Fighting Skills
The Most Important Skill
Sun Tzu’s Art of War states that the one who calculates more will be the victor. If it’s a simple matter of who’s bigger and stronger what is the dog waiting for. There is one extremely complex factor, most important in every fight, in every chess match. Position. Checkmate is finding the perfect position to attack or counter-attack. If reality was 2 dimensional all you would have would be close and far. But if that’s all you calculate you’ll loose. What about left and right, up and down? Straight, slanted, or circular? And here you have “Float like a butterfly.” If you just charge you’re playing checkers not chess. A butterfly flutters all around in movements so fast and varied that its movements look like stop motion, confusing the eyes. Northern Shaolin compares footwork to mosquitoes. You try to track a mosquito moving up, down, left, right, fast, slow; and all of a sudden it disappears.
Circling your opponent allows you to add angular complexity to try and breach your opponent’s defenses like the wolf and bear here both trying to get past the head to attack at the rear.
If you flutter and your opponent stays mostly stationary your footwork confuses them and they may fumble or make mistakes like the wolf with an overextended and crossed leg. If they stay in place but turn as they follow you circling them they will get dizzy but you won’t, because they are turning many more degrees than you. If in the same way you evade the opponent’s advances by moving in, out, up, down, left, right, fast, and slow you can stay in a position always just out of range of your opponent’s weapons. Watch Cassius Clay fight Sonny Liston….He was a master!
Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston
Kung Fu is all about watching and learning, whether it’s wild animals, fencing, or boxing. Watch how Clay moves, studies his opponent, and finds opportunity through his motion and body position. And yes, it’s okay to fast forward to the good stuff.