as I said,
when you matrix the martial arts you feel relief,
the more martial arts you know,
the greater the feeling of relief,
but the real cool stuff starts happening when your mind starts getting silent.
After you matrix your mind will relax and you will start to experience mental silence.
When you walk down the street
your mind is usually filled with junk.
Thoughts about what you’re going to do,
does he or she like me,
contemplations on work,
and all sorts of other things.
Simply,
you are thinking ALL the time.
The mind just won’t stop…
it just won’t shut up.
After you matrix you feel relief,
but something else has started,
your mind has started to calm down.
It is talking because it is confused,
is one way to look at it.
But,
any way you look at it,
calmed down,
the mind starts to go neutronic.
It starts to shut up,
and you start to look at the world
without having all this thinking crap going on in your mind.
It is a blessed silence.
So here are some things to think about
to help you come to grips with this silence,
and to make it happen quicker.
Mind you,
the things I say will work for martial arts that are not matrixed,
but they will take twenty or thirty years to happen.
With matrixed minds,
everything happens faster.
Logic always works faster.
First,
have you ever engrossed yourself in a good book?
You put it down and suddenly wonder where the time went.
Your mind wasn’t thinking,
because it was busy generating a world
out of the words you read.
when you do a form,
you want to get that feeling,
of investing yourself in the form,
of creating emotion and movement so intently,
that you stop thinking.
Simply,
you are so busy concentrating on one thing,
that you forget about the world.
Try standing and holding your arm out
with the index finger raised.
Stare at that finger.
Every time your thoughts start to wander,
every time you lose focus and start to think,
examine the finger.
Look at the sworls, the curves, the nail…
examine it,
lose yourself in examining your finger.
The point here is simply to learn how to focus your attention
so that your mind doesn’t generate a bunch of crap.
This is a simple exercise in how to remain focused and attentive,
but on what you want…
not on what your mind wants.
Guaranteed,
after a while you will experience the blessed silence.
You will be face to face with the world,
with no bushwah thoughts getting between you and the world.
It is a very special place,
it is a very zen place.
And it will happen faster if you matrix.
Here’s the first course…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/
You do Matrix Karate,
you learn Karate if you don’t know it,
or you finally understand Karate if you have already been studying it.
Now,
take whatever art you wish,
plug it into the matrix.
Take the high block in your rare and esoteric system of Golden Fu,
put it where the Matrix high block is.
Do the same for all the blocks.
Put your blocks into the Matrix forms, high for high, low for low, and so on.
Do the Matrix of blocks,
plugging your blocks into the thing.
Zingo bingo,
your art is matrixed.
You still have a complete classic art of your own,
but it suddenly becomes understandable.
Techniques that were hidden pop out at you.
Gaps in training routines become visible,
and you can fix them!
And your mind will start to become silence,
and you will finally see the world
that the chattering of your mind
has stopped you from seeing.
Oinkey donkey,
Monkeyland.
I’ve got a complete list of things to research…
garden boxes,
how to keep animals out of the garden boxes,
morphing them into green houses,
green houses into meditation rooms.
Interesting stuff,
with an overall aesthetic to it all.
A plan.
And, the thing I’m working on this week…how much is chicken feed?
How do I generate food for chickens without paying out money?
Because everything has to eventually be self sufficient.
Everything has to go natural as soon as possible.
And,
I’ll be honest,
I’ve never done anything like this before,
so I am confused and dazed and…quite enthralled.
But,
the real plans are in the martial arts programs.
I’m figuring out plans for seekers (postulants), novices (novitiates), monks, and so on.
How much art do I give for each level,
how do I tie it in with neutronics, and so on.
And,
Monster has to stay afloat,
because there are going to be people who are more interested in martial arts
and don’t want any religious bushwah infringing upon them.
I understand and empathize.
They are the recruits from which I will draw
after they have had some matrixing,
and have realized that they can make the world into a zen universe.
So in addition to terracing the hilltops,
making work out places for every art,
I think about things like libraries,
and living quarters,
and everything.
And I am really concerned about making a curriculum
that really works.
Now,
that said,
as you might expect,
price of courses will be rising.
Heck,
you all know I’ve been too low for too long,
and I’ve got a temple to build,
unless,
of course,
some happy millionaire out there
wants to donate a million bucks.
