The Concept of Yin and Yang
Pertaining to the Martial Arts and to Life
The concept of Yin and Yang states that in the universe there are two forces that complement each other. Yang represents the masculine or positive things in the universe while Yin represents the Negative or Feminine. One is by no means better than the other in any sense and both are necessary in life, while a balance of the two is a greatly sought after occurrence.
The concept of Yin and Yang differs largely from other beliefs of duality in that Yin and Yang do not represent “Good” and “Evil” but rather different sides of the same coin. A tilt in either direction is undesirable. Think of it as representing complimentary traits in the universe. Winter is to Yin what summer is to Yang. Without winter, we could never wish for the warmth of summer to take the ice away, and without summer we would never wish for the cool relief of the first snow.
In the martial arts the concept of Yin and Yang is represented in many forms. It is represented through our hands and feet, it is represented through our body and mind and it is represented through the juxtaposition of fluidity and rigidity. While many more representations are found in the martial arts, the concept of Yin and Yang can be applied to any two opposing forces, therefore the possible relationships are endless. It can be as simple as up and down, left and right, hot and cold, or as complex as right and wrong or life and death. It is for this reason that I am limiting myself to looking at these three relations as they pertain to martial arts and to our lives as well as how balance in general affects us.
I feel I must first begin with a brief explanation of how one may gain an increased awareness of their body and mind. The easiest way that this is accomplished is through a combination of deep breathing exercises and meditation. Inhale slowly and deeply from the diaphragm for six seconds. Now exhale slowly from the nose for twelve seconds. Repeat this process twice more with your eyes closed, think of nothing, past, present, or future. Choose an image to focus on, perhaps you love the beach, think about the waves lazily lapping the shore, and try to see the color in the water and the sand. Focus on the reflection of the sun off the water; try to feel its warmth on your face. After you have finished slowly open your eyes. Chances are you feel more centered and aware now than you did before. The combination of deep breathing and meditation through the envisioning of your object will allow you to relax yourself and begin to tap into the energy you have inside your body. It is through this that you can begin to balance your body and mind. Repeat this process as often as you need it and you will find the results are staggering.
With a foundation in the process of meditation and its importance in the process of remaining balanced, we can begin our journey through the mind and body of a martial artist, inside and outside the dojo.
Much like Yin and Yang, a martial artist’s hands and feet must work in harmony to accomplish the desired technique, and accomplish it effectively. The connection of ones hands and feet is a connection that must be understood before it may be mastered. A martial artist who is very skilled with their hands but not with their feet would excel in close quarters combat but fall short if their opponent was at range. Conversely, a martial artist who is very skilled with their feet would excel if the opponent was at range but would struggle with close quarters. The key lies in the balance. Harmony between hands and feet allows a martial artist to defend themselves in any given situation; however, hands and feet alone cannot accomplish this. To truly be prepared one must achieve harmony of the mind and body as well.
The mind is at constant war with the body in the martial arts. The body grows tired and begs to stop while the mind must stay focused and forget the pain that is building up in the muscles. The mind must never allow the body to win out for this is when focus and technique suffer. If you watch a martial artist practicing he may very well seem focused at the beginning and he may be executing flawless technique, yet as he grows tired you could start to notice his hands slowly falling to his sides and his legs slowly straightening in his stance. This is due to the fact that as he begins to tire his mind is losing the battle against the body. At this point the body has won. It has convinced the mind to give up when the scales are tipped in favor of the body. As the mind gives in to the will of the body the harmony between the two is lost. By the same virtue, if one only listens to the mind and not to the body, exhaustion will set in and technique of any kind will leave as you will not have the strength to carry on, no matter how much your mind may want to. The key here is to find the balance between the two. The mind must want to continue just to the point that the body raises its voice to the highest level and screams with all it has for you to stop pushing. This point is not where many believe it to be. Your body will scream at you, it will beg you to stop and rest. This is not the point of which I speak. At this point you are still able to push through the wall and continue onwards, perhaps with even more power than you had before. The point of which I speak comes after the initial stopping point. The point I am referring to is when the mind begins to tip the balance in its favor and the body protests not only the physical exhaustion, but also the imbalance of the two halves. Maintaining this balance will lead to an increased awareness of self and increased power of technique.
