To learn the martial arts...
First learn it with your hand,
Next learn it with your head,
Then learn it with your heart.
Every student learns the martial arts along this trajectory regardless of style.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu
Are you the person that you want to be? If not, there is still time to turn that around.
At its core, martial arts training is really about change. To uninitiated, it just looks like a bunch of throws, kicks or punches but the martial arts are much deeper than that. The martial arts are the forge which create better people - stronger, faster, or wiser people. We all begin as one person, but by the end we are a totally different people.
It seems corny to say, but we can all be the people that we have always wanted to be. All that is required is that we take that first step. The main ingredient to success is putting in the work.
There is a famous Japanese proverb about perseverance:
ちりもつもれば、やまとなる Chiri mo tsumoreba, yama to naru Even dust piled up over time become mountains.
To get to where we want to go requires that we put in the work. Just start small. We don't always have to start so grandiose with lofty goals or extravagant efforts. As the proverb above states that something as small as a speck of dust can become something totally different. All we have to do to change is start small and let momentum do all the work. Don't think about what you're getting now but rather think about the person that you are becoming.
Satisfied with who you are? Want to change? Want to be better?
If you are not there yet, might I suggest you go to class?
I came across this passage that Furuya Sensei posted to his Daily Message on July 10, 2004 about this idea of Shisei Kan (死生観) or one's perspective on life or death. People often erroneously think that the samurai loved death. It is quite the contrary. The samurai were able to find life in the face of death and that is what separates them from other warriors.
Shisei Kan:
If one is to pursue fame, fortune and power, I do not think Aikido is for you. They are two totally different paths. Even with my humble talents and poor strength, I still aspire to Aikido's ideals, but this is not easy at all. After 47 years, I have learned not to be discouraged although success and such is beyond my grasp. After all, the path to peace and harmony is a quiet and subtle one.
Today people see everything as pleasure and play. With such a mind, you will never understand the inner value of life - life itself will just pass by you like the floating clouds.
What is the great difference of the great warriors of the past and us today? In martial arts, we have forgotten "Shisei Kan" or View of Life and Death.
If we only focus on life, we begin to think that we are gods and are immortal. It we only think of death, we become desperate and lose hope.
Shisei Kan means to value Life by keeping a view of Death before us. It is this view of our own mortality that encourages us to preserve and refine our humanity within Life..
Anything in life worth achieving requires a start. If we keen putting the start off until tomorrow we will never reach our goal. Tomorrow never comes because it is always today.
Yesterday and tomorrow are illusions. The only thing we can know for certain is that "now" is happening right at this moment. We cannot change the past nor can we control the future but we can choose how we live in this moment.
Don't waste today waiting for tomorrow for tomorrow may never come.
What do you say to yourself when you think no one else can hear?
How we talk to ourselves is super important to our successes not only in the dojo but in life too.
At the dojo, our classes are conducted in silence. Students are not supposed to talk during class but if they do talk it should be done in hushed tones. This practice of silence is called mugon (無言) or aesthetic silence. This practice of quietness is in place so that the students can learn to control their minds. Quieting their minds and being able to focus their minds will enable the student to get the most out of their training.
Sometimes, what ends up happening in this silence is that an inner monologue arises. I say monologue because who else are we talking to. It is easy to see this happening because it is written all over their faces as they do the techniques. I assume that in psychotherapy this is called one's inner voice or self talk.
Training is about the mastery of the self. That is why O Sensei advocated Masakatsu Agatsu or "the true victory is the victory over one's self."
What we say to ourselves as we narrate our experience should be positive and productive not negative and judgemental. As in the quote above, "What you tell yourself everyday will either lift you up or tear you down."
The best way to figure out if your self talk is productive or unproductive is to ask yourself, "Would I let anyone else talk to me like that?" Let your answer inform your decision.
There is saying, "Be kind, for every person you meet is fighting a battle." Understanding this, we should give them kindness, compassion and forgiveness and this goes equally true for ourselves. When you talk to yourself, be kind, gentle, compassionate and forgiving. It really does make a difference.
Which superpower would you choose, if you could choose any one power?
You could choose anything like super strength, the power to fly, instant invisibility, quick learning, irresistible charm or anything else.
For most people, the choice usually vacillates between the power to fly and the power to turn invisible. Whichever superpower one ends up choosing ultimately says a lot about who that person is on the inside.
Flight is supposed to be our more altruistic outgoing self while invisibility is supposed to be more introverted and darker.
How is understanding one's choice useful to a martial artist? Our choices inform us about who we are by revealing our true inner nature. With this information we get the opportunity to examine, accept or change ourselves.
When posed this question, I chose the power to be able to speak any language. Hmm, I wonder what that says about me?
