The Case for the ‘Peaceful Warrior’ & the Fate of World Martial Arts Culture
By Nathan Zhang, a Tai-chi practitioner, a Duke of Queensbury enthusiast, and an MMA fan; also the “CEO” of Budgetblack Corporation (a comic book publisher from the USA).

The Case for the ‘Peaceful Warrior’
Throughout history, man has had a need to defend himself from foes and predators. In ages past, it was the tiger, the lion, the serpent, and oftentimes, bands of roving highwaymen whom sought treasure at the expense of defenseless pilgrims and merchants. Today, our complex planetary society involves threats to personal well being in the form of regional wars, conflicts, and more recently, revolution (the “Arab Spring”, for instance), as well as dangers closer to home, such as the threat of terrorism (a double-edged “Sword of Damocles” that harms not only the victim, but also victimizes the contemporaries of the perpertrators on basis of the ignorance of the masses), as well as a rise in crime in certain parts of the world. Also, poverty and excessive affluence can be considered threats to humanity itself. As a result of the danger of premature death due to these predatory conditions, humanity naturally developed for itself a means of self defense, which have since evolved into today’s “Martial Arts” practices, styles, and schools of philosophy, which span the world and teach many similar principles, precepts of thought, and quite remarkably, and also thanks to globalization, have become closer to each other in technique and philosophy and have also forked off (without forking away) a subsystem of martial arts known to the uninitiated television junkies as “MMA” and to the welleducated martial artists as “Mixed Martial Arts”, “Jeet Kune Do (JKD)”, and the old Spetsnaz adage of “Everything is a weapon”, among other names. The forcus of this article is not to detail the history of martial arts nor the development of mixed martial arts, however. The focus of this article is to present a possible scenario for increased communication and understanding between martial arts stylists and schools, and collaboration in a common goal: eliminating the threats to humanity’s survival that were the foundational cause and prerequisite condition for the existence of martial arts in the first place. Therefore, we must begin with the ‘what’ of our goal: We are attempting to rid this world of its warfare, conflicts, poverty, and other vices. The ‘how’ of our goal is this: By teaching our kwoon, dojang, dojo, and studio / gym students to fend for themselves, and to stand up for others, we can instill basic, pre-existing moral norms of chivalry and honor, and when anyone allows a youth or a fellow practitioner to show their true colors as a human being, and not as a cocky ring fighter or a cage animal, then and only then will everyone else in the class or dojo be inspired to do likewise. Humans tend to follow the leader. It’s a natural trait, and if we didn’t behave much like dogs and sheep do, we would never have built the massive, sophisticated, interdependent planetary civilization we have today. However, this tendency to follow the leader has not always been to follow the leader whom is just or he or she whom is wise, Quite often, and here in the USA (where this is being penned), the leaders are complete fools and often engage in unhealthy or dangerous activities, and sometimes which are downright cruel. Due to a sensationalist media apparatus, the people of this nation (the writer included, oftentimes) tend towards a mentality of “follow the most awesome, coolest leader regardless of how badly his moral compass needs fixing or how dangerous his actions could be for me as both a citizen under the law and a responsible individual within my community”, a mentality which is already eating away at the United State’s global power and our ability to win our bets and protect our interests (and not just overseas, although quite admittedly, we did lose three of our most recent wars: Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan [the former was a surrendered conflict, the middle and the latter were due to “retreating with our tails between our legs”]). If unchecked, for the United State and for any nation, or even for the planet’s civilization, this mentality and its tangible repercussions will destroy and completely annihilate human society and may also wipe humanity off the map... So I propose that we teach our young to fight, both to defend themselves, as well as others, and teach, from a young age, and within the household (because not all schools teach the same thing), the moral responsibility and the wisdom of the consequentiality of our actions, and also the reasons for when one should give up a fight and when one should never do so. Also, we should teach our young to be ready to sacrifice something they love or hold dear, to ensure that those that they love and consider to be their friends can be safe and not in need to repeated defense. In short, I am suggesting, no, I am declaring that humankind needs to wake up, “man up” and become the race of master warriors we were born to be (much like the Klingon, the Kilrathi and the Jaffa from different science fiction universes - one must remember, however, that what we see in imaginary alien races is exactly the qualities we wish so much to possess in ourselves). So to complete the question cycle, the ‘why’ is because we need to be able to think straight and make proper decisions (wise ones too) regarding our survival and our success, including what kind of success we’d prefer (remember, there are many forms of success... making millions of dollars actually is not one of them, because it is a fake form of success).
The ‘when’ of this case-in-point is “NOW”.
The ‘where’ is “Right here, right now”.
And of all things, the “who” is “You and I”.
Are you ready to live up to your humanity? Or are you going to continue to live as the pitiful excuses for the warriors that you believe you are?

