Psilent Knight
Blue Belt
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2017
- Messages
- 212
- Reaction score
- 46
Hello Friends and Fellow Martial Artists,
I have an inquiry I hope you all can help me with. I would like to know HOW a person can appropriately approach her/his Martial Arts training with a goal of achieving a Zen State of Mind.
If I need to be a little more specific I would like to copy and paste the following descriptive of a Martial Arts style out of Japan known as Zendokai Karate (not to be confused with the one in New Zealand). I will only paste the parts that are relevant to my question:
What is Zendokai Karate?
“Zen” the heart of Zendokai Karate
All of this sounds well and good and I'm sure that this school/organization has good intentions. But after research and observation of this style and it's practitioners I believe I see the same old pattern of talking the talk but not walking the walk. The competitive nature of the art (and it's students) take precedence.
But reading the spiritual goals of the art I wish to ask how can one tailor their personal practice to accomplish these specific stated goals not for themselves, but for those who are under their care and guidance? I have my 19 year old son in mind as I write this. He could really use the type of spiritual grounding and growth that can be attained through Zen and Buddhism.
In Buddhism there is a concept known as UPAYA the definition of which is "skillful means". The idea behind this concept is the thought of teaching someone a certain thing or leading someone on a particular path through an indirect, yet skillful and tactful method. An example of this would be The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi used manual labor as a means to teach Daniel-San the mechanics of certain Karate techniques and to strengthen the muscles used most in those techniques. And the training of Karate itself under the guidance of Mr. Miyagi was a means through which Daniel learned Okinawan culture and how to be a peaceful person and try to refrain from senseless violence if he's able to.
I wish to utilize the UPAYA concept to introduce my son to Buddhist teachings and I wish to use Karate and the Martial Arts as the skillful means to do so.
By the way, this Zendokai Karate organization used to have a branch in the United States. The (now defunct) website of that branch had a Zen quote on it's homepage that originally sparked my interest in Zen Buddhism and how it can be tied into Martial Arts training. Don't know if I have it correct verbatim wise but it was something along the lines of "True Happiness Is Attained By Serving Others and Without Seeking Any Reward"
Thoughts? Insights? Suggestions?
Take Care Everyone and Have Good Day,
OSU!
I have an inquiry I hope you all can help me with. I would like to know HOW a person can appropriately approach her/his Martial Arts training with a goal of achieving a Zen State of Mind.
If I need to be a little more specific I would like to copy and paste the following descriptive of a Martial Arts style out of Japan known as Zendokai Karate (not to be confused with the one in New Zealand). I will only paste the parts that are relevant to my question:
What is Zendokai Karate?
Despite training various techniques of physical fighting, the higher purpose of Zendokai Karate is to balance mind and body for maximize personal potentiality both inside and outside. This will finally lead to better ways of living the daily life.
“Zen” the heart of Zendokai Karate
“Zen” is a school of Mahayanna Buddhism. This word “Zen” means “meditation”.
The aim of Zen practice is to discover the true nature within each person through meditation and mindfulness of daily experience, which will provide new perspective and insights on existence, which finally lead to enlightenment.
In Japan, there are many traditional arts that follow Zen philosophy such as
“KADO” = Japanese traditional flower arrangement,
“SADO” = Japanese traditional tea ceremony,
and “BUDO” = Japanese traditional martial arts and the spirit of Samurai.
It is the core of Zendokai Karate.
Zendokai believes that training in mind through meditation is as important as training body through karate practice.
Objective of Training:
To strengthen and create balance of mind and body through Karate practice.
Mind improvement:
to recognize own weakness, emotional problems, and learn how to manage them effectively
to improve interpersonal skills and create good relationship with others
to learn discipline and follow the rules
All of this sounds well and good and I'm sure that this school/organization has good intentions. But after research and observation of this style and it's practitioners I believe I see the same old pattern of talking the talk but not walking the walk. The competitive nature of the art (and it's students) take precedence.
But reading the spiritual goals of the art I wish to ask how can one tailor their personal practice to accomplish these specific stated goals not for themselves, but for those who are under their care and guidance? I have my 19 year old son in mind as I write this. He could really use the type of spiritual grounding and growth that can be attained through Zen and Buddhism.
In Buddhism there is a concept known as UPAYA the definition of which is "skillful means". The idea behind this concept is the thought of teaching someone a certain thing or leading someone on a particular path through an indirect, yet skillful and tactful method. An example of this would be The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi used manual labor as a means to teach Daniel-San the mechanics of certain Karate techniques and to strengthen the muscles used most in those techniques. And the training of Karate itself under the guidance of Mr. Miyagi was a means through which Daniel learned Okinawan culture and how to be a peaceful person and try to refrain from senseless violence if he's able to.
I wish to utilize the UPAYA concept to introduce my son to Buddhist teachings and I wish to use Karate and the Martial Arts as the skillful means to do so.
By the way, this Zendokai Karate organization used to have a branch in the United States. The (now defunct) website of that branch had a Zen quote on it's homepage that originally sparked my interest in Zen Buddhism and how it can be tied into Martial Arts training. Don't know if I have it correct verbatim wise but it was something along the lines of "True Happiness Is Attained By Serving Others and Without Seeking Any Reward"
Thoughts? Insights? Suggestions?
Take Care Everyone and Have Good Day,
OSU!