Newsletter 763
To Understand the Martial Arts

Happy June!
Perfect month for working out!
All you guys and gals out for the summer,
have you set your goal?
Do you know what martial art
you want to learn this summer?

This guy understood Zen!

Okay,
there was a question I read
on a forum the other day,
the question was
what martial arts book is the best?
Interesting question.
What was more interesting
was that people didn’t understand it.

There were a few answers,
no matrixing books,
unfortunately,
but that will eventually happen.

The Book of Five Rings was there.
Moving Zen was there,
but that was as close as they got.
And at the bottom of the scroll was the most amazing comment.
‘I don’t underestand.’

That was it.
I don’t understand,
and therein lies the problem of mankind.

When I don’t understand something,
I usually go out and find some written material,
find out what it is about.
So here is a guy who studies martial arts,
doesn’t understand.
So he doesn’t read books,
doesn’t know the relationship of zen and Tao and all that,
to the martial arts.
Really doesn’t understand
that an art is the manifestation of spirit.
He just goes along,
day after day,
monkey see monkey do.

What is the value of his life?

Does he just drink beer and think the stars are cool?
Does he even know where he is going?
For that matter,
does he even know that he is?
What is the point of his life?

Without understanding,
what is the point of anything?
Might just as well be a monkey,
swinging from tree to tree.

I remember reading ‘Zen Flesh, Zen Bones,’
and being so totally away,
lightening in the skies,
you know?

And when I read these books,
I somehow tapped into more resources.
I had more energy.
I had the idea
that if i could master myself,
if I could control myself,
I could find out the truth.

And here’s a guy,
might even be a black belt,
for all I know,
and he doesn’t understand.

Mind you,
there’s nothing wrong with not understanding,
but there is something wrong,
if he doesn’t want to solve it,
doesn’t want to find understanding.

No understanding and you are pavlov’s dog,
drooling on command,
buying what the advertisers want you to buy,
accepting what the government says,
never objecting,
just nodding and…and drooling.

Ah, well.
I’m probably preaching to the choir here.
If you guys ordered any matrix courses,
then you wanted to understand the martial arts.

Of course,
the real shame of it,
is when some guy thinks he understands,
thinks he knows what I’m saying,
and hasn’t done a matrix course.
Then he’s just delusional.

So,
not sure where to go with this rant,
I was just so blown away,
hate to give anybody a bummer,
but the real solution,
is to find out.
To get a little light in your skull,
to read,
to work out and figure out
the relationship between reading and working out.
To find understanding
for what it is you are really doing in the martial arts.

To find the mystery of Chi
to cement your understanding of history
to collect ‘volumes’ of forms and styles,
to be quite and incisive in your thinking.

And that’s all pretty easy if you matrix.

Have you taken a look at:
Matrixing: the Master Text?

You should.
It has all the data on matrixing.
It has matrixes I for the various arts,
taken from the various courses.
It shows you the complete geography of the MartialArts,
and how I figured it out.

One thing is sure,
if you read
Matrixing: The Master Text,
you will understand.

You will understand the martial arts
better than all the people
who have not matrixed.

Makes you the great master,
you know?

Here’s the link…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2f-matrixing-the-master-text/

Have a great June work out!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2f-matrixing-the-master-text/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

I often wonder about the zen martial arts of Billy the Kid.

Billy was rumored to have killed 21 people before he was 21. That puts todays gangbangers to shame.

He was a rowdy, likable fellow, and he played the Robin Hood well. He managed to elude the law, and even make fools of them. He rustled freely, killed anybody who called him a cheater, and was popular with the folk…especially the Mexican folk, as they identified with a fellow who did the things they did. Simply, they were put upon and bullied, and they liked to see somebody fight back.

Now, to the point of this article…how good was Billy the Kid’s Martial Arts Zen.

Another way to phrase this would be…how aware was he during a gun fight?

In answer to this question, I read several histories of Billy the Kid, and one particular book seemed to shed light on the matter. This was the book on Billy by Patrick Floyd Garret. Pat, if you didn’t know it, was the fellow who killed Billy the Kid.

Now, one thing to understand before we start, Pat isn’t always the best source. According to him, he beat Billy the Kid to the draw in a darkened bedroom. But…he probably ambushed him with a shotgun. So Pat isn’t sterling when it comes to telling the truth.

That said, however, two tales in his book on Billy seem to offer interesting glimpses into the mindset and reality of Billy the Kid.

One, Billy told a tale of how he had been trapped by Indians, and how he outran them, got into a slot canyon, and shot them. The odd thing about this is that it sounds not like a real incident, but braggadocio. But was it bragging because of Billy’ description? Or was presented in bragging style, preenting Billy in a poor light, in Pat Garret’s writing? At any rate, it sounds ludicrous, and is valuable only in that it illuminates a certain type of writing style that reveals the author is writing, or relaying, an untruth. Thus the second tale in the book, by being ‘absent’ of this style, seems to be the truth.

Apparently Billy the Kid was in a small store and he ran into a rancher he didn’t like. So he jokes around, and when the rancher is distracted, he pulls his gun…and finds that the rancher has drawn with him, matched him, and is staring at him with steely, no nonsense eyes.

Billy puts his gun away, laughs and jokes some more, tries to make a funny thing out of it all. ‘I was just funnin’ with ya,’ type of stuff.

The rancher goes on about his business, and Billy sneaks up behind him and draws his gun again…and finds that the rancher has drawn his own gun and is staring him right in the face.

Billy tries to make a joke out of it, puts his gun away, and then tries a sneak draw when the rancher holsters his own gun…but the rancher has redrawn and is staring at him silently.

And this went on for a half dozen more attempted draws. Was Billy serious? Was it attempted murder? Put off only because of the rancher was more aware, more intent, than Billy the Kid?

I don’t know, and none will ever. But, when you read the description it is eery. And there is just the ring of truth to it. And in this ‘true’ anecdote we can look at the Zen in Billy’s mind.

He didn’t have any.

The rancher, however, was aware at all times, didn’t bother with reaction time, stayed in the moment, and yet didn’t leap to conclusion. It is the zen–it is the ‘wise’–of a person who has enough experience that he can defend himself, and yet doesn’t want to bother with doing something that is basically bad. wouldn’t you call that good martial arts zen?