Teresa Teng, the “Lady Inside Me” Inspirator: Biography (Early Days, 1953-1974)

Personal Message: Finally After a gruesome quarter I’ve able to finish this article albeit late…

Disclaimer: Throughout her career life and most of her life, Teresa Teng’s life experience was really demonstrative about the socio-political-economic dynamics in Taiwan at the time as part of Cold War and soon, Asian Tigers aka Rising Asia phenomenon. Now, let’s begin with her early life.

Teresa Teng was born on January 29, 1953, as Deng Liyun/Teng Li-yun (鄧麗筠), at Yunlin County, Taiwan, to a military family. Her father was a colonel at the ROCAF (Republic of China Air Force), who fled to Taiwan alongside with Liyun’s big family following the defeat of Kuomintang forces in Chinese Civil War. She had 4 brothers, 3 elder and 1 younger. Since a young age, young Liyun had displayed a great interest and talent in singing. As early as 3-4 years old, Liyun enjoyed accompanying her father performing Chinese opera, as mainly the troupe’s singer. When she & family moved to Luchou, Taipei County, in 1959, this would just bolstered her singing abilities.

Given more resources in Taipei, Deng Liyun became more active in singing talent shows and competitions. In 1964, at just the age of eleven, Teresa won the China Broadcasting’s (now Chunghwa Broadcasting Ltd.) singing talent show by the song 訪英台 “Fang Yingtai“, a Huangmei Opera-based song that become the soundtrack for the Shaw Scope’s “The Love Eterne” (梁山伯與祝英台 “Liang Shanbo yu Zhu Yingtai“)  , a hit movie that year played by Li Li-hua. The following year, Deng Liyun also won Golden Horse Recording’s talent competition by the song  採紅菱 “Cai Hongling“. Thus, these became the dawn of Deng Liyun’s career in music industry. During thThis at time, Liyun was coached under Cheng Sheng Ltd. for her singing abilities, while began performing on big restaurants, clubs and such. However, as the singing activities increased, Liyun were no longer able to manage the balance between professional and schooling. In 1967, after serious consideration, with her father’s blessing,  Deng Liyun dropped out from Ginling Girls High School to concentrate on her singing career full-time. At the time, the economy of Taiwan was rising as the “Four Asian Tigers” after the USAID aid ceased in 1965 for the United States involvement in the escalation of Indochinese War. During this time, Liyun often performed at 國之賓 “Guo Zhibin“cabaret club, with her signature song of 一見你就笑 “Yijian ni jiu xiao“.

Finally, in 1969, Deng Liyun entered the entertainment aka show business. It was also around this time that Liyun began to choose her stage name as we now known in the Chinese world: Deng Lijun (鄧麗君). At this time also marked the birth of China Television (CTV, famous of its entertainment shows). Thus Lijun began participating in the showbiz by hosting CTV’s prime time evening entertainment/talent show, 每日一星 “Meiri Yixing“. At the same year, Deng Lijun also began to release her first original single, 晶晶 “Jingjing” and performed in the top television serial at the time, 謝謝總經理 “Xiexie, Zongjingli“. Thus her reputation as a pop star began to boom on this point. Also in 1969, Lijun led the fundraising concerts across Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines) for the charity following a severe typhoon that hit Taiwan that summer-fall, thus marking her own outreach and promotion overseas, particularly among overseas Chinese audiences. Amused by Demg Lijun’s abilities, the President and Prime Minister of Singapore awarded her a special award for the charity purposes. By reaching Hong Kong as the hub for global Chinese entertainment, soon Deng Lijun’s popularity soar was imminent. In 1970, Lijun held her fist performance in Hong Kong, also for charity purposes. She was then awarded, “the Queen of Charity” by Overseas Chinese Daily News. Also at 1970, Lijun acted in the musical-movie 歌迷小姐 “Gemi Xiaojie” which storyline reflected her life experience, thus bolstering her image as the Chinese pop superstar.

By 1973, Deng Lijun has been on the top list of the most popular Chinese singer & popstar. But following a broken romance relationship with the son of the Malaysian gamble king, Deng Lijun then decided to advanced her career into the Mecca of Asian development at the time: Japan. At the time, Japan was also experiencing her golden years of postwar economic boom and becoming the World’s second largest economic power after the United States by 1968. With the aid of Funaki Minoru (舟木稔), a Polydor Records talent-hunter, Deng Lijun was recruited and prepared to penetrate the Japanese market by Polydor Records Japan (now part of Universal Music Japan), especially given to her already popular status at the time. Thus Lijun flocked to Japan in late 1973 for a 6-months coaching in Japanese and Japanese recording preparation. After a gruesome 6 months learning Japanese from zero and adjusting lifestyles in Japan, finally, on March 1, 1974, Lijun released her initial single in Japanese, 今夜かしら明日かしら (Konya Kashira Ashita Kashira), under her Japanese stage name, Teresa Teng (テレサ・テン), which we mostly refer to her name today.

<to be continued>

Aikido and “The Lady Inside Me”: Training Etiquette

“Samurai spirit”, “tough person”, “top guy”. All those three phrases are nevertheless common things we encounter either as reasons to practice or the environment of practice in Japanese martial arts. Yet so jargon like “Zen”, “spiritual path”, “qi”, “harmony”, are not even less popular, both either as goal/s or atmosphere of practice.

I’m practicing Aikido, and I really love this martial art and her family so much. For me, personally speaking, if reflecting to the jargons in the previous paragraph, those jargons are never unhealthy at all, if regarding especially the goal or the nature in practice, hence some of the outlying goals of any martial art are defined as such, with the educative goal of self-perfection remains the utmost. I too, started to practice Aikido back around 3 years ago when I just reached 16 because I was such a pathetic, grumpy high-school “mad intellectual” with some physiological defects (allergic asthma, flat feet, abnormal back contour) that hindered me from physical exercises like push-ups, low-stamina etc.  , prone to bullying but expecting to be like Jet Li/Jackie Chan/JCVD, Steven Seagal, whom all I admire. Long story short, my initial goal to practice Aikido is to become a top guy, a goal that will forever remains, but will be always perfected as experience goes on. This is also, again, the manifestation of the educative goal of any martial art, to become a better person.