The Future of Martial Arts Culture
I will be getting into the concept of the “Peaceful Warrior” shortly, but first, a scenario of what will happen if the current mode of sensationalist media, foolish social leaders, and populist martial arts frauds continues to run in this world of ours. The scenario does not have a timeline; rather, this could happen all at once or never at all: it depends upon the reader’s ability to prevent the scenario from occuring by following the details in the next heading. First, the media will continue to portray “martial arts” as both a money making venture and as a form of “uncivilized but nonlethal combat”, using military lexicon to advertise and promote cage fights, ring fights, and other forms of martial arts “entertainment”. The brutality of such promoted fighting “sports” will increase at the same time the amount of true sportsmanship and chivalry already within the martial arts community (from the get-go) will drastically decrease. It should also be noted that the female models used to promote such activities will eventually become so disgusted with the promotions that the supermodels and top non-supermodels of the world will boycott their own employment in such events to such a massive extent, that the promoters will resort to hiring prostitutes off of the streets in order to continue their promotions of certain events, especially those where the focus has nothing to do with the core values of the martial arts, but on the brutality, lethality, and immorality of the event itself. Already a trend can be found amongst certain martial arts distribution and gear and apparel manufacturing chains to embrace this debasedness. Despite the chains’ and the manufacturers’ claims that their products are (a) for “entertainment purposes” only or (b) for “promotion of martial arts” values and techniques, to the trained bystander, it appears they are actually eschewing proper discipline and caving into the temptation to portray the martial arts as a means of “beating up the enemy” as opposed to its core values of discipline, self defense and brother-/sister-hood which any selfrespecting school would teach first and foremost (in the writer’s area, via the school orientation session or information sessions made mandatory by law and lobbied for by the State Boxing Commission). This trend must be stopped, because it will seriously harm the martial arts industry and the community (at large) of martial arts practitioners around the world. Eventually, if it is not stopped, “martial arts” will become so devoid of value that nobody will study it anymore, and should this mean that the world will become a better place, without so much violence, it shall do so merely by losing a part of its cultural comprehensions, not by gaining increased wisdom. As one can see, this is not a scenario with an optimal solution.

The ‘Peaceful Warrior’ Strikes Back With Integrity
This following scenario, on the other hand, involves the martial arts community making up for this serious transgression(s) it has allowed to be committed upon itself by the “entertainment industry”, and partially self-inflicted. As with the previous scenario, it does not involve a timeline. The martial arts schools around the developed world begin the process of fighting the tide of debasedness by offering free or deeply discounted after school or partial-day classes and youth programs to at-risk youth, as well as to youth whom come from wellto- do families but would otherwise turn into rich bullies. The classes offer self defense instruction, non-religious values training, discipline and integrity strengthening rites, and will constantly test the kids in becoming better role models by providing ample opportunities to do so, not just in the martial arts schools themselves, but also in the local community at large. At the same time, other martial arts practitioners would get together into interstyle practice groups, known also as “martial arts exchanges” or “MAX events”, where martial artists mainly exchange information via storytelling and limited, non-violent interactions involving ultra-slow acting and moving demonstrations. Also, to combat the rising tide of intolerance, not just of religious natures, around the world, I suggest that the more enterprising and rectified promoters of martial arts events take to creating what I call “Interfaith Martial Arts Tournaments” or “IMATs”. The IMATs will involve three day activities with lodging and transportation to the arena where the event will be held, and if need be, transportation arrangements to and from the country of the event (should outside representative be invited). The IMATs will have two days of talks and storytelling and presentations of cultural knowledge (with a common rule that ethnocentricism & religious proselytization and/or intolerant attitudes will be grounds for immediately disqualification and dismissal from the event) sandwiching an entire day of televised martial arts competitions. The competitions will be televised not only in the area where the event takes place, but also anywhere a station or its sponsors put down the money to purchase a live feed and televise in their locale too. As for non-religious intolerance, I suggest that a similar, heretofore unnamed event be promoted, with all the same details, minus the option of making it “Interfaith”. If these events go forth, then within several decades, it should become a reality that humanity no longer experiences the issues and problems of our civilization today (war, poverty, etc) and can deal with more pressing issues (whether or not life is “but a dream”, and the illusion of reality, etc) because no one will be looking for fights unless they seek a chance to be vilified by the planetary society of true Peaceful Warriors.

About The Author:
Name: Nathan Zhang
Location: I won’t reveal my actual location (for reasons of both geographic anonymity as well as personal security) but I will say that I live within “spitting distance” of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, and that I do not live in a ghetto town. My city of residence is actually quite wealthy, unlike Detroit itself...
Bio: Okay, I was born in China in 1987, and a resident of Beijing until 1990, so that means, yes, I did live through the Tiananmen Square massacre (it’s not a thing I like to chat about, so I won’t say much else about it here), and I am (now) a US Citizen, even though at times I have thought of disavowing my citizenship and moving to Canada (partially to be closer to family, as I have a cousin there, and because I find the US Gov’t to be a bunch of fools), I am still very patriotic to my nation and believe it’s my duty to stand up for my rights and liberties because my nation gave me the privilege to study and develop a wholesome, wisdom-seeking, and high-integrity person here. I have a college degree from Walsh College (a business college) with a BBA in General Business and a focus (not much of a major) in Management, and I can be called an “entrepreneur” because I founded, and currently run, a comic book publisher known as the Budgetblack Corporation. Finally, I like cats, dogs, birds, birdwatching, and airplinewatching, and intend to visit Mars or a nearby star system and establish a colony there when the technology permits, if it should do so before the last quarter of my lifetime. I intend to live for beyond a full one hundred years. One more thing: I like the ancients, and I am not referring to a popular TV show here. I mean that I like to study the wisdom of ancient philosophers, as well as sacred texts, so that I may become a wise man sought for his wisdom by kings (or Presidents) and by regular folk, by the time I pass from existence.