Karate Do Shotokai, Budo & Traditional Martial Arts

[iakoEnglish]

Hello,

To put it another way, closing the eyes (“…own inner demons, your own consciousness. Battle that. Change yourself. Become a better person for it”, “I accept that battle…”), we hoped to see (“Then, you will see the illusion of the fight”)
.
it seems somewhat strange?

In other words, paraphrasing the old saying: "We want to eliminate the blood spot washing it with blood"

it seems somewhat strange?


Greetings,

[iakoEnglish]

Hello,

I remember now another famous saying: "Like a sword that cuts but it can't it self"

One against one same one... your against your... it's possible?
Your inner demons, aren't your?

You do not find something rare in all this?


Greetings,

[evgenad]

you will see the adequacy of his kind of reasoning in the case of an addicted or compulsive frame of mind, where its freedom gets contniously ambushed by, for instance, extreme pleasure-seeking, dependancy, attachment, duality of gain and loss, etc.

[Miguel]

[IakoEnglish]

Hello,

A good explanation, but I do not find the mentioned paradoxes previously strange. I have exposed to show them the other side... to show the contradiction to maintain a vision single: There is battle in Budo.

By your answer I deduce that your do not find anything rare in the paradoxes.

Since I have said repeatedly: "there is battle in Budo" and also: "there isn’t battle in Budo". And this "also" it means that no face of the currency is more important that another one. Then... why my emphasis in "there isn’t battle in Budo?

Therefore two questions must of being solved for a correct understanding:

why I put the emphasis in "there isn’t battle in Budo"?

why your you put the emphasis in “there is battle in Budo”?

greetings

[IakoEnglish]

Hello,

A small note goes destined to focus because of my emphasis in there isn’t battle:

My goddaughter of a year of age needs to learn that there is battle.

Adult we needed them to learn that there isn’t battle.



Greetings,

[Miguel]

Ah, OK I see your point.
Perhaps it was just a matter of misinterpreting the particular expression you used.

You have made your premise very clear.

And, I agree with it!

Regards,

Miguel

[IakoEnglish]

Hello,

Well, we agree. We are advancing in our communication. Ok.
However, why put you the emphasis in “there is battle in Budo”?

Most of your interventions in the forum you stress "there is battle" and I do not understand it, because "there is battle" is so common that it is already a topic in the culture of Kdo. and you will agree with me that with topics is not surprised the mind.

Therefore, I would like that you explained because you put the emphasis in "there is battle"

Thanks

[Miguel]

Iako,
I will attempt to elaborate as soon as I can.

Miguel

[Miguel]

Iako:

It appears to me that I have addressed my emphasis on battle as being a part of Budo. Nonetheless, I see your point and will attempt to elaborate further.

Bu is a term that has always been associated with the Warrior. Bo-do, Bu-gei, Bu-ke, Bu-geisha, Budoka-- all terms utilizing the term, all terms regarding a Warrior, or the association or arts of the Warrior.

The term implies battle, at both an exoteric and esoteric level; much more so the latter in modern Bu-do. What we do in Budo is done in terms of battle, and always has been. Yet, the term battle is largely associated with the common perception of the term, meaning physical conflict with others, on an individual level, or at a large scale level.

Budo must move beyond that mundane level of interpretation. The manner of doing this is to continue to focust the aspect of Bu toward the enemy. However, that focus is re-directed toward the enemy that really exists, one's self, one's conventions, one's limitations, one's conditioning. But it is a battle, and a long-term battle, nonetheless.

The Budoka continually defeats his enemy, only to find that more await him or her. Our limitations are great, our reality is defined by them. Budo, Zen, or other esoetric disciplines aim at the heart of that enemy. It's a big one, requiring a long term commitment and continual effort to eradicate.

That being said, it should also be pointed out that at its most homorable levels, the Warrior of old aimed at restoring peace and harmony, at quelling insurrection, etc. Thus it is with the modern Budoka. He or she aims to defeat and supress his or her enemy, through battle, in order to restore the peace.

That peace is within. That peace is the uncovering of the true nature of the being, a harmony with nature, a harmony with the spirit. And strangely, paradoxically, the Budoka attains to a level of peace through his battle, and aims at that which can be called "no-battle".

Thus, one could certainly say that Budo is the battle of no-battle.

My emphasis on battle is because still, after 30-some years I do this battle to a degree. And indeed, rare are those who have been able to wipe away all their "demons". Still, there are enemies, subtle, insidious little enemies, that surface and attempt to undermine the peace. I slay them one by one. I still do battle.

Nonetheless, the point is to restore the peace--the peace that is inherently your own

I do not think I can say more on the subject, because understanding at the level that Budo seeks to attain is, after all, wordless.

Regards,

Miguel

[IakoEs]

Hello,

Ok, I understand and I share your point of view. Single to comment the use of the word "still" in the paragraph:

“My emphasis on battle is because still, after 30-some years I still do this battle to a degree. And indeed, rare are those who have been able to wipe away all their "demons". Still, there are enemies, subtle, insidious little enemies, that surface and attempt to undermine the peace. I slay them one by one. I still do battle. “

Three times you use it... as the Pedro apostle...

It’s not equal but either different "... still I’m not Champion "
it’s not equal but either different "... still I’m aggressive "
it’s not equal but either different "... still I can better be "

In the shop window of the best and subtler stores “there are enemies, subtle, insidious little enemies”, and in its label it does not appear the price but the following legend: “surface and attempt to undermine the peace”.