I realized how lucky I am to be able to meet a good school, dojo and sensei to study under, hence most people will think that I won’t be survive in most martial arts training because of the rigorous physical build-up exercises (e.g. push-ups, running in TKD/karate, workouts) which I couldn’t stand, again because of my physical conditions. In Aikido, yes, there is definitely physical exercises and build-ups, but it is done so naturally and reasonably, only throughout daily training habits like preparing the mats, basic stances as warming ups, and the rest, throughout contact training with partners instead of empty patterns/kata like the way we often see in karate/TKD/kung fu. We do that EVERY time we train, probably more omnipresent than in other martial arts family besides jujutsu. Besides building our physical conditions slowly-but sure, the training habits and atmosphere also forged our metaphysical, even supernatural ability (if you wish to say) as the very fundamental and utmost level in Aikido, which transcends strength, physical power, even technical power. This metaphysical/supernatural ability called ki/qi (in Chinese) and aiki is really the mother-technique of all techniques in jujutsu, and also, all martial arts. Again, I’m lucky to meet Aikido if regarding this matter, since Aikido is one of the few martial arts that clearly stated to pursue this metaphysical/supernatural abilities as one of the arch-basic and arch-primary goals of training, yet this goal is also manifested in several very concrete ways: breathing exercises (kokyu-ho) and meditation (mokuso), multiple armed attackers scenario (randori) as part of official curriculum, being the attacker (uke) as junior then executor/”defender” (nage/shite/tori) as level goes on, and also, being under serious combat simulations yet technically full-contact. Aikido and her family sees that regardless of attacks, they all can be categorized in certain ways based on their directions, yet there are quite few techniques, not just patterns, to remember for self-defense purpose. All of them are relatively easier to learn, and memorize. Despite, yeah, practice makes perfect. Simple, efficient, practical, ergonomic, universal but real and engaging, that words really came from my own experiences about Aikido as a martial art. Not surprisingly, Aikido and her family is suitable for all ages, sex, even body conditions, including the disabled or handicapped like me! This really embodies the spirit of a true martial art, universal but always ergonomic.

Technically speaking, Aikido training develops tactical thinking and problem-solving oriented mind, however, as I realized further, Aikido training also brought some paradox outcomes besides those I’ve mentioned before. The paradox is, while I developed the metaphysical power, fighter character and spirit and tactical and problem solving mind as the common utmost goals, On the other hand, as myself experienced, Aikido training also polishes our femininity. And, the aspects in Aikido that I believed that polishes our femininity includes the training methods itself and last but not least, training etiquette.

Let’s begin with training etiquette. Beginning from the sitting positions, we must always sit in seiza instead of cross-legged. Despite seiza also been differentiated to men and women’s, but in general, even in Japanese society, we could see that seiza is much more associated with either women or martial arts,  but women remains the most popular image. Sitting cross-legged, despite we recognize as universal, but in the Japanese society, it is de facto only applicable for men. As sociology-anthropologists also said, it is very rude for women in Japanese (and also other traditional East Asian) society to sit cross-legged. So the only “acceptable” way of sitting is in seiza. Yet in seiza, the way why we often associated it with women is that when in seiza, women typically keep no spaces between knees (or 1 fist space), while men usually have 1-2 fists distances. And, we often see the first type more. So, it is never senseless to say that even from the sitting position, Aikido taught us to be a like a lady.

After sitting etiquette, greeting etiquette is the another factor that develops our femininity, and this aspect probably is what really differentiates Aikido manners as “more feminine” in comparison with other martial arts’. When greeting our training partners, we greet with “Onegaishimasu!” instead of “Osu!” as often encountered in other budo (including Yoshinkan Aikido). The way we in Aikido response our confirmation to the sensei’s explanation, or in shorter words, the “yes, sir/ma’am” phrase is rather, “hai, Sensei!” instead of “Osu!” like in most other martial arts (and also Yoshinkan Aikido). Some socio-linguist and socio-anthropologists who also practiced Aikido also help to define, that just from the way said, “Onegaishimasu” refers to the more gentle and calm type of manner, which inflicted from the “Yin”/”In” principle, which is tend to be more designated for women, or reflecting femininity. As in saying “Osu!”, it refers to the more or less like “sir, yes sir!” or “aye, aye, sir!” in military drill command. The greeting “Osu!” is nonetheless demonstrates the invigorating manner, which is demonstrated from the “masculine” Yang/Yo principle.

And adjacent to the greeting etiquette is also the bowing styles. 15-30 degree standing bow (tachi rei) to the teacher and practicing partners is a common acceptable practice in including martial arts, including Aikido as well. But in Aikido, we mostly bow while sitting (in seiza) by putting both palms in front of us (like in the tea ceremonies). Despite socio-historically this kind of bow is universal to both men and women, but nowadays, as most people observed, this kind of bow is only rather common either in tea ceremonies or with geishas. And yet, the today majority practitioners of these two fields are mostly ladies, especially geisha. Not surprisingly, the way we bow in Aikido is also regarded as the “geisha/tea ceremony bow”, which refers to the more feminine manners.

From these 3 parts of training etiquette as the most visible indicator, we conclude that Aikido manners demonstrates the gentle, calm, feminine manners in comparison with the invigorating, hardcore masculine manners demonstrated by other martial arts family. Philosophically speaking, the manners taught in Aikido are very similar to the refined lady manners we often see everywhere. But in the case of Aikido as a Japanese cultural product, the Aikido manners resembles the geisha and the hime manners, which illustrates elegance, calmness but insightful and powerful. Therefore, I could conclude that learning Aikido manners is really a process to polish the “Lady Inside” ourselves.

Manners/etiquette is one of the building blocks of femininity in Aikido, yet also become the trademark, but the training itself is also another.

(to be continued)

How “The Lady Inside Me” Evolved

Alright guys, now it’s the time for me to tell you about how my trans-perience took place. But before the story begin let me tell you that this story is kinda “bizarre, awkward or absurd”, or unusual, whichever you, especially trans people, might choose. OK, let’s begin:

As far as I remembered, I started to experience “the lady inside me” on around the middle of junior high school. However, if you ask about how I was like back then, surprise guys, I’m really so masochist & “tough guy” type! Even politically standing, I was practically a staunch Stalinist then fascist sympathizer back then. I disliked practically EVERYTHING feminine/girly/feminist, from makeups, fashion styles, “gentlemen” notion, “ladies first” notion, so on! Yeah, lets say I’m a huge nihilist, a staunch Chinese chauvinist back then. Furthermore, as I’m deeply influenced by socialism, I believe that emancipation means no “gentlemen” notion, no “ladies first”. If women wanted to be treated equal as men, they must also share the same burden as men did, without exception. But honestly speaking, though, those socialist ideals are still deeply entrenched in my mind even until today.

But here’s what’s really unusual ’bout my masochism at that time: despite I dislike anything feminine/girly/feminist, I still enjoyed reading women magazines, well just mainly because of enriching knowledge (and the information presented are really interesting). No more, no less. Knowledge is power, that’s the proverb. Yet, my machismo at the time (well, even until today) was really “conquer everything in your path”. Or long story short, the “alpha male machismo”. And, what increased my hatred towards feminism/girly/feminine stuff was that in those women magazines, in my own machismo eyes, they tend to “put down” men, either intentionally/not (don’t believe me? Just open the “relationship” or “love and sex” sections to prove it!). And also, during that time, I often heard stories about men fooled down by women. These circumstances, again, made my machismo increased, thus making me hating the femme world even deeper, despite of that I still give a “leeway” to buildup the machismo by absorbing any knowledge from anywhere to increase the machismo power. However, this “machismo buildup”, brought a very serious “side effect” to me: I almost turned gay because of the intense machismo that made me thought “I’d better had a boyfriend rather than had a girlfriend who would fool me later on”. Not to mention that most of the girls disliked me because I’m “too mean/strict too them” because of both my hostilities to feminism and my staunch Stalinist-militaristic stance.

