When I began studying the martial arts, it was a brand of karate much like shotokan, I was taken by the concept of one punch one kill. The idea that you could stop an attacker with one punch was absolutely fabulous! And that you could actually kill somebody with a karate strike, well, that was more than just a birthday party, you know?
Then, along came gung fu and the concept of the death touch, the idea of killing merely by touching with the fingers. Man, now this was something that was right up my alley, and I know it doesn't speak well of my maturity, but, man! To actually just touch someone,just put a finger on them, and have them drop dead, yowza kabowza!
We trained hard in pursuit of these killing philosophies. We did forms and push ups and techniques and endless hours punching the makiwara. Oddly, the more violent we got in the dojo, the more peaceful we came outside of the dojo.
Finally, age caught up with me, over forty years in the arts, and, finally, I began to understand some of this one punch, or even one touch, kill ability. I discovered that it wasn't in the fiber of muscularity. No matter how hard, strong and fast my body became, you see, there was something missing.
The missing something was this thing called Intention. Intention is the will, the desire, to do something. Consider it the so called invisible line between the thought of an action, and the accomplishment of that action.
Watch a fight between two boxers, they bash each other for fifteen rounds, and nobody falls down. The moment one falls down, you have seen the first real punch of the fight. The other punches were just wannabes, trying but not achieving. They were coming from the thought, but they never reached the completion, the reality, the actuality of that thought.
So, how do you train for the one punch one kill dim mak death touch of karate legend and kung fu mysticism? Don't tighten the arm, for tense muscles lock up the intention, stop the intention from flowing. Forget that the opponent is there, and thrust your fist, or finger, through the space of his body.
Now, I have told you the truth, and perhaps you can find training methods that will help you implement what I have just told you here. The odd thing is that when you finally realize the truth of this strike, you will not have the lack of compassion to use it, and you will find that the ability translates into methods of living that are far superior than just killing. In the martial arts it is the knowledge behind the technique that is valuable, not the martial arts technique itself.
Al Case has taught martial arts for 4O years. A writer for the magazines, he has his own column in Inside Karate. You can find out about Intention and death punches at Punch Em Out, and a free ebook is available at Monster Martial Arts.
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