When you offend...

[Benn]

There is a question that I wanted to ask for many times but I didn't. However, I ask now.

Martial Arts can't leave offense and you will get training of it. What my question is 'What is your mind/emotion when you are going to offend?'

Angry? Fear? Or just aimless? Come on, there should have at least one reason that u offend, isn't it?

Martialists always emphasize spirit & peace, 'A good martialist would not offend with anger because "anger" this word should not appear in any martial arts.'

 

[yudansha]

Hurting our of anger? ...

Benn, yes OFFEND, but I don't exactly understand what you mean. I personally DO NOT attack anybody (physically) for my own benefit of hurting somebody out of spite for some reason or another. Attacking or striking (usually diverging from an oncoming offense rather) only for self-defense or, bluntly put, to 'teach somebody a lesson' so that the attacker does not feel like attacking again.

Offend - do you mean hurt somebody emotionally through physical harm? Because otherwise, offending and attacking by the use of any striking technique are virtually one and the same.

So, what goes through my mind as I apply a certain offensive technique?
Well, one of the things is completing the task - the rate of success and chance of such, the opponents retaliation abilities, further strategies (whether defensive or offensive, whichever would lead to a more efficient finale). I do not see why anger would be felt at any point during such a 'demonstration.' Anger is an emotion, and if it's strong enough for you to want to express physical harm in order to seize the source of the emotion, most likely, failure would be the outcome. "The more you want something, the less likely you are to succeed at accomplishing the task you want so much." - that's a strong theory in psychology which follows the statements of 'mind over matter.'

Wanting to fight is one thing, but efficiently strategizing an efficient victory is not the same thing.

Freeing the mind of any thought or emotion is the way to go, and something to aim for, because once you do, you are your own master.

 

[J. Aiello]

I don't think any of us as martial artists look to offend others (or at least the good ones don't do this). However, there is a necessity of cultivating what I call the "killer instinct". Now when I say "killer instinct", I am not referring to literally killing somebody. Rather, I mean a mental commitment to a fight once it begins. I think one of the biggest obstacles for a martial artist during either sport sparring or real street self-defense is a lack of this cultivated attitude of committing to the fight. Because when you don't commit, you will get hit.