Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
The characters, pictographs, ideograms translate to English to mean: “Empty Hand; Karate; Zen; Dhyana (profound meditation); Zen (Buddhism).”
The term Zen, especially in modern karate and martial discipline circles/communities, tend to be an over reaction to the exaggerations that have been amplified and embellished to “sell” the systems or arts to the masses thus fostering a more business oriented culture called “martial arts.”
The term, in martial communities even in Asia, has become meaningless due to the overuse and abuse. Much comes from both dissonance and biases with confirmation bias a strong proponent of the misuse, misunderstanding and total lack of knowledge of the practice that is Zen. Practitioners, like many others throughout history, tend to dwell on their own interest and benefit and can thereby misrepresent the reality they seek to describe. How unfortunate and still expected because it speaks to the very nature of the human species and condition.
Look at Zen, Karate Zen, as being expressed fundamentally through the discipline and practices of martial disciplines and karate. Just enough to give it a feel of realism and reality while in truth barely addressing the whole and complete discipline that is Zen or Zen Buddhism. This in and of itself has led to the misrepresentation and understanding of what mushin, zanshin, fudoshin, and isshin, etc., are and how they are contributors to the completeness and philosophy of martial arts and karate.
Zen in karate-zen has had a significant influence on the discipline as it has on the practitioners and since, in most cases, that has led to a positive set of virtuous traits to balance out its destructive nature that is still a good thing. It is not wrong, exactly; yet it is not the full monty of what Zen is and how it should be practiced, trained and applied.
Know this, many elements of the discipline of martial practices are expressions, at one level or another, of Zen.
Jikishin: true-mind.
Ginmi: to know through practice and experience.
Many of the current and previous masters and experts of Zen all feel that regardless of the level, intent or content of Zen training or Zen-like expression in their respective art or system what is being practiced is Zen. Therefore karate-zen regardless of how, when, why, etc., may not be the compete and comprehensive Zen, it is still … Zen (fragments of Zen are still … Zen).
“One can be an adherent of Zen without undertaking the whole of what Zen has to offer.” - Jeffrey K. Mann
————————————————————————
Zen or Zen-like, that is the question?
Za-zen [座禅]: seated Zen meditation, usu. in a cross-legged position. Where in one has to find a true definition, explanation and understanding of the method of Zen meditation. In certain professional karate and martial disciplines one method of Zen is referred to by experts as, "the koan method."
Zen Koans as they originate from Zen masters testing or challenging Zen students with parables, i.e., simple stories used to trigger a sudden realization in the student of a moral nature. Martial (Zen-like) Koan (or parable like quotes) studies are taking the practice of Zen Koan’s to trigger on-going realizations in the study of martial quotes that will lead toward martial enlightenment - toward a spiritual state of mind that allows for change. It is through such changes that both the discipline and the student can achieve higher levels of understanding through acquired knowledge and experience. Welcome to the “Martial (Zen-like) Koan Studies!”
“Koans, or parables (a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson).”
You probably already know that my next concept is the use of koan’s in karate to perform Zen-like Koan quotes, meme’s, aphorisms, etc., to pass forward teachings that provide the student study materials to exercise the mind while contributing to the practitioners understanding of karate and martial arts/disciplines.
Go to: Martial (Zen-like) Koan Studies to experience an effort to demonstrate a Zen-like lesson similar and not true lesson by a proverbial koan.
Another method used in karate and martial systems to promote a feeling of a Zen-like effort is sitting Za-zen, a method of sitting meditation. This is often referred to as, “Mokuso [黙想]: meditation; silent contemplation.” This sitting in a meditative state in most dojo is merely lip service using a mystic oriented concept to stimulate the minds and motivations of the practitioners and in truth very few are actually taught a Zen-like method of sitting meditation. You will find many of the platitudes provided as quotations as example in the martial koan studies blog linked above. It is an enlightening experience!
If you do more research on Zen in its forms, then you come to realize that what we did is pull out those aspects and concepts that merely fit our needs, called confirmation bias, and manufactured a Zen-like concept and practice it becomes glaringly apparent that Zen in Karate does not exist because what is there is merely a Zen-like watered down version to fit a specific model and perception of karate and martial arts of the American Way.
