By مازن الشريف 
Martial Arts is not just techniques and movements, but a philosophy.
When you understand the philosophy of Martial Arts, you will find the common points between all schools and styles, and the diversity of ways with some philosophical modifications.
The philosophy of Karate (Nahate the original school of Okinawa) is to kill with one punch (O Tsuki), but O Sensei Funakushi changed that to Gidan Barai and the philosophy of defence with no harm, changing the name from the hand (Te) of Naha to the empty hand ( Kara Te).
From this transformation we moved from Karate Jutsu (art) to Karate Do (way). You can’t imagine the conflict between karate masters in that time (since 1925) about this transformation and even about the translation of Karate movements names to Japanese from Okinawa language made by Funakushi. And many grand masters asked about the true efficacity of Shotokan Karate against real fight, same conflict now between old martial arts schools and new forms of fighting (like mma).
But I know after all those years that the meaning of Funakushi philosophy is deeper, and his vision was a fusion between the eye of Master and the eye of Philosophe and Poet (which I’m proud to be).
The same thing between Ju Jutsu (the art of fluidity) to Ju Do (the way of fluidity) founded by O Sensei Jigoro Kano.
The philosophy of Ai ki Do (the way of the energy of peace) created by O Sensei Morihei Ushiba is connected to Shotokan Karate Spirit and the philosophy of grand master (O Sensei) Gichin Funakushi when he created the Hean (peace) Kata series in the Shotokan Karate, and said his famous maxim : (Karate ni sentei nashi) there’s no offensive movement in Karate or there is no first attack in Karate.
This why kata starts with defence.
Ushiba also said a wonderful maxim: “To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace”.
And this is the fundamental secret and essence of Aikido and Tai Sabaki techniques.
The philosophy of Wing Chun is to make the defense an attack, using speed, precision and the own energy of the opponent.
Bruce Lee use that and merge it with many other Martial arts philosophies, specifically the philosophy of Yin Yang used in Wudang Kung Fu.
his studies in philosophy helped him to create a perfect way of combating without any useless movements.
He named that Jeet Kune Do (the way of the intercepting fist).
You can make researches about Yamaguchi philosophy in his Gu Ju Ryu (the school of solide and Soft or fluide), or his student O Sensei Oyama and his legendary story.
And to understand the difference between the Bushido of Samurai (Samurai code of conduct), and the opposite philosophy of Ninja using any ways to win.
In my long years researches, I discovered links between Schools and masters, travelled to the many countries to get more knowledge, and I created the Taiping Shu (Chinese words) or Hean Jutsu in Japanese (the art of peace) with various philosophical basics, and a large diversity of techniques.
To perfect your Martial art, you need philosophy, knowledge, and history, because Martial arts is not only ways of fighting, it’s a Science, a pure Philosophy.
Master Mazen Cherif
Founder of Taiping Shu
Doctor in Martial arts