That would certainly help out.
Anyway,
you’ve got about a week,
then I’ve got to raise the prices,
so take advantage while you can.
And you might consider starting with Matrix Karate.
It’ll be the first course for Postulants (seekers),
and people will be expected to know it before they even get invited to Monkeyland.
Here’s that URL again…
Now,
I’ve spoken enough,
got to get to work,
got to make this thing happen.
And I thank everyone who sent in their well wishings and congrats to me.
I appreciate all of your thoughts
and will try to live up to them.
Thanks,
and have a great work out!
Great Day in Paradise!
Monkeyland may be as little as two weeks away.
Man,
that’s worth a dozen work outs!
So here is the URL so you can take a look at this gem in the wilderness.
http://churchofmartialarts.com/the-church/
Give the page time to load,
there’s a couple of large pictures.
And make sure you hit the FB LIKE button at the top of the page!
The Church of Martial Arts!
Now,
let’s talk about Monkeyland.
Let’s talk about how it got started,
how it developed,
and how it is going to progress.
First, I wrote a book,
and it is called Monkeyland,
and the tagline is…
‘Another word for Freedom!’
It is a story of war and corruption and disaster and man’s inhumanity to man.
Yet,
after five books,
there is a sublime message,
one that forgives the thought of war
if we can only understand ourselves,
transform ourselves…
mankind has hope.
And,
I kept working out,
developing matrixing,
nibbling into Neutronics,
and I started thinking about a real Monkeyland.
A place where people were free to be themselves,
without the regulations and intrusions of government,
without the interference and distractions of evil people.
A place where the martial arts could flourish,
and people could experience what the true martial art was like.
A place where people could be free.
And I used to sit and wonder,
How the heck was I supposed to pull this off?
How could I make this happen?
And I mentioned Monkeyland in the newsletter.
Frank was one of the first people I ever taught matrixing to.
Back about 1984 we locked ourselves in the dojo
and worked out until he was a black belt.
Frank read the newsletter,
and he had his own bad case of good dreams.
He wanted a place where, among other things,
he could escape the grind of a society going bad,
where GMO could be defeated,
where solid stock, animal and human both,
could be raised.
And our dreams were going in the same direction.
It took a couple of years, some very intense negotiating,
a bunch of hoops to jump through,
but within a couple of weeks we will be on the land.
Monkeyland.
A ranch free from the contaminations of society.
A Church where people can be encouraged to plumb their depths,
find the true art that is within themselves,
is their inherent nature,
just waiting to come to the surface.
Of course,
there is going to be an immense amount of work,
but,
we are in the right time,
and the right place.
Did you know that people actually love to work?
The country only gets depressed when people aren’t working.
Did you know that people love to solve problems?
With a government telling them no,
with a society of political correctness,
where you have to ask permission to pee in ocean,
people are miserable.
But set them free,
tell them to build something,
tell them that nobody is going to stop them,
and you have paradise each and every single day.
Did you know that some people love the martial arts?
Yes, it’s true,
the brighter and more industrious members of mankind all LOVE the martial arts.
What better gift to the best on earth
than to give them a place where they can let loose their talents,
change the path of mankind,
elevate ALL martial arts!
So,
more to come,
I’ll probably have to set aside a separate section of the newsletter
just to deal with the happenings at Monkeyland.
But,
remember this…
if you are a true martial artist,
if you want to find the truth of yourself,
and if you are willing to work your fingers to the bone,
then you have a bed up here.
Within the month I should have some sort of plans started
to enable visits and instruction and even some possible live in arrangements.
But,
let me say this right now,
study your matrixing.
When you come to visit,
the first thing we’ll do is check out your matrixing.
If you can do your Matrix Karate,
right out of the box,
then we won’t have to spend time teaching you things you should already know,
and we can get right into the deeper teachings.
So here’s the URL for Matrix Karate…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/
And in a future newsletter
I’ll lay out the complete sequence of study.
But for now,
remember,
it all starts with Matrixing.
Matrixing led me to Monkeyland,
and it’s going to bring you here, too.
Now,
thanks to all,
and special thanks to Frank,
and I’ll be talking to you later.
Have a great work out!
