Chapter 143: Lore chapter Book 3 act 2: Five meditations of the warrior god

Jemini

This is a piece of the world lore I have been banging my head against the wall to try and work into the story in an organic way, and just kept failing to do. So, now, I'm including it in a lore chapter. This stuff has been in the world bible since I wrote the prologue, but very little of it has actually been getting applied in any effective way. I feel that, with a concept this powerful, this series could have benefited a lot and have come off very different had I been more capable of integrating this into the writing, but it was just never coming off right.

Five meditations of the warrior god

 

The movements of the warrior god meditation and combat style possesses five meditations. What is perhaps more significant though about these five meditations is the way that they are so completely interwoven with the combat style itself. There is a philosophy attached to each meditation, as well as a very short kata in the fighting technique attached to each of the five meditations as well. This philosophy aids in the progression of the meditation, but is also applicable to the combat style, and the first five ranks within the combat style require you to demonstrait you have internalized this philosophy into your combat technique.

These philosophies help to guide the way the fighter fights, but they are also designed to progress so that the five work excellently together both as a meditation and also so that the five philosophies mesh very well into a single complete whole of a combat style.

The progression of the meditations as you are supposed to work on them starts with Earth, then progresses in the order of the classical Greek elements through Water, Fire, and then finally Wind. After this, it ends with Void. The philosophies offer guidance, but they become increasingly vague as the progress with Earth offering just enough instruction to form a very clear image about what you are supposed to be focusing on, but also just vague enough that you can add a lot of your own interpretation in order to extrapolate on it. Then, by the time you get to void, it does not offer anything concrete and encourages the practitioner to create their own view of what void represents.

The kata attached to each meditation are very short, consisting of only intercepting an enemy attack and then following up with a single counter-strike. However, in those 2 movements, each of the five kata manage to pack in an endless amount of meaning. They are kept short enough that it is conceivably possible they could actually come into combat use, although the combat style itself doesn’t teach their use at all. More importantly though, each one can have it’s meaning extrapolated almost endlessly in order to improve your combat form. The single most significant and important thing though about these very short kata is that due to their short nature, it’s easy to repeat the same 2 moves endlessly and meditate as you are performing them, and the meaning can be used to improve the efficacy of the meditation, and meditating on the kata can aid you in pulling more of the meaning out in order to improve your combat technique.

Earth

Earth is the first of the five meditations. It is the foundation, and the beginning of the practitioner’s path.

The Earth’s meditation demands a slow breath in and a slow breath out, becoming still and calm like the earth. The practitioner is encouraged to meditate on images of the earth, with rolling hills of greenery being the most encouraged image.

The plilosophy of Earth is to use the power of the Earth itself against your opponent.

There are several ways to interpret this philosophy. One might think about using the surrounding terrain to your advantage. This is a valid interpretation, but it is not the most encouraged emphisized one within the style. The most emphisized is also the most obvious, although the main reason it’s obvious is in the context of the movements of the warrior god style being a gentle fist martial art, emphisizing grapling and bringing your opponent to the ground. The greatest power of the earth is not stone, and it is not the advantage you can gain from the terrain. The greatest power of the earth is gravity.

The katta of the Earth meditation further emphisizes this connection to gravity in the form of the strike that makes up the second part of the Earth’s kata. The strike is to straighten your arm directly behind you, and then allow it to drop, pulled by gravity, and then swing it like a pendulum into the enemy for a strike, primary targets being groin, gut, chin, or under-arm.

The Earth’s kata is deceptively complex in this seemingly simple movement. It requires the practitioner to throw the strike with absolutely no tension in their body, or else the tension will interfere with the free movement of their arm. It requires the practitioner to be loose in the movement of their hips, and to be able to step with perfect timing as their arm drops, moving immediately before the arm reaches it’s lowest point in the swing. This, consiquently, also requires a decent sense of kinestetic awareness.

Due to it being the kata for the foundational meditation and philosophy, it requires the practitioner to be exceptionally aware of their own body and their own movement, and it forces them to shed bad habits of their casual lives as they move closer to the mindset needed to become a practitioner of the movements of the warrior god style.

