ZhǐGēWéiWǔ 止戈為武 - Stopping Violence

The Art of Martial Power, Part 1

GuZhe 瞽者, Chapter 10

About the title

This title is from a traditional Chinese idiom that first appeared in ZuǒZhuàn 左傳, an ancient narrative history which covers the period from 722 to 468 BCE, and focuses on Chinese political, diplomatic, and military affairs from that era. It emphasizes that the true purpose of the military and / or martial arts should be to stop war, to stop violence. The following paragraph is a detailed interpretation for the title, which is a slightly modified excerpt from my book, XinYi WuDao – the Dao of Martial Arts (Singing Dragon, 2014).

Figure 1. Wǔ 武 Calligraphy by Master Zhongxian Wu. The moment I created this calligraphy, I recognized that this ancient Chinese art form has synchronicity with the Non-Violence /Knotted Gun Sculpture.

Figure 2. Non-Violence or The Knotted Gun, sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, located at the UN headquarters in New York City

Zhǐ 止 means stop. Gē 戈, a type of ancient Chinese weapon, is used to represent both the military and martial arts. Wéi 为 means is, as, or act. Wǔ 武 is commonly translated as martial power, military, or martial arts. The last character, Wǔ, is constructed of first two words ZhǐGē, and literally means stop using the weapons, or stop fighting. Therefore, ZhǐGēWéiWǔ止戈为武 illustrates the original peaceful meaning of Wǔ 武 (martial) as the true power, not the kind of force associated with violence or bullying. Skilled military leaders or martial artists can gain control of a situation without bringing damage to themselves or to their opponents, without fighting, blocking or attacking. In other words, the most highly skilled leaders or martial artists apply their wisdom and strategy to subdue their enemies without ever needing to enter into battle. The XiCi 系辞 (the Appended Statements), one of the 10 Confucian commentaries of the YiJing 易經 (also known as I Ching or Book of Change), states this best: ShenWuBuSha 神武不殺 – the martial power of high spirit does not act through killing or fighting. This same principle is illustrated in 孫子兵法 SūnZǐ BīngFǎ (SūnZǐ’s famous book, from roughly the 5th century BCE, The Art of War): “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.”

Previously, from chapter 9

After those big events, at the end of this Fire Dragon Year, Nine Lives’ inescapable karmic calamity, the one that awaits us all, finally arrived. She died peacefully in her kennel.

According to our ancient tradition, Sǐ gǒu mǎn hǎiliú 死狗滿海流 (Dead dogs should float in the ocean). At the next high tide, we brought her corpse to the beach and placed her gently in the water. I stood on the beach, chanting for her transition, while watching the waves take her away, as her soul reunited with the spirit of her ancestor, Fire Fighter.

How did that transformational energy of the Fire Dragon affect my life that year?

Nightmare

After days of shootings and explosions, thick smoke floats over the battlefield ruins. Three people standing in the swirling smoke next to a big cannon, talking to each other with satisfied smiles. They are the top leaders of my enemies and they are the only living beings remaining standing on this vast field, there are countless dead bodies from both sides, those of my soldiers and those of my enemies. Here is my corpse as well, lying right next to the cannon.

I was shocked by the sight of my own corpse and awoke suddenly. This is the same nightmare that I have had for years and years, every time I had fallen ill with a high fever.

Oh no! Terrible headache again, and my body is burning hot and very uncomfortable. I can see the images from my dream in the dark room even after I open my eyes. I still felt a little scared. I thought that I had completely overcome the fear of this recurring nightmare that has plagued me since I was little. I knew that a light would help me feel better.

My brother and I shared a bed, just a half step away from my parents’ bed in the small bedroom, the less than 10 square meters. My father was out fishing in the ocean with his boatman, as usual, so I woke up my mother and told her that I needed pee. She lit the small oil lamp beside her bed with a match.

Figure 3. A typical oil lamp like the one I grew up with, made from a small recycled glass jar.

I saw the image and figures from the nightmare became transparent as the dim orange light filled the whole room. This misty glow immediately drove my fear away.