Taken from newsletter 625,
Subscribe to the Monster Martial Arts Newsletter Now!
Hello and great day to you ALL!
And a great work out,
which will make you smarter and faster and stronger
and lead you to your dreams.
It’s true.
Congrats to Master Instructor Luis Lista!
Here’s his win…
Hi Al,
Thank you for this amazing course!
I had to watch the DVD 3 or 4 times, and I realize there are still a
lot of things that I understand intellectually but have to practice
further to make them natural.
But your statement was true. One cannot watch this DVD and read the course book seriously without having some huge realizations about the Art, and the way to practice it.
I’ve been able to correct my own stances and sharpen my “good
reflexes” in a dramatic way! I still have a lot to learn and
practice, but wow what a change, a true “mind-shifting process”!
And frankly that is not the best of it. I share the practice of your
Matrix Karate System with some people of my neighborhood, and I noticed that I can now see way better their eventual mistakes AND I’m able to propose simple and direct solutions AND show them why and how they work. That is fantastic!
At my small scale this as been the most beneficial course for helping people learning the Art… and for helping me structure the way I share the practice.
I even could make some valuable suggestion to a friend who is a master in a traditional Japanese Koryu… even I was surprised! Suggestions came by themselves because I was just seeing things you showed and explained in your course.
And I now this is a course that will follow me trough time, I’ll have
the opportunity to return to it and evaluate and learn regularly from it… what a joy!
Al, I must sincerely thank you for your wonderful work of
dissemination of Martial Arts!
Luis L.
Thank you, Luis!
and thank you for sharing with others.
Sometimes I don’t think people truly appreciate teachers,
but teaching others is how mankind actually progresses.
No teachers = no evolution.
You know,
I’ve said it before,
but perhaps it is time to say it again…
how,
exactly,
I came up with this course.
I studied,
and I wrote things down,
and I made connections,
and I thought everybody was doing the same things as I.
I didn’t think I was doing anything unique,
I thought everybody did the martial arts the way I was doing them,
I thought everybody had the same realizations,
understood about how the physics worked,
and so on.
I think the first person who abused me of this was Mike Baron.
He was my partner in one of my schools,
and actually pushed Monster into happening.
He said,
‘You know, Al, nobody else is doing the things you’re doing.’
As I recall,
I just grinned.
I thought he was just unaware of everybody else.
Then we released a couple of courses,
among them was the Master Instructor course,
and the wins started coming in.
It blew me away.
Far away.
People with lots of experience,
were telling me how
they finally understood the martial arts,
how everything had been obscured and mixed up and jumbled,
and they were finally able to see how the martial arts worked.
I was surprised,
to say the least,
and it changed the way I was doing things.
And,
it is changing the way other people are doing things.
So,
thanks Luis,
and thanks to all for being part of the martial arts.
And,
that said,
let me explain something about the martial arts.
The Martial Arts are the only field
that deal with the actual force and flow of the universe.
School and religion certainly don’t,
they just talk about dry facts,
or esoteric theories,
but don’t relate to the fact that everything in the universe
is an object that has trajectory.
And,
Martial Arts are the ONLY field on this planet that actually deals
with the force and flow of objects,
and thus with the whole universe.
This leads directly to awareness.
People who don’t study the martial arts are car crash victims.
Life happens to them,
and they don’t understand why.
Martial Artists see the way objects fly,
from the fist to the car to the whole darned planet,
and they are trained to handle the flow of objects,
and the potential collisions.
And,
even more importantly,
the martial arts provide a discipline
which leads down the path
to greater awareness.
This happens no where else.
Go to school and your intelligence actually goes down.
This is true by actual, tested statistic.
People in school study facts
until the flow of objects in this universe is obscured.
But people who do the martial arts
have quicker and cleaner intellects.
They have good health,
they handle problems as they come,
stay away from drugs,
help people learn how to be aware.
Do you understand how valuable you are?
Well,
forgive me for ranting,
but it is true,
and you really should know how special you are.
So thanks to all,
and thanks to Luis,
and here’s the URL for the Master instructor Course…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/
This post concerning Mas Oyama, Don Buck, and other early pioneers in American Karate, was actually written by Master Instructor BJ. I didn’t know some of this, and there is no way I can compete with the original words presented here. I suggest you do a little googling of the names involved to pad out what you’re about to read. It is well worth it. The original post appeared on KangDukWon.com.