Teresa Teng (1953-1995), the first female idol I’ve ever admired

Suddenly, on my 8th grade (in fact, since late 7th grade), suddenly everything turned to “backfire”. During this time I began to both enjoy and admire Teresa Teng (1953-1995)’s songs. Teresa Teng (Chinese: 鄧麗君 (Deng Lijun/Teng Li-chun), Japanese: テレサ・テン (Teresa Teng)) was a 1970-1980s Taiwanese Mandopop and J-pop singer, who enjoyed immense cross-culture popularity especially among Chinese and Japanese people in her heyday even until today. Her calm, sweet voice and looks, her fluty songs, and her elegant stage manners all become the attractive things about her for practically all groups of people, both men and women. This phenomenon was kinda unusual for me at the time, since I’ve never admired any female celebrity, despite I used to fan some like the Corrs, Christina Aguilera, etc. However, after I listened to Teresa Teng, first of all, I began to realize the difference between  a fan and an admirer, especially given to the fact that Teresa Teng had deceased. As a fan, you can’t expect to shake hands with her, chat with her (unless you got a telepathic/supernatural ability!), since she’s dead! If you continued to become a fan of her, people will call you a lunatic. However, as an admirer, you still could regard her as an inspirator then innovate from that point. That’d be the wiser way to deal with this fact. This distinction of thought soon became the basis of how I discovered “the lady inside me”.

As I’ve told in the previous paragraph, I was really mesmerized by Teresa Teng’s calm, sweet, elegant voice, beauty, styles, and manners. So strong the mesmerism of her that she could become the first female celebrity I ever admired! From this standpoint, I began to admire her so much. Her mesmerism became such a huge inspiration for me to perform (I love to sing), then, my personal beauty standard. But again, how could a fan different from an admirer? Well, based on my experience, If you become a fan, let’s say, becoming Beyonce’s fan, what stroked your mind is that “how could I get a girlfriend like her, date her and f**k her?” But an admirer will think “how cold I become as sexy, as beautiful as Beyonce?” I began to enjoy following Teresa Teng’s elegant singing manner, which then frowned my parents. Then, as time went on and the mesmerism grew stronger, I started to thought about “how I could become as beautiful as her?” especially given to the point that her beauty is kinda unique for me. However, this, again, sparked frowning from my peers and parents, especially from other boys at schools, my sisters, and my mom,  saying that “to choose a girlfriend like her is ridiculous. She’s not pretty at all, you know!” Well, I’m not searching for a girlfriend like her, I’m searching the way about how to become beautiful as her! Despite, I also realized that since nobody’s perfect, although I used to plan to model my beauty after her, I also must “discard the bad things” from her beauty, as my mom and peers pointed out: she had a flat nose (this is really a minus in East Asian beauty standards) yet mine is quite sharp (from my mom), and she had a flat chest (unattractive for most males’ beauty standard: from my peers). We simply can’t imitate her 100%: pick up the good and improve the rest.

Nishida Sachiko (1939-). Photograph taken in around 1963-1964.

Chiaki Naomi (1947-). Her type of beauty is somewhat unique. Photogtaph taken in around 1972.

After I admired Teresa Teng, thanks to her Japanese songs, my chauvinist stance about Chinese culture as my began to thaw. I soon began to admire other Japanese female singers of her contemporaries (mainly from 1960-1980s), and all of them are, for me, good looking ones, yet their music are also equally attractive to Teresa Teng’s. Despite, there are also lots of East Asian celebrities I admired of their beauty despite of their acting or songs are not so appealing for me. This widespread of admiration, soon began to influence my admiration over beauty standards. In my own eyes, most of them had a distinctive, unique, elegant style of beauty I yearned for. Then, my machismo began to deteriorate, as I became no longer so hostile to feminine/girly stuffs, but instead, wishing to becoming the part of it! I was deeply enchanted with those exotic type beauty, even leading me to think that I wanted to become a woman! I began to enjoy fashion, makeup world, and so on. Thus, I became more coquettish but calm.Yet so, this stance also produced a quite severe side effect, that because of

Yashiro Aki (1950-). Her beauty by today’s Japanese standard is still considered as “exotic”. Taken in around 1975-1976.

Koyanagi Rumiko (1952-). Her beauty is kinda exotic hot. Photo taken in around 1976-1983.

this kind of thought, I also began to deny myself as a born-male, become attracted to men, or in short words, covertly homosexual. Yet so, homosexuality, transgenderism are still a heavy topic in my home society which is still very ultraconservative. My mom, who is the most powerful figure at home and extremely ultratraditional-conservative, really stunned and denounced my stance. From what I understood, she both can’t believe and accept that I wish to become a woman, having SRS, and get  a boyfriend. Furthermore, she also insisted and convinced me that I’m still a straight normal guy, and homosexuality is dangerous, yet transgender/transsexualism are just mere fantasy like UFO stories. But yet, rebelling against her isn’t the best way to do now, so what I could do was acknowledging her conservative stance and trying to forget about the trans-desire. For a few weeks after the “interrogation”, I really struggled to scrap those “trans desires”, which means, restoring the machismo. However, the more I tried to scrap it, the harder for me to resist the backfire. Thus, after around 6-7 weeks, my newest form of “trans-piration” began to appear. This “major interrogation” did happen on my first days at high school.

In this newest for of “trans-piration”, the ideal for exotic beauty possession still remain firm, however, now I become instead attracted to women. If I see an attractive woman, the burning desire that comes out doesn’t just the desire to date and fuck her as most normal men do, but also, the desire to become at least as beautiful as she does. From the scientific and religious background, I acknowledge and understand the validity for the reason behind anti-same sex marriage notion (in the sense of, sexual intercourse as well). Besides, philosophically speaking, I began to embrace the notion of androgyny. However, as you all might predict, some of the greatest stumbling blocks for this kind of thought include the rigid prescribed notion of “how a man and woman should behave” that often violates the androgyny principles embraced by most traditional religions. Not to mention the notion of “homosexuality and/or transgenderism is a sin” based on the orthodox, conservative Judeo-Christianity-Islamic values I’m raised from. By this circumstances, given to my position as a minor still dependent on parents’ care, the wisest thing for me to do is, again, keep low profile while keep enlightening myself.

