The desire to become a “warrior” appears to have taken over the popular imagination. To the point that, today, it seems one can hardly open their eyes without seeing some form of media promoting a new way to become a warrior. Typically, the purveyor of such products touts their military experience or their “career in the violence industry” (a characterization that is personal favorite of mine) or some such other ominous sounding phrase designed to garner respect. No doubt some of these are, within their own context, sincere efforts. Unfortunately, most are crass displays meant to capitalize on current social trends. The worst of offenders descend into fortune cookie sayings laced with misogyny and recycled fascism.
In the context of martial art, the path of the student-warrior is central. However, in our focus on developing our skills as fighters and a warrior ethos, are we selling ourselves short? Is there a step beyond the warrior that we must take if we are to complete our journey?
Limitations of the Warrior Mindset
This is where we get to the limitation of the warrior mindset. The warrior needs a final cause, a terminus ad quem, a “that for the sake of which:” put simply, a reason to exist. In our current social climate, this is often characterized by such things as opposing a perceived lack of patriotism in one’s community or the erosion of masculine values or simply the sense that no one else is doing things the right way. Often these remain nebulous concepts, even to those who espouse them.
In this milieu, the warrior’s whole existence is defined by the wall upon which they lean. That wall may well be illusory. In which case the warrior’s existence is rendered absurd. To move beyond this psychological trap of the warrior mindset we need to remove that wall. Yet, how are we to develop ourselves beyond the warrior archetype?
Moving Beyond the Warrior Mindset
To leave the warrior archetype behind, we must move to a place where we have no preconceptions, no prejudices. This harkens back to my previous where I discussed the concept of the “basho (place) of absolute nothing” , a concept developed by Nishida Kitaro. It is from this place that we must assess all of our past experience and knowledge.
Once we remove the wall that defines the warrior and move to the basho of absolute nothing we are in the fundamental state from which events arise free of any influence. Once arisen, events become conditional as they interact with other events, essentially, everything is constantly creating, and being created by, everything else. On a personal level, I create the world as I am created by it. And, neither can exist without the other.
This view is nearly diametrically opposed to the warrior mindset. The warrior mindset exists by defining itself as a finite other to something else. Thus, the warrior is in a constant state of tension with all that they define as their other. Further, they remain blind to their role in creating the other, and its role in creating them.
Beyond the Warrior: The Sage
Yet, what is the stage beyond the warrior? That is the wise man (or woman), the sage. Think of the great sages of antiquity: Laozi, Zhuangzi, Socrates, et al. (My personal favorite is Blind Master Po, unfortunately he was just a character in a TV show.) They were all persons of both fundamental and expansive knowledge, gained through a lifetime of experience and mental training. They perceived core truths while responding to immediate reality.
The sage then is the person who can enter the state of nothing, yet be able to function within the reality that they are simultaneously creating the world as they are created by it. Because the sage removes the walls that define the warrior, they are now completely free and undefined. Thus, the sage, like the warrior, exists in a constant state of creation-becoming with their universe. The difference is that the sage recognizes this existence. Indeed, the sage recognizes they are not separate from their universe, they are one with it.
This state of being is fundamental for the sage. It is from this state that the sage is able to seek truth without prejudice. While the warrior seeks to confine and mold their world, the sage understands that they can never be separate from the world. The warrior will only ever be able to see truth that fits into their definition of the world. While the sage’s broader, more fundamental knowledge allows them to grasp the world more intuitively.
This ability to respond to the world in an intuitive and immediate way is the core of what it means to be a sage. It is what allows them to view all around them without prejudice, to see the nature of reality, and to meet the world with wu wei (non-doing). It is also what allows them to interact with and guide others in a manner appropriate to each individual. And, in a subtle irony, by moving beyond the warrior mindset, the sage becomes a better warrior.
Conclusion
Though one may become a sage without having been a warrior; a warrior who does not strive to become a sage is spiritually and intellectually confining themselves. For the practitioner of martial art, the warrior mindset is an essential stop along the way. But it must not be the final stop. Each of us must push on to the way of the sage and help others to do the same.
- Warrior to Sage - June 27, 2023
- My Poor Eyesight Made Me A Better Martial Artist - July 20, 2022
- My Creator is My Creation: Beyond the Style of No Style - May 17, 2022
Thank you. I’m getting tired of the warrior mindset all over the place. I made the comment on a MA Facebook page that people misunderstood or something like that and we should strive to be a sage. I got pushback. Even though the group follows a guy who talks mostly about sage stuff. Kinda funny.