The Story of the Kang Duk Won in America
Sifu Al, you probably know this already but when teenage Don Buck started training with Duke Moore in 1946 fresh out of the US Navy where Don was the US Navy Pacific Fleet 137lb Champion and also wrestled and studied Combat Judo & Defendu.
From the Hawaiian Karate Museum, John D. Pell collection. John Pell, Don Buck, Mas Oyama, Gosei Yamaguchi.
By the Mid-50s Don Buck was a Body Building champion and San Francisco Cop in addition to being a black belt in Moore’s Judo & JJ. Buck & Moore started studying Shorinji Ryu Karate with one of Duke’s teachers, Richard Kim. One of Kim’s Korean student’s came to the US to work as a Pro Wrestler. Of course I’m talking about Mas Oyama.
BTW, Mas Oyama’s Karate and Masahiko- Gracie JJ Defeater- Kimura Judo workout partners in the Early 1950’s were Tak Kubota and Taiji Kase! In fact the gnarled hand on one of Mas Oyama’s early books- ghost written by Don Draeger- was actually Kubota’s.
After WWII Kimura worked as a Pro Wrestler in Europe and N&S America. He hooked Mas Oyama up with some wrestling promoters here in the US and Mexico so Oyama could make some money.
Mas Oyama set his US base up in San Francisco where he could continue his training with his Sensei Richard Kim. While not wrestling Oyama lived with Kim’s JJ student Duke Moore and taught/worked out with Duke Moore and Don Buck everyday he was in San Francisco for 4-6 hour workouts.
After a little over a year Mas went back to Japan and promoted both Duke Moore and Don Buck to their Shodan ranks. Buck opened his own Dojo in 1957 where he only taught Kyokushin Karate making his Dojo the first Oyama Style Karate Dojo to open in the US. ***Please note that Bobby Lowe has the distinction of opening the first Kyokushin dojo OUTSIDE of Japan.***
Mas Oyama breaking bricks.
When Don Buck opened his Dojo doors in 1957 one of his first students, and Black Belts, was one Robert Babich. A year of two later Richard Kim had a skinny Korean Black belt fresh off the boat from Korea show up at his San Francisco Dojo. As Kim was about to leave for Japan so he sent the young Korean to his student’s, Duke Moore, Budokan dojo where Moore promptly sent the Korean to Don Buck.
The young Korean didn’t speak much English but Don Buck told him to go change into his Dogi. When the Korean returned Buck noticed a patch with a fist on the Korean’s uniform. Don Buck asked what the patch said and young Korean replied something like, “Kang Duk Won Kwon Bup Kong Soo Do.”
After sparring and defeating Buck’s students he squared off with Buck himself. Buck knocked the Korean down a few times but the Korean kept getting up and he finally knocked the much bigger and stronger Buck across the dojo floor and down. Buck got back up smiling and told the Korean, “Your hired! What is your name?” The young Kang Duk Won fighter said, “Norman Rha” and bowed slightly to Buck!
Buck was opening a couple of new Dojo locations and he hired Rha (Rha Jong-nam) and assigned Robert Babich to assist Rha with running the new Dojo.
However, the soft whip-like Tong Bei style punching and much deeper Chaun Fa stances of Rha’s Kang Duk Won Kong Soo Do were so much different than Oyama’s power punching that sometime after Babich earned his Shodan from Don Buck it was decided that Babich should open just his own dojo with Rha so as not to create differences of style with the Kyokushin students. So they left Don Buck’s American Kyokushin Dojo’s to open their own KDW school.
As Rha was a poor Medical School student he and Babich shared an apartment with the agreement that Rha would teach Babich KDW in return for help learning English. It should be noted that anytime in the 60’s and early 70’s Babich promoted students to Black Belt the Tracy Brother’s would try to hire the new KDW black belts to run one of their Tracy Brother’s Chinese Kenpo Schools.
The Tracy’s only hired the BEST fighters, both as teachers and Association School Coaches (Joe Lewis & Al Dacascos for example), as school challenges were common and they didn’t want to loose their schools students, $$$, to another challenging school. Babich’s KDW academy in San Jose, CA had a reputation of turning out some of the toughest fighters on the West Coast.
