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Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts
Heritage, undomitable
tradition of ViETNAM
Tran phu Huu
translated by Trinh thu Thuy
Man since Prehistoric times has
mainly survived by gathering, picking foods readily available in nature,
and by hunting wild animals. The movements of watching, chasing and
killing became more familiar every day.
Next were circumstances
where he had to resolve on the relations between man and animal in
the hunt, between man and man to protect himself, or to keep what he
had labored for,his right on the land, on the forest area he was
living on.
All of the movements, ways, from simple to complex form, the base
for the techniques,the lessons of the martial arts schools in the
word. From that difficult past of creating and preserving their country
from the beginning of that era to the resistance agains the invaders, the
preserve of the boundaries, the protection of the entire land.
Vietnamese people in the territory of the Red River ( Hong Ha )
have formed, developed and combined precious experiences on techniques
for individual combat, as well as strategies to use and mobilize
military forces in collective combat : "
War "
The techniques for individual combat, the base for the military
forces who protect the country, are the real, deep-set source of the
traditional, rich, multifold martial arts of Vietnamese heroes.
Characteristics of the traditional Vietnamese martial arts :
Vietnam, a narrow piece of land with few habitants, lies right
next to a giant feudal country in the North, which is always ready to
annex and assimilate Vietnam into one of its countries. With the will of a
free independent country and their invincible patriotism the Vietnamese
have developed a strong fighting spirit, which can be seen in the deceiving
wars :
“ to escape from
the
humiliating misery and
hardships
of slavery,
they have to win the
enemies
”.
Because of these always urgent and real demands for the fate of
their country, more than anybody else the Vietnamese researched and
invented unique techniques adaptable to the characteristics of the
country, its people, and to the level of development of their
technology, society and economy. Those techniques of combat were
sufficient to oppose and stop the tyrannical invasion of foreign
countries.
The brutal hoofs of the horses of the disdainful Mongolian, cavalry
had savagely trampled so many lands in Asia to create an immense empire from
the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
However, they failed and collapsed on this tiny piece of land ! ! !
This
story seemed impossible to believe ? Unfortunately, it is truth . . !
!
And that truth was confirmed when the
"
Invincible
" Mongolians had to
swallow their hatred and retreat with disgrace after the second and
third attacks. The whole Vietnamese nation had firmly decided to
fight back, accepting all sacrifices losses.
Those glorious victories belonged to the whole nation.
With their icon will
" Kill the Mongolians
", their valiant
offenses, and their sanctity, the brave-fleet army had bravely fought and
won glorious victorious.
From the real war experiences, the creative,
characteristic technique of Vietnamese are confirmed as correct,
applicable and more efficient. The spiritual content of those
characteristics consist of three points :
1)
The traditional Vietnamese martial arts is a "
war martial arts. "
2) The traditional Vietnamese martial arts represent the
icon will of sacrificing
one-self for the country.
3) The traditional Vietnamese martial arts represent the
spirit of :
a- Flexibility over Rigidity .
b- Shortness over Longness .
1. The
Vietnamese traditional martial arts is " War martial arts " :
The Vietnamese
traditional martial arts is called " War martial arts " because it was used to defend the country
and represent the will to win at any cost: it was a decisive way to fight
until death, with no mercy, of the whole country and defend its
territorry .
2. The
traditional Vietnamese martial arts represent the icon will of
sacurfacy oneself for the country of the
Vietnamese population .
The patriotic fight of the Vietnamese against the giant enemy in
the North from thousands of years ago, could be described in the
following expression :
" Funny to see the grasshopper try to kick a car . . ."
However the population of the Red River region had proved a
glorious truth that was written so many times in its heroic, historic
pages :
" We used the great cause to win the cruel .
And opposed humanity to violence. . ."
( 1 )
( 1 ) Nguyễn
Trãi, Bình Ngô Ðại Cáo
And an indomitable, icon- willed tradition :
" I want to ride the strong wind, trample down the
violent wave,
slash
the cetaceans in the deep , and chase away the Ngô
to get back our territory, to get rid of the
slavery,
but I don't want to bow down and becom their servant . . . .
. ." ( 2 )
(
2 ) Bà Triệu 's
words
Accepting challenges, confronting hardships, painful losses,
Vietnamese people were willing to sacrifice in order to get back
their independence.
"
I rather be a monster in the South ,
than be a King in the North . . . . . "
( 3 )
( 3
) Trần Bình Trọng 's words
All of this showed the most prominent character of the
traditional Vietnamese
martial arts that were
created to form and
defend the country : the will to forget, to sacrifice one-self for
the greater cause of the country.
3. The
traditional martial arts represent the spirit of
:
a.
Flexibility over Rigidity .
b. Shortness over Longness .
"
In
real- life battles, how can a minority win a majority or
how can a weakling fight against a
strong person ? "
Vietnamese people both in the individual and the collective levels,
are much weaker than the military forces in the North. If they
only depend on their will and spirits and they do not have an
appropriate shategy , an efficient counter- attack, how can they
stop the fiery hoofs of the invaders ?
The Vietnamese population had many valuable experiences from
the battles for survival and elimination of the chains of slavery by
applying creatively, thoroughly and with
flexibility these 2 basic principles :
a. Flexibility over Rigidity .
Since they are weaker, they can not use Force against
Force. Usually, they were also faced with a double number of
ennemies, so they had to decide quickly, to economize their forces
by gliding compliantly through to avoid direct contact. In the
offensive hides the defensive,
in the defensive lies the hidden
offensive on the ennemy 's exposed areas .
b. Shortness
over Longness .
They used lighning speed, not strength, to detroy the forces of the ennemies, rapidly
avoid, approach and discover their exposed
parts to difinitively, forcefully annihilate their
attack .
The Vietnamese traditional martial arts are the quintessence
of the form resulting from the hardship and experiences of so many
ancestors : This is the undeniable and extraordinary truth. Through the past exchange of culture and economy with foreign countries,
the Vietnamese have always researched and learned their best ideas.
They applied this to create the most fluent, creative, and
effective techniques against the invaders :
Learn the strong points of the ennemy to find out the best technique
to control the ennemy :
" Use their own weapons against themselves ".
Assimilate all the strong points of the ennemy to form valuable
experiences and enrich
the traditional Vietnamese culture, but stay peaceful and pure. That 's the spirit :
" Know others like you know yourself ".
The Vietnamese traditional martial arts have absorbed this
high mentality and fully
represented the special, heroic nationality. The over 4,000 years of founding and defending
the country allowed
us to understand this and confirm its immense importance.
Don 't ever make the mistake of forgetting those precious
origins .
Let 's preserve that inheritand and make us worthy of it
.
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VietNamese Traditional Martial Arts BĐ/SLC
Association
in Austin,
TX. USA. ( Since 1998 )
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