This question is a lot of fun and a great topic at parties but it is also a guide for change and the martial arts are all about change. So, which superpower would you choose if you could only choose one?
I was inspired to write this post based on this audio program I found on This American Life about Superpowers.
Art by Herby Santana http://funky23.deviantart.com/art/Batman-V-Superman-Vector-476257164
In the beginning we think we are fighting someone else.
In the middle, we are sure we are fighting someone else.
In the end, we realize we are just fighting ourselves.
"Bravery is not the absence of fear but the forging ahead despite being afraid." - Robert liparulo
Facing each day takes a tremendous amount of courage. No matter who we are, we all must get dressed and meet our day. A hard fact of life is that every person struggles and nobody has it easy. Understanding this, it would be nice if we all could all show each other a little bit more kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
Author Ian Maclaren said it best, "Be kind for every person we meet is fighting a hard battle."
If we could all remember this, the world would be a better place. Have a great day and congratulations on meeting your day with courage.
Graphic source: http://jimmymcwicked.deviantart.com/art/the-hollow-of-the-harbour-wave-201072915?q=gallery:jimmymcwicked/2525386&qo=52
Oni ni kanabo (鬼に金棒) Give an ogre a kanabo. "To make someone strong, stronger."
Within Japanese folklore, a kanabo was the weapon primarily used by an oni which is a demon or ogre. The oni is said to bring bad luck and evil spirits. So, giving a kanabo to an ogre would make the already invincible demon even stronger.
The kanabo was commonly used during Japan's feudal period. It is a club or staff adorned with spikes or knobby-like protrusions on its striking surface. A kanabo is a smashing type weapon that would be used on the front lines of a battle where a samurai might meet up with enemy fortifications that were too strong for swords or spears. It could be used to smash through an opponent's armor, break though their ramparts or simply break the legs of charging horses. It was an effective but slow weapon and thus something typically not used in close quarters combat unless one was very strong.
In the martial arts, we only get better in relation to our partner's improvement. In a sense, we are the kanabo. In training when we give our bodies to our partners so that they can become stronger, we are like giving an ogre a kanabo.
No one has ever gotten good on their own. We all need to work together as a community. It may take village to raise a child but also an entire dojo to develop a student. Please put your efforts into being your partner's kanabo and making them good first. I promise you that it will pay dividends for not only you but the whole school too.
https://youtu.be/G6FDts-erVw There is a Buddhist proverb, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." I can't tell you how many times I have heard this quote and I also can't tell you how many times I have heard it explained (in my opinion) incorrectly. The meaning behind this proverb is that when a student approaches their training with the proper attitude and perspective then everyone and everything can become their teacher and thus they can learn anything.
Learning something new is difficult, but certain programs have found a way to teach even the most difficult concepts. One of those programs is Sesame Street. Kids (and adults) have used Sesame Street to learn English, counting, the alphabet, and life lessons to name just a few. But who knew that you could learn how to learn the martial arts from Sesame Street?
Some how the people at Sesame Street have found a way to boil down to exactly what a student would need to do to be a successful in the martial arts.
Learning Aikido is simple if you follow Mr. Mi-cookies teachings.
Please come to class and listen with your whole body - eyes watch, ears listen, voice quiet and body calm.
Are you ready for the teacher to appear?
The other day after class someone asked me, "Where did you learn that technique?" To which I answered, "I stole it from Sensei." With what was probably a huge grin, I elaborated, "He showed it one time and I stole it."
As a Westerner, I think he was surprised that I would admit to "stealing" something, but in the East this idea of stealing is called nusumi-geiko and thought of as the highest form of learning and that's why I proudly admitted to stealing it from Furuya Sensei.
In the past, the teachings were supposed to be closely guarded secrets that were passed down from generation to generation. Outsiders were always met with a certain amount of suspicion and even more so if they had any amount of talent. Teachers were always afraid that someone might come in and learn their secrets and abscond off with them which might lead to attack or the closing of the school.
To safeguard these teachings, teachers often left crucial and often subtle things out that only a truly dedicated student could figure out with time and diligence. Sensei even once told us a story about a Chinese martial arts teacher who purposefully taught the form backwards to safeguard it. Only after he fully trusted the student would he then reverse the direction.
Teachers of old believed that anyone could learn their arts up to a certain level, but only a truly gifted student could master them. To determine the wheat from the chaff the teacher needed a method to determine the inner character of the student. Hiding the technique was one of those ways. If a student could pick it up on their own i.e. by stealing it, then they were probably someone of merit. It forced the student to not only be diligent but to be resourceful enough to "purposefully" steal the technique from the teacher.
