235. Genchitaofu Baguazhang’s Door - 艮氣道福八卦掌の門

The year that is known as 2020 has proven to be a watershed moment for the martial arts world. The arguments and bravado that raged on social media in the years before 2020, had in the chaos of the coronavirus disappeared. The reason for this is that many so-called martial artists discovered that the standards they hold others to, they weren’t able to measure up to those same standards themselves. They had cherry picked their way and realised that when the day came they were either unfit, undertrained, or just not committed enough to really rise above the chaos of the battlefield that had been the pandemic. And so they quit. And hid themselves away as mandated by their respective governments and basically forgot (if they ever really knew) what true martial arts is about. Sure, you could argue differently. But for most martial artists, their self-identity is tied up with the fantasy and not reality. If it had been based on the reality, you would have seen the pandemic for what it is: A chance to test one’s commitment to the martial arts way by reinforcing one’s training, diet and mental stamina. Because 2020 is just a test-run for something far bigger coming in the near future. And no! It is not going to be a zombie apocalypse. Now, if you had kept up your training or adapted it to the changing circumstances, well done! Pat yourselves on the back because what you did was rather than leaving everything behind to go climb Kunlun 崑崙山 or cloister up in Wudang 武當山, you stood still and allowed the mountain to come to you. This is the secret behind Sun Wukong 孫悟空 a.k.a. The Monkey King and his imprisonment by the Buddha in the mountain. Even though release from the mountain in the novel Journey to the West 西遊記 is a physical act, the truth behind it is one of realisation that 2020 was and is a giant doorway that not all are able to pass through. This is why so many of us have disappeared, were left behind, and have succumbed to its fears. And it is just a doorway.