The Four Stages of Development in Martial Arts

-By Michael Benjamin (An edited version of this essay was published as The Four Stages of Development in Gongfu in the January 2004 edition of Inside Kung-Fu Magazine. You walker, there are no paths only wind trails upon the sea.
-Antonio Machado

In learning any martial art, it is necessary to pass through four developmental stages of development before arriving at true mastery. These stages represent not only divisions of skill, but the depth of a practitioners insight. As we are all born with qualities that may or may not foster martial talent, a students potential to achieve martial arts mastery depends on innumerous variables beyond simple heredity. Such variables include, but are not limited to, desire, dedication, endurance, patience, intelligence, access to qualified instruction, time, and experience. For even the most talented student, mastery will be an ongoing process taking many decades. For most of us, because of a variety of limitations we may face, true mastery may not even be achieved in a single incarnation. Nevertheless, no matter what our potential holds, in examining these stages and understanding their characteristics, two benefits can be gained. First, a map is provided outlining the kind of development to which a student should aspire as training progresses. Secondly, if honest and accurate in self-analysis, a gauge is afforded to the student by which martial progress may be judged. STAGE ONE - KNOWLEDGE In this first stage of martial development the student must be shown the what to do and the how to do it aspect of the art. Traditionally, in all classical schools of martial arts, this was the primary purpose of forms (kata, tao lu, nata, djurus, etc.) to provide the student with the physical combinations and moving formulas constituting the system. Forms act as far more than mere psycho-physical exercises. Forms must be understood as bodily equations or moving poems that contain and express various levels of combative possibility and meaning. In this first level, detailed explanation, proper demonstration, and applied correction must be consistently provided to the student by the instructor. Throughout training, but especially in this initial stage, the instructor is not only as teacher, but is a whip spurning the student on with both necessary critiquing and measured praise. The instructor also acts as the ultimate visual role model representing what the proper motion must look like. The instructor does not attempt to emulate a pretty picture for the student. In demonstrating the proper form he displays the method that maximizes the effective functioning of the movement. Efficacy and efficiency should be his primary concerns.

In this stage the student must think through everything he is doing and willfully force his body to perform the movements correctly until that distant day when a semblance of perfection is achieved. At the same time he must force his mind to memorize the motions and the sequences. By memorizing and perfecting his forms, the student develops a martial harmony between his mind and body. Both begin to learn to function as a whole, to act in the methods espoused by the particular system. Without this harmony a lag time or hesitation will exist between thought and action, between idea and manifestation, between flint and spark. Without this mind-body harmony, the proper flow of the form is compromised, as the student must stop his bodily motion to think about what movement comes next. Rather than performing it naturally and instinctively, he requires the crutch of conscious thought. In performing a form, whenever the flow of the mind is halted this stoppage is also extended to physical action. Thinking can also be a hindrance in a street crime scenario and prove a deficit to adequate self-defense. Like a dam in a river, it restrains reaction time and inhibits the effective and efficient response to an attack. The primary concern in the knowledge stage is the use of the intellect to learn the basic forms of movement and develop the mind-body connection. Because of this emphasis this stage may be symbolized as corresponding in the Taoist trinity with yi or mind. Though certainly difficult, this is the most easily acquired stage because it can be gained by observation, explanation, and practice. STAGE TWO SKILL The student must continue to build upon the skill and understanding gained in stage one by undergoing long-term, repetitive training with a steadfast, patient discipline. In this stage the student develops the muscle memory of how to utilize the body through techniques. The student no longer needs to think about the movement to perform it, but has learned to react with instinctive reflex. Just as the mind must not think to blink the eye, to beat the heart, or to remove the hand from a flame, so does the technique become automatic in its execution. As in stage one, the instructor continues to shepherd the student. However, the skills in stage two are not easily conveyed through visual example or role modeling. The instructor cannot say, Look at how I perform instinctively and expect the student to learn it. Such skills can be displayed, but their presentation does not necessarily convey how they are achieved. Thus, the instructor now becomes more of a guide leading the student down the appropriate paths. Through the necessary training, tried and tested through the centuries, the instructor facilitates the intangible qualities of instinctive reaction and combative reflex. As with a plant, the instructor cannot force the student to grow, but must provide the suitable conditions for successful cultivation.

