Best Weapons

[CaliG]

Other than a gun what do you think is the best weapon for modern day society?

[Daniel]

The ability to change. Bianhua.

Same as always. Might be a bit of a drab answer, but this would be mine. If you have this, it doesn´t matter what weapon you use, if any, and anything you pick up will be one.

D.


Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[Kurt Robbins]

Brass knuckle size bagua deerhorns

[GrahamB]

An agreeable personality.

[shawnsegler]

Brass knuckle size bagua deerhorns

Do they make those? I would so buy a pair.

[Daniel]

Ha, Graham. I like that answer.

Reminds me of a story I read from a Tibetan practitioner. Have forgotten his name. His teacher, a man of great skill and depth in his teachings, had been in a chinese prison camp, and the student said, "Wow. That must have been very dangerous."
His teacher thought for a while. "Yes," he said, finally. "Three times, it was very dangerous."
"What happened?"
"There were three times when I came close to losing my compassion for the chinese guards."

Anyway.

D.



Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[CaliG]

I remember seeing an interview with a Soviet soldier who fought in Stalingrad.

He said, "In close quarter room to room fighting a shovel is better than a rifle."

I suppose that's the answer...it depends on the situation.

So the question becomes what are your favorite weapons and why?

[klonk]

I'll leave aside the philosophical reflections, not that there is anything wrong with them, but they go to the matter of strategy not tactics, applying to any weapon, or none.

It seems to me that basic fencing skill is applicable to lots of weapons you could use. In particular, singlestick technique is applicable to a baton, or a sword, or a cane, or even a garden spade. It works very well with the inflexible type of bian. Here the idea is, one skillset covers a whole lot of potential weapons, basically anything you would swing at an adversary. So then, having that skill down, you merely need to keep something suitable handy. What it is can vary with the circumstances. It can be something found or improvised, if you didn't bring anything with you.

So I would say the answer is to be found somewhere among the weapons that can be used according to singlestick technique. Most of the time a baton is more suitable than something sharp, because most of the time you want to avoid fatalities if you can. But here I may be sliding into the philosophical territory I set out to avoid...

[Daniel]

Anything, really.

The idea of "having change" is to have practiced the techniques for this, which are more common in Bagua but are sometimes seen in good Xingyi too. The bianhua-training slowly allows your CNS to become more plastic, allowing you to flow with the change in any given situation to provide a correct solution, or to keep on changing without getting stuck.

This takes years to build up well, but increases the more you practice it. The most effective techniques for it I have seen stem from Bagua, Ziranmen, and some Daoist martial arts my teacher does. Good Bagua Roushou is one of the best doorways to it. Eight Drunken Immortals also does a good line in it.

Some teachers within parts of the military/intelligence spectrum work with this as well, often based just on experience, as it´s simply the most efficient way of dealing with real-life situations.

As your question is a bit too broad, my answer is simply "change", because this is the one technique that will prevail over all else and give you the best chance.

In Xingyi this can be practiced once you´re on the level of Bianxing, Changing the Shapes. It can also be practiced once you are solid enough in the Elements that you allow them to change spontaneously into each other, letting you feel the change of the Elements and the intentions they manifest in your reality. If you allow this to cover all three basins you have a pretty nice package.

Lots of stuff on this. Anyway, maybe a help. If not, please make the question a little more specific, and I´ll try again.

D.


Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[CaliG]

Thanks for your feedback Daniel.

In my style TJQ we also emphasize bianhua. That's what push hands is all about, especially at the high levels.

The problem with the idea that "bianhua will make you deadly" is that in this line of logic is that you're assuming the other guy doesn't have bianhua or that your bianhua is greater than theirs is or that people don't make mistakes.

People make mistakes, in a fight you are going to get hit, just relying on your training/jibengong alone without any thought to fighting strategies isn't a very wise decision.

For example when the Soviets tried to invade Finland they had a hell of a time and the Soviet army was superior in all ways except for strategy.

