Zen Sports: Martial Arts

[Jundo]

When I got interested in Buddhism it was my background in Japanese MA initially drew me to zen. But I think I quickly realised the link between the two was a bit of a myth. I'm wondering how much longer I'll continue with judo and maybe switching to Qigong/Taichi, I've no real interest in competition, but then my sensei is 84 and still on the mats!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

I like to say that almost any action ... martial arts, flower arranging, tea ceremony, tennis, football, bowling, changing the oil for the car, diaper changing, photocopying ... can be made an art, and Shikantaza, with the right mindset of action in bodymind, free of goals, letting the moment perfectly be that moment, etc. etc.

Yes, the history of the connection between Zen, Samurai and martial arts may be a bit romanticized and misunderstood (below is an article on the topic, and I am now reading a book by the same scholar), but on the other (empty) hand, any martial art can be Shikantaza in motion. I have discussed this many times with my wife, Mina, who is a 4th Dan blackbelt in Aikido. Her Aikido, even though the art of Aikido was not particularly based on Zen teachings overtly, is a form of Zazen in motion for her.

https://apjjf.org/2016/17/Benesch.html

By the way, if it is okay, I am changing the name of the thread to Zen Sports: Martial Arts, as the discussion includes many martial arts.

Gassho, Jundo

STLAH
Sorry to run long

[Ekai]

When I got interested in Buddhism it was my background in Japanese MA initially drew me to zen. But I think I quickly realised the link between the two was a bit of a myth. I'm wondering how much longer I'll continue with judo and maybe switching to Qigong/Taichi, I've no real interest in competition, but then my sensei is 84 and still on the mats!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

I don't compete in Judo either. Too many injuries. I am single mom and need to take care of myself to care of my son. I am in a Korean martial art too but most of my injuries have been from judo. But I still love Judo and all that it teaches. That is great your sensei still teaches at 84!

Also, most martial artists I know are not Buddhists. Even the instructors. So that validates the point of the link between the two are exaggerated. For me however, I discovered the two simultaneously. Now they work together hand in hand.

Gassho,
Ekai

SAT

[Ekai]

By the way, if it is okay, I am changing the name of the thread to Zen Sports: Martial Arts, as the discussion includes many martial arts.

Gassho, Jundo

STLAH
Sorry to run long

Thank you! That is a great idea.

Gassho,
Ekai

SAT

[Heiso]

I like to say that almost any action ... martial arts, flower arranging, tea ceremony, tennis, football, bowling, changing the oil for the car, diaper changing, photocopying ... can be made an art, and Shikantaza, with the right mindset of action in bodymind, free of goals, letting the moment perfectly be that moment, etc. etc.

Yes, the history of the connection between Zen, Samurai and martial arts may be a bit romanticized and misunderstood (below is an article on the topic, and I am now reading a book by the same scholar), but on the other (empty) hand, any martial art can be Shikantaza in motion. I have discussed this many times with my wife, Mina, who is a 4th Dan blackbelt in Aikido. Her Aikido, even though the art of Aikido was not particularly based on Zen teachings overtly, is a form of Zazen in motion for her.

https://apjjf.org/2016/17/Benesch.html

By the way, if it is okay, I am changing the name of the thread to Zen Sports: Martial Arts, as the discussion includes many martial arts.

Gassho, Jundo

STLAH
Sorry to run long

Yes, the practice of martial arts can be a beautiful harmonisation (or dropping away) of body-mind, particularly when working with a partner in randori or sparring. As I mentioned in my previous post, I challenge anyone to not be fully alive and present in the moment as someone (possibly a very good friend) tries to strangle you! My reference to myth was very much in the spirit of that article and how swordmanship, zen and bushido were supposedly intertwined.

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

[Seiga]

I like to say that almost any action ... martial arts, flower arranging, tea ceremony, tennis, football, bowling, changing the oil for the car, diaper changing, photocopying ... can be made an art, and Shikantaza, with the right mindset of action in bodymind, free of goals, letting the moment perfectly be that moment, etc. etc.

Yes, the history of the connection between Zen, Samurai and martial arts may be a bit romanticized and misunderstood (below is an article on the topic, and I am now reading a book by the same scholar), but on the other (empty) hand, any martial art can be Shikantaza in motion. I have discussed this many times with my wife, Mina, who is a 4th Dan blackbelt in Aikido. Her Aikido, even though the art of Aikido was not particularly based on Zen teachings overtly, is a form of Zazen in motion for her.

https://apjjf.org/2016/17/Benesch.html

By the way, if it is okay, I am changing the name of the thread to Zen Sports: Martial Arts, as the discussion includes many martial arts.

