Praying Mantis Kung Fu was founded 400 years ago in the tradition of Shaolin, integrating late Ming dynasty martial practices with Chan Buddhist meditation and Neo-Confucian philosophy. It evolved against a backdrop of political instability, social unrest, and large-scale violence premised on the notions of self-preservation, individual autonomy, moral agency and the natural right to self-defence. This was the world as it was 400 years ago.
Today, depending on where you live, the world is a much different place than it was 400 years ago. If you have the good fortune of living in a developed region you can be thankful for the generally higher levels of peace and security that typically benefit from a liberal democracy, transparent rule of law, progressive education, and secular values. But despite such progress, even the best parts of the developed world continue to experience socio-economic imbalances, conflict, inequality, injustice, violence, and human suffering of their own. This was the starting point for my article entitled, “The Realities of Violence” (June 2021) in which I provided a detailed case study analysis on violent victimizations in the United States. The world as it is.
In today’s article I will continue with an extension on the topic on violence and explore the theme of personal self-defense. In section one I will introduce some key working definitions; in section two I will demonstrate the conceptual derivation to the natural and moral right of self-defense; and finally in section three I will introduce Canadian federal criminal code pertaining to self-defence and the criteria required to meet the definition of justified self-defense. After reading this article you should have renewed confidence in the natural, moral and legal right to self-defense; as well as a new understanding of core legal principles related to managing potential criminal liability in a self-defense interaction.
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SEP
2021