Suddenly, on the second half of my 10^th grade, I encountered Aikido, a martial art and philosophy that will soon become a great amplifier for honing my femininity besides of self-defense capability, despite of maintaining the attraction towards women as opposite sex and comprehending religions. Or in other words, Aikido has helped me honing the androgyny inside me. Now, the prevailing “lady inside me” is the combination of a femme-fatale and a grand-princess. Aside from that, after time passes on, the notion of androgyny/hybridity manifested throughout the transgender experience roars even more. Especially, after I watched a classic 1957 movie Sayonara by Marlon Brando, where Nakamura’s dialogue depicting the ideal of a kabuki player really enhances my androgyny thought: “a kabuki player must possess the power of a man and a grace of a woman.” This is an exact analogous expectation I got from practicing Aikido. Yet, the exact phrase for the androgyny expectation for a kabuki player, some other rumors say, has a more intense transgendered or androgyny expectation: “the mind and power of a man and the beauty, the grace, and the heart of a woman”. Despite this ideal is stated for the kabuki players, soon, I found that this ideal also works for budoka and after all, all human beings as well, no matter men or women. This androgyny ideal also reshaped my character from a stiff escapist, and preventive mentality to a universalist facing up, curative mentality, in which the androgyny not only made myself a more idealist, but also a more realistic and warm as well. I hope that this ideal could last forever.

These are the glimpse of how “the lady inside me” evolved. It’s so hard for me to put my background story in words, but now, at least you can see sketchy image of how my ideal and personality evolved.  I’ll soon make a video based from this entry to both clarify and elaborate my trans-thought. See ya soon!

Sword+Fist Philosophy: More Relevant as Civilization Progresses

As an aikidoka, I really must admit from my deepest heart, that the importance of the principles of “the empty-hand way” from Karate and Chinese martial arts are increasingly relevant in our increasingly  modern civilization. Yet so, the challenges for the practitioners from the modern times are actually bigger than our predecessors had.

Let us recount that most martial arts are derived from the weapons fighting method. Until a society experienced the “Haitorei Edict” phenomena (where civilians are no longer allowed to carry weapons freely except the armed forces and the police), the martial arts from the society were/are usually dominated by the weapons fighting, instead of the bare-handed fighting. Long ago, when weapons ownership were still very “loose”, it was not so hard for a non-military practitioner to catch-up his/her skill with an elite force’s skill. However, as weapons ownership is getting more regulated, and stringent over the time, the disparity of opportunity of martial arts pursue is getting larger as well. Nowadays, it is sensible to say that it is more harder for civilians to catch up their skills to the armed forces’ one. This means, I could say that we are ACTUALLY still living in totalitarian regimes!

In dealing with the more stringent armaments ownership policy, then we now know the bare-hand martial arts like karate, taijiquan etc. People might say, why study these kind of martial arts when now we can learn how to become like a cowboy? When nowadays there are simple mixed martial arts?

First of all, let me discuss that the martial arts like karate and Chinese kungfu have both shared the long history in dealing with the “no-armed society”. The history of “no-weapons policy” in the country now known as Japan had only begun in around 1876-1877 when Emperor Meiji issued the Haitorei Edict. However, on the same time when the Haitorei Edict was issued, the Chinese and Okinawan societies had been experiencing the “no-arms policy” for AT LEAST 200-300 years! These martial arts have a tons of knowledge in dealing with various types cold weapons instead of the traditional Japanese martial arts which was still heavily dominated by weapons. Even aikido, despite of its heavy emphasis on hand combats, its roots are still clearly weapon based martial arts.

As a traditional Japanese budoka, it is really hard for me to imagine how the Chinese and Okinawan folks could really with such kind of situation over a long period of time. Nevertheless, these relatively huge time gap between the “disarming policies” in both societies also leads us to considerably distinct cultural differences. Basically, these should not become a real issue. However, the real conflicts begun when each side of martial arts disavows each other in the mindset of incompatibility. The Japanese sword culture often stereotyped the Sino-Okinawan fist culture as “inefficiency in energy usage, too stiff”, etc. Yet on the other hand, the Sino-Okinawan fist culture often stereotyped the Japanese sword culture as “way too soft, too weapons dependence”. Yet, I really must admit that the defensive-oriented fist culture is nevertheless an excellent-and-worthy piece of self-defense to possess, especially if dealing with WCS-situations (worst-case-scenarios), like when you are incarcerated and tortured, etc. On the other hand, the sword culture is really trustworthy for dealing with armed multiple attackers, either light or heavy, yet we could deal with them, either with/without weapons.

Secondly, the “no-arms policy” had geared the civilians into more defensive. Again, this is a neo-totalitarianism, why? Because in EVERY martial arts philosophy and morals, despite all practitioners are taught to “use the arts in appropriate manner”/”use it as necessary”, defensive mentality is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. Even the best defense could even still be subdued by the offense. That’s why almost every martial arts agree that offense is the best form of defense. Again, because of the “no-arms policy”, the disparity of both opportunity and ability in martial arts between civilians and the armed forces are exponentially huge, and this situation makes civilians  more prone to suppression by the authorities, yet the authorities in one sense become less controllable by the people, where authority control from the people/civilians  is one of the pillars of democracy. Just being realistic, even in the most “liberal/democratic” country in the World, things such as police brutality are still evident. Even Robert Alan Dahl, maybe cynically, argues that “there is not any country yet that could implement ALL of the pillars of democracy”. Let’s say one simple thing: your are ACCUSED for something to the police. You have the habeas corpus, there is also the Principle of Presumption of Innocence. But yet, until the court issued a sentence (after a hefty process, indeed), as the accused, you have already under custody. While under custody, anything could happen. You may protest against the system, but will the system improves as you expect, even though as a civilian, YOU ARE the true boss of the system? Most likely, your protests will be either practically ignored or worse, the system turned your protests against yourself with the variety of excuses. Yet you don’t have some critical “survival skill” in order to deal with the potentially (or definitely) rogued system, which is, fist culture-martial arts. This example is really sucks and lame, but that’s what commonly happen. Should we stay in persecution or rise? If rise, how to be smart?

Now, as multiculturalism emerges, martial arts pursue also experienced cross-culture exposure, and this leads to a “global symposium” in martial arts. In my own eyes, despite the relevance of the fist culture with the current-day “no-armed” society, we should explicitly incorporate the armed multiple attackers philosophy from the sword culture, as nowadays, both motifs behind those two martial cultures are increasingly relevant AT THE SAME TIME, not only just literally, but universally. Especially, when regarding the example from the previous paragraph. These symposium could be at least, a candle for civilians in conquering the darkness of oppression, because as civilians possess the considerably adept martial arts skills, civilians could become more ready and confidence if being challenged by the system whom they should supposedly govern over them.

