Email: Socialist Martial Arts – ‘Systema’ (система)! (8.6.2022)

The cultural and religious baggage within Asian cultures generally means that it takes decades to finally arrive at the ability that Systema teaches from the first day of training (and only then, if the practitioner of the Asian arts has found a competent Master). This signifies the ‘Socialist’ egalitarian nature of ‘Systema’ where there were no coloured belts representing a fascistic and hierarchical grading system – as is common within Japanese culture. In the original Soviet – (and now ‘Russian’) – martial system (Systema), the highest form of inner and outer awareness, body-alignment, organisation and movement, as well as advanced technical manifestation – is taught first without any hesitation, whilst an individual’s psychological and emotional (spiritual) understanding of what a practitioner is physically experiencing has to catch-up over the many years of training.

Blue Cliff Record – Case Number 56

Below is an interesting exchange between Ch’an Master Qin Shan and the wandering ascetic Liang, concerning the attainment and function of the pure mind, discussed through an allusion to the art of archery. Although firing an arrow and hitting through the target is the issue at hand, neither master mentions the bow.

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