Jet Li in Shambhala Sun magazine ,September 2004
There was an article titled;Mind & Body as One in Shambhala Sun magazine about extreme arts,on September 2004, the following is an exerpt from it. it describes his
thoughts about martial arts and meditation. "Jet Li questions the value of such experiences. Having successfully ascended to the professional peak of his sport,the film actor(Hero,The One, Shaolin Temple) and martial artist now looks back at his rigorous mind-body discipline with disaffection. Trained from a young age,he mastered kung fu and all eighteen arms of wushu(A catchall name for martial arts): saber,spear,sword,halberd,axe,battle-axe,hook,for,whip,mace,hammer,talon,trident-halberd,cudgel,long-handled spear,short cudgel,stick and meteor hammer. He rose through every rank,gained international celebrity,and continually astounded competitors,coaches,and audiences, with is virtuosity. The man can fly.
So it is surprising when he says today that mind-body awareness means nothing. He says that at their highest ideal,martial arts are not devoid of sophisticated awareness and certain "oneness",But he says he has never met a martial arts master who even came close to reaching this stratum and that evebn it is inherently flawed.
Li explains that there are three levels of matering martial arts. The rist is mastering the weapon, having it become part of your body."You can control weapons like your arms," he says. the second level is when your heart becomes a weapon by "stopping the enemy with your heart before the fighting begins." When he says this,his hand motions as if he is clutching a rival's heart in his hand and his eyes blaze for a heart-stopping moment."
"At the third level," he says,"Even the heart is no longer a weapon. No weapons and no heart,no will. The opponent becomes you," In this state of union, when the opponent strikes,he strikes himself." It is above yin and yang. there is no reference point."
His tone suddenly changes,and he becomes dismissive again."This is the idea, but I've never met anyone who reached that level," he says."Maybe they are hiding in the mountains." He will acknowledge that the discipline required to become a martial arts master helped prepare him for the rigors of the Buddhist mind-training that now occupies his time almost fully,but only to the extent that he can sit for long periods of time without his legs cramping.
"At the Shaolin Temple, the first Zen temple,why did they start doing martial arts?" Li asks,"If you sit for so long, you need to move and stretch so that you can meditate more. It was for that reason, not the other way around."
"when you study martial arts you train really hard," he continues."You can sit there for six hours. Maybe it makes a Buddhist practice easier. Maybe it doesn't make a difference. It doesn't mean you are happy or that you understand the universe." He recognizes that martial artists meditate buy says it is a different kind of meditation. "It is goal-oriented meditation. Wushu contains the concept of attack anddefense. It is still dualistic. Where is emptiness in this? Where is your heart?"
Li has been a devoted practitioner of Vajrayana buddhism for the past several years, but says that his connection to Buddhism pre-dates his interest in martial arts. It even pre-dates his current birth,he says. It is karma,not kung fu that brought him to this place.
Have a nice weekend.
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