An average student can learn anything, but only a great student can learn everything.
Some days, life just feels like this...
Sometimes no matter what we do, things don't go our way. Furuya Sensei's Zen teacher, Bishop Yamashita once said to him, "Nothing goes the way we think it will." Profound words indeed.
We often trap ourselves with this idea that if we are happier, skinnier, wealthier or more skillful that our lives will some how better. The truth is as the Bishop stated and that by accepting this hard truth we can some how liberate ourselves from this trap.
The truth behind the Bishop's admonishment is that today we must celebrate what is and not wait for what will be.
"Even monkeys fall out of trees" was one of my mom's favorite Japanese proverbs. Things happen, situations change and we grow older. Tomorrow never comes because it is always today.
Mingyur Rinpoche said, "Whatever passes through your mind, don't focus on it and don't try to suppress it. Just observe it as it comes and goes."
Some days feel just like a kick to the face. It happens. Don't hold on to it and just let it go.
Furin Kazan Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain "Be swift like the wind, silent as the forest, devastating as fire and immovable as a mountain."
This saying was a favorite of Takeda Shingen, the famous Japanese general, who allegedly flew these characters on his nobori or battle banners.
This particular saying comes from Sun Tzu's Art of War and has become a favorite for martial artists.
Words to live by!
https://vimeo.com/161511617 There is an old saying, "People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." Here is a great video of a bunch of people who are living their passions.
It is not really my cup of tea, but it was inspiring to see their dedication and determination. Every person looked like they were having a good time. Isn't that all that really matters?
No matter what we find ourselves doing, we should do it like these people.
Are real warriors sensitive?
One might think that people engaged in the military arts would not or could not be sensitive by the shear nature of their business.
I would argue that a warrior or martial artist at their highest is and has to be sensitive.
Sensitivity is commonly, and erroneously, thought of as vulnerability and vulnerability is death. At first glance, this is true, but only to warriors of the lowest levels.
To be a great warrior one needs the ability to be able read their opponents in a split second. This "read" has to be done with the sub-conscious mind because it happens so fast that one only realizes that it is happening when they are already moving. This sub-conscious action requires a master's amount of training. It is so fast and without conscious thought that most begin to call it "intuitive" movement.
To develop this intuitive movement requires that one venture to a place within themselves seldom seen by the outside world but only after the physical art has been mastered. It is the place where we hide all of our secrets and fears which we call our "weaknesses." To be able to defeat a foe greater than ourselves we must venture deep within ourselves and confront these dark places. The most well-known movie scene illustrating this was in the Empire Strikes Back when Luke ventures into the Dark Cave of Evil where he strikes down Vader only to reveal himself which suggests he is his own worst enemy. When we become aware our weaknesses and deal with them then they become the source of our true inner strength.
We then use this sensitivity, which is rooted in the awareness of our own weaknesses, to find the weaknesses in our own opponents. Looking for the weakness in Japanese it is called "Benki no naki dokoro" which means Benkei's weak spot (Musashibo Benki was a legendary warrior in 12th century in Japan).
Can we be strong and sensitive? Sure, true strength is found at the juncture of what we can do physically and where we are mentally. To gain true victory is what O Sensei calls Masakatsu Agatsu or the true victory is the one gained over one's self.
Does a real warrior cry? I would argue that they do, but not for the same reasons that we might think.
Flashback Friday.
Furuya Sensei posted this to his Daily Message on March 4, 2004. I found it inspirational. I hope that others might too. I would like to have a mindset like the hishaku where nothing is special and live my life with the "everyday mind."
Hei-Jo-Shin: Everyday Mind
Calligraphy by Shibayama Zenkei, Zen priest.
This is a very popular phrase in Zen and the Japanese arts and is what is aspired to as the epitome or ideal mental state. "Everyday mind" implies to our modern minds as "nothing special," but in Zen, nothing special means "everything is special." As everything is special, everything becomes equal in value and position and therefore, once again, nothing is special.
In this respect, it is not to pick and choose or take this and that in our lives and make it something what we deem of lesser value or importance, but to take the total whole of our lives, leaving nothing behind, and taking it one more step to a higher level. . . . .
As in the tea ceremony - the ideal is the water ladle called "hishaku" which can be used freely between hot and cold water without discriminating between the two. . . its "universal" state makes it universally important and useful. . . . . this is what is known in Zen as "freedom."
In Zen, discrimination is not particularly wrong or condemned, it is only in our discriminating mind that we are so restricted and limited as we swing back and forth from one side of the scale to the other. . . . .
