Thread:Silver-Haired Seireitou/@comment-24384232-20141211031805/@comment-2089817-20141211204503

Well, we briefly had a talk in the past (when discussing Empty Fist) about conceptualizing Hakuda and Zanjutsu. Recently, I created Tàiyángwǔ, the "Sun Dance"; a martial art that conceptualizes the ancient way of observing nature and mimicking its behavior to give birth to the martial art. Of course, it's not perfect, so I'm not sure how well a job it does in reflecting the idea of focusing on concept.

I've come to realize that what separates a Hakuda (Grand)Master and a Hakuda Expert is that an Expert "tries to strike". When a normal person punches, they are trying to punch. They desire to punch, they prepare their arm in the correct gesture, and then thrust it out hoping it will strike. This is the physical causality that Experts are hopelessly limited within. When one transcends and reaches the highest realms of martial arts, their strike is no longer something they try to do, but something they just... do. When a Master punches, the strike just happens. It's an absolute. There is the desire to punch, then the punch happens. I'm reminded of what Morpheus told Neo during their fight: "Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!" While I hate using the residual self-image terms, I simply go by the idea that reishi are units of materialized will and energy, and thus, they are susceptible to influence by a stronger will, in the same way Kido forms. Empty Fist, I am sure is an extension of this principle. Even if an opponent is far away, and the Master seeks to strike them, the strike will happen; even if they are not physically within their reach. Only another Master would be able to dodge a punch like this, because in the same vein, an Expert can only "try to dodge", whereas a Master just dodges. The block just happens, the dodge just happens; it drives a deep wedge between these two skill classes.