Karate Questions

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

Reading Michael Clarke Sensei’s post today he simply asked the following questions. I suspect he was being rhetorical in asking them but I decided to answer them anyway, the answers are for me and are mind alone. Look at it as a reflective exercise I decided to share. 

• When you take karate out of the dojo, what are you left with? [Karate … A Dojo; a thing and a place filled with emptiness that holds no void, no meaning and no heart; a dojo with karate and a life lived where every moment is a dojo through which karate is lived, breathed, practiced and applied to life itself]
• When you only practice in the dojo, what have you got? [Dojo practice where you cannot live and breath karate, merely a means to dance the dance; karate is taking it out of the dojo and placing it firmly in your life, your lifestyle, then seeing where that leads; if you don’t leave the dojo or don’t practice outside the dojo you are just participating in a social club but if you understand that everywhere you go and every place you visit is a dojo, you become successful]
• When the dojo is called a studio/academy/school/club, what is going on there? [who knows, distinctions are a part of karate practice or would it be better to call it the way simply because karate is meant to be a part of you as a person, to become an intricate system in support of your beliefs; to name something is to give it power and set obstacles and restrictions on it when karate is a mystery of the universe to unleash the capacities of the  human mind to take in the myriad things that make us, us.]
• When dojo are rented halls, where's the commitment? [commitment becomes a need to earn money and money leads toward a commercialism denigrating the karate practice of a personal nature; commitment is something one carries within their hearts, minds and spirit; once we attain that commitment then a hall rented takes on a different meaning]
• When karate is packaged, what is it being packaged into? [something tangible like a package of product; the packaging is like a box, it contains a particular something and by its very containment does not allow one to seek knowledge and understanding that exists outside a box or any one container; it is about freedom from such trappings.]
• When karate is sold, what are you buying? [a limited supply of what you desire rather than a means toward survival and understanding; towards a horizon that sets over the universe and instead you have just a smidgeon of its possibilities often removed from its original intent, its very essence for to package up the intangible makes it tangible and therefore a box.]
• When karate is so easy to find, what is the point of searching for it? [search for the underlying meaning and benefit you seek underneath the covering presented to attract in case something special is hidden behind the frosting; opening the box to let the true essence fly like a bird recently pushed from the nest to take to the sky, welcome to the sky!]
• When karate is known by so many, why do so few understand it? [it is the few who seek out more than the presented outer presentation of karate for it is that hidden that provides each person an opportunity to take it the distance, not many can, will or do; there has been and always will be those who seek out the truth through their studies and practices while all the others simply dream of the possibilities while remaining chained to the rhythms, patterns and comforts of a limited life.]
• When belts mean skill, why can you buy them in a shop? [the ability to buy something is a telling story to one who understands karate and that makes karate a product instead of something personal; relying on a symbolic meaning from an external object relieves one of the difficulty in finding a meaning toward a greater self; the belts and thier symbolic meaning are merely the chains that bind rather than the cloth that holds up our pants and holds the jacket closed also a symbolic representation of what binds life over releasing us from those chains.]
• When sensei means 'teacher' why are so many ignorant? [a failure to see, to hear, to remain balanced, to see and hear all sides, to find the meaning of one’s heart and mind while leading the body to greater health, fitness, well-being and spirit, a wholehearted effort few find and fewer keep close to their hearts]
• When training is so physically demanding, why are so many karateka unfit? [a failure to see, hear and feel karate; a focus on the trappings of ego symbolized in belts, uniforms, certificates, trophies and the accolades of a self-soothing nature to hid from the conflicts and violences of life.]
• When karate is such a challenge, why is it advertised as family friendly? [product vs. a living effort]

The above is just some of the stuff that passed through my mind (Sensei Michael Clarke, Shinseidokan Dojo) as I walked my Nagasendo [中山道] earlier today. Returning home, I wondered if anyone else ever thought of such things?

Bibliography (Click the link)