"Never" Take What the Opponent Offers You
This past weekend, my wife and I grabbed one of our old action DVDs off the shelf. We watched Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes in "Rising Sun."
At one point in the film, the 'teacher,' Sean Connery, turns to his pupil, Wesley Snipes, and gives the following martial advice ...
"Never take what the opponent offers you."
The quote just smacks of coming from "The Art of War," by Sun Tzu. I didn't have time to confirm my suspicion. Maybe later.
What does this quote mean?
I am sure that all of you immediately skipped right over the literal meaning, right?
Nobody should only think of this as talking about accepting, say, food from the enemy, because it might be poisoned. (Although, the literal meaning probably offers good counsel, too.) In this article, we are going beyond the taking of material goods offered.
This advice is really warning you that fakes exist.
For example, if your opponent leaves an opening, is he or she really unaware of the error, or is your attacker being sneaky?
This quote is fairly decent advice for beginners. If you are easily faked, and if others can use feints against you, then you should follow the advice.
Fight on your terms. Don't only wait to react to your opponent, if you are a beginner. Of course, respond when you have to -- I am not advising that you ignore all punches flying toward your face.
Just keep in mind that if the punch coming at you seems a little slow and sloppy (or floppy), it could be a fake. So could an opening.
Be careful what you react to. A fully committed technique made by your opponent should offer you some comfort; at least if it's 'real' commitment, it's not a fake.
This is especially true of:
* punches that have a raised elbow, as though they are coming in 'wide,' but the punch heads to the center
* a sudden opponent opening that didn't result from an attempted strike
* any opponent opening where you didn't orchestrate the creation of the line of attack
All of these points could very well be the beginning of a fake made by your opponent. Face it, if you don't yet have the experience to recognize this type of fake, then don't go for the offerings.
But if you are a more experienced martial artist ...
Now, Read the Other Side of the Argument:
Yes, Take What Your Opponent Offers You
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