Saturday, December 19, 2009

Discipline the Mind


Open your hand right now. How did that happen? Make a fist now...and now point with your index finger...and now make a claw. How do you do this? With intent. Your mind's intent shapes the nature of your hand.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Art of Karate...the Empty Hand...on one level means you have no weapon in your hand....on a deeper level, the Hand open symbolizes Pure Raw Potential of Ku/Kara, or Emptiness. When you have an intention it shapes the open hand into what you need as a Martial Artist.

It can be a club, a fist, a claw, a gripper, a pointer, a flesh tearer, a knife hand and the list goes on. Since Karate-do is a microcosm of life it is important to understand that your life, just like your hand, is shaped by your mind's intentions. In many ways your mind's intent shapes your life into either a life of bliss or living hell. It depends on how you want to shape it!

Just something to think about. Buddha taught basically three things: 1. Do good things. 2. Avoid doing bad things. 3. Discipline the mind.

I have always contended when you take care of number 3 the first two are no longer needed. Just something to think about.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen




photo: Greybolt/flikr

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I can see exactly what you mean about number three being the one that solves the first two!

    I've found that different teachings take us to the one truth. And that the one truth-reality-integrity has different labels, labels which the thinking/conditioned mind finds confusing and even contradictory. Once realized, this one truth is perceivable within all the great spiritual teachings . . the ones I've come across anyway ;-)

    For me, realization of this one truth came about through the process/discipline of meditation as self-observation, which was preceded by and co-joined with years of hatha Yoga practice; so I can definitely relate to another great post Shinzen, thanks.

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  2. Thanks for your kind words and words of wisdom. Yes, one truth, many gates.

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