There is an expression in Chinese martial arts culture: ‘wén wǔ quán cái.’ Wén wǔ of course is ‘scholar warrior.’ ‘Quán ’ (‘chuan’) means ‘complete’ or ‘all around’, and ‘cái ’ means ‘talent.’ So, this expression is speaking to well-rounded development. In Confucian culture this was sometimes expressed as ‘zither, chess, book, painting, sword’; that is, the basic Master Kong curriculum of music, mathematical reasoning, literary knowledge, art, and martial arts.
The meaning of taking ‘wén wǔ quán cái’ as one’s aspiration is, of course, to embark on the quest to create a complete selfhood, replete with skills from a number of significant arenas of human endeavor. In our modern wén wǔ context, this just brings us back to the center of our path, the quest of Master Kong’s junzi, the noble person. Pared down to essentials: being well-read and informed, capable of critical thinking on a range of topics, and being situated in one or more martial/ mind-body traditions whose aim is health and strength for oneself and enhanced ability to serve and protect others.
wenwulife 