Sacred Swords of Zen Goshin-do Karate

Zen Goshin-do is the style of Karate that we practice at the Broken Bokken Dojo. We love all things Samurai and in Zen Goshin-do there are three swords that represent our soul and practice of the Way.  These three swords are Zazen, Kata and Kumite.

Now, many styles practice these three, however, as usual we take a view that might or might not be classical or traditional. It is just how these three swords have 'spoken' to me over the years. Swords are the soul of the Samurai...and these three swords are our Sacred Swords.

Zazen is the sword that teaches us how to be here and now. It is the practice of seeing directly into our true nature without words and a bunch of b.s. We practice Zazen to practice Zazen...and allow the benefits of calmness, centeredness, self-knowledge and healing to flow.

Kata is the sword that puts zen into motion and teaches us how to be here and now while in the midst of the principles of Karate. In terms of life, it shows us how everyday activity, like brushing teeth, driving to work, making love...are Kata...how we behave. Parts of Karate...and everyday life...have certain ritualistic features that we can pay attention to and reveals our true nature, when we pay attention to what is going on. It helps us develop the skills we need in Karate and to support our life.

Kumite, or Jiyu Kumite, is Free Sparring. It is the sword of action and flow. No pre-arranged structure. Here you must be in the flow of activity with discursive thought in the background. Being here and now is paramount or you get a fist or foot in the face or a bokken across the knucles....heck, even being here and now these things can happen, but at least you are dealing with it directly and not with a bunch of bruha. You keep moving despite comfort or discomfort. It is the flow of life, unstructured, unscripted and at times extremely chaotic...yet you remain unmoved and centered like the bodhisattva, Fudo.

All three swords are intertwined and give us the skills to master the art of karate...and of living. To be an artist of life direct knowledge of yourself is important. Paying attention to our routines, rituals and practices of everyday living allows us to enter into a place of deep mindfulness. This serves us well when we need to flow with life when it is unscripted.

Let's say you have a job interview. Prior to it you have to prepare a resume and cover letter describing who you are and your skills...sort of some self knowledge and introspection needed...prior to meeting a prospective boss you have practiced in your mind questions she might ask...and how you would answer...then there are the unscripted questions you need to be able to respond with fluidity...and the answers come easily because you have prepared yourself and practice in the basics.

I will let you sort out the elements of zazen, kata and kumite in this job interview...mostly cause I gotta get to work.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Celebrate

C.Om posted on facebook a few day ago about celebrating life.  So true. I love this photo of this child. Wow.

I have noticed that at times I have been way too serious about life...playing it safe. I can use the excuse that I have been raising a family (and still am) and that I need to make sure their safety and security is intact. I accept this as the role of Dad...but I am also to show my family how to truly live!

Sometimes, playing it safe is just too dull. I want to make sure my kids now it is okay to laugh, roll in the mud and just have a good time without having to worry about what others think.  Now, I am not advocating anarchy or a total free for all, but a time of pure jubiliation about being alive.  That life is a celebration of just being here...and it goes by in a flash, like lightening in the sky. You gotta live it up.

So...the next time you feel like playing it safe, mostly because you are worried about what the neighbors might think...stop...remember what it was like when you were 8 or 10 or 13. Then smile, fart, and let out a laugh that will make your neighbors think you have gone insane.  Mine already know I am.  I play in the backyard with swords, nunchakus, bokken and at times just do my kata....I must truly look nuts to them.  I also yell a bit...just enough to feel good...and not enough for the cops to show up. (One of neighbors is a bit nuts and calls the cops if you look at her wrong.)

My neighborhood is full of little kids now, with my kids being the older ones.  When I watch them play they play with abandon!  Now that's fun. That's a celebration. 

On a parting note: As Martial Artists we should do our kata as a celebration. A celebration of our art...let it rip!

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

When you finish, die.

My Zen Calendar for May 11th is too good to resist posting. It is by Soko Morinaga.