As a practitioner is attempting to first gain mastery of the earth meditation and it’s plilosophies, they are encouraged to focus on the grapling nature of the style and improve their take-downs, as well as to think about the weight of their weapon in their hands and how they can best manipulate that weapon as they are aware of it’s center of gravity just as they would think about their enemy’s center of gravity while un-footing them.

Practitioners at all levels are also encouraged to meditate on the feeling of Earth as it relates to all their moves, and advanced practitioners can attach the Earth meditation to every movement they make, not just the movements of their kata. The feeling of Earth is the manner in which gravity attaches you to the ground, and the manner in which gravity influences your motion, as well as the calmness the images of rolling feilds of green clear your mind in order to give your attacks a certain clarity.

Water

Water is the second of the five meditations. The Water phase is considered a transformative phase of the practitioner’s progression as it takes the things learned during the Earth phase, and gives them a similar yet new direction that is, as water, far more difficult to grasp. Water, by it’s nature, relies on Earth to give it form and thus everything that comes from the water phase of the practitioner’s training is based upon things previously learned in Earth.

The water’s meditation encourages the practitioner to conjure an image of water, as it makes most sense to the practitioner. There are several forms water can take, and it does not matter if they envision a violent sea, a peaceful lake, or a rushing river. In fact, it might be best to envision all of these things in turn as the practitioner progresses.

The philosophy of water is to never be rigid in your thinking or actions.

This philosophy is one that was discussed a lot by Bruce Lee as a good life philosophy, and has been discussed in many Chinese arts as allowing your body to be fluid, allowing attacks to glance off your body by moving at an angle, blocking in a way that re-directs force instead of meeting it head-on, or throwing attacks that flow around you enemy’s blocks by being flexible in your actions.

These are all valid interpretations, but the movements of the warrior god school teaches one more interpretation. To be ready to abandon anything that is not working for you before you can become killed by it. As attractive as it might be to be defiant and stubborn, that can easily get you killed by doing something that will not and is not working or, for a more specific possible example, an instance such as an enemy locking down your weapon and then following up an attack with a secondary weapon such as a dagger.

In that second example, a practitioner of the movements of the warrior god style might be encouraged to let go of their weapon, and then intercept the hand of their attacker as they thrust with their secondary weapon in order to perform a joint lock and take them down.

The kata of the Water meditation is nowhere near as physically complex as the one attached to the Earth’s meditation, but it relies heavily on the understanding one would have gained from their time studying the Earth meditation in order to comprehend an opponent’s balance and how to effectively take them off their feet.

The strike associated with the Water meditation is a simple strike with the arm or the side of the hand to an enemy’s neck or shoulder. The strike is meant to have downward momentum like a crashing wave, and strikes to the shoulder ought to have enough follow-through to knock an enemy off their feet.

This kata demands the practitioner implement their understanding of strong-lines and weak-lines in the enemy’s balance, and how to capitalize on them. It is, in effect, a culmination of everything previously learned in the Earth method and refining it into a single strike. However, it also emphisizes a lot of what the new focus of the Water method is, and that is the lack of attachment and rigidity. In this kata, the enemy is not taken down with a joint-lock. In fact, the enemy is not grabbed at all, they are taken down with a blow that unfoots them.

During the practitioner’s training during the Water phase of the movements of the warrior god, the practitioner will be encouraged to minimize or completely cease to grasp things with their hands, especially during joint locks. They will be taught, instead, to use their arms, wrists, or the sides of their hands (encouraged to be closed into fists in the early phases until they can break their habit of grabbing) in order to lock a joint for a grappling maneuver. This is in addition and in compliment to them being encouraged to become less rigid overall.

Just as with Earth, all practitioners are encouraged to meditate on the feeling of Water in all their moves (although not both at the same time.) The feeling of water is the way in which you can move uninhibited from one action to the next, as well as the crushing power of a large volume of water as it applies to your attacks. Water is, interestingly, the most destructive, aggressive, and powerful of the five meditations.