As in stage one, where repetition was necessary to develop the basic skills, repetition is still used to ingrain the proper responses to altercative stimuli. However, training now becomes an exercise in the infinite possibilities of combination, situation, and imagination. New ways of performing the art are discovered as old methods are evolved beyond the basic patterns. Here the student comes to possess real speed, precision, and power, while gaining a proper sense in the subtle skills of timing and range. Since the primary concern in this stage is the development of instinctive skill and physical reflexes on a subconscious bodily level, it may be symbolized as corresponding to li or body in the Taoist trinity. Such a difficult level of development requires years of long-term disciplined training. STAGE THREE APPLICATION The student now learns how to apply the techniques of his art learned in the dojo to real life situations. This stage possesses a deep emotional component. Rather than the minor apprehension once felt over sparring, or the subtle anxiety felt before a rank test, now the student must learn to face real life danger and learn to control the fear naturally elicited by such circumstances. He must now learn not only how to face his fear, but how to befriend it. In so doing, his fears inherent energy can be harnessed as a fuel for victory. Without this emotional metamorphosis fear can instead inflict its otherwise paralyzing, defeating effects. The instructor must also nurture the students grave intent. For a martial artists this quality specifically denotes the ability to face danger with a tranquil spirit and to handle adversity with a calm and indomitable attitude. Grave intent is also an attitude of absolute mental and emotional determination to survive, a spirit of perseverance that will not submit nor surrender, a mindset of kill or be killed that fuels the will-to-fight. Without this mental quality the key mental ingredient for victory will be absent no matter how honed ones physical combat abilities may be. This stage is infrequently attained by those who have only dojo experience. No matter how brutal or realistic training methods may be, they are always somewhat controlled to one extent or another. Dojo training, sport fighting, sparring, tournaments, or even fullcontact bouts can never exactly duplicate the intensity of chaos, danger, or fear faced in a real-life situation. The value of the training received by the student will be truly tested only when there is no instructor or referee to stop the action. Until the student has faced an actual attacker intent on his blood, the true worth of his skills will remain a mystery. The application stage is inherently difficult to achieve as it requires the repetitive facing of danger and violence in real-life situations. Few practitioners gain this stage because it presents an intriguing paradox. As any responsible martial artist has learned, avoiding, preventing, or deterring danger are the warriors primary strategies for survival. For legal, medical, and moral reasons, violent engagement of an adversary is always a

last resort. Thus, the paradox being, the exercise of these primary strategies lessens the opportunities necessary to catalyze this third stage of development. In this level the instructor continues to play the role of guide and teacher, providing the student with whatever morals, personal anecdotes, and lessons he thinks will be beneficial. However, the teacher cannot convey to the student, in the form of verbal or physical instruction, how well he will fare when faced with actual danger. The student will only fully know after he has faced it. The instructor can no longer take him by the hand and show him what to do and how to do it. He can no longer lead him down the path, but must let the student choose his own way. Like a young monk who has completed his vows, he must now go forth to confront the world and face his enemies alone. Since the primary concern in this stage is the spiritual subjugation of the mind and the willful control of the emotions, it may be corresponded in the Taoist trinity to qi, or spirit. STAGE FOUR POSTERITY At this stage the student has finally arrived at the deepest understanding and mastery of his martial arts system. The practitioners insight is equally endowed with not only decades of technical training, but extensive real-life experience in martial application. Such a double-edged sword of training and experience, so keenly honed, provides the wisdom of how to train others through all the previous stages. The practitioner learns to perpetuate his system through the posterity of students, and through them to continue the evolution of martial arts. In this way, the new master becomes the link between the past and the present, sowing the seeds of future generations. Because it takes so long to achieve, it is not uncommon for ones instructor to have already died by the time the students mastery is accomplished. If he is alive, the instructor continues to be a source of guidance in the training of students and an invaluable council in the administration of dojo affairs. At this stage, however, the new master seeks his truest guidance from within; a self-guidance based on the skill, knowledge, and experience he has gained through his lifes journey. A distinct change in relationship also occurs between the instructor and new master. While the new master must always feel the sincerest reverence for his instructor, holding him in a position of deepest respect and loving appreciation, in many ways the position of their relationship changes. Instead of the superior-subordinate, teacher-student hierarchy that once defined them, their relationship somewhat evens. The instructor and his student have now grown into colleagues, into friends, and in a spiritual sense, into family. As posterity represents the final stage of martial artistic development, it transcends the Taoist trinity of yi, li and qi assigned to the lower stages. Thus, this level could be symbolized as corresponding to the tai chi, the Taoist grand ultimate, the undifferentiated unity of yin and yang, the single divine source of all. This is, to a

profoundly lesser degree, the role metaphorically fulfilled by the instructor to his students. In their martial quest the instructor becomes their source and their well-spring, as well as their aspiration and goal. CONCLUSIONS There are many supposed sensei, guru, and sifu today who, despite their quantity of comprehension have only achieved the second level of development in regards to their quality of comprehension. There are even fewer who have attained to the third stage of development. As far as the fourth stage is concerned, such instructors are as rare as diamonds. It is the students job (caveat emptor) to be ever vigilant of those instructors who truly have a gem to share versus those still digging in the rough for themselves. Regardless, whenever a martial arts student attempts to learn a new technique or form it is possible for him to pass through these four stages of development. These stages could be seen as a natural progression of skill from beginner to intermediate to advanced to master. However, viewing these stages as stairs, with one precipitating a higher stage, is a somewhat inaccurate metaphor. These four stages actually constitute more of a cycle than stairs. With each new skill a student learns, he must return to the beginning and develop that skill through its subsequent stages. Over and over again the student sharpens what he already knows, and advances, all the while learning new skills, which force him back to the starting point. Round and round he goes on this wheel of samsara, each time a bit higher. Like a hawk sailing upward and onward, turning and climbing, he must always strive to soar in ascending spirals.