"When you go to the kitchen to prepare dinner, be born in the kitchen. When you finish there, die. Then be born at the dining table as you eat your dinner and, when you finish eating, die there. Be born in the garden, and sweep with your broom. When you get into bed at night, die there. And when you awaken at daylight, be born anew."

For us Budo-ka, how about, 'when you enter the dojo, be born in the dojo. When you finish, die.'  'When you begin a kata, be born into the kata...when you finish the kata, die.' 

When I do Sanchin Kata, the heavy intense breathwork takes me into the kata...here I am born. When I finish, I die....but also awaken to a new life.

For myself, this is entering deeply into what I am doing with gusto! Leave nothing behind, no trace. Give it your all.  A lesson I need, especially those moments when I find myself resisting parts of my job (like paperwork).  I must be born into it and then die when finished...then be born into the next and so on. Make no separation between you and the activity.

Good advice for all activities.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Sanchin Speaks

Sanchin Kata used to keep me awake at night 'talking' to me. Yes, Sanchin speaks, if you listen. As I mentioned in my last post, Kata can teach us how to be mindful inside and outside of the dojo. It also has a lot of other lessons we can learn. Here are few in a nutshell:

1. Start with a bow and some meditation. This is how most katas begin. Bow in appreciation to all beings, sentient and insentient. Bow often...and start your day with some meditation.

2. Get grounded. In the opening moves of Sanchin the palms of the hands are pressed down to the sides. (see video at end of post). This is a time we use to 'root' ourselves and connect to the earth. During this rooting, the shoulders are also down and relaxed....when the shoulders are high, anxiety is present. In the martial arts, if we notice your shoulders are high we know you are nervous and most likely inhaling...a good time to attack you. If, however, shoulders are down and relaxed, it is best to say hi and be nice. As you go through your day, be aware of your shoulders and breathing. Are you breathing into your hara or your neck? Are your shoulders low or high? Keep them relaxed and low...your breathing will follow...and this helps keep your mind calm, centered and grounded.

3. Don't rush. When I was a young colored belt I had a tendency to rush through my Kata. Sensei Dean was always reminding me to go slower and pay attention to what I was doing. Good advice throughout the day as well...slow down, pay attention and move at a relaxed mindful pace. You would be surprised at how you can still get everything done.

4. Be aware of your feet, move deliberately and be aware. Sanchin is moving Zen. When outside the dojo, do the same. Walk with intent and deliberation...and awareness of your surroundings.

I have included a short video of two versions of Sanchin. I've posted this before, but it is a good review, and for those who don't know the kata, you can watch. Enjoy.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

All is Kata!

Kata, besides being a Karate series of self-defense moves, has a deeper meaning for us to learn. Kata means 'how you behave'. How you behave moment by moment is very important if you wish to feel the bubbling of the universal waters that give us life.

When performing a Karate Kata, paying attention to the details of the moves are paramount. It is an exercise in Zen mindfulness. At the beginning of each Kata performance, the name of the Kata is announced. For instance, if you are doing Sanchin, you say, "Sanchin Kata". If you are doing a weapons Kata like Kusanku Sai, you say, "Kusanku Sai"...and so on. Then you perform the kata.

Karate practice of your Kata does not end when you leave the Dojo. When leaving the Dojo you are practicing 'leaving the dojo kata' and then 'driving home kata'. Everything you do is a kata...it is how you behave...and just like a Kata in the Dojo, you should announce what kata you are doing and then pay attention, mindfully.

When brushing your teeth, announce to yourself, 'brushing teeth kata' and then pay attention to your taking off of the toothpaste cap, squeezing it on your brush, putting it in your mouth, brushing and so on until you move onto your next kata.

