This e-mail was sent to me, and after reading the story, I wanted to share it here.

Here is a link to a heart warming article on martial arts:http://www.martialinfo.com/Articles/article_view.asp?i=482

Enjoy the story, and remember the power we have for good as martial artists.

Alain

I was reading the article Marishiten: Buddhist Influences on Combative Behavior by David A. Hall in the book Koryu Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan, edited by Diane Skoss and came across this description of volition and the related Japanese combat terms.

Volition (will, initiative) is a term that covers a sometimes obscure area of human psychology. In the Japanese combative context, volition can described variously as go no sen, sen no sen and sensen no sen. All of these terms indicate a type of action taken (or, in some cases, withheld) in relation to a combative situation; i.e., the interval (in Japanese, ma) of space and time or even psychological distance separating opponents. In general, these terms may be translated as follows:

Go no sen - response action – luring an opponent into making a foolish attack so that a counterattack may be used.

Sen no sen – preemptive action – using initiative to prevent the opponent’s taking initiative.

Sensen no sen - pre-active action – using initiative to suppress or defeat an opponent before he has a chance to contemplate an attack.

Take a moment and think about these three terms and the meaning in the context of your own style, training, and martial development. Think of situations where each of these could be used.

In combat, you want to make the conscious choice regarding action. It is much better to act on your own volition and coerce your opponent into acting on your terms.

Think about this.

Alain

Last night while I was teaching, I had one student who was instinctively resisting the throw his partner was learning. The point I made in class, that I also want to share here is that we must work with our training partners when learning new techniques. If we resist when our partner is trying to learn, it will be more difficult for them. Sure, once techniques are learned and for certain training we want to go at a higher speed and during randori or sparring type exercises we provide full resistance. There is a time and place for everything.

Be sure to help your training partner when learning new things, and they will help you. This will minimize training injuries, assist with learning techniques, and make your training sessions more enjoyable and less frustrating.

Train hard, train safe, and train smart.

Alain