In martial arts there exists a theory that when executing a technique one should imagine water surging from the ground, through the core, accelerated by the twisting of the hips, and out through the hand. This is the Theory of Water. It is the belief that the fluidity of a technique overcomes any obstacle. What I find most interesting about this theory is that while it requires a soft fluidity to execute, it finishes with a power and solid frame. In this sense the martial arts juxtapose the fluidity of water with the rigidity of earth. While it is true that one should imagine themselves a willow as opposed to an oak, or a river as opposed to the mountain towering above it, rigidity cannot be forgotten, for fluidity would not exist without it. Consider the breaking of a board. The fluid motion of the fist as it is accelerated by the shoulder and the hips, the impact that continues through the board and into the space behind, and the ending moment. If we could take a snapshot of the time just after the board had broken and the hand had slowed, it would not seem as fluid as envisioned. We would see movement, certainly, but the feet would be set and in a stance, the arm would be extended, and the fist would be tense. It is in this manner that martial arts must also be executed. It must be a lifetime of fluidity with snap shots of rigidity. The continuation of fluidity is made possible by these brief instances of rigidity, allowing the natural balance of the two to continue throughout. To further illustrate this idea of fluid rigidity, consider a roll. Your body flows over itself like a wave crashing into the sea, yet as you strike the ground you do not allow yourself to lose the rigidity in your arm, you do not allow your head to move where it wishes, you keep them in place. You instead allow the ground to flow around you while your body remains, to an extent, rigid. It is the balance of these two forces that allows a roll to happen. If you were as rigid as the ground when you fell, you would undoubtedly be harmed. The ground is much harder than you and will always win. However, if you attempted a roll in the water and you remained as fluid as water, you would not stop and instead be taken wherever the water was traveling. To overcome the rigidity of the ground you must make yourself flow and to overcome the fluidity of water you must make yourself rigid. In this way the balance is maintained.
Not only are these concepts of Yin and Yang relevant to the martial arts, they are all easily applied to everyday life. Everyday our hands and feet work in harmony, our bodies must listen to our mind, and our mind to our bodies, and we must approach situations with fluidity or rigidity as necessary. Take for example the making of a decision. One can view the decision as an obstacle, attempting to crash through it and becoming tangled in the debris, or one can choose to flow around the decision, taking little care of the small details and coming to an answer before moving on to the next decision. Neither of these approaches are ideal situations to find oneself in. One certainly does not want to become so entangled in the detail of a singular decision that they may never move on from it, trapped battling with it forever; however one also must not simply flow around obstacles, making decisions without thought or care. One must find a middle ground in how they deal with these decisions. Do not think of these decisions as the “good” or “bad” decision to make, for there is not a truly bad decision, nor is there a truly good decision. Decisions bring different outcomes in our lives that we must take and deal with in a way that will continue to nurture the balance found within ourselves. As stated previously, Yin and Yang do not represent “good” and “evil” per say. While the relationship of good and evil is an example of Yin and Yang, they are not inherently one or the other. It is because of this that many decisions that one can make cannot be classified as “right” or “wrong”, instead they must be thought of as they are, just a decision one may make at a point in time. It is through this thinking that one begins to see that there is no inherent evil to anyone, as there is no inherent good to anyone. The two forces must be kept in balance, as with any two opposing forces, and it is only when one tips the scales in its favor that problems arise.
It is in this way that the concept of Yin and Yang may be related back to the concept of Kunja. The way one acts when following the concept of Kunja keeps the bodies Yin and Yang in balance. Through the fulfillment of one’s perceived physical and mental duties, the body may exist in harmony. It is in this way that when one ceases to follow the concept of Kunja that they lose focus and motivation. It is the loss of the sense of duty and the sense of accomplishment that Kunja brings to the life of the one following its concepts that causes this decline and upsets the balance achieved by Kunja originally.
