In my (albeit limited) experience, martial arts books can generally be grouped into one of three categories: (i) instructional; (ii) biographical; and (iii) philosophical. Instructional books are those whose main use is to teach the reader techniques of a certain art, and generally, contain a good number of pictures illustrating with accompanying “how to” text. Biographical books are those that tell a story based on the author’s experience, whether it be a totality of life experiences, or a specific episode (i.e. the author’s karate training in Okinawa.) Finally, there are philosophical martial arts books, which tend to look beyond just a story and delve into the “do” or way concepts behind martial arts (or one art in particular.) While certainly philosophical in nature, Striking Beauty, by Barry Allen, does not fit squarely into any of these pegs.
On its face, one would assume that this is a philosophical book, and in its heart it is. Yet it is unlike the traditional “martial arts philosophy book.” As an initial matter, it is a dense book; I cannot remember the last time I had to put a book down to look up so many words in the dictionary in order to comprehend what I was reading. Although not a terribly long book (my Kindle listed it at 253 pages, including the index), it took me quite some time to read it; in addition to looking up a number of terms, I had to literally stop and think about what I was reading. In this way, Striking Beauty was somewhat unique among martial arts books that I have read.
The book examines the philosophy behind what a martial art is, rather than what a martial art teaches, and aims to do so in a more academic vein. The first chapter examines classical Eastern (specifically Chinese) philosophy, so that the reader (who is presumably Western) can understand the background of the genesis of Asian martial arts. Beginning with the legend of the Shaolin temple, and taking the reader through all the highlights, including commentary on such classics as The Art of War, an examination on Daoism and Confucianism (and their impact on the martial arts), Allen does a good job of distilling a millennia of philosophy into sixty pages of text.
From the Eastern perspective, the author moves onto the Western perspective, with a focus on the Ancient Greek philosophers, and specifically how they viewed sport (including martial sport) from a philosophical perspective, and how such sport fit into the Greek way of life, especially its impact on politics. He focused quite a bit on how, unlike in Eastern philosophy where the ultimate goal was to combine mind, body, and spirit, the Western tradition focuses on which is the matter of the being, body or mind, and that it can only be one.
Once the reader sufficiently understands the philosophical underpinning of those that created the martial arts, and the background of those who practice it in the West, Allen moves onto examining what exactly defines a martial art, and how it is similar to, and different from, the more traditional Western disciplines of dance, athletics, and sport. Here he examines not only the purpose behind the movements of each, and “where the energies go” to create the form, but also the aesthetics of them, and the interplay between the two.
Finally, Allen looks into what he calls the “ethics” of martial arts. Much of this section of the book focuses on the philosophies of violence, specifically in modern Western society. He examines how there is a general dread associated with violence, and the interplay of societal norms, the ideas behind martial arts training, how such training is not in and of itself a violent act, and what happens in a violent situation. He also examines the relationship between violence and power, specifically from a macro-political scale, up to and including war.
Personally, despite the density of some of the material, I found this book fascinating. It really opened up my eyes to why I instinctively feel the way I do about certain aspects of violence, and why I find practicing a martial art so calming, despite the fact that one can argue that it is centered around violence. That being said, this book is definitely not for someone who is looking to brush up on (or learn) specific martial arts techniques or wants a light weekend read.
In my opinion, the martial artist who will get the most out of this book is someone who already has a general interest in (and understanding of) classical philosophy, and is looking for a concrete way to understand the martial arts from a philosophical sense. This book does not really provide any insight into how to better train or even strategies for confrontation. Rather it goes to a deeper level that may provide insight to, not only how others view what a martial art is, but how- and why- you undertake your own training. I know it did for me.
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Dammit, now I have to buy another book! Thanks for the review.
Thanks for reading! It wasn’t the easiest book I’ve read, but i found it worth the time.