THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF ANCIENT CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS

Abstract

This article serves as a sort of first part of a more extensive text – a unified whole in terms of meaning – which, for the sake of clarity and ease of comprehension, I will present across two topics. This first article examines the general philosophical-psychological framework of the origin and development of martial arts in Ancient China on the basis of local (Taoist-Confucian) and imported (Buddhist) traditions. Emphasis is placed on the history, methodology and specific conceptual apparatus of the understanding of the art of war and combat, and above all in the context of the strategic goals of the warrior's spiritual learning and development. Existentially examined is the specificity of the subtle energization of the human being typical of the Chinese understanding of the san tsai triad and the resulting nature of change in the context of initiation into the individual styles of wu shu martial arts.