As a martial artist people expect that we simply know how to achieve balance. That it is some universal knowledge bestowed to us upon receiving of our black belt. The opposite is what hold true. The understanding of balance is only achieved through lengths of study and experience. It is because of this misconception that martial artists inherently know these universal truths that give us that much more reason to study and understand them. If the population expects us to know, then not knowing looks bad not only on the part of the martial artist but on the martial arts community as a whole. This does not mean that one should devote their lives to understanding the universe and meditate in a cave barely big enough for two grown men until they achieve enlightenment.[1] It does, however, mean that the continued study of martial arts is just that, continuous. There is never an end where you know all you can know. There is never a point where you look at yourself in the mirror and say “I know all there is to know about martial arts and life, I can defeat an enemy with my pinky and have achieved enlightenment. I am now done.” You will never hear this because this point does not exist. There is always more that you can learn. Through your studies and experiences you amass an understanding of how things in the universe work and it is this knowledge that you must pass on to others.
A martial artist’s relationship with others has also become a socially created norm. Martial artists are expected to be humble and polite, as is correct, however it begs further interpretation. As with all aspects of life relationships require balance. In all types of relationships one person cannot be overly passive or overly aggressive. Both will undoubtedly drive one party away. The beauty is achieved when one knows when to push and when to fold. It is through this balance that happiness can be found.
Much in the same way friendly relationships require balance, relationships with an opponent require the same balance. In a fight one cannot constantly attack, for you will eventually grow tired if you fail to break your opponent’s guard. However one cannot simply defend for then the fight will not end in your favor. It is through the combination of swift and vicious strikes then a retreated and calculated defense that a fight is won. More importantly than just defending and attacking is respect. Anyone can be a bully and beat someone into the ground. A martial artist uses their technique only when necessary and even then respects the life of the opponent, no matter how little they may respect their character. The balance of life is a precious one and it is not up to any one person to end another. It is this concept that drives the martial artist to evade before blocking, and block before striking. It is this concept that drives the principle of using the least amount of force to get out of the situation and to safety. Should a life be taken, no joy should be taken in that fact, quite the opposite. It is through the strict following of these principles and concepts that balance is maintained within.
When one finds something in life that brings them balance and harmony, it is nearly impossible to continue without that harmony. Once we see how our lives function when our bodies and minds are at peace, the thought of them being pitted against each other again is a very undesirable one. Yet in life it is not impossible for this to occur. When it does happen we feel as though we are spinning out of control, losing everything that is dear to us, and having no direction to travel in or the means to escape the chaos. For the one year I did not practice martial arts this is how I felt. In just one year I saw vast change in how I lived my life. My academics began to suffer, I became less outgoing, more lethargic, and generally in a worse mood towards people I had never thought badly of. It was not until I resumed my martial arts training that I felt centered and balance once again. The body and the mind are powerful tools when used correctly, yet when one becomes too much, the other must reign it back in to maintain a healthy stability. It is this stability that is sought after by all humans, whether they know it or not, and it is a pity to lose when you have finally achieved it. It is something worth fighting for.
Through my studies and my training in the martial arts I have become increasingly aware of the importance of the balance of mind and body and the importance of self-awareness. It is through these continuing studies that the concepts discussed with this paper have made themselves clearer and available to me and it is through these studies that understanding continues to grow. No matter how many times someone may tell you of the importance of inner peace, you will never believe it until you experience it yourself. Life is the greatest teacher, and through life, experience. Experience is what created these concepts and it is experience that will keep them alive; the continuing experience of these truths by people willing to accept them and willing to learn from and work with them. In our age of technology and the fast paced life style it brings with us, it is more important now than ever that we have something that will allow us to slow down and think. Something that will allow us to feel relaxed and to manage the stress we inevitably feel on a day to day basis. Whether you call it Yin and Yang or know it by some other name, it is what ultimately holds together the mind and keeps the body working. It is what makes people happy and keeps society from falling. That feeling is balance, both within us and in the world surrounding us. Balance is what keeps us standing, quite literally. Without balance we are lost. Without balance we have no light. Without balance opposing forces would destroy each other. Without balance there is nothing. There is a concept in Chinese culture pertaining to chaos. It is one of the most fearful words in the Chinese language. They would rather be under militaristic rule than have to face chaos. Chaos breeds fear and fear breeds hate. It is balance that checks chaos and keeps the scales from tipping. A universal force beyond our complete understanding yet completely controlling all we understand.
[1] Bodhidharma, sometimes attributed as the one who taught the shaolin monks the techniques that eventually became shaolin martial arts, is said to have meditated in a cave on mount song for nine years to achieve enlightenment. It is even rumored by some that he cut off his own eyelids to keep from losing focus.