Greetings

[Miguel]

Iako:

I see that you are taken with my three-fold use of the word "still".
However, I should state that it's not really a usage that corresponds to "the Pedro Apostle's" three-fold denial of his Master.

I am not denying. I am affirming the nature of today's battle, and how the Budoka defends against his or her enemies based upon that particular enemy and the nature of its assault.

I am not a champion. I am also not agressive. Neither thing is a part of Budo. However, I can indeed be better!

I believe I understand your shop window reference. And, I agree completely with your illustration. I will however add that the same may be found in the newspapers, on your TV and radio, and even in conversations with your fellow men, who are influenced by all they see and hear and accept it as constituting "reality".

Our battle is with this constant assault, and assault that comes from these societal sources, and also from our acceptance of them as "the way things are".

In his essay "Who Will Give His Life For the Do", Heyden Sensei says:

"The art of Karate-Do as Master Egami presents it, is for human development, but a development strongly based on the Eastern view that searches for an awakening of human spirituality, giving him/her the tools to confront the overwhelming advance of an insensitive and materialistic society."

In another of Sensei's papers, "Karate-Do: Hit or Be Hit?", he elaborates thus:

"I am convinced that physical aggression is the least important attack that an individual is exposed to today.
"In my opinion the most adequate self-defense is the one that best prepares the participant to defend himself from surrounding aggressions. In our present society we are subject to permenent aggression, in much subtler ways than an armed individual. I think the main aggression today is of a psychological nature and can be observed in many different ways.

(Some of which I've described above).

"What really makes it a severe problem is that the agression normally appears camouflaged and adorned in a very attractive fashion. We are permanently manipulated by propaganda, the publicity, little by little modern men and women lose their identity. They live confused within a manipulated mass, ordered to work, ordered to consume and not only told to consume, also what to consume and even how to think. Each passing day our modern society lives more and more directionless, without really knowing why and for what reason it exists. This has created a valueless society where the only valid measuring tool is its market value."

This points to the enemy, and the nature of the battle that a Budoka faces. This points to what I speak of. If one actually perceives this enemy, and looks into it deeply, one will realize that not only is Heyden Sensei absolutely correct, but that the battle is much more lengthy and intense than any peripheral combat such as that which is commonly associated with modern interpretations of karate and Budo arts as a whole.

These essays are available on this site, of course. I think it essential for anyone wishing to pursue modern Budo as a way of life to read them.

Given the nature of today's enemy, and its continual assault, I think it only natural that I still do battle.

Kindest regards,

Miguel

[Silent Wind Stalker]

I was fortunate enough to receive the teachings of a Master. Master Nestor Ylagan. He has 10th Dan in Hapkido, Arnis, and Okinawan Kara-te. I also par-take in competing in sport kara-te, but that's a different subject. So "The Way of the Empty Hand" is something that i really dig. Styles are styles. It's nothing more than a name. The true essence of Kara-te is in the training. Intensivie serious training is what brings out the spirit of the thing itself. A lot of people get the mis-conceptiong about kara-te. It's not even about fighting. It's about the fighting spirit. The urge to continue when the body is giving up. It's deep.

I hate getting into debates about which system is better than what. Because technically, depending on how you train is what determines the outcome of the battle. So i'm not here to pitch a sale about "sport karate" or traditional kara-te. I understand the concepts of Arnis, Okinawan kara-te, different types of weapons, boxing, and Hapkido. Soon, i'll be delving into Tae Kwon Do. But none of that matters. It's all about "The Way"

I can't get enough of this martial arts. I just wish that in my younger years i studied and trained harder than i did. I was in good shape, but i didn't understand the spirit until i was in my early twenties. Although, i still need to test for my black belt. Inside i am a black belt.
I just need to receive the actual belt.

But my point is, whatever system you do. The Way is in the training. The harder you train, they more you'll see. The more your brain will be open. The only time when i'm completely at peace is when i've catched my third wind. Sweat pouring down my face, breathing heavy, tired. Can't even keep my hands up. The pain, the burn. But that's the way

We're very special, my martial arts brothers and sisters. We do things that normal people can't or won't do.

Silent Wind Stalker

[Miguel]

[evgenad]

Karate-Do is a feeling behind the technique. The techniques are the fighting fundamentals. They recreate an essential quality for the practitioner: Art. Art is basically a technique, yet the point is feeling the emotion. This is the transcendental component of this combative physical action. Budo is what I am trying to reach with my technique. Budo is in front of my fighting joy.

[Miguel]

[evgenad]

Karate-do could be way to let your instincts have a free path.
Karate-do could be that passage in the book of life to which we ever return and re-read with joy.

Osu.
Shigeru

[Miguel]

[evgenad]

Karate-do is in inner feeling about it. Preserved and practiced by its way and meditations. When I go into karate-do, the self is accepting these simple patterns, their energy, and this strives to discover the ever-renewing truth. Strikes, blocks, kicks, connectet by the step of detemination - oitsuki. It says: go and find your balance.

Karate-do is simplicity, it is inner feeling. Without any undue complications about the state of combat. As a guiding light we take the road of physical stress to reform and return to the most pure rebirth of humanity.

If you practice you keep the fire of concentration alive. Through these patterns you burn like a cosmic star. Emitting the rays of techniques into an open space.

Karate-do is adherence to what we were taught about budo and to what we discover by ouselves. Fundamental karate of zen expresses a disregard for the foolish ways of the mundane world of social complications.

Karate-do training is an apparent madness of the budo warrior. He who is like a fighter in the wind, a man practicing in all seasons, happily alone with his karate, decided in the mind of bu-do-shin.

_acvd---

[Miguel]

I like that, A...