Expecting others to change from bad to good  is not an insensible thing. However, developing one’s self is already at least a painkiller in problem-solving

Atemi: Kenapa Makruh?

Gw jadi keinget sama dasar pertimbangan Suenaka-shihan untuk pecah dari Ki no Kenkyukai: disana (Ki Society) ga ada atemi, dan aikido tanpa atemi bukanlah aikido, karena dengan ga ada atemi, aikido jadi kehilangan maknanya sebagai seni beladiri. Karena, menurut beliau juga, O’sensei  aja rata2 kalo ngeksekusi teknik pake atemi. Nah, berangkat dari sini, gw jadi sempet frustrasi kenapa Sensei Hakim kok jarang banget ya ngajarin atemi (bahkan buat Sensei Hakim, atemi itu sifatnya makruh: kalo ga memaksa ya jangan dipake)? Lha terus klo berantem dijalanan gimana jadinya? Kalo ga boleh atemi kita bisa-bisa ud kegebuk, kebacok duluan kali ya? Nah, apalagi kan dibilang visi Aiki Kenkyukai itu mengajarin filosofi aikido seperti yang telah diajarin O’sensei, nah kok jarang pake atemi ini ngebuat gw terus bertanya-tanya selama berbulan-bulan kenapa…

Gw percaya bahwa setiap sensei kalo ngajarin sesuatu itu ga jauh-jauh dari pengalaman hidupnya sendiri, dan kalo dia ngelarang ini-itu pasti ada dasar yang cukup kuat kenapa. Cuman ya emang kadang2 kalo jawaban tak kunjung ktemu, kita jadi stress, frustrasi. Akhirnya jawabannya akhirnya ketemu pas abis gw latihan di Cipete pada suatu malem minggu lah (gw ga inget kapan sih persisnya). Jadi ceritanya, Sensei Hakim nyeritain tentang sekelumit pengalaman dia pas ngajar di PM (Polisi Militer) & Paspampres: PM (& juga paspampres) tuh kalo megang aja tuh ja’at-ja’at, dalem artian, raja tega, lebih-lebih PM (iyalah, wong katanya kerjaan mereka tuh salah satunya gampar-gamparin tentara! (namanya juga polisinya tentara!))! Ud gitu, mereka tuh, namanya juga tentara, survivalnya tinggi banget, dan karena itu, menurut sensei, egonya otomatis tinggi! Mereka ga akan nerima kalo diserang: begitu mereka ngerasa ada anceman, mereka pasti kask-kusuk cara bwt ngindar ato sikat balik! Dan juga, kalo mereka nyerang/nyikat, mereka tuh abisin bener2! Pokoknya, yang namanya tentara kesannya emang sangar, dan karena itu, menurut sensei orang-orang macem gini (termasuk polisi, provost, ato sekuriti) cocok bagi kita orang2 beladiri buat ngukur kemampuan/kematengan ilmu kita.

Nah, sekalipun mereka ini cocok buat jadi barometer, sensei juga cerita, mereka ini tuh orangnya belagunya, tengilnya minta ampun! Ga heran kalo komandan mereka tuh mesti ganas-ganas! Kalo urusan soal beladiri, mereka sih ga banyak cingcong: tunjukkin lu bisa ngapain, ngga usah banyak cerita. Jadi mereka tuh ceritanya kalo nguji kita kayak apa, mereka tuh ceritanya bakalan nyikat kita abis-abisan secara membabi buta dan bahkan ga disangka2, ato secara sederhana, seenak udelnya aj! Dan kalo qt jatoh, trus minta lagi, ga ada cerita buat mereka: elu mah cemen! Nah kalo bisa ngalahin dia, baru deh mreka diem (tapi biar gitu aja mreka msh sring b’tingkah!).

Lanjut lagi, sensei juga meragain gimana caranya dia ngajarin militer. Jadi, karena sensei waktu itu belom belajar filosofi aikido (sehingga ya bole dibilang waktu itu sensei belom ampe level ki), tekniknya sensei bisa dimaklumin masih agak keras, dalem artian bakalan ada rasa sakit, dan critanya, skali lagi, kalo mereka ngerasa ada rasa sakit dari koncian/teknik kita, kita sbagai nage bakalan dikasak-kusuk dah! Nah, jadi pas sensei ngelontarin pertanyaan (bwt nguji logika kita aja sih) tentang pake cara apa baiknya kalo madepin mereka, gw bilang pake atemi: kan O’sensei aja sering (malah ampir slalu!) pake itu kok! Nah, ini dia jawaban dari sensei: “Kalo kamu pake atemi mah, mereka tentara jauh lebih jago kalo yang gitu-gituan! Dan kalo disana (sama militer, maksudnya), mereka disono bakal bilang ‘Lha kalo gini mah mending gw sikat aja lu dari tadi!’ ” Lanjut sensei, “kalo kita pake atemi terutama buat teknik-teknik dasar aikido kayak pegangan ke tentara/polisi/sekuriti, siap-siap aja kita jadi bulan-bulanannya mereka, soalnya buat mereka, kita dianggap mau bohongin mereka yang katanya mau belajar yang basic-basic dari aikido.”

Ooooo, jadi begitu tho ya kenapa sensei jadi nggak teralu nyaranin kita pake atemi! Bener juga sih, kan gimanapun, sensei yang pernah ngelatih PM pasti berharap kita bisa seenggaknya sejajar sama sensei, nah pemakruhan atemi inilah asalah satu cara buat kita supaya kita bisa jadi sakti dimata militer. Walaupun emang, sensei juga bilang, kalo kita berantem sungguhan sih atemi bole-bole aja, tapi kan kita kalo latihan pengennya ga cuman jago berantem, tapi jago ngajar juga!

Dan semenjak cerita sensei tadi, hati gw jadi bener-bener plong buat ngikutin metode Sensei Hakim. Akhirnya, gw juga sekarang ngerti, bahwa atemi itu cuman salah satu cara aja, dan hukumnya ga mesti dipake kalo ga perlu. Belajar make atemi sih gampang, tapi belajar eksekusi teknik tanpa atemi itu jauh lebih susah. Dan emang kita harus berlatih dicara yang susah, bukan yang gampang, dengan gitu baru kita bisa ngerasain ilmu yang sesungguhnya. Bener juga sih…

Martial (Sport VS Art)

Let us analyze the term “Marial Art”. Literally, it means “the art of war”, which is adsorbed from a 2 kanji characters, 武 (wu/bu = war) and 術 (shu/jutsu = art/skill). And, since 1900, the Japanese improvised the term  武術 (bujutsu: the art of war/”martial art”) into 武道 (budo: the way of war/”martial way”) .

Hence from its name, bujutsu were originally purposed as a soldier’s “capital” and as a “survival kit” in the war zones against the enemies. Nowadays, the “survival kit” purpose of the bujutsu has been widely used as the main purpose of  learning martial arts.

