Fluent Bodies & Breathing Spaces, set 4

The Drunken Master starring Jackie Chan- practicing inebriated fisticuffs

“…the ‘marma technician’ arrived, drunk as usual... The friends undressed the patient, and the technician threw a sheet over him so no one could view his technique. After he pressed a few points, the patient opened his eyes. The patient’s friends gave the technician a wad of money, and he left. This story is important not so much for what it tells us about marma therapy as for what it tells us about modern Indian perceptions of marma therapy. Here is a practice in which the precision of a laser beam is achieved with a rustic tool, a subtle savant arrives disguised as a drunkard, and a precise pulse examination masquerades as an indifferent brush of the patient’s wrist. Here is a healing practice, in other words, that, for modern observers, seems to draw its authority from the mystery with which it cloaks a sophisticated esoteric knowledge in apparently ‘primitive’ practices” (p.214, Fluent Bodies, Jean M. Langford).

Marma cikitsa is a South Indian practice similar to acupressure within Ayurveda practice. Marmas are vulnerable points on the body that could be touched to heal or to do harm and should be avoided by surgeons (p.212). Langford discussed marma therapy as another traditional and mystical Ayurveda practice found mainly in South India, a practice, like pulse reading, that is marginalized by mainstream Ayurvedic schools. According to Dr. Vijayan, marma practitioners are very secretive about their knowledge and as seen in the above excerpt, some act as though they are drunk so that no one can find out how they do what they do. They protect their art through the guise of drunkenness. Their expertise is so valuable to them that they hide their actions from those around them, not divulging the tricks of the trade to anyone except perhaps a talented pupil.

Langford notes that marma cikitsa falls under healing as well as Kalahari martial arts which I am guessing is a form of martial arts found in India. The use of pressure points that could heal a person by touch could also be used in combat. The theme of healing being related to the martial arts was mentioned in Nancy Chen’s Breathing Spaces as well. On page 59, Chen talked about the popularity of qigong masters and their depiction as martial arts masters in comic books and in film. A best-selling novel, the name translates to “Great Qigong Master”, was about “tales of a qigong master’s adventures in the city as he searched for truth and universal forces” (p. 59). The connection in both the Ayurveda marma technique and qigong with martial arts reminded me of the 1978 movie “The Drunken Master” starring Jackie Chan. His character, Wong Fei Hung, was a popular historical Chinese folk hero who was not only a martial artist and revolutionary, but also a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. The movie was done in comedic fashion, as is Jackie Chan’s style, and he learned a drunken form of kung fu. The moves appeared to be from a blundering drunkard, but they were actually very graceful and precise and in the film very effective. It took him a while of goofing off and messing up before he seriously began to learn from his master. Behaving and moving as though he was drunk was useful in deceiving his opponents. They thought he would be easy to defeat and therefore underestimated his ability to fight which worked to his advantage. The marma practitioners from above behaved as though they were drunk so that their abilities would be underestimated and they could keep their knowledge concealed.

I see the connection of Indian Ayurvedic marma healing, Chinese qigong healing, and martial arts as relying on showmanship as well as function. Both Fluent Bodies and Breathing Spaces make a point of revealing how charismatic practitioners were effective in gathering faithful followers. It seemed that the more charismatic they were, the more their patients believed in what they could do. Martial arts are also reliant on showmanship; the fast paced, graceful and powerful movements of the masters are captivating to watch. They have large followings too, most noticeably in the number of films featuring them.

Here is a clip from The Drunken Master demonstrating the various drunken fighting techniques:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE6jYJb4_Tc&feature=related

photos from:
www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/drunken_master.htm

www.moviecritic.com.au/.../