Whatever activity you are doing, announce it to yourself as a Kata. Then pay attention with full mindfulness of what you are doing, especially the small habits you do automatically, like throwing trash out, or taking a piss, or getting out of bed. With practice, over time, you will begin to see and feel a change in your life. Subtle at first, but then later you will feel the stream of life...the flow of Tao if you will.

Now to end my "Posting Kata".

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Sanchin Testing

We have had a nice influx of new students at the Broken Bokken, so I am repeating an old post on Sanchin Kata and one of the reasons why we practice it. Again, repetition is the key to mastery in the arts. This is also good for senior students.

Sanchin Kata, or Three Battles Form, is one of Karate's oldest and most revered training forms. It's history is reportedly traced back to the Shaolin Temples and the Qigong of Bodhidharma. Karate styles that practice Sanchin Kata typically have 'testing'. Testing occurs after the student has learned the form and consists of the student being 'hit' by the instructor.

Dependent on your teacher, testing has many lessons to teach us. On a physical level it conditions our bodies to take a punch or kick with less injury. For White Belts the slapping, punching and kicking is performed lightly and increases with intensity over time. By the time a student reaches Black Belt level it appears he or she is being beaten. Even though it looks brutal, it is very practical in terms of self-defense.

The testing of Sanchin Kata is also very important for the testing of the mind and it's ability to recover. People who are unaccustomed to being hit tend to 'freeze'' when hit and go into a panic mode. This type of pain is unfamiliar as they have never encountered it before and fear settles into their heart. At this point, their odds of escape are about zero.

Sanchin testing helps alleviate this fear. You learn how it feels to be punched...and you learn that you are okay. Your mind does not become unsettled. Overtime, the physical and mental recovery time is shorter and shorter. Your body and mind becomes accustomed to the contact and it ceases to be a struggle.

Being able to recover swiftly after receiving a blow is important, especially if you are surprised or blindsided with an attack. Quick recovery allows you to 'forget' about the body, stay calm and focus on your immediate purpose...defend (disrupt purpose) and escape (restore harmony).

One of my favorite stories about the effectiveness of Sanchin comes from a friend of mine, Mike Iott. Mike and I rose through the ranks together and he eventually became an MP (military police) in the Army. He related to me a time he had to arrest a soldier and upon trying to restrain him, the soldier punched Mike very hard. The soldier shouted proudly, "I got you!". Mike responded back, "Yes, you did, but the question you have to ask yourself is, 'Did you hurt me?'" After this the soldier went quietly.

So, even though Sanchin is usually taught as an exercise in physical conditioning, which it is...it is also very important, if not more important, to your mental conditioning. The ability to mentally recover, in essence to regain your calm (the first battle) is more easily won by means of Testing.
Shihan Dean would also, during kumite, never allow us to stop fighting after we got hit. He would scream at us this is not a tournament and not point fighting. Never stop upon getting hit. Let it go and stay on your purpose.

Meditate on this and how it also applies to everyday life.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Seek not...

Over on ZenHG's Dojo Floor blog he had been discussing how complicated we tend to make things and how complicated classifications of jin were. It got me to thinking and during the evening last night I had a bit of insomnia, which you know stimulates a stream of thinking, an old quote came to visit: "Seek not to walk in the shoes of the ancients, seek what they sought."

Are you simply going through the motions of your martial art...or are you, like ZenHG is doing, questioning, examining, tearing apart, rebuilding your artform. Are you making it your own?

There is another old Zen quote: "Don't mistake the finger for the moon". The footprints, or forms, the ancients gave us are just fingers pointing to the moon of truth. Don't mistake the footprints for the truth.

My hope for my Karate students is that they take what I have taught them and question it...tear it apart...burn it down...rebuild it. Heck, I do this on a continuous basis for what I teach. I can drive some of students nuts because I am always playing with form...but this where I am at. I am seeking what the ancients sought...I am not so concerned with their footprints...or forms.

