Wei qi life: the surrounding game

In china the game of go is called wei qi. Over 2500 years ago wei qi was invented in ancient china and is one of the oldest board games in existence. For thousands of years people have been playing this little board game of a board with a grid and black and white stones. Not only is the set up simple, the rules are simple too. Such a simple game yet there's more history and strategy behind it than we can think of.

The word "wei" in chinese means to surround. The surrounding game is what wei qi means in english. In this game each player can only surround with their pieces to build territory, defend or capture the other person's stones. This is the only way to play and win the game.

In physical sports, players and teams must do what they can to get the ball through the goal and the only thing stopping them from hitting each other is, well, no one really wants to get hurt and it's against the rules. Wei qi is different. Not only do you not use physical strength to beat your opponent, you cannot even use the pieces on the board to hit or smash your opponent's pieces. No sword, bat, hammer, spear, loud noise or any sharp weapon will work in this game. 

The only way is the steady and strategic placing of one stone at a time on the board.

Imagine what that would mean in life. Imagine if you could not hit, yell or even argue to solve a problem or get your point across. That would be hard. Some problems in life are hard to deal with and it becomes easy to argue, hit, scream or force our way through but doing so easily leads to hurting others. 

The game of wei qi/baduk/go teaches us to hold ourselves back. We have to reign in our emotions, control our temper and think seriously and critically about what's going on on the board. If we don't we will lose the game. This is such a tempering and disciplining game and it is in a gentle and profound way.

The more you play this game, the more you will realize this. 

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