There is no particular reason to think that some forms of martial arts
suddenly switched their emphasis from effectiveness in combat to self-
cultivation during the Ming. If self-cultivation was important in Ming
martial arts, it was undoubtedly there beforehand. Not only Buddhists
but also Daoists and Confucians had preexisting traditions of meditation
unrelated to any martial arts. The long Confucian tradition of self-
cultivation through archery practice points to a deep acceptance of the
spiritual and intellectual power of the physical practice of martial arts. It
did not escape the notice of the educated authors of the martial arts
manuals of the Ming that training infighting had a significant emotional
and psychological effect on the practitioner. Men could be made more
aggressive or more confident in battle through training. Extensive training
in a martial art developed deep and nuanced understandings of physical
practice that were valuable in and of themselves. The profound knowledge
of physical training could be mentioned, and the gross form of the practice
recorded, but true understanding required years or decades of dedicated
physical performance under a master.
In many ways the Ming Dynasty was the acme of Chinese martial arts
practice before the rapid and revolutionary changes of the succeeding Qing
Dynasty. Ming martial arts were rich and varied. Guns were present and
important, but hand-to-hand combat with weapons, and archery were all
regular and effective components of warfare. There was still an unbroken
continuum between the skills of the military and the skills of the ordinary
subject. All that would change during the Qing Dynasty, though not before
a return of steppe martial arts and values.
184 The Ming Dynasty