Fire

 

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Fire is the third of the five meditations, and the center point of an early practitioner’s initial progress through the basic meditations of the movements of the warrior god.

The meditation of fire encourages the practitioner to envision power, or an unstoppable force. Something that dominates, and gives them energy. The focus of this meditation is considered dangerous to give to a beginner who is ill equipped to handle it, and destructive to their early path. This is why it is not taught until after they have developed a foundation in Earth and Water.

The philosophy of Fire is that Fire is an engine that creates power, but it also consumes it’s fuel. It is powerful, but you must exercise caution while using it.

Fire has long been a symbol of human progress. Fire is what brought mankind the power of the steam engine, and fire is what allows automobiles to run. Even before these times, fire has brought man light and warmth. Even before medical science progressed to better understand callories and energy, many cultures have envisioned all people to have a fire of life inside of themselves as well, giving their bodies the energy they need to move.

While meditating on fire, the practitioner is required to use a breath that consists of a quick breath in and a quick breath out, encouraging the practitioner to hyperventalate as a representation of how fire brings the body power, but also exhausts it’s fuel source. It is not a state you want to remain in for a prolonged period of time, and one you want to use only when it’s necessary. In fact, another thing that’s encouraged in the fire meditation is to consider how to leave the fire meditation and transition into something else. Thus, this is another reason why Earth and Water must be taught first. The practitioner must have anothe elemental meditation to transition to, lest they be consumed by the fire meditation.

Consiquently, the breath of the water meditation is a long breath in and a short breath out, and this breathing pattern is excellent as a means by which to transition out of the fire meditation’s breathing pattern.

As fire is applied to the movements of the warrior god school, it is actually the caution while handling it that is emphisized far more than it’s destructive power. It is viewed as a utility, not a weapon in it’s own right. Weapons that use fire, such as bombs or, in more modern times, guns would be viewed as acceptable uses of fire by the school, but an open flame is not a weapon. It is a tool.

The kata of the fire meditation is destructive in nature, but extremely focused and calculated. It emphasizes very fine attacks on the weakest parts of the human anatomy.

The strike associated with the fire kata is a knife-hand strike to the neck, targeting either the vagus nerve at the front of the neck, knocking the enemy unconscious, or the spine which is severed by the strike.

The fire kata demands that the practitioner develop a refined understanding of power, and also that they learn about the human body and it’s weaknesses. It emphisizes inginuity, efficient use of power, and a high degree of controll in order to obtain outcomes greatly disproportionate to the effort put in.

By the time a practitioner has begun working on the fire method, they will have been exposed to the style long enough to have begun to get a grasp of how to read their enemy’s intentions, and an understanding of how to control their own intent. Thus, control over intent and reading your enemy is the focus for practitioners going through this phase of their progression.

This use of an ability to read their enemy culminates in the ability to move second in a fight, but strike first and strike in a way that perfectly counters the enemy’s movements and getting in a deadly blow in the moment of weakness as the enemy is attacking and their deffenses are down. In fact, the ability to utilize this application of reading your enemy is the test to veryfiy whether or not a practitioner has learned the fire method correctly, and it is only when they can do so that they are allowed to move on to the wind meditation.

Wind

Wind is the fourth of the five meditations. Wind is the phase where the movements of the warrior god fighting style really starts to take shape and gain the characteristics of lightness, as though barely touching their enemy as they cause their bones to twist and their balance to fail, that will carry the practitioner throughout their further future development.

The meditation of wind encourages the practitioner to envision motion itself. After all, wind is the movement of air just as a wave moves through the water. They can envision the wind itself, their ability to influence the intangible, and as it applies to combat they might meditate on the concept of grasping something invisible as they move their enemies’ bodies to their will.

The philosophy of wind is to be one who influences indirectly, and who is moved naturally, causing all things to move to their will while the enemy finds you as untouchable as the wind.

It is shocking that, while today we understand wind to be moving air, it is actually within the past 500 years that we even knew air existed. To people of the past, the space through which we moved on the planet’s surface was as empty as we now understand the void of space to be. And thus, the wind was a force that moved through that space, with varrying beliefs on what might explain that force. This is ultimately why the fourth classical Greek element was Wind and not Air.