I got up slowly and walked to the other end of my mother’s bed, where the toilet was. Remember that when I grew up, there was no running water in our house. The toilet was a hand crafted wooden barrel, about 50cm high. After about a week, when the barrel was full, we would use our waste as fertilizer for the vegetable garden or sell it for ten cents a barrel, which would be enough to buy us half kilogram of rice.

After I relieved myself, I lied back down quietly. Mother blew out the light and went back to sleep. “Should I tell mom that I am sick again, as usual?” I wondered as I pounding headache kept me awake, “Why do I get fever so often yet my brother never gets sick? I overheard the fortune teller telling mother that my father and I have some karmic conflicts in this Fire Dragon Year and it would be better for everyone if I could move in with my maternal grandmother for a while. What is this all about?”

Refine

“Your sickness just part of the recovery process from your last BingJie 兵解 (an esoteric Daoist technique used to transcend the soul and let the physical body die, please see Chapter 3, Peace in the Troubled World). You will return back into your state of well-being state in another few years.” As I drifted away from my thoughts, I heard the familiar voice of the Thunder God, “This Fire Dragon Year energy will help refine you in many ways.”

“The Heavenly Noble One, thank you for your revelation! I told you before my rebirth that I no longer want to be a soldier or a general. From my experience of my last several past lives, I knew that any kind of war causes great sufferings to the ordinary people, no matter whose side they were on. There are only victims in war, there are no winners. I would like to be a healer and spiritual cultivator, to help myself and to help others who are ready to receive help.”

“Make your choices and allow your karma to unfold,” advised the Thunder God.

The headache was slightly better when I woke up in the next early morning. I remembered the vivid dreams and I decided not to tell mother that I was sick, again. I wanted to avoid the very uncomfortable sensation from the shot of penicillin in my bottom, one that would leave me paralyzed from the intensity for about 10 minutes, one that would be inevitable if my mother knew. Every time I had a fever, she would always take me to the small local clinic. She had done this religiously, every week, for the last several years. Are these even shots worth it, I wondered?

It was my turn to make the breakfast. I had to force myself get off the bed to make breakfast and to get myself ready for school.

Another two days passed, I had completely recovered from the fever. I realized this time that it took less time for me to recover than it did when I had the penicillin. From then on, I decided I would never tell my parents about my fever. At nine years old, I knew that my body could recover from the sickness naturally.

After I stopped the weekly shots, my health continued to improve, and my family’s financial condition got worse. My mother believed that my strengthening energy was empowered by the Fire Dragon, which made my father’s money energy weaker. She decided she would heed the fortune teller’s advice and send me to her mother’s house to live for two months, over the summer break.

Although my grandmother’s house is only half hour walk from my parents house, on the other side of QiLin Mountain, I wasn’t allowed to come home and play with my friends. I remember that summer being pretty boring, I didn’t have any friends on that side of the mountain.

One day, a group of women were suddenly gathered inside my grandmother’s house with a female shaman. My mother was also there. Somehow, they had decided that this shaman would become my spiritual master. My grandmother and my mother asked me to face the shaman and kneel down and give her three bows. She gave me my first spiritual name, MiaòSòng 妙誦 (Marvelous Chanter), and I officially became her disciple.

I vividly remember how my first spiritual master looked like, but I never learned her name. No one told me. She looked at me and said, “MiaòSòng, I will likely never see you again in the physical world, but know that you will under my spiritual protection during this lifetime. I will gradually help you find new masters as you move through different stages of your life.” I gazed at her in silence, because I did not really understand what she meant. “Now, chant with me.” Knowing she need not wait for a response, she started chanting slowly. I opened my mouth to copy her. I quickly memorized the chant after I following her a few times. After her parting words, “Please keep chanting this everyday and eventually you will understand how to use it to help others,” I never saw her again.

She was right, though that was the first time and only the last time I met her, looking back I realize how impactful this meeting was for me. I connected with her spirit through the chanting and felt her spirit guide me at many different crossroads in my life, ones that lead me to each of my martial arts masters.

Stay tuned to read more about the transformation that occurred during the next stage of my spiritual journey!