It is interesting to note, at least for me, that Babich didn’t include Sanchin or Tensho in his Kwon Bop Karate that he taught in the 1970’s and 80’s until he closed down his San Jose Dojo. Why I don’t know???
Note:
Thanks, BJ, for this wonderful bit of writing.
The reason Bob didn’t include Sanchin and Tensho, in my opinion, is that there are two styles of Karate, one fixed and one fluid, or Shorin and Shorei. Bob was not a large man, he was thin and whiplike, and the heavier sanchin style stances didn’t suit him, perhaps even worked against the fluid motions he was developing through the Kang Duk Won.
If you want to find out what the truth behind the Kang Duk Won, check out the first Karate form and applications, and the bonus material on historical uses of Karate.
This has been a page about Don Buck, Mas Oyama, and the early beginnings of the Kang Duk Won Karate.
Do you know what makes a work out good?
When it is focused on making you more aware.
True.
The body is important,
the muscles, the reflexes,
speed and strength,
adaptability and creativity…
it is all important,
but that is only a ‘biofeedback system’ to your awareness.
The most important thing in the martial arts
is building awareness.
The way you build awareness is to look at your technique,
practice your technique,
until you know how it works so well
that you can make it work no matter what.
And it is your awareness that will make this happen.
Now,
the problem is when people start thinking
that their body is what is important.
That is when the martial art becomes a martial sport.
Or,
when people start thinking that beating up people is what is important.
That is when they stop improving themselves
and start ‘de-proving’ themselves.
Here’s the thing…
when you beat somebody up
you are trying to decrease their awareness.
It’s true.
So you are trying to make them stupid.
So do you like living in a world where everybody is stupid?
If you like living in a world where people beat each other up,
then you do.
And you are then caught in a trap,
a monkey cage,
a vicious cycle,
even life after life.
But,
if you do martial arts
so that you look at your body in such a way,
that you learn,
that you get smarter,
then you like to live in a world that is getting smarter.
It’s a pretty strict dividing line,
you know?
You either want to get smarter…
or stupider.
You either want to help the world…
or hurt it.
You either want to do martial sports,
or you want to do martial arts.
Mind you,
I don’t look down on martial sports,
for that is where the people who want to get smarter come from.
That is where the people will suddenly get wiser,
realize that beating people up is a dead end,
and become martial artists.
But the actual fact of the matter is this…
there are three distinct levels of humanity here.
There are the animals in the jungle.
These are people who are like monkeys,
who chatter a lot,
act smart,
but are basically asleep.
They live in a cruel world,
and bounce around between people who tell them what to do,
manipulate them,
and so on.
These are the people who have no discipline,
no route to self awareness,
and who are your basic mankind.
They live,
they walk and talk,
they do clever tricks like work,
but they are not aware of who they are.
Then there are the humans,
the people who know martial techniques,
but not the compassion.
They fight for nationalism,
or become bouncers,
and they beat people up
while constantly telling themselves that they are right,
but it is only for a belief,
or a paycheck,
or some other temporary thing.
These people have a discipline,
a route to self awareness,
but they abuse it.
They know there is a logic and a compassion,
but they refuse it.
But at least they are on the doorstep to self awareness.
Then there are martial artists,
who strive to improve themselves and others.
Who,
instead of becoming bouncers and beaters,
become teachers.
These people are human beings of the highest caliber.
They help instead of hurt.
They share knowledge and discipline,
they build the road to self awareness.
They have logic,
but more…
they have intuition.
They live in a different world,
a world of impulse that is correct,
they listen to the voice in their head,
until they become that voice in their head.
They build a world that is evolving
towards a higher humanity.
I am not being cruel here,
I am not just assigning labels to separate or make elitists,
I am trying to help you understand
exactly where you are.
A monkey.
A human being.
Or a martial artist.
Which are you?
Are you asleep?
Are you awake but stunted in your growth?
Are you awake and trying to help everybody else wake up?
Here’s the thing…
you can kill a body,
but you can’t kill awareness.
Awareness is what travels from body to body,
looking through the eyes and ears,
having fun on planet earth.
Or having misery…and calling it fun.
But to the degree that you support a planet asleep,
where awareness thinks it is asleep,
to that degree are you unaware.
