My Religion and Martial Arts

[PrayingMantis]

I was wondering if my religion was buddhism could i still do Martial Arts or not?

[alsey]

many martial arts (pretty much all the chinese and japanese ones) come from buddhist cultures of some form or another.

i'm not actually a buddhist, but my beliefs are very similar to those of buddhism. i think you will find that martial arts work very well with a buddhist philosophy, and your practice in each will help the other.

you might want to read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin

it sums up a lot of what i want to say in a better way than i can put it. basically, in the samurai arts, they had a concept called heijoshin. this is a state of mind which the samurai tries to cultivate, and it is essentially the same as the state of mind the buddhist tries to cultivate.

i will say though, that asking permission from an internet forum won't necessarily give you what you really want to know. my understanding of buddhism is that there is no list of things which are forbidden; its up to you to decide what is the right thing to do.

[krunchyfrogg]

Wouldn't this be a question for your religious leaders, not some martial artists?

[Shui Tora]

Think of it this way; if the monks in the templs of Japan and Chinese were Buddhists... Then how come they managed to be Warrior Monks (like the Shaolin Temple?)

So; yeah, you could be a MA if you were a Buddhist, as long as you vowed that you would only use MA in self-defence and not in vain.

Like Alsey said; Most styles come from cultures with Buddhist background...

[Jiffy]

As Shuri Tora beat me to saying, it depends on WHAT you are using it for. If you are doing it for the love of MA, I don't see how that could be a problem. If you were doing it for money or to get into fights, that's different.

What have your religious leaders said?

[bushido_man96]

Your spiritual beliefs should really not be too much of a concern, unless you get into a dojo that has its own sprititual beliefs that would conflict.

[ShotokanTre]

Your spiritual beliefs should really not be too much of a concern, unless you get into a dojo that has its own sprititual beliefs that would conflict.

well said

there are a few speciffically christian dojos, so I would avoid them.

However, here is the answer: Its okay. I'm a Buddhist and I practice Martial Arts and became a Buddhist at an in between training point.

[ShotokanTre]

Your spiritual beliefs should really not be too much of a concern, unless you get into a dojo that has its own sprititual beliefs that would conflict.

well said

there are a few speciffically christian dojos, so I would avoid them.

However, here is the answer: Its okay. I'm a Buddhist and I practice Martial Arts and became a Buddhist at an in between training point.

I am still a white belt. I don't test untill next month.

[setboy]

I was wondering if my religion was buddhism could i still do Martial Arts or not?

yes you can

I have work with a sensei that is buddhism monk

[Empty_Hand]

Ones religious system, political affiliation or romantic partner choices should in NO way hinder a choice to take up the path of the "budo". I was so relieved that the dojo where I train is about one thing only....teaching Karate-Do. The day this deviates it will be...."time for me to leave". This is an important issue for me personally, one of the cool things in my experience is I am a karateka, and I expect nothing from my sensai but instruction in KarateDo.