Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
It is a necessary test of body and mind to find out what a person will do when that point rears up and blocks progress. Does one push past it and what are the intent and reasons for pushing past a certain point are all questions that must be answered in training and practice - before you are tested by the fires of violence.
As a Marine, inactive status, we were trained to and past that point if for no other reason than to find out what we are truly made of, capable of and to open our mind to the fact that what we think may be our limitations and extend that to a point that makes 'our point of no return is faster, better and more capable' than the person attacking you. There are no obstacles except death, for being a Marine is being a person whose limitations can only be set by that point in which the body, mind and spirit leave us due to no other reason but, "death."
In training and during my active duty as a Marine I came to understand that the only way I could be hindered in the path I followed is if I let my mind accept the unacceptable and as a Marine that was not going to happen. I have met my enemy and he is myself and trained and practice and applied my skills both old and new to surpass any possible pitfalls, obstacles or obstructions that could possibly hinder my progress.
One of those concepts with a wonderful mystical term in Japanese that speaks to practitioners taking their training session to its limits and then setting higher limits above and beyond perceived limits is called, “Shugyo [修行].”
We train occasionally to exhaustion also because when we are in the mix of protection-n-preservation that adrenal stress-conditioned situation often bleeds our energy levels quickly so we have to learn to feel that level of exhaustion where our arms will barely raise up in defense, etc., leaving us vulnerable to more damage from an attack.
In another way of seeing shugyo, it should be the type of experience that consistently and accumulatively adds to the challenges of each instance, i.e., in short, once you experience the first challenge always make the next one more demanding and more intense than the last. If it is not at least this type of challenge then it can never be truly shugyo, austere training.
Also:
Seishin Shugyo [精神修行者]
Seishin and the first two characters/ideograms mean, "Mind; soul; heart; spirit; intention." The first character means, "Refined; ghost; fairy; energy; vitality; excellence; purity; skill," the second means, "gods; mind; soul." Note: See the shugyo entry for that word and set of characters.
The Okinawan's believe that Seishin Shugyo or spiritual training is the "training that comes first." They use a phrase, i.e. Oku Myo Zai Ren Shin," that has a meaning that, "in order to find the secrets, one must first have spiritual training." It is also said, "Polish the heart through the polishing of technique."
This adds more meaning to "shugyo" and its importance to the study, practice and training in the art of karate-jutsu, the Okinawan art of the empty hand.
Shugyo [修行] The characters/ideograms translate to, “Ascetic practices (Buddhist term); training; practice; discipline; study.” The first character translates to, “Discipline; conduct oneself well; study; master,” the second character translates to, “Journey; going.”
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