My question is if you had a reason to think you should carry some kind of weapon strategically what do you think would be the best for most situations?

Answering "change" to me is pretty much like saying just keep training. But your point is taken. I suppose I was looking for responses more like Klonk's.

Tak and good times,

G

[Butterball]

I've never attacked anyone with a weapon before, but I was thinking about this the other day and I think that a bike with a hefty lock, with or without a big chain is a pretty good weapon.

Here's my reasoning:

I live in a city, so I bike everywhere. I keep a u lock hanging from my handle bars so it's easy to get to if someone wants to hurt me. You can clobber someone with it, you can throw it at someone and you can have your bike to get away quickly with. You can ride away fast and get home, or lock your bike up and walk somewhere (like into a store or something) so you aren't carrying the weapon on you. Also, a bike has all sorts of nooks and crannies where you can carry smaller weapon type things if you want to go that route. (not that I do, but thinking about it, there are lots of good places on a bike to hide stuff and get to it easily and quickly)

[Daniel]

Hey Cali. The stuff about bianhua really is very important. It isn´t a matter only of keeping on practicing, the techniques for this facet are quite precise. And yes, the other guy might have "more", but very few people have got the bianhua-training that good IMA can give you, hence their rep in China. This has been my experience in real life too.

Bianhua here...well, I realize that I can´t explain all that in a post, can I...well, it is the guiding principle that weaves together a lot of other techniques and tools in your IMA arsenal. Bianhua alone can work well, even without the rest, but the systems themselves were of course created to include the whole package. To quote one the most solid IMA real-life fighters I have seen, Alex Kozma, "The fastest way to become a good martial artist is to only do sitting practices, but almost no-one has the patience for this, so they jump around and do lots of other stuff instead."

But, yes, if you want me to get more nitty-gritty I can offer you...drumroll...a maglite. I carry one all the time, the medium size, and with batteries in they are quite heavy, you can hit with them from several angles, you can lock, shock, press, percussion-punch, and not to forget, shine it in the other guy´s face to stun him (works great, they lose night-vision for a long time, and combined with projected sound the shock goes deep into the CNS too). So yes, a maglite. Legal, non-lethal, and shiny. Also great simply to use as a flash-light in places where you need one. A matt-black, yet shiny little piece of bianhua.

Yes, re Soviet/Finland, I kind of know about this since we had large numbers of swedish volunteers who went over to defend Finland in 1939 under the flag of "Finland´s cause is ours". Swedish is the second official language of Finland, as there is a large swedish-speaking population. Finland gave up after a year, made a short peace with Russia, but felt that this was insufficient to ward off further aggression so then made a pact with Nazi Germany. The situation was only finished five years later in 1944 when Russia forced Finland to a peace-treaty against Finland´s will. The finnish - and swedish - troops were incredibly hardy and brave beyond belief, but Finland lost its war, and on the way they also felt forced to become allies with the Nazis, something they really didn´t want.

I like the bicycle-lock idea.

D.



Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[cerebus]

Well, I don't carry any weapons myself (CARRY a weapon?! HA!!! I AM a weapon!!! ), but if I were to do so, it would probably be pepper spray, next to that would be a stun gun, and after that a collapsible baton. But I prefer to do everything I need to so as to avoid being in a situation where I feel the need for weaponry in the first place.

[CaliG]

Hey Cali. The stuff about bianhua really is very important. It isn´t a matter only of keeping on practicing, the techniques for this facet are quite precise. And yes, the other guy might have "more", but very few people have got the bianhua-training that good IMA can give you, hence their rep in China. This has been my experience in real life too.

I hear what you're saying but I don't think bianhua is unique to Chinese martial arts. Internal or external I think most great fighters figure this out although through different training methods.