Today, wind is understood to be just the movement of air, caused by heat thinning the air in some places and thus allowing the denser air from cooler locations to rush in to fill the gap, as well as larger currents of moving air that are created by the accumulated momentum the air has built up over time.

These things greatly change the modern interpretation of the philosophy of wind from anything it might have been in the past. However, today it is understood to be shifting to the side of the enemy’s attacks as though you are a leaf moved by the wind of their strikes, while also performing grapling in a way that your touch is as light as the wind blowing across their body, and striking in a manner that causes them to move as though the air is not even resisting your movement. (That last part being the most likely modern-day addition.)

Considering this philosophy, it is in a way paradoxical that the kata associated with wind could not possibly be more opposite to it.

The kata for the wind meditation is a single thrusting attack to a location on the enemy’s body that will, if delivered correctly, completely destroy their stance and their balance. This is usually delivered to the shoulders or hips, or an area near one of them. However, the neck is also a valid option. The most important thing though is for the strike to be timed with the breath of the meditation, which is a short breath in and a long and very forceful breath out as though you are exhailing more air than you could have possibly ever breathed in. This breath gives the strike it’s power and it is as though the enemy is being blown away by the breath as much as the thrust itself.

This is something like the polar opposite of the Earth kata, which was focussed on having the practitioner learn a great deal about how to move and manipulate their own body, and to move without tension. This kata has a similarly deceptively complicated motion, but this time most of the complication is focused on your understanding of the other person’s body and how their balance works, as well as how to direct or manipulate them into a position where their feet cannot recover from such a strike. The reason this is kept until the fourth kata is because the level of knowledge and experience needed to perform it far outstrips what a person can ever match at the beginning of their journey into the combat arts.

Although the kata is the dynamic opposite of the best understandings of the philosophy, it remains the same that whether you are taking an enemy down with a single thrust, or taking them down with a million subtle manipulations that barely even require you to touch them, both require a phenominal understanding of how the human body works and how to manipulate the balance, perception, and reactions of the one you are fighting against.

It almost goes without saying that while a practitioner is working through the wind phase, they are instructed to focus on making their grapling manipulations lighter in terms of contact and to work on the fluidity of their weapons handling.

Void

Void is the fifth and final of the five meditations. Void is more a concept that the practitioners are told to conceptualize, and it is very difficult for a lower level student within the style to know the difference between someone at the wind level and someone at the void level in terms of their training, but the concept of void brings all the previous concepts together and enhances them to a higher level.

A void is, by definition, an absence of something that should be there. Instead, there is just nothing. As such, the meditation of the void is a meditation on nothing. It is left up to the practitioner to determine what meditating on nothing actually means. Do they meditate on the concept of nothing? Or do they empty their mind of any thoughts?

Similarly, there is no philosophy to the void. But, considering what the void represents, perhaps having no philosophy is a rather profound philosophy in and of itself.

The kata of the void is similarly lacking in definition. It starts with a block to an oncoming attack, just like any of the previous kata, but there is no prescribed follow-up. The one thing that is made very clear is that the follow up is absolutely not an attack, and it should not even involve touching the enemy at all.

Some interpret this to mean they should apply some kind of visual distraction technique, such as swinging their hand at the enemy’s face. Others simply say that the most accurate interpretation of the void would be to make yourself disappear, or rather, run away. Either can be good tactics as the situation demands. Ultimately though, answering the question of what void means as part of the kata is part of the process on meditating on the concept of void.

Those practicing at the void level are encouraged to further emphisize the light-touch associated with the wind phase, but to do so with the concept of void in their minds. There is also an increase in techniques that involve encouraging your enemy to rely on the practitioner’s structure to hold them up, and then removing that support. (Think letting go of the rope during a tug-of-war, only as it applies to grappling. Creating the situations for such a technique to work is not encouraged. Rather, it is just a matter of recognizing when they come up on their own, because it occurs more often than one might think.)

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