Now this doesn't mean we disrespect their footprints. They give us direction and puts us on our own course of self-discovery and mastery. To try and stay within the form of the ancients will not lead us to the growth and inner freedom that the ancients sought. Transformation requires us to question, doubt, burn down (with respect) and then rebuild our own expression of the martial arts.

Hope this makes some sense...I never know somedays, especially since I have had only one cup of coffee this a.m. I have to go now, because my wife has a 'honey-do' list for me to tackle...and if momma ain't happy, nobody is happy :)

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

Underground Zen Combat: Be Like a Spring

Bruce Lee said we are to be like water...well, he is right....but we should also be like a spring. Not the watery type, but the bed spring type....in fact more like a ball point pen spring.

In my last post I spoke of Fa-jing and short explosive power. Sanchin helps develop this and the best way to describe this type of power is a spring. When coiled it contains tremendous energy just waiting to explode.

When you open Sanchin with a palms pushing towards the ground this is when you establish your 'root' and set your coil of the spring. When you do this properly you should feel the energy swirling in your legs...if you don't, don't worry. With practice and visualizing of this type of energy it will eventually arrive. Just be patient. Remember to grip the ground with your toes, keep your hips forward to eliminate the 's' curve in your lower back and draw your energy in and down your centerline.

Fa-jing is a springy energy and if you think of each joint you have in your body as a ball point pen spring, flexible yet kinetic, you are well on your way of increasing your power. Each joint is a reservoir of energy and a turning point that can explode with power. The toes, ankles, knees, hips, waist, vertebrae, shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers all can be used in a coiled-like spring action.

In a self-defense situation your opponent actually helps you 'set' the springs when he pushes or pulls or strikes at you. His energy coils your springs...like a shock absorber absorbs a bump in the road...and then when his energy has been aborbed you are in perfect position to release the energy.

Sanchin testing helps you to develop this energy as well. That is why you start with soft hits and eventually get hit with harder and harder hits...it develops your ability to absorb like a spring and send the shockways into your joints and if need be into the ground. Just think of all those joints we have that can absorb energy...and give it out.

Sanchin dachi is a perfect stance for developing fa-jing. A good visualization is to just stand in Sanchin Dachi and see in your imagination all of joints as flexible springs....loose, flexible and able to receive any type of pressure. We practice Sanchin with hands open. So, stand for a few moments and feel the energy...and then visualize compressing the springs while doing a reverse breath. Begin with compressing the toes and work your way up the body until you can get your whole body to compress (does this make sense to you?)

After you get good at compressing then do Sanchin Kata. Compress your springs on the inhale and then let the appropriate one let loose...I hope you will able to feel the difference. Fa-jing is loose, relaxed and explosive. It is not muscular power...hell, if it was I would be in trouble. I am a small guy and will lose going toe to toe with someone bigger than me.

Combine this with adapting a ferocious animal mentality and you have a great combination for superior strength. The animal mentality is extremely important and one point on this is that you should remember your opponent is going to have a lot of adrenaline going (or jacked up on crack) and has a high tolerance for pain. You must get your energy to match and exceed his...and do it instantaneously. Only practice will do.

Take Care and hopes this helps with your training,
Shinzen

Zen, Gyoji and Boredom

Gyoji is a term, like many Japanese words, with many meanings. On one level it means daily practice of your art. On a deeper level it means essential activity. So we have a word that tells us we need to practice 'essential activity' daily. What is essential activity? For now, let's say Kata practice is...or even better, Sanchin Kata. Sanchin is an essential activity for a martial artist to practice on a daily basis. Why? To state the obvious, it means you will get better and more skilled in Sanchin and Karate in general.

The struggle most of us have, and I include myself in this, is the struggle to keep our daily practice fresh and brand new. This can be especially difficult with a routine and simple Kata like Sanchin. At first you may be excited about practicing but after awhile it gets boring. The mind begins to think it knows Sanchin and begins to wander from its practice. The same goes for Zen meditation. At first it can seem very exciting, but after awhile...yawn...you begin to ask why do you do this. There is nothing here.