Sometimes, we do wonder: what makes martial arts is often associated to the East Asian style ones? Maybe because of 1 thing: East Asian martial arts clearly states that the ultimate goal of the martial arts is to reach the absolute truth, throughout mental and spiritual refinement. Or simply, East Asian martial arts has a rich content of religious values besides moral values, which is inherent in any martial art.

Now, let us back to the topic: suppose we learn a martial art, then we are taught how to defend ourselves from even the worst conditions, at least physically (although nothing is perfect in this world). Surprisingly, today, most people perceive martial arts as “sports”, since martial arts makes a fit and healthy body and mind, as other sports do. Or, in other words: martial arts shares the same motto as sports: mens sana in corpore sano.

The argument above is ain’t wrong at all, since sports also promotes the knightliness (in which we usually know as “sportive attitude/spirit“) . However, 1 forgotten thing for sure, that, martial arts and sports are basically and totally different one to another.

Sports VS Martial Arts Dichotomy

There are 2 fundamental differences between martial arts and sports. First, sports forwards victory/achievement, whilst martial arts forwards salvation. Therefore, sports recognizes competition system, in the form of matches or races. Logically, in competition, 2 or all sides must share an equal level of knowledge/skills, to be then determined whose side is better, then the best. Sports are also familiar with the militaristic (e.g. referees are ALWAYS right principle, rigid rules) and score-oriented (the final score speaks principle) styles of management. Although, the sports’ rigid rules are made to ensure fair play (despite many people questioned this premise in accordance to the field dynamics). Simply, in the sports, there are winners and losers.

On the other hand, martial arts only recognizes salvation or havoc as its benchmark. As salvation is the purpose of martial art, a martial art practitioner must make a supreme effort to achieve and/or maintain it, at least for him/herself and physically. And when talking about salvation, the end justifies means. this premise is parallel towards the reality of life which is full with menace, and chaos, and therefore, our purpose to live is to overcome them in order to achieve the absolute truth. And this business is no-kidding compared with the win or lose in a match or race or competition.

The second difference: Sports focuses on the way, while martial arts focuses on the goals. Again, it is a common thing that sports possesses a rigid ways and rules, and therefore, the term “unsportsmanlike conduct” refers to the prohibited behaviors or ways. However, in the martial arts, those term doesn’t exist: there is only wise/smart or stupid/dangerous ways/behaviors, because the affair is life or death, salvation or havoc!

Moreover, sports focuses on physical and mental development, but martial arts focuses on physical, mental, and spiritual development, as according to the martial arts adage: “spirit is the fundamental for all lives”. Therefore, understanding martial arts may also leads us to understand our faith/religion. And eventually, the ultimate and basic goal of any martial art, faith or religion is  to find and uphold the absolute truth itself.

These are the 2 main and basic differences between martial arts and sports. In conclusion, martial arts has a deeper means and intents compared to mere sports, since again, martial arts accentuates not only physical and psychological development, but also spiritual, which is the basic and main goal.

 

From Taekwondo to Aikido

As the initial English version essay in this blog, I would like to say that this essay is never meant to insult, allude or harass other groups. Without too much courtesies, let us begin the story:

“Martial art“. Although today we understand this term as “the art/ways of (mostly physical) self-defense”, indubitably, the term itself is literally means “the art of war” (referring to the word “martial”, which is taken from “Martius“, the Roman God of War). Logically, in any martial art, self-salvation (either physical, or mental) is the main key, and nevertheless, one must be able to maintain it in all cost and at all time.

Taekwondo, Sober, and Aikido (Part I)

Recounting my kindergarten-elementary school days, I was a typical troublemaker (and sometimes, bully), in the sense that I loved to  brawl with either personal or class’/peer’s “enemies”. Since the 3rd grade, mom had got me to practice taekwondo. Still, due to the scarcity of reference, the opportunity was then came when I entered the 4th grade: taekwondo was adopted as an extracurricular activity. Immediately, I went to alacrity to learn the fighting techniques, but it often abrogated as the schedule, and the physical exercise was arduous: splits, push-ups, are some of the physical exercise’s abstruseness; training as usual (15.30-17.00) on school holidays (not including the public and semester ones) was quite another. The alacrity even went more abrogated when I found myself must always abstinent from the grading exam as my parents always refused to pay for the exam fees, in which the fee is the another prerequisite besides the exam materials itself: Taeguk. As a result, I always remained in the white belt while many of my mates had worn either yellow or green belts. These circumstances, combined with my insecurity towards the “sadistic” techniques (e.g. choking (in which I was fooled by the sabeomnim that this technique is used to “stab someone with a bare hand and take out his/her heart”), eye piercing techniques) had brought enough for my animosity towards this extracurricular. At the end of 4th grade, I decided to quit from Taekwondo and abstinent from brawling.

My repugnance to brawl had indeed brought 2 contradicting news. The good news: I learned to manage my emotions. The bad news: I often stood in the weakest positions when faced with serious conflict, or in simpler sense:  often became a loser. Being aware to this situation, my parents then encouraged to study aikido, in which I was very amused towards Steven Seagal’s actions that is considerably “cool, sophisticated, and efficient”. Then, on the 8th grade, I used to study aikido at Atma Jaya dojo for a few weeks before resigning because of the “schedule’s inappropriateness for junior high school students”. Hereafter, I remained abstinent from fistfights although must oftenly became the loser.

Welcome, Aikido ! (Part II)

Then, came the high school time. In the 10th grade, taijiquan was adopted as a mandatory extracurricular for the 10th graders, and again, I went to alacrity as many perceive taijiquan is “akin to aikido” because it is very subtle yet powerful: There’s no ardous physical exercises like in karate, taekwondo, kempo, etc (like running, push-ups, etc. (I can’t stand for these 2 activities)). The acceding had gained my motivation to study taijiquan seriously. Soon, I became one of the loyalist when most of mates turned acrimonious towards this extracurricular and the skill itself because of it’s abstruseness (for many young people).

When entering the 2nd semester (still in the 10th grade), in order to enhance my social network and my self-defense skill, again, my parents encouraged me to study aikido (at the Atma Jaya dojo). Nonetheless, at the time I felt hesitant to re-join the aikido club as I was still very fond of taijiquan. Nevertheless, finally I presumed to visit the Atma Jaya dojo in which I have abjured to visit since junior high school. Apparently, Edy-sensei (the Sunday class instructor) still remembered me! At the introductory session of my 1st visit (since the last 3 years), he said “Kid, I hope you won’t disappear again (like 3 years ago)”. This words motivated me to study aikido although it is very abstruse. It was January 2009 at the time.