No man is an island,
we are all in the same boat.
But,
one method for waking up is the martial arts.
It is a discipline that trains you to look,
to be aware,
to wake up.
Haven’t you noticed that people who do the martial arts are more aware?
Understand things better?
Easier to get along with?
And haven’t you noticed that the longer you do martial arts
the easier life becomes?
So why not go all the way?
Why not become an awareness that is intuitive,
understanding,
compassionate,
who helps others become better,
who wakes people up…
instead of putting them to sleep.
Why not see if there really is a superior way of learning with Matrixing?
Why not see if there is a discipline that is more logical
than anything you have ever seen?
Why not find out if you can learn martial arts,
a LOT of martial arts,
faster than man has ever learned it before?
Why not?
Well,
I can only talk,
I can only explain,
whether you take the next step is up to you.
But the first four courses of Matrixing are:
Matrix Karate
Matrix Kung Fu
Matrix Aikido
The Master Instructor Course.
These four courses provide the basic graphs of matrixing.
On Matrix Karate you learn the basic geometry of the body,
not random tricks,
but a logical method for assigning function to the body
and its parts.
Never been done before.
On Matrix Kung Fu you learn the basic physics
of how to take down a body.
Oh, you’ll have seen some of these techniques,
but probably not all,
and certainly not in the correct and logical order.
On Matrix Aikido you learn how to think conceptually,
how to make a grab art out of anything,
and,
surprise,
you do Matrix Aikido
and you will suddenly be finding the techniques of Monkey Boxing.
For the first time…
a system where everything fits together in the right way,
even though there are different martial arts being used.
And,
the Master Instructor Course,
the pure logic of how to use the human body.
And here is the funny thing,
or perhaps I should say the tragic thing.
I have sold maybe a thousand of these courses,
and most of the people who purchased
had decades of experience
in a variety of arts,
yet they had never seen this material.
Or,
if they had,
they hadn’t seen all of it,
and certainly not as it is presented here…as a strict and orderly science.
Not as a logic that pushes one to the complete understanding of the human body,
and increases awareness.
There you go,
four courses that will change you,
will change your martial arts.
I suggest starting on Matrix Karate,
but whichever you do is fine with me.
Because whatever you do,
it is a first step into the true martial arts.
Oinkey donkey!
I will be returning home next week,
hopefully will be sitting behind my own computer by the end of the weekend.
I will then go through the mail again,
and take care of those problems that I haven’t been able to handle while on the road.
Thanks for being patient.
And…work out!
There is no greater gift one can give oneself,
than just working out.
Becoming pure through sweat,
divesting oneself of distraction
and finding the purity of the self.
Beyond what the world expects.
We were driving up this long, long road
to a place to pitch a tent for the night.
As we drove I noticed that the road was littered with rocks.
Little chunks that looked like sparkly granite,
maybe half the size of baseballs.
I veered this way and that
attempting to miss the rocks,
but knew I wasn’t successful.
Yet there was no sensation of tire over rock.
There should have been a hundred, little bumps,
things rolling under the car,
bouncing up against the undercarriage,
yet…
there was nothing.
How curious!
So I slowed down,
rolled down the window
and peered down at the rocks on the road.
Grasshoppers!
BIG…and beautiful grasshoppers!
Their acutely folded legs moved,
and they leaped,
but,
like as not,
I squashed them with my Firestones.
So I slowed,
drove more slowly,
and navigated the road filled with giant grasshoppers.
At the tent site there were only the occassional insect,
and I found one and squatted down to watch it,
to matrix it.
Colors to match the sparkle of dew,
perhaps to draw in smaller insects for a meal.
And there weren’t any larger insects,
so no fear there.
And if a bird,
or other beast came to feast upon it,
it jumped.
The quickness of the jump was savage,
an attack in flight.
And,
the sagacity of the insect,
it landed in twist,
so that it literally bounced off its rump
and faced the way it had come.
Well,
of course.
To flee again…in attack.
Is that good martial arts…or what?
I mean,
positively brilliant!
And what was the alternative?
To land facing away,
and to become a target in flight?
No,
better to flee as if in fight.
Surprise the foe with savage thrust,
yet always end up facing,
towards not away
ready to flight again.