————————————————————————
Harmony and the Martial Arts
Harmony, a concept hard to feel and to live by but easy to define, at least academically. Harmony is the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole. In the Asian practices such as “Chado (tea ceremony),” “Shodo (calligraphy),” and especially, for this article and for us as karate-ka and martial artists, “Karate-do, Budo, etc.,” the philosophy of Zen influences the practitioners and the arts into a spiritual discipline (not religious but religious in a kind of non-religious way) that is focused on calmness, simplicity, and self-growth.
In the more physical violence part of these disciplines harmony is a model of conditioning that drastically reduces and conditions the practitioner toward the reduction of effects from adrenal stress-conditions inherent in fear, anger, and other emotions triggered by facing grave harm, extreme violence and possible death.
Practicing a way of martial art and karate toward a harmonious way of not just applications in the various forms from sport to fighting to self-defense provides us a dualistic complementary way of training, practice, study, understanding, applications and experience that is, harmonious in that it creates a one singular wholehearted way.
When practiced with Zen principles in mind, practice and training can be a peaceful journey through the chaos of a blunt, physically demanding and emotionally challenging discipline where self-cultivation leads to harmony in conflict, where calmness leads to a positive state of relaxation that reduces drastically those mental obstacles that rise under stressors, the serenity of mind to make decisions quickly speeding up the OODA loop while maintaining a mind-set and mind-state that pulls appropriate legal and socially acceptable actions toward safety and security let alone toward a mind, body and spirit that builds character and personality toward social connectivity building a tribe, clan and group dynamic that is a contributor to the social fabric of our society and culture.
Then there is the need for “Concentration” that all this practice, training, experience and applications teach us to handle life challenges even with stress inducing conflict along with associated violence of both psychological and physical.
Zen harmony practices focus on the mind, body and spirit unity, the one whole that is harmonious to nature, to the self and to others in your community. It creates an attitude whereby the benefit is a harmonious nature and feeling while creating a means to act in the moment and in the no-mind state of primal conditioned response created by training in karate, martial arts and Zen-Buddha-Harmony for balance in mind, body, and spirit.
Harmony is an attitude, a mind-state, while harmony leads to proper attitude, a mutually beneficial way that is represented in the symbol of the, “Yin-Yang.”
Zen-harmony of the martial arts and karate-do provide pathways toward other benefits that create a sense of aesthetic balanced harmonious presentations, actions and deeds by teaching us to appreciate moderation, asymmetry, perfection of imperfection, rusticity, and a naturalness along with a Zen connection with nature that is demonstrated in Japan by the value found in Shintoism.
Zen teaches respect of nature by not managing or controlling nature but finding that connection with nature where one establishes and maintains a spiritual bond with nature as can be observed in various Japanese art forms such as chado or the tea ceremony or when admiring the Japanese Zen garden.
For the martial artist and karate-ka Zen was morphed into its practices from the very culture of Japan and Okinawa because in MA and Karate one emphasizes self-composure, vigilance, and tranquility for life and for the purpose of facing grave harm or death in Self-defense. In its practice toward detachment the practitioner learns to detach the mind in the present moment from distractions of the past and possible future and from the material things that would lead the mind astray toward things not needed in the moment.
Zen’s connection to the martial arts and karate-do provide a road to a philosophy, a fundamental principle of the discipline, so that the practitioner can better understand that martial philosophy. A philosophy that transcends the mere physical toward the full spectrum of self-defense of theory, physiokinetic’s, technique, philosophy, self-defense, the chemical cocktail - all principles that govern all forms of conflict along with the psychological and physical violence associated.
Harmony is something that is often undetectable and unobservable in a direct conscious way when you meet others who have character and personality that just connects with others both in and out of that persons tribe, clan or group. They reflect leadership, brotherhood and a strong sense of honor.
————————————————————————
For reference and sources and professionals go here:
Bibliography (Click the link)
No comments:
Post a Comment