ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that forms of spirituality within Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Taoist traditions and martial arts often constitute a form of spiritual battle or combat with the practitioner’s enemy the unruly self. Such disciplined practices deeply rooted in somatic reconfigurations require disciplined fortitude over time and aim at the integration of the body, mind and the spirit. Although not officially recognised as ‘martial arts’, they aim for a similar thing – the winning of a personal combat. Repetitive training is necessary in the tested techniques to achieve maximum impact. Also, the chapter shows how in a de-traditionalized Western culture where meditative practices like yoga and meditation have been wrenched from their religious habitus, the combat is of a very different order and rests largely upon the paradigm of the autonomous self. I will be unashamedly critical of this shift and suggest it has very little to do with authentic, spiritual wrestling which is grounded in a collective, ethical subjectivity allied to tradition and sacred scripture.