Stress is inevitable in my early times of aikido  studying because of the impediment to memorize names. Nonetheless, over the time, after about 3-5 months I became fascinated in aikido, and the instructors also sensed this. Therefore, my alacrity in training accrued, plus, I became even more confident on mingling in Atmajaya because my high school (Canisius College, Jakarta, and we oftenly call it “CC”) is much more popular right there compared to my junior high school’s name (St. Mary Junior High School) (although both are considered as favorite schools in my city). Decent for enhancing social network.

Surefire, my adulation over aikido had also brought the “twin suns” phenomenon as I was still ardent in taijiquan. Evwen more, at the time (June 2009), I was in alacrity in the taiji intensive training as we will perform one the 10th anniversary of Perhimpunan Inti (Indonesia Tionghoa:  the Indonesian Chinese Association), in which President SBY was scheduled to attend it,  only to met with our (the taiji team) own decision to annul the performance after 3 times schedule changes and the unreasonable schedule (which was planned to be held on the end of June, in which schools are in holidays). Although the refusal to perform choice was our own choice, however, this had brought us abjection and writhe, as if our toils from the intensive training for months and our ardency seem worthless, where else, the instructors’ treatment towards the “dissidents” was incomparable (in the sense is, “too light”) towards our ardency and hard-work (The “dissidents” used to conduct mass truant!) . From these situation, I started to think about quiting from taijiquan and switched to aikido. At the moment, I wished to aggrandize both martial arts by amalgamate them.

However, the reality seemed to contradict my wish. At one time, when we loyalists asked the taichi instructors for teaching us the real martial applications techniques, they (the instructors) firmly denounce our wish as we were still “unable to stand on one foot properly”, and this respond abrogated my ardency towards taichi, although there was still 1 last hope: performing at the Canisius Education Fair 2009 Opening Ceremony to compensate our performance annulment at the Perhimpunan INTI’s 10th Anniversary last June.

Reputedly, on the 2009 Edufair, the committee adapted the Betawi culture as the theme; the committee decided to pass on three main performance: the Ondel-ondel dance (in which the record of 600 Ondel-ondel in a dance had  earned the MURI and World Record) , Batavian Pencak Silat choreography (in Cingkrik Goning style), and Taijiquan. Inevitably, this plan had motivated us to train ardently to achieve a spectacular result.

The awaited had come. All audience and the teachers were stunned by our performance. But I was instantly disappointed when I discovered that the documentation team adulated the more-flimsy Pencak Silat dance (in which they only prepare for less than a month while we, taichi guys had prepared for about 6 months!). Again, our ardency and hardworking were underestimated. This was the final toll for me in taijiquan: I turned acrimonious towards taijiquan, along with most of my mates. From that time, I decided to defect  completely to aikido! Farewell, taijiquan!

Discovering the True Aikido

At the time I defected to aikido, I was arguably one of the most prominent member in the Atmajaya Aikido Club. However, as a youngster, the curiosity to compare aikido with other martial arts was inevitably at culmination. At one day in either September/October 2009 (I was in the 11th grade then), at the eve of the Lebaran Holiday, I visited the Tunggal Hati Seminari (THS) (a Catholic-based Pencak Silat) extracurricular in school, in which I used to visit him (last year) to consult with the teacher about comparing taijiquan, towards aikido, etc. If during the 10th rade I was very staunch about taijiquan, then in the 11th grade I was staunch (and triumphal) about aikido, as if other martial arts seem to be “worthless” compared to aikido. Mas Bolly (In Pencak Silat (esp. the Javanese and Balinese style), the term “Mas” is equivalent to “Sensei” as in Japanese martial arts), the THS instructor, then asked me to show my skills/techniques, but unfortunately, all of my techniques were successfully easily countered by him. His response was, “Hey, I think you have learnt the wrong aikido, boy! Where did you train?” when I mentioned Atmajaya, he replied, “I think you better study under Hakim-sensei. He is the most adept aikidoka in Indonesia.”

Then, during the Lebaran holiday, I discovered from the internet about the Indosat aikido dojo: Classes every Tuesday & Thursday at 17.00-18.30. Perfect! The schedule is not too late, yet the location is close from home. Finally, in October 2009, about 2-3 weeks after Lebaran, I presumed to visit the Indosat dojo (on a Thursday).

The first day in Indosat dojo, firstly, I encountered a Indo-man and his wife (whom I didn’t realise at the time, it was Hakim-sensei). And at the 1st day of training there, I was made almost-crying because my skills from Atmajaya was an huge albatross in the Indosat dojo. At the end of training, Hakim sensei told me: “Man, you haven’t discover the secrets of aikido. Remember, every martial art (particularly, the (East) Asian ones), has it’s own deep secret. And the secret is the progenitor of all techniques, not vice versa! This is why your aikido skills is somewhat phony!” Then he continued, “in aikido, never become an underdog! Adroit strikes breeds adroit techniques, and vice versa! Adept ukes breeds adept nages, and vice versa!” This statement then alarmed me that I had learnt phony skills all this time, and therefore I started to think “I must learn from this sensei!”

Still being curious, at the next Monday after the 1st Indosat session, I revisit Mas Bolly, and when I mentioned the name “Imanul Hakim” (of whom I still didn’t know he is the top ace of Indonesian aikidoka, holding the rank of 4-dan (5-dan since January 2010)), Mas Bolly replied tersely: “That’s the teacher I’ve told you before! You’ve found him!” Good job! Keep practicing under him!” Finally, I have found a good teacher to guide me learning the principles of aikido!

The first days in Indosat Aiki Kenkyukai dojo was a big shame for me, as my 1-year experience of studying aikido was equivalent to the newbies right there. But then, the arduous yet abstruse training materials and atmosphere motivated me to study even more ardently, and after a few months…

One Thursday in January 2010. I’ll never forget this day: My grandfather had just recently passed away, and it was a rainy day. In addendum, Hakim-sensei hadn’t returned yet from Japan, so the instructions were done by senpais. Yet I was kinda sleepy at the time. I was glancing when executing a (throwing) technique( I didn’t really remember exactly which one), but Mr Rendi, my senpai and partner, seem to “following” my sidelong glances. I was instantly flabbergasted and started to think “Is his movement real or just a bandwagon?” After the training, I aksed Mr Rendi “Sir, do you got my ki?” “Yeah, I got yours,” he replied. I wondered, was that my initial ki projection or somewhat? When Hakim-sensei returned from Japan, I told him about the event, then he said “That’s your aiki projection. Someone’s Aiki power is always developed unconsciously.”This experience was somewhat a once in a lifetime experience, and it is as memorable as our 1st day to school, or according to our parents, our 1st birthday, the moments of our birth, or the 1st word we say.

