I. Many People Believe Kung Fu and Spiritual Practice Exist to Make Themselves More Successful
Today, kung fu is no longer simply kung fu.
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And spiritual practice is no longer simply spiritual practice.
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People have begun redefining everything through worldly logic.
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So kung fu becomes:
power,
fame,
status,
attention.
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Spiritual practice becomes:
personality branding,
spiritual identity,
self-improvement.
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Sometimes,
it even becomes a more sophisticated form of superiority.
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But the real issue is not merely the marketplace or the secular world.
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At a deeper level,
the acquired mind always attempts to reclaim everything.
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It even turns paths originally meant for inner release
into tools for reinforcing the self.
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And this
is where secularization truly begins.
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II. The Secular World Itself Is Not the Problem
Life naturally exists within the secular world.
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Family.
Work.
Relationships.
Income.
Teaching.
Communication.
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None of these are the problem.
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The real problem is that,
within the secular world,
people gradually lose the ability to observe.
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Kung fu then becomes self-validation.
Spiritual practice becomes identity management.
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People no longer observe whether the inner being is still contracting.
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Instead,
they become concerned with:
being recognized,
having influence,
being above others.
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So true spiritual practice is not about escaping the secular world.
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It is about remaining within it
without being absorbed by it.
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III. True Kung Fu Is the Observation of How One Loses Center
True kung fu was never meant to conquer others.
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It was meant to observe oneself.
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To observe fear.
To observe desire.
To observe reactions.
To observe the part of oneself that always wants to win.
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The ancients did not practice kung fu merely for combat.
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At a deeper level,
they were observing:
how a human being loses center
under pressure and collision.
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True kung fu is not the avoidance of conflict.
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Quite the opposite.
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It is the ability,
within contact, pressure, and confrontation,
to observe whether contraction has begun.
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Whether clarity is disappearing.
Whether instinct has taken over.
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That is why true kung fu must always be accompanied by:
relaxation,
stillness,
stability,
observation.
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Kung fu is not separate from spiritual practice.
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In truth,
it is one of its most direct tests.
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Because if a person cannot observe themselves,
the greater their power becomes,
the faster the personality expands.
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In the end,
a person may train for an entire lifetime,
yet move farther and farther away from their true self.
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IV. Once Spiritual Practice Is Occupied by the Acquired Mind, It Becomes Commercialized
The true danger is not the secular world itself.
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The danger is when spiritual practice begins serving inner insecurity.
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As long as there is fear of emptiness within,
the personality begins grasping.
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Grasping for power.
Grasping for recognition.
Grasping for uniqueness.
Even grasping for sacredness.
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So many forms of spiritual practice appear to be about letting go.
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But in reality,
they are only new ways of continuing attachment to the self.
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People begin longing for rapid awakening.
Longing for energy.
Longing for mystical abilities.
Longing for enlightenment.
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And even longing
to become spiritually higher than others.
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Because what the personality truly wants
is often not dissolution.
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It wants to continue existing
in a more magnificent form.
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So many spiritual paths
do not make people quieter.
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Instead,
they make people:
more attached to themselves,
more convinced of their specialness,
more unable to accept questioning.
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Spiritual practice then shifts
from observing truth
to protecting identity.
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And this secularization
exists within everyone.
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As long as insecurity remains,
spiritual practice can be used to conceal it.
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And kung fu,
too,
can become a way of hiding fear.
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V. Those Who Truly Go Deep Often Become Increasingly Ordinary
People who truly deepen
often become more ordinary.
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Because they begin to realize:
they are not that important.
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Emotions are simply movements.
Attachments are simply habits.
Personalities are often accumulated contractions.
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So gradually,
people begin letting go of:
the need to prove,
the need to compare,
the need for superiority.
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Even the identity of being “a spiritual practitioner”
slowly fades.
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True ordinariness
does not arise from lacking power.
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It arises because one no longer needs power
to protect oneself.
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True observation
brings people closer and closer to reality.
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And reality
is rarely dramatic.
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It is quiet.
Natural.
Ordinary.
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VI. The Deepest Problem of Secularization Is Losing the Direction Back Inward
When kung fu loses observation,
only force remains.
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When spiritual practice loses observation,
only concepts remain.
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And once everything turns outward,
people slowly forget:
the one thing that truly needs to be understood
has always been themselves.
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If kung fu cannot make a person more real,
it will only make them stronger.
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If spiritual practice cannot make a person emptier,
it will only make them larger.
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Perhaps only then
does one finally begin to understand:
kung fu and spiritual practice
were never meant to place a person above the world.
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They were meant
to return one
to life itself.
