Pearls of Wisdom

Training for Life December 1988

By Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong

While attending tournaments and performing in martial art exhibitions throughout the U.S., I’ve seen many different martial arts forms and sparring. Unfortunately, only a few people emphasize focus and intention through their eyes when doing these moves. Too many people have the bad habit of looking at the ground when they do forms, and not at their opponent.

Most traditional Japanese and Okinawan stylists are aware of intention and focusing on an imaginary target. Perhaps that comes from their one-punch, one-kill concept. If you want to make the first technique meaningful, you had better focus on your target.

Many traditional Chinese stylists just work on their form sequence and movements, forgetting about their strike’s imaginary target. The exception among Chinese stylists are wushu practitioners. They are quite good at projecting intention and spirit.

Some teachers understand the concept of focus and intention, but either don’t explain it to their students, or the students don’t pay attention to the explanation. I teach what my instructor, Woo Van-Cheuk taught. He says, always look at a martial artist’s eyes first. The eyes show the person’s confidence or lack of confidence. They also illustrate concentration on their fighting techniques.

Your eyes directly affect your strength and determination. For that reason, a good martial artist should work on his visual expression before other factors like his stance.

In sparring matches your eyes can give you more courage. For instance, have you ever met an opponent who looked at you with such determination that you backed off in your fighting? Boxers do it to their opponents all the time. They look mean and determined. They don’t believe they can be beaten, and it shows in their intention and focus. A Thai boxer’s visual expression often intimidates his opponent into giving him the edge in the fight.

Internal Chinese martial arts, such as tai chi chuan or hsing-I, talk about breathing opponents’ chi or spirit by looking at them with angry eyes. Angry eyes is a term in Chinese martial arts that describes increased intention through determined focused looks. From that angry-eye intention comes more physical power.

Another word for intention is yi. Tai chi practitioners use yi instead of sheer physical strength, first defeating their opponents mentally, then finishing them with a minimum of physical power. Yi is also connected with chi. Old tai chi masters said that if you use your yi correctly, you get stronger, while your opponent gets weaker. Before you can use yi, you must first use your eyes to look at the target. If you don’t look at your target, imagined or real, your yi won’t emerge. When you do look at your opponent, it’s not with just a casual glance. You must think about hitting the target, so that your yi makes the same connection. Then your intention and yi unite with your chi, giving you more jing, or fighting energy.

Your eyes are also exit points for shen, or spirit. People who have low spirit, because they are depressed or sick, have tired-looking eyes that are not clear and bright. You can instantly tell that those people also lack mental and physical energy. On the other hand, healthy happy people show their spirit and liveliness through their eyes. Angry people also show shen. They often look like they have fire coming through their eyes.

Martial artists must develop the angry eye in fighting situations and forms practice. Do it when you practice your forms. If you need it for sparring or self-defense, it will come naturally. Your eyes should always be looking at the opponent, the same way a guard dog looks at anyone who comes into his territory. Of course, don’t stare so hard or look so mean that it makes you stiff and tense. The correct way to express intention is by focusing on the target with confidence and determination.

Tai chi people must also be careful where their eyes are aimed. Tai chi translations describe how the eyes follow the hand. Many people misunderstood those translations, thinking they just look at their hand, rather than looking beyond, where the target is. Look at the direction of the hands, but don’t stop at the hands.

One good way to develop shen, expressed through your eyes, is by practicing square horse-stance training outdoors. Focus on a tree in the distance. Try to keep your eyes from blinking by starting gradually, about a minute, and building up to five minutes without blinking. If you can only practice indoors, stand in a horse stance looking down a long hallway, or out a window, and focus on a distant object. I prefer looking at something green. Green doesn’t hurt the eyes as much as other bright colors. Be sure you don’t stare too hard at that distant object. That will make your eyes tear and could give you a headache. Stay relaxed, using mental intention. After you practice this for several weeks, apply it to your forms and fighting. You should notice a great improvement.

If you have a habit of looking down when you do forms, have someone watch and remind you not to look at the floor. That is sometimes a habit that takes much reminding to overcome.

Hollywood gave us one key to successful martial arts with the movie Rocky II. Rocky’s trainer told him that good fighters had eyes like a tiger’s eyes. Without them he wouldn’t win.

Tags: Kung Fu Kickboxing MMA

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