Being active in the Aiki Kenkyukai dojo had also brought the “twin suns” phenomena once again, in the sense of studying aikido. Atmajaya dojo have ken and jo session and a dynamic techniques study, while Aiki Kenkyukai accentuates ki development and has a more arduous/serious learning atmosphere. Especially at the eve of the Kubota-shihan (he is the head of the Nara Aikikai) seminar in March 2010, I oftenly got scolded by  the Atmajaya dojo–cho that I must choose a side.

After thinking for months, considering that Aiki Kenkyukai is more conducive to hone my aikido skills, finally, I joined the Aiki Kenkyukai via Koshinkan Cipete dojo (I know alot of guys there (since the Kubota-shihan seminar)) in August 2010, at the 1st week (Thursday) of the Ramadhan. My journey to fathom the essence of aikido has just begun, beacuse although I had the rank of 5-kyu in Atmajaya dojo, maybe I only got 6-kyu in the Aiki Kenkyukai system because the teaching and learning culture is even more arduous than Atmajaya’s. However, in time, I became more realized that ranks are inferior towards the skills. The skills must talk, not the ranks.

Until today, I must confess that the “rank-mind” has still haunting my thoughts, yet I used to feel sorry why I left the Atmajaya dojo in cwhich I may learn to prepare for the 4-kyu rank, but nowadays, what concerned me is to fathom the essence of aikido deeper, and that is the motivator for me to train more ardently yet accepting the “shameful” reality. Fortunately, recently, I discovered that Aiki Kenkyukai also recognizes the ranks (under the brown belt level) from other Aikikai-affiliated schools. Therefore, I am more confident to approach my 4-kyu rank. I hope that my goal may leads me towards further understanding of the secrets of aikido.

Kreativitas, Keterbukaan: Rahasia MMA

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) entah kenapa boleh jadi banyak yang bilang serunya hampir ga ada abis-abisnya, entah karena keren, kreatif ato gimana, dan banyak yang bilang juga MMA sebenernya lebih keren daripada tinju/gulat thok. Okelah pendapat tadi gw rasa cukup relevan karena di MMA, aturan mengenai teknik lebih leluasa (boleh nendang, mukul, gulat). Tapi, disisi lain sih, 1 hal yang bikin MMA it kok serunya kayak ga bakal abis-abis itu tuh karena jiwa terbuka, fleksibelnya, yang kalo dirunut-runut sih asalnya ya dari kreativitas.

Kok kreatif? Iya, karena rata-rata MMA itu dasarnya dari beladiri tradisional yang aturannya serba ketat, cuman dimodifikasi sedemikian rupa (menurut standard pola pikir Barat) sehingga lebih simpel dan fleksibel. Dalam hal ini, emang kreativitas para pendiri/praktisi MMA ini bener-bener mesti diacungin jempol, karena gw yakin rata-rata ide dari kemunculan MMA adalah karena sinisme/cibiran terhadap beladiri Timur yang (mungkin) karena saking terlalu kaku aturannya, aplikasinya sering nihil.

Dari video yang gw embed dari YouTube diatas itu, Bruce Lee dengan JKD (Jeet Kune Do) nya itu bisa jadi contoh paling jelas. Dari video itu, bisa ketahuan bahwa prinsip dari JKD yang bisa dibilang ikon MMA itu fleksibilitas. Gw jadi inget pas baca tentang riwayatnya Bruce Lee di Majalah Luar Biasa! Januari 2011, Bruce Lee terinspirasi dari filosofi air dalem diriin JKD ini. Di JKD (berdasarkan info dari vidoe itu) dibilang ga diajarin jurus/bentuk-bentuk, karena menurut Bruce Lee sendiri, belajar jurus-jurus lebih membuat si murid terpaku pada situasi/kondisi/gaya tertentu, dimana hal ini bisa sangat berbahaya kalo dalem aplikasi berantem sungguhan, karena kalo berantem itu pada dasarnya ga ada aturan, maka kita mesti pinter-pinternya atur siasat, selain mesti gigih dan berani.

Ga cuman itu, Dan Inosanto yang jadi salah satu “penerus”nya perguruan JKD Bruce Lee ini juga nambahin, kalo selain bikin mental murid terpaku, dalem belajar kembang jurus itu, si murid kebanyakan ga ngerti apa yang dia lakuin. Biarpun suatu jurus itu dibilang gimana efektifnya, tapi gimana mao buktiin ilmunya kalo kita cuman belajar gerakan kosong tanpa ada partner sebagai “cermin” yang lebih real? Makanya yang gw liat dari latihan JKD itu, ga ada cerita latihan sendiri, melainkan mesti berpasangan. Ya kalo dipikir-pikir, metode ini efektif sih terutama buat ngajarin para pemula tentang aplikasi. Karena biar gimanapun, aplikasi itu krusial banget dalam segala ilmu, walaupun bukan segalanya. Dan selain mesti berpasangan, di JKD juga dibilang ga ada teknik2 “wajib”, semuanya bebas sesuai dengan kepribadian/gaya masing-masing, karena emang manusia itu unik, ga ada yang sama.

Metode pengajaran di JKD ini, menurut Suhu Inosanto, juga ga lepas dari rasa frustrasi Bruce Lee sama metode pengajaran beladiri Timur/tradisional yang menurut dia dibilang terlalu rahasia (“too secretive”). Emang sih prinsip kerahasiaan dalem beladiri Timur ini maksud baiknya tuh supaya selain ilmunya jangan sampe disalahgunain, murid-muridnya juga diharapkan motivasi belajarnya tinggi dan budi pekertinya baik (karena prinsip kerahasiaan ini, ilmu yang tinggi/rahasia baru boleh dikasitau sama mereka yang paling senior/tinggi ilmunya dan baik, menurut si guru), cuman bagaimanapun kan, ilmu itu segimana dahsyatnya baru terbukti/berarti kalo ilmu itu sendiri disebarluasin dan dikembangin, dan kalo ud gitu, bisa jadi prinsip kerahasiaan jadi semacem penghalangan bagi kemajuan ilmnya itu sendiri. Walopun emang ilmu itu dimana-mana kayak pisau bermata dua, bisa dipake buat nolong ato binasain orang, tergantung dipakenya buat apa dan siapa yang pelajarin.

Balik lagi ke MMA, dalem perkembangannya, ada yang beranggapan bahwa MMA itu ngerusak “nilai-nilai adiluhung” beladiri tradisional karena “saking ga ada aturan yang jelasnya”, ada juga yang berpandangan MMA itu justru karena ga ada style2 bakunya, MMA jadi semacem peleburan konsep semua ilmu beladiri. Tapi gimanapun juga, biarpun image MMA itu identik sama olahraga (kayak halnya tinju + gulat), namanya juga “martial art”, MMA juga tetep oke buat self-defense.  Dan sekali lagi, kekuatan dibelakang MMA itu ya tak lain tak bukan karena fleksibilitas dan keterbukannya, entah dari sistem, pendiri ato praktisinya…