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Zen in the Martial Arts


muttley

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I have just started to read this on my Kindle. I must say, it is opening my eyes a bit to some more sides of the martial arts and ideas that will (hopefully) help me to be a better person in the long run.

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Zen is a fascinating concept that Western minds often have trouble wrapping fully around. One of those things lost in translation. Western philosophers have always paralleled this concept of Being differently. We very much want to say that our way is better than this way of Being, which is interesting considering the fact that most followers of Zen will tell you that there are many ways to get to Being and Truth, this is there way and is useful for them and you have your way which is useful for you. When it is useful to use a Western way to get at Being and Truth, a follower of Zen can easily adopt it to explain something or get at what lies underneath the surface of the world. It's fascinating stuff.

Martial arts training is 30% classroom training, 70% solo training.


https://www.instagram.com/nordic_karate/

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Zen is a fascinating concept that Western minds often have trouble wrapping fully around.

This troubles me. Zen is a term stemming from asian philosophy, but I don't think that Zen and Asian are any longer mutually inclusive.

I travel to asia annually, and think from my personal experience, a lot of asia has overtaken the west in seeking material possessions and leaving behind the humbleness of zen.

I now train with more people in Australia who are more concerned with seeking self-betterment and understanding of the universe than most of the people I train with in India, Thailand or Japan.

Simply a personal observation and personal experience.

"We did not inherit this earth from our parents.

We are borrowing it from our children."

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I have just started to read this on my Kindle. I must say, it is opening my eyes a bit to some more sides of the martial arts and ideas that will (hopefully) help me to be a better person in the long run.

This is why there's so much more than just kicks and punches. Sadly interest in martial arts philosophy seems to be fading, but then again, everything is cyclical. Can I recommend anther book in a similar vane. Taisen Deshimaru's 'The Zen Way to The Martial Arts'. I found a useful stepping stone. All the best.

If you believe in an ideal. You don't own it ; it owns you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I own this in book form. It is an excellent read. It was one of my earliest intros into self inquiry. I still enjoy revisiting those stories. Especially after a great night of training. It's one of those books that you can read many times and find different useful things each time you do. As you grow sometimes you may notice the lessons in the stories have new deeper meanings.

Thank you.

A warrior may choose pacifism, all others are condemned to it.


"Under the sky, under the heavens, there is but one family." -Bruce Lee

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  • 2 weeks later...

Several other good books on Zen in the martial arts are Dave Lowry's "Moving Toward Stillness" and "Sword and Brush".

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Definitely a book I want

"Challenge is a Dragon with a Gift in its mouth....Tame the Dragon and the Gift is Yours....." Noela Evans (author)

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