Martial Arts – A Warrior With Compassion

The fifth White lotus code is “Martial Arts: I will be a warrior with compassion, seeking peace and helping all in need.” A warrior is a fighter battling for a just cause. He or she fights to protect others or themselves from evil and harm. In our world not every fight is physical. Sometimes it is the struggle to get back up after being knocked down or when we fail at something in life. We apply the training code ‘7 times down, 8 times up’ – showing the effort and determination of a warrior. At times we may have to battle depression as we lose family members and loved ones. We may have to fight to find a new job to pay our bills, or we may be hurting from injury or sickness and must be a warrior to go through therapy or make modifications to our lifestyles. We fight on. We are warriors.

Moreso we are ‘warriors with compassion.’ We don’t lose heart in our challenges and become bitter towards those who harm us or the hard circumstances we find ourselves in. We stay supple and flowing like the dragon, learning to let “energy that wishes to exist, exist.” We can’t change bad energy of others with more bad energy from ourselves. Rather, good energy is more likely to help others. Helping the bully off the ground after we defended ourselves and making friends is an act of compassion. The warrior who fought for something in this life but someone else cheated to get it – we can offer forgiveness rather than revenge – in this way our hearts stay fresh and alive and joyful rather than consumed with destruction of others, which destroys us too. Such compassion can often transform an opponent in darkness to see that the light is available to them through your act of kindness, leading them into being friends instead of enemies.

So we must be warriors to survive and defend and help others. And we must be compassionate if we are to do more than survive – to actually “live abundantly” – and to not only help the innocent, but even help the enemy. Such is the calling of a true martial artist. I hope you know some of these compassionate warriors in your life; and I hope even more than you will choose to become one.

– Sigung Steve Jungmann
Pai Xeung Lum