This is the best explanation of emptiness and fullness I’ve seen:
“Good warriors make others come to them, and do not go to others. This is the principle of emptiness and fullness of others and self. When you induce opponents to come to you, then their force is always empty; as long as you do not go to them, your force is always full. Attacking emptiness with fullness is like throwing stones on eggs.” — Zhang Yu in his commentary on Sun Zi’s Art of War
8 responses so far ↓
1 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // May 27, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Hmmmmm…
When I was a young guy I used to tag along with the Incredible Wilson Ng.
Back then in the early seventies, Wilson drove a Triumph T-R7 sportscar and looked like Bruce Lee. He used to take me across SF chinatown as he met with one beautiful woman after another.
Later, when I was old enough to go to the “superfly” clubs with my boys, we’d hang with our beers in our hands, watching the girls dance.(We rarely danced. We didn’t get to play. We “WAITED FOR THEM TO COME TO US”.
As you can see it was a huge mistake. WHEN I started copying the STRATEGY of the incredible Wilson Ng…I started to score.
1. You must go to where they are. Stop taking martial arts and learn how to cha cha.
2. Every woman is a beautiful woman. I repeat every woman is a beautiful woman.
3. Its a numbers game. If one woman says she will go out with you…call two more.
4. Its not the big conquests. Its the little ones. Begin by smiling. If she smiles back…its a victory.
5. Record and observe all the little victories. They had up to the big conquests.
6. Again…don’t wait for them to come. (You got to be noticed before they come to you.)
Best,
Joseph T. Oliva Arriola
2 Chris | Martial Development // May 28, 2008 at 3:48 am
True, Joesph, the quote requires a context. Why would anyone go to visit a warrior? Because their better options had disappeared, or were surreptitiously taken away, or they don’t know who they are dealing with.
Take away this context and you get a silly push hands game, or an Aikido application: “Come and grab my wrist, if you’ve got the guts!”
3 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // May 28, 2008 at 5:08 am
Ahhhh…only if you let me “scratch” you with my knife.
4 meow // May 28, 2008 at 9:13 am
that is in mindset, not in application, in essence its being in control
5 meow // May 28, 2008 at 9:17 am
the real question for us martial artists is, how do we do that? there is more to strategy than speed and timing
6 neijia // May 28, 2008 at 11:58 am
That is the “chess game” isn’t it? Which seems to imply one has to be much better to be a step ahead. However, with enough space in in stand-up, there is also “acting” in feints to some extent. Selling them with good expressiveness / body language. That doesn’t seem at play at grappling range with mostly touch sensitivity, fewer visual cues. The “enticing” seems to rely on technical superiority. What do you think?
7 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // May 28, 2008 at 12:12 pm
smelling fear, smelling defeat…emits cortisol in the loser and dopamine in the expected winner
8 meow // May 28, 2008 at 5:48 pm
i totally agree neijia, deception, controlling the mind as well as the body of the opponent
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