Bianhua here...well, I realize that I can´t explain all that in a post, can I...well, it is the guiding principle that weaves together a lot of other techniques and tools in your IMA arsenal. Bianhua alone can work well, even without the rest, but the systems themselves were of course created to include the whole package. To quote one the most solid IMA real-life fighters I have seen, Alex Kozma, "The fastest way to become a good martial artist is to only do sitting practices, but almost no-one has the patience for this, so they jump around and do lots of other stuff instead."

I agree it's all about the complete package. But I also think it's important to point out that one has to be careful and not make the mistake of thinking that because they meditate or stand that they can expect to be the next UFC champion.

Qigong and meditation is important but shouldn't be a substitute for real fight training. That's the direction I've gone in anyway. (When I saw you years ago I had thought that forms, qigong, push hands and roushou could be enough)

But, yes, if you want me to get more nitty-gritty I can offer you...drumroll...a maglite. I carry one all the time, the medium size, and with batteries in they are quite heavy, you can hit with them from several angles, you can lock, shock, press, percussion-punch, and not to forget, shine it in the other guy´s face to stun him (works great, they lose night-vision for a long time, and combined with projected sound the shock goes deep into the CNS too). So yes, a maglite. Legal, non-lethal, and shiny. Also great simply to use as a flash-light in places where you need one. A matt-black, yet shiny little piece of bianhua.

Yeah, I used to carry one too. It can work great as a handpack or a yawara. I'm probably going to pick up a baton that is the size of a mini-flashlight when it's not extended. Not that I'm overlyconcerned, but I do believe that CMAs and weapons go hand in hand and that even in the modern age weapons training can be useful but the weapons will be different.

Yes, re Soviet/Finland, I kind of know about this since we had large numbers of swedish volunteers who went over to defend Finland in 1939 under the flag of "Finland´s cause is ours". Swedish is the second official language of Finland, as there is a large swedish-speaking population. Finland gave up after a year, made a short peace with Russia, but felt that this was insufficient to ward off further aggression so then made a pact with Nazi Germany. The situation was only finished five years later in 1944 when Russia forced Finland to a peace-treaty against Finland´s will. The finnish - and swedish - troops were incredibly hardy and brave beyond belief, but Finland lost its war, and on the way they also felt forced to become allies with the Nazis, something they really didn´t want.

Yes, eventually they had to call it quits but not before the Russians paid a high price in blood. That initial dramatic defeat of the Russians from troops on skis is a main reason why the nazis thought they could capture Moscow before the snow fell. I didn't realize that the Swedes were there too, thanks.

I like the bicycle-lock idea.

I've actually used that before. I had a scooter and a huge bike chain, actually it was more or a cable version of the U-lock. Some guys in Shanghai were giving my lady a hard time on a bus and she called me. I drove to her bus stop and she got out. 10 guys followed her and I step forward between her and them with a huge bike chain in my hands, luckily just seeing that bike chain was enough to stop them.

Speaking of pubically acceptable bikers like to carry small hammers for this reason. In the States baseball bats can serve the same purpose, in your car anyway. I don't think you could just carry one around where ever you went, although people would probably be a little more polite that way.

[TaoJoannes]

But, yes, if you want me to get more nitty-gritty I can offer you...drumroll...a maglite. I carry one all the time, the medium size, and with batteries in they are quite heavy, you can hit with them from several angles, you can lock, shock, press, percussion-punch, and not to forget, shine it in the other guy´s face to stun him (works great, they lose night-vision for a long time, and combined with projected sound the shock goes deep into the CNS too). So yes, a maglite. Legal, non-lethal, and shiny. Also great simply to use as a flash-light in places where you need one. A matt-black, yet shiny little piece of bianhua.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

Yep, the maglite. Not an official weapon, but you can blind, distract, hit em with it, use it for a chinna enhancer, hit em with it, throw a lanyard on it and use it like a tassel to strike at the eyes and feint and stuff.

For range work, a stick or a belt with a sturdy buckle is good.