Question 017: Breaking tricks

 

One fact is that breaking does not take any mastering of ”ki,” “chi,” or “gi.” With no training, anyone may break a board (Johnny Carson once broke a board on the Tonight show); with a little training and practice, anyone may break two boards; with more training and practice, anyone may break three boards. To break more than three boards takes much training, practice, and very precise technique. However, no break requires any kind of mystical force.

The martial arts appear to be the only physical endeavors that have practitioners who believe they possess some mystical internal force. Experts in other sports consider themselves mere mortals who have trained long and hard at their sports. Why does not some “master” that possesses “qi” use this power to become a boxing champion, a golfing champion, or an Olympic power lifter; or all “masters” too honorable for demean themselves this way.

Bruce Lee once said martial artists should keep an “open mind” in regard to the arts and he was criticized and even hated by “masters” for showing the public that ordinary people could do extraordinary things through hard work, not though some mystical power. Remember what you learned in health, geometry, and science classes and apply it what you see and hear in the martial arts. Make decisions on what you know to be true, not what you believe to be true or what your instructor says is true. True martial artists will willingly prove their truths to you; false martial artists will say you should disprove their claimed truths.