Fight or flight,
flight and fight,
a marvelous yin yang of martial arts survival
and something that most people just roll over,
or swat away,
or laugh at.
Yet,
in mass,
grasshoppers are one of nature’s most ferocious armies.
Interestingly,
I was brought to think of the book by McMurtry,
‘Lonesome Dove.’
During a cattledrive the cowboys are overwhelmed by grasshoppers,
so they catch bagfuls of the critters,
dip them in molasses
and fry them.
Ummm!
Cowboy treat!
And even the hardiest,
most savage warrior
become naught but food
for those who can overcome their fear.
So,
in the midst of scorpions and tarantulas,
giant grasshoppers and other denizens of the enchanted land,
I pitched tent and had dinner.
And,
no.
It wasn’t a mess of fried grasshoppers.
Every place I go I see contest and battle,
creatures struggling for survival.
Interestingly,
it is only man that has a chance.
Only man has the ability to overcome himself.
To fight or flight and land so that he faces the true enemy…himself.
His cruelties and tortures,
his naked desires and covetness.
His desire to worship warped gods and think that
it is God that made him right.
And it is only by divesting ourselves of these cruelties and nightmares
that we can ascend to the truth of ourselves.
And it is only through landing in the correct manner so that we don’t fight ourselves,
but face ourselves,
that we will succeed.
Martial Arts creates this path.
Martial arts is where we learn to fight
so that we never have to fight.
This is a truth that we must take to ourselves,
and faster than we have ever done before.
And that is the message from the enchanted land of New Mexico,
the message I received just because I drove down a road
and didn’t want to kill
some of the most beautiful grasshoppers you have ever seen.
My apologies to those who wait an email,
or a fix on an order.
Everything is working,
but there are are a couple of things I just can’t do
until I get back to my computer.
I am able to connect to the net every day,
so if anybody wants to tell me off,
or wish me well
I can handle that.
BTW,
take advantage of the KangDukWon.com
I haven’t been able to raise prices
because of being on the road,
so,
temporary reprieve,
but prices are going up.
So,
if you want to learn how to fight like an animal,
if you want to learn the wisdom of nature,
you can start with the Shaolin Butterfly.
The animals covered in that include
the snake,
the dragon,
the crane,
the tiger,
the mantis,
and more…
here’s the URL…
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
(On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel
What's interesting about Al Case's writings and teachings is there isn't any emphasis on 'the unknown' or 'mystery' behind martial arts. Al will slam this information in your face! Quite frankly the data isn't hidden, you'll find you're blind. ~ WG
Al Case is a powerful presence to be around, but if you can confront it, then you will not be sorry, for there is no one like him, and it is an extreme privilege and honor.
I used to read your articles in Inside Karate and was excited when I found your web site. ~ RV
As an old timer with thirty-five years of experience I was really bored, but your works have peaked my interest and shown me that there is much more to learn. I Thank You Again, Sincerely ~ CC
Where was this information 24 years ago? This course is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you Al Case for the gift of knowledge!
Be blessed my teacher, ~ Rev. Ernest R
I bought the Infinite Fist tape YEARS ago and you know? I Keep going back to it! ~ KS
You are a master. You have opened me up to things that I have never thought of before. ~ KFM
I purchased your course on "Create Your Own Martial Art" and absolutely love it. I believe that your matrixing system is very unique. ~ DW
In my entire experience twenty years as a student and an instructor since, no one has contributed more to my martial arts education than you have. I started following your works twenty years ago and although I was young then I knew you had the True Art it was obvious to me even then. ~ Charles C
Students will know longer be slaves of poor instructors and practitioners. ~ Lonnie M
Win from Master Instructor Course
Let me start out by saying thank you. Thanks from all the martial artists who asked why. Al, I'm in the Security and Law enforcement field and carry Instructor credentials, so effective methods in combat and teaching them is what I constantly look for.
Win from Matrix Aikido
I just had to write to you to say WOW. Your INSTANT AIKIDO is great!!! ~ SD
My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.
I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!
I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M
Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson
Search the testimonials for your martial art!
Free Martial Arts Books
HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
Includes books on Bruce Lee, the Truth About Matrixing, the first Martial Arts book sold in America (It's a real hoot!), and much more!
