Martial arts training builds inner strength and character. Each day, we come to class and train and most of the time we don’t see or feel any changes at all but lurking deep down we are forging our inner spirits. It takes fortitude to stay when we want to quit and it takes courage to keep going when we are tired or injured. With every act of perseverance, we are cultivating our inner strength which is the true benefit of budo training. My favorite scene in the Avengers: End Game movie is when Captain America stands seemingly alone against Thanos and his entire army of galactic villains. At one point during the battle, the rest of the superheroes have all been defeated and Captain America finds himself all alone to fight the universe’s mightiest villain. Captain America is beaten handedly and his previously indestructible shield is badly damaged. After knocking Captain America down, Thanos monologues about how he plans to destroy the earth and how he will take meticulous pleasure in doing so. Breathing heavily and bloodied, Captain America wills his broken body to stand and he takes one last fighting stance. As he steels himself, he tightens down his broken shield for one last act to save the earth. In order to stand alone against an entire army like Captain America, we need to have a tremendous amount of inner strength which is almost spiritual in nature. Furuya Sensei described martial arts training as a “spiritual practice” where there is no tangible reward and described it as building up “spiritual capital.” He said, “In Aikido, as we begin to think of it as a part of our ‘spiritual training,’ we do not think, ‘How do I protect me,’ we think ‘I am saving the life of others.’” More than just building up our bodies or making us into killers, the training in the martial arts is supposed to be seishinshuyo (精神修養) or to “cultivate one’s soul.” Our souls or our inner character is what we can draw upon to will our beaten bodies to stand one last time. Most of us may never stand against an army, but there will be times when it sure feels like it. In those moments, we have to have “heart” and that inner strength is what training in the martial arts is all about.
Today’s goal: You can make anything a spiritual practice. The easiest way is to make it about others. Sensei said, “Just do three good deeds every day.”