I look up "spiritual implication of Martial Arts" with quotes in Google and there is no result, maybe members of this forums can give me some thoughts or experiences on the subject.
Culturally then possibly yes, depending on the system's origin. The cultural context tends to be what lends it any elements of spirituality. However you can still take out those elements and have the system remain compatibly viable, assuming it was in the first place. As part of a whole tradition then it gets a little trickier as certain things are passed on as a complete package. Martial arts though do not necessarily impart spirituality any more so than any other activity that requires one's dedication and hard work.
Not unless you send away for my free DVD and $250 special martial artist's robe. I will show you the true ways of spirituality and punching people and punching people spiritually. Then you can wear the robe so everyone knows you know it.
There is no more spiritulaity in Martial Arts than in any other endeavour - there is however a fetishization of spirituality in martial arts
I've never felt a "spiritual inclination" in any martial art. I have in weight lifting or intense exercise. Pushing through the burn and finishing always makes me feel like I just gained repentance from my sins.
I know! That's why you have to keep training till' you're dead! You can at least keep the ration of sins:redemption somewhat equal! I tend to increase the frequency of workouts when I start seeing horns develop on my head.
I think the spiritual implications of martial arts became much more ritualized (and even fetishized, as Hannibal suggests) when martial arts stopped being battlefield state of the art. (Read: A very long time ago) When "martial artists" were actual soldiers, they had plenty of cause to contemplate life and death, develop ways to reconcile themselves to the potential loss of their own lives or taking of others' lives, etc. Most of those conditions don't exist for most martial artists these days. So, while I still believe that martial arts CAN be a vehicle for some sort of spiritual experience, it seldom takes the form or the intensity that we like to advertise.
Thanks guys, I think I am on the right track and let me try again: Martial arts have resolved some of the health issues for practitioners of spirituality but that is not spiritual implication. The practices of martial arts do involve some forms of extreme performances but that is not spirituality. But there are people like ap Oweyn do believe that "that martial arts CAN be a vehicle for some sort of spiritual experience". Can martial arts provide some sort of answers to spiritual questions on fear, death, consciousness, and supernatural power, etc.?
If you want spirituality go to a Sangha not a dojo or gym. As ap Oweyn said some of this was in place because on the battlefield you really don't want your solders thinking about the morality of what they are doing. BTW a Sangha is a buddhist community/temple.
Thanks, but fear and consciousness can be classified as cognitions and have nothing to do with spirituality. A Buddhist monk can learn martial art for his spiritual development but just learning martial will not turn anyone into a Buddhist monk. There are arguments on the similarity between cognitive development and spiritual development but I don't see a connection at this moment.
I don't think there's any difference. With some chemicals or electrodes in the right place you've got yourself a bonafide spiritual experience.
Personally I wouldn't be too sure on that. No but in theory, if you train hard and honestly, keep pushing your limits and so forth when you train, then it may help "polish your spirit" (to coin a phrase from one of the random books I own). In reality though, most MAists who talk about "spirituality" are about as spiritual as soggy toilet paper in a public cubicle.