(via pathofamaster)
(via jetblackbones)
"The best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt on any style. He kicks too good for a Boxer, throws too good for a Karate man, and punches too good for a Judo man."
- Bruce Lee
"I’m not a master. I’m a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I’m still learning. So I’m a student-master. I don’t believe in the word ‘master.’ I consider the master as such when they close the casket."
- Bruce Lee
It’s not the black belt in you, it’s the martial artists in you!
Behave like a black belt. Train like a black belt. These are common phrases that I have heard but I am here to argue that your black belt is not what makes someone an amazing martial artists.
Yes, black belts can be martial artists but not all black belts are martial artists. And, I believe that you do not need to be a black belt to be a martial artists.
Obtaining a rank in your respected martial art is a pretty big deal. But let’s stop for a second, to think back on all the people who stop practicing it when they get their first degree black belt, or maybe they made it to their second degree?
Who knows? The point is that they have stopped practicing their art; therefore, when they say that “I am a second degree black belt in TKD” that really doesn’t impress me or mean anything because you used to do this how many years ago?
That’s the difference. I have a black belt that I got 2 years ago vs. I don’t currently have a black belt but I love martial arts (all the various different forms) and am willing to expand my horizons and learn from all of them
I think I am just rambling on and probably not expressing myself effectively but I just mean that if you have the spirit of a martial artists in you than it will be in all the time, you wouldn’t want to stop learning, you would constantly want to grow with your art and expand into other arts.
Because 2 years doesn’t seem like a long time ago but fast forward 20 years, does that black belt you obtained 22 years go have any validity?
Maybe I am wrong, who knows, but I just think that the true martial artists are not the black belts (obtaining a black belt is a bonus), the true martial artists are the ones who practice a art/ or arts in an attempt to constantly better themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually.
8 Zen Master Stories That Illustrate Important Truths
Just as an empty boat that rams into us isn’t targeting us, so too people who act unkindly are driven along by the unconscious force of their own wounding and pain.
