Martial artists commonly cite the ‘way of the warrior’ an unwritten code of ethics that true champions abide by. Notions of honor, chivalry and justice are tightly woven into our legends and are the foundation of our cinema. Most will reference Bushidō (武士道) as the way of the warrior, however there is another. Chinese style practitioners have their own unwritten code, known as Wǔ Dé (武德).

Bushidō comes from Japanese samurai culture. The Bu (武) in Bushidō is the same character as Wǔ (武) in Wǔ Dé. It refers to all things martial and will be explored in depth in the latter part of this article. Shi (士) can mean soldier, gentleman, or scholar. Dō (道) is the same as dào in Chinese – the same dào as in Daoism or Dào Dé Jīng (道德經). It can mean way, path, method, or even road or street. While Bushidō is often spoken in abstract terms in fiction, like the movies, it has a foundation within several written sources such as The Book of Five Rings (五輪書) by Miyamoto Musashi (1583-1645), Hagakure (葉隱) by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1719), and others. 

Wǔ Dé isn’t nearly as formally codified as Bushidō. The character dé (德) is commonly translated as virtue. It is a key concept of Chinese philosophy and is somewhat subject to interpretation depending upon which philosophy. In Daoism, it’s about the integrity of virtue. Buddhism focuses on merit attained by being virtuous. And in the Confucian view, it’s about the morality of virtue. While Wǔ Dé lacks that significant written foundation like Bushidō, it draws heavily from these three philosophies. In Chinese culture, much of the martial morality is quoted from Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

What’s more, due to the clan based nature of the Chinese martial arts, many sects have their own individual martial codes, restricted to their specific school. This is lineage based, so a particular sect of Wing Chun might have a school code that is unique to that school but not shared with other branches of Wing Chun. Genuine proponents of Shaolin Temple Kung Fu are Buddhist and are thereby bound by Buddhist precepts. However, since Shaolin is considered the cradle of Kung Fu, many styles have adopted the prefix ‘Shaolin’ whether they are Buddhist or not. The same applies for some Wudang practitioners and Daoism. 

Common school rules include paying respect to your teacher and elder classmates, which is a fundamental concept behind Confucianism. Additionally, many rules address proper school etiquette, like being punctual and hygienic, and minimizing non-relevant discussion. Rules against teaching without your teacher’s permission are commonplace too. This serves to restrict students from teaching others before they are ready. Sometimes this is also about keeping the school’s most treasured techniques secret. Sometimes there are rules that are more morally bound, like ‘Be humble’ or ‘Use Kung Fu only for good’ or ‘Do not use your skills for revenge.’ That last one defies almost every Kung Fu movie plot. 

Given the subjectivity of Wǔ Dé beyond these basic regulations, it can be hard to pin down the specifics of martial morality from the Chinese perspective. However, to get to the heart of Wǔ Dé, we must look to the root of Wǔ.

Stop the Spear or Marching with Weapons

Chinese characters are logographs that can be compound, meaning two simpler characters might be coupled to form a new word. As an example, when the character for sun (rì 日) is combined with the character for moon (yuè 月), the resulting character is míng (明), meaning bright. Wǔ (武) is comprised of two characters: zhǐ (止) which means stop or foot and gē (戈) which refers to one of the earliest Chinese weapons, a dagger-axe. Proponents of Chinese martial arts conventionally translate as ‘stop the spear’ and interpret that to mean that martial artists serve to stop the violence. This interpretation goes back to the first Chinese dictionary that focused on unravelling compound characters, Shuō wén jiě zì (Explaining Single-Component Graphs and Analyzing Compound Characters 說文解字), compiled around 100 CE. That dictionary attributed the notion of ‘stop the spear’ to King Chu of the Spring Autumn period (770-476 BCE).

However, there is another interpretation. Adrian Chan-Wyles [1] cited recent discoveries about the roots of Chinese logographs. In the 1990 publication, Jiǎ gǔ wén zì diǎn (Tortoise shell character dictionary 甲骨文字典) by Xu Zhongsu. Xu asserted that King Chu was wrong and that zhǐ means foot, implying marching. In the 1979 work Wén zì yuán liú qiǎn shuō (Light discussion on the origin of characters 文字源流淺說) by Lian Yu, the author went back to the ancient writing form of oracle bone script. Lian discovered that earliest example of wǔ was comprised of elements: foot, weapon, and crossroads. He made a strong argument contending that by the late Zhou (11th century-771 BCE) most people did not understand the roots of Chinese and that the meaning of the wǔ was reinterpreted to support political propaganda. Given this interpretation, wǔ might mean 'marching with weapons to the crossroads' which implies the opposite of 'stopping the spear.' 

The notion that stopping the violence might have been political propaganda can be hard to reconcile. If the very definition of wǔ is questionable, where does that leave the warrior who has built his or her entire foundation of martial morality on the premise of stopping violence? However, when anyone advances in their understanding of Chinese martial arts, it becomes clear that the ability to hold two or more competing truths at the same time is paramount. A practitioner can both stop the violence and march to the crossroads with weapons, depending on the time and conditions. Upholding martial morality is judged by the appropriate response to the surrounding circumstances. 

Ultimately, this nuanced perspective underscores the complexity and adaptability inherent in Chinese martial arts. Martial morality is not a fixed code, but a dynamic principle rooted in contextual judgment. Recognizing that the warrior's role can encompass both the cessation of violence and its strategic use allows for a deeper appreciation of martial arts as a moral and practical discipline—one that requires wisdom to discern the right course of action in any given moment.

The above is an original article by Gene Ching, Publicist and Staff Writer for YMAA Publication Center. 

[1] Chan-Wyles, Adrian (2006) ‘Wu Qi: combat Energy,’ Kung Fu Tai Chi, February, pp. 50-59.