Introduction
In martial arts training, we often hear: “It can’t be fully explained in words” or “You just have to see it, feel it, and learn it with your body.”
In fact, the “core” of a technique is often extremely difficult to put into language — it simply doesn’t transmit well through text or video alone. Here, I will explain why in two parts:
- Human skills contain a large portion of knowledge that resists verbalization.
- The Buddha’s method of upāya (方便, Skillful Means) — teaching by adapting to the student.
With these as our guideposts, we can see why letting the surface words of instruction wander off on their own eventually destroys the transmission of the underlying principles.
1. Techniques Contain a Lot of Tacit Knowledge — The Reality of “I Can Do It but Can’t Explain It”
Hungarian philosopher Michael Polanyi once wrote, “We know more than we can tell,” calling this type of knowledge tacit knowledge.
Think of riding a bicycle, a veteran’s subtle weight shift, or the precise way to close distance in combat — things you absolutely know, but cannot fully explain in words.
Martial arts are built on a mass of this tacit knowledge:
- Timing — when to enter
- Contact pressure — how much weight to commit upon touch
- Invisible preparation — breathing, center of gravity, inner tension of the feet
- Release awareness
- Mutual extension — how to apply force in the stretching phase
Language alone can’t carry enough detail. That’s why a master must watch each individual’s body and guide them toward the right realization for their stage.
2. The Buddha’s “Skillful Means” — Teaching Tailored to the Student
In Buddhism, there is the term upāya (方便, Skillful Means).
The ultimate truth cannot be fully captured in words, so the Buddha chose explanations and metaphors best suited to each person’s capacity and situation. In the West, this is known as Skillful Means.
This approach is also called teaching in accordance with capacity (tai-ki seppō, 対機説法). The Buddhist canon uses the metaphor “prescribing medicine according to the illness” — just as a good doctor changes the prescription for each patient, the Buddha adjusted his guidance for each person. In the Lotus Sutra, there is even an entire chapter named Skillful Means (Hōben-bon), underscoring the importance of staged guidance.
Applied to martial arts: the same words can be counterproductive if given at the wrong stage. This is why we need “metaphors that work only for that person” and “instructions that work only in that moment.”
3. Skillful Means Is Not a “Shortcut” — The Finger Pointing at the Moon
Skillful Means is like a finger pointing at the moon (truth). If you keep staring at the finger, you will never reach the moon. The specific metaphors and phrases the Buddha used in each moment were tools to direct someone toward the moon, not the moon itself.
Martial arts are the same:
- For one person, “relax” works.
- For another, “align your core” is the key.
- At one stage, “drop the elbow”; at another, “hook the elbow.”
Words are keys, not the room (principle) itself. The master selects the one key that will open the door for that person, at that moment. That is the work of Skillful Means.
4. Where Things Go Wrong — The Problem of “Exporting Only the Means”
Here lies the modern problem:
In the rush to mass-produce instructors, people who have not embodied the principles end up mechanically re-distributing only the “phrases” of past masters (the Skillful Means) without context.
The result:
- Words become the goal
Slogans like “relax” or “pull with your bones” lose their conditions and start to roam freely. - Teachings become unfalsifiable
If it doesn’t work, the answer is only, “You just don’t understand yet,” eliminating the possibility of verification. - Learning becomes fragmented
The list of “tips” grows, but they never converge on the core principle.
In short, the means is not bad — it’s the uncritical extraction and export of the means alone that damages transmission.
5. How to Protect and Nurture Transmission — Practical Measures
5-1. Use Words With Explicit Conditions
Always record who, when, and for what purpose a cue was used.
Example: “Use ‘relax’ for someone whose shoulder tension slows the bowstring, as a temporary signal to release excess upper-body tension.”
5-2. Make Tacit Knowledge Observable
Use touch, assistance, or mirrors to create shared experience.
Example: the teacher physically aligns the student’s center line, or video captures subtle pelvic tilt.
5-3. Design in the Order: Principle → Action → Words
- Principle: “Force transmits from the support surface; receive with a surface, not a line.”
- Action: “Drop both the ball and heel of the foot to the ground.”
- Word: “Open an umbrella under your foot.”
Words come last.
5-4. Use Falsifiable Checkpoints
Don’t stop at “I did what you said.” Verify with measurable signs — ground pressure, shot consistency, change in rebound sound. If it doesn’t work, switch to a different means.
6. Conclusion — The Means Is a Guiding Tool; the Principle Is the Destination
The core of martial arts is tacit knowledge, beyond the reach of words alone.
The Buddha’s Skillful Means was the wisdom of selecting the best way to guide each individual (prescribing according to the illness, Hōben-bon).
Today’s crisis is the circulation of only the words of Skillful Means, without the embodied principles.
To preserve the art, we must attach conditions to teaching cues, visualize tacit knowledge through shared experience, maintain the Principle → Action → Word order, and set falsifiable checkpoints.
The finger is not the moon. But a well-honed finger can surely point the lost toward it. What we must cherish is not “the finger itself,” but the moon — the living principles — beyond it.