Levels of the Martial Arts Experience
Reprint from Black Belt Magazine, June 1979
Levels I, II & III
The view of martial arts as merely combative or competitive is highly misleading. There are various interrelated aspects or levels of experience in martial arts. Unfortunately, many practitioners explore only a few of these levels and may even reach a high level of skill without using this process of discipline and development of skill to explore and experience more fully the potential of this medium. There are many paths to self-awareness. Martial arts are only one and in themselves are not enough. That is why traditionally many masters have encouraged the ideal of the martial artist as a man of learning and culture as well as martial skills.
There are seven aspects or levels of the martial arts experience. However, they cannot be considered as isolated levels, one reached successively after another. Each person develops somewhat differently, and some or all of these aspects may develop simultaneously or successively, depending on the person and on the instructor. The most significant factors are attitudes and motives on the one hand, and openness to change and new ideas and experiences on the other. These factors determine which aspects will be experienced most and whether eventually all levels will be reached.
The first and most obvious level in martial arts is the physical. It involves the discipline of mastering the control and coordination of the body to perform effectively and provide health through physical fitness. This is the foundation for the subsequent levels.
The second level is the combative level. The physical skills of control and coordination learned are now applied to self-defense. Equally important is the mental focus and control required to be strong and effective in self-defense.
The third level is the competitive. The physical skills and self-defense capabilities learned are now tested under limited conditions of rules and regulations. On the one hand, it is easier than self-defense because it is usually much safer than actual combat. On the other hand, it is far more difficult to score to a limited target area skillfully with proper form than it is to stop an opponent in an actual fight where the target area is unlimited and a blow to almost any part of the body, if strong enough, can be effective.
Levels IV & V
The fourth level is the aesthetic or artistic. All prior skills are now used for the purpose of self-expression, through the discipline of balanced and coordinated movement, much as a painter, dancer or other artist must perfect his requisite artistic skills. The martial artist performs not only to stay in shape or compete or to practice defense but for an enjoyable and creative expression of the emotion and feeling we each need to express in some form or other. If he does not practice with this motive, he is a martial practitioner but not a martial artist. It is rather like the difference between technology and true art or science.
Kata, the prearranged symbolic battles used to develop mental focus and physical coordination and agility, can be an excellent vehicle for artistic self-expression as well as for a form of meditation through movement. The difference between kata and kumite (free fighting) can well be compared to the difference between classical and jazz music, both excellent forms of art.
The fifth level is that of meditative discipline, the exercise of mental focusing. In order to do each of the previous levels well, one must have learned great mental discipline in mind/body control through physical discipline, which requires concentration and focus. This is the aspect most related to other meditative disciplines as techniques of focusing, regardless of the goal.
Perhaps the most obvious example of the meditative character of martial arts is tai chi chuan, with its slow, flowing, rhythmic movements emphasizing balance and breathing, which result in a mind/body stability and focus or centeredness. This meditative character can be equally present in other martial arts, which stress balance, coordination and proper breathing, or in any activity where the mind/body must be focused together to achieve some end. The proper motives and ends which make a crucial difference will be discussed below in levels six and seven.