Onkochishin - to learn from the past. What does it mean to learn from the past? We read books or attend lectures about famous people and their histories, but sometimes that doesn't sink in deep enough to create any meaningful change. Onkochishin is to learn from not only from the history of others, but from our own history too. It is said that experience is the best teacher and I agree, but one needs to be "smart" enough to learn from not only the victories but the blunders too. For the most part, there is no such thing as good or bad or right or wrong - the only thing that matter is if one learns something from one's experiences. Learning by direct experience is the way to become successful. Furuya Sensei once said, "Success is built on many failures" and the Dalai Lama supposedly said, "When you lose, don't lose the lesson" so one can see that the path to victory is in learning from the past.
The iris plant or shoubu (菖蒲) is a popular motif in Japanese art. The word for iris is shoubu but when the same word is written with different kanji it can mean victory (勝負) or militarism or martial spirit (尚武). The Japanese like this kind of play on words called goro awase.
This tsuba above was created by Choshu Hagi no ju Inoue Michitaka saku 長州萩住井上通高作 in the mid 18th century.
The iris plant known in Japan as kakitsubata is supposed to represent strength and health and is said to ward off evil spirits so it was a often used motif in samurai accouterments like tsubas and armor. Kakitsubata is also a name of a famous Noh play based on a passage from the Tale of Ise. The plant itself is a nice symbol with a lot of hidden meaning other than the clever word-play.
From the photo of an ikebana arrangement, we can see that the leaves stand up and are long, straight and pointed which look like swords. Within one plant it looks like many swords standing up, but with many rows of plants (see painting above) it looks like an army staging before a big battle hence this idea of militarism. Another nice symbolism is that the flower or true inner beauty only comes out once the leaves have grown tall which gives us this idea that growth and experience can bring out one's true inner beauty.
Want to get better at something? All you need is 20-seconds.
In order to get what we want, we need to create change. Ostensibly we think that change requires willpower. Willpower is necessary, but according to author Shawn Achor, "Willpower is a finite resource and can’t be relied on." In his book The Happiness Advantage, he discusses the 20-second rule, "I like to refer to this as the 20-Second Rule, because lowering the barrier to change by just 20 seconds was all it took to help me form a new life habit. In truth, it often takes more than 20 seconds to make a difference-and sometimes it can take much less-but the strategy itself is universally applicable: Lower the activation energy for habits you want to adopt, and raise it for habits you want to avoid. The more we can lower or even eliminate the activation energy for our desired actions, the more we enhance our ability to jump-start positive change."
What he is talking about is being deliberate in order to create a habit. Understanding that change is a function of motivation, willpower and action, we can use the 20-second rule to create deliberate action in order to become better martial artists.
Momentum is the mother of change. The 20-second rule is just a way of using this idea of "low activation" to kick start momentum. In order to use it, just add a small deliberate step in the beginning to activate you. Then once you've started it is easier to keep going and thus success is easier to achieve.
I use the 20-second rule all the time. When I get off work, the last thing I want to do is go to Yoga class. So I trick myself by saying, "I will just drive by and if there is a parking spot, I will stop." When I get there, regardless if there is a spot or not, I think, "Well I am here" and end up just going in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0D_pug7RJw Do you have kioi ( 気負い) or fighting spirit?
A warrior has fighting spirit. Fighting spirit is not something physical or external. To have fighting spirit is to have a mindset where anything is achievable regardless of the odds or obstacles.
Check out Josh Womack's bat skills. Anyone can do these insane tricks, but sadly most won't. The average person looks at something seemingly insurmountable and silently says to themselves, "I can't do that." They are partially correct. They can't "do" that right now, but with time and effort they could. I believe that everything in this world can be accomplished. I am not naive, I am a martial artist. I firmly believe that if it can be done by someone then I can do it too. Most martial artists see the world the same way. This is what it means to have fighting spirit.
As a warrior, we are never supposed to look at the obstacles and think, "I'm done" or "I'm gonna lose." As a martial artist we are supposed to have konjo or the willpower to see things through to the end. We are supposed to use our superior attitude and mindset and find way so that we can be successful.
Because of this "can do" mindset, the only thing holding us back then is our beliefs. Can you or will you? Can implies ability or skillfulness - so yes anyone can acquire a skill. Will suggests attitude, drive or determination - so yes, but one has to have the right mindset.
I believe that with time, effort and hard work that everything and anything can be achieved. I am not being braggadocious when I think this way - its just the way I think when it comes to achieving something. It is something deep seated in me that makes me think that if I put in the time and set my mind to it that I will eventually be successful. I'm not trying to be better than anyone else, I am just trying to be the best that I can be.
A true martial artists is someone who is imbued this indomitable spirit or fighting spirit where if they put their minds and efforts to something then it will become so. Do you have fighting spirit?