Zen Swordsmanship Training

Bushido, the way of the warrior was the result of the killing weary samurai adopting the very practical and delightfully direct way of zen. My wife commented recently about Michael Jackson, ” He moves too well to have had training!” The same is true about Bushido, it is a sort of training without training.

Huike offers his arm to Bodhidharma. A symbol of giving up the central mind.

In most martial arts, the student is corrected about form, often the teacher will tell him what in a stance avoids a kick to the crotch and what about the stance prevents a jab to the throat and how the power must be generated through the legs and blah blah.

In Bushido however a student is made to do household chores when he begins his training. As he does that the teacher will sneak up behind him with a stick and beat him ruthlessly and walk away whistling nonchalantly. In this way the student begins to fear and expect the stick at all times. However the teacher begins to beat him when he (the student of course) is asleep. Now the student is sleep deprived beacuse he spends his nights in terror of the beating, and so he’s not so alert during the day and might doze off, which is when the well rested teacher beats him ruthlessly again and walks off whistling nonchalantly.

After a few days the student accepts his fate as something that’s happening, ie he stops taking it personally, like a victim. Victims take things personally. But in reality nothing is personal. Everyone is reasonable. They have their own reasons LOL!

So when you participate unselfconsciously in the process without taking it personally, your central or focussed mind is switched off.

Of the two minds of a human being, the peripheral or unfocussed mind is infinitely more powerful than the central or focussed mind. The reason is that it can never be turned off. Even when you are sleeping it is on.

Also, it needs no effort, in fact, it needs a ceasing of effort to be noticed. It’s like the chirping of birds outside that you hear once you quieten your mind. The central mind however needs to be focussed it takes effort to pick out a sound or a see a line on your palm.

A fight is a process. And a process involves a lot of movement, one cannot focus. Focussing means death in a fight. There are no formulae for survival.

However if you learn to use the peripheral mind in fighting. you can take on many opponents who are focussed on your one hand or your one leg. You have 13 weapons, 2 hands, 2 elbows, 2 knees, 2 feet, 2 sides of your hip, 2 shoulders, 1 head. Actually you have more, these are the main ones. But even if these were the only 13, you have infinite combinations to attack your opponent.

If he focusses on one he is at the mercy of the other 12, if he focusses on 10 he’s at the mercy of the other 3, if he focusses on 13 he’s at the mercy of the environment, which could contain your friends.

The only problem therefore is focussing.

So also with targets.

There are 108 points of attack on the body. If you focus on one you miss the other 107.

The only problem is focussing.

That does not mean defocus the central mind. It means allow the peripheral mind, it also means trust the peripheral mind to do its job.

So what do you do with the central mind? Turn it off? turn it down? turn it away? Yes all of these actions constitute zen or ch’an or dhyan.

Experiment until you experience it. Put on those gloves and go at it till the central mind drops.

When you stop taking the fight personally, there will be no person left, only one big process, participate sincerely but not seriously in this process. That is Bushido.

You can do it at Independent Shootfighters Inc with your shorts and sweaty t-shirt, just as easily as in downtown Tokyo, there’s nothing japanesey about Bushido. It is universal.

Remember Zen comes from Dhyan which came from Siddartha Gautama the Buddha who was a Nepalese dude who walked barefoot across India and got ‘it’ finally in Bihar! Phew.

Whoopee!

Ash