To keep practice alive is the struggle with Gyoji. How do you do this? For myself, I tell myself this is the first time I have ever done Sanchin. In fact, every time I practice Sanchin, it is new. It is never the same. You can never ever really practice the same kata twice. The Sanchin you do on Monday is different from the one you do on Tuesday. They are not the same. You fool yourself if you think they are.

When you get bored it is the mind looking at its own rerun of the Kata...and not seeing the Kata now in it freshness of this moment. Your mind is looking at its memory impressions and judgements about the kata, not the kata now and here. This moment is here now and will never return. This Sanchin is here now and will never return. This is the Zen way of looking at practice and applying Gyoji. Maintaining the proverbial 'Beginner's Mind' is the key and central to our practice of Zen and Karate.

So, when you get bored with a kata or another essential activity, check yourself. You are not seeing the moment fresh as it is. You are seeing your mind's discriminations or what I like to call 'reruns' of the moment's essential activity, not the activity in its freshness and thusness. When this happens, be thankful for the boredom...it is a messenger screaming at you to wake up and be here now with your essential activity. After awhile you begin to appreciate the live show in front of you.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

The Tao of Bazooka Joe

When I was a kid Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum was awesome! Not only did we get a great chewy bubble gum, but we got a comic strip featuring Bazooka Joe printed on the inside of the wrapper. Bazooka Joe was always getting into some kind of mischief and I always looked forward to his antics. After all these years though there is only one joke that I remembered because I thought it to be so hilarious and absurd...and little did I know that it was a great teaching as well.

It goes something like this:

It's dusk. Bazooka Joe is outside on his hands and knees under a street lamp. His buddy comes up to him and asks, "Bazooka Joe, what are you doing?" Bazooka Joe responds, "I am looking for a nickel I dropped."

His buddy then gets on his hands and knees and begins to help Bazooka Joe look for his nickel. After about ten minutes of fruitless looking his buddy asks, "Where exactly did you drop your nickel?" Bazooka Joe says, "I dropped it in the house." His buddy looks at him in astonishment and remarks, "Then why are you looking out here?" Bazooka Joe says, "Because the light is better."

It's a classic.

It is also a great teaching that is contained in all major spiritual traditions, such as Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, etc. This teaching is that our nickel of truth, enlightenment, security and all that we seek is inside our house, not outside it. Look at the human condition today. We all seek a form of security by wanting more money, a nice car, a great relationship, family life, career, etc. We want all of these things...and you know what is interesting? It does not bring the contentment we sought.

Question: Why did you begin training in the Martial Arts?

You were seeking something weren't you? It could have been a sense of security through self-defense expertise, or improved health, or any number of things. When you look at it closely you began training in Budo to get something. I felt that when I got my Black Belt a lot of my inner insecurities would vanish. Well, they didn't! In fact, I still felt pretty much the same. I was stronger and felt more confident with a lot of kick-ass skills, but still that little nagging sense of something missing existed. It's because I hadn't found my nickel yet. I was looking in the wrong spot.

The Martial Arts was the light that I thought would help me find my nickel. I was wrong. There is one thing in the Martial Arts that you eventually wake up to...and that is there is always someone who can ring your bell. You can't defend yourself from everything and everyone. This reality then forces you to look inside your house...inside your spirit/mind/body. And this requires faith. The light isn't as great. At times, you can't see where you are going. You have to trust that you will find your nickel inside...and when the time is right, it will reveal itself. And when it does, boy is it bright!

The light is so bright you see things you've never seen before. It's like seeing or finding a 'hidden' bunkai (application) of a kata you have been practicing for over ten years, but never saw it before. You get so excited you can't sleep. Discover this for yourself. I encourage all martial artists to begin that journey inward. To look inside your house. After all, that is where you dropped your nickel.

Be Well,

Shinzen