Gassho, Jundo

STLAH
Sorry to run long

If anything taught me to live in the moment, it was changing nappies late at night. :-)

Gasshō
Seiga

SatToday

[CS]

Good morning (at least from Alabama) This is my first post here at Treeleaf, and it's nice to find a place where I might find some serious martial arts practitioners who sit zazen!

My two cents:
I've trained in martial arts since I was 9 (it was 1983, so you can figure my age ). I have a 4th degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate-Do, and a black belt in Tang Soo Do and TKD.
As a young man training in Isshinryu (once I reached the "adult" class at about 13 or 14 years of age), we always sat zazen for a few minutes at the end of each class. My sensei gave no instructions other than to "think not thinking" and attain Mushin. Interestingly enough, I heard about mushin - or "no-mind" - in every karate class, so I expected it to be common to all Zen practice, only to discover it was a word seldom, if ever, used by most Zen teachers in America.

So, YES, Zen and the link between Japanese/Okinawan martial arts might be a bit romanticized, but it was also very much a part of my training, and I have a feeling it's the same for most practitioners of the various styles of Karate within Japan. But it's more like the way we pray before every meal here in the Deep South of the US. You do it all the time, but you don't really pay attention to the words, or (in some cases) really care about it. It's just something you "do" as part of your tradition.

Now, interestingly enough, once I began training in Korean martial arts, I actually found it to be more "Zen", if you like. Which might just be the grandmaster that I train under, I don't know, but "mudo" (Korean equivalent of Japanese "budo"), is emphasized more there than in the Japanese/Okinawan traditions I trained under before (including kyokushinkai). I've wondered about this lately, but it could be because the Seon (Zen) form of Buddhism in Korea is essentially the only traditional form of Buddhism practiced in Korea (there are, of course, newer "traditions" such as Won Buddhism, but that's for another thread).

[Gareth]

My main martial art has been boxing. It is not something that I would start now, and it has tormented me a bit, but I have been going to the same club for over 10 years. Before that, I was into other martial arts. With big gloves, and with sparring pausing a little after a clean punch, it is really rare that someone is hurt. Still, and apologies for going over three, it sometimes does not feel like something a Buddhist should do.

Gassho,
Gareth

Sat today, Lah

[ZenKen]

I practiced Shotokan Karate for about 13 years before my dojo closed down a decade ago. I still miss it (clinging, I know, but it's true), and I hope to find a replacement dojo when we move house in the next couple of years. I think I came to zen and MA at about the same time, and we also sat zazen for a few minutes at the end of every session - and also, if we hurt someone during sparring, protocol dictated we immediately sat seiza with our backs to our opponent until they were recovered. I found the state of mind while practising kata to be exactly the same to that of zazen.

Sorry to run long
Gassho
ZenKen/Anna

[Guest]

It’s been a bit of a winding martial arts road for me, and one that ultimately lead to zazen.
I started Yang style tai chi, and Toyama Ryu Batto-jutsu with the same teacher when I was about 19 or 20 (around 2000). I used to visit him regularly and we’d go to the beach near his flat in a Norfolk harbor town (UK) to practice. He also taught me to hitchhike and camp out in strange locations, but that’s another story.
I continued for ten years until starting Aikido in about 2010, when I went to university in North Wales, and trained regularly in the UK and Japan.
Right now there is no dojo of my style of Aikido nearby, but going back to my Batto-jutsu roots I’ve been talking with the instructors at a local Ryu (Tatsumi Ryu) teaching classical kenjutsu and related arts, and, having attended a couple of observation classes I hope to start learning with them from late September.

Sattday

Dan

[Kyonin]

Hi!

This is always a great subject.

I have trained martial arts all my life, since I was 12. I spent 10 years in Karate-Do, 15 in Aikido and currently I train MMA in weekdays and most of the times I get my #$%#$"$#" kicked ��

I go just to learn to use my body, to stay fit and challenged, but never to compete... unless it's sparring class.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Fredrik]

Agree with you 100%.

I practice Kendo and swimming. I have reached an age where I really need to exercise to feel good. But something I've been thinking about lately is how much my breathing has improved since I started working out. This has obviously rubbed off on my practice to. Who could have guessed that one could be so bad at breathing…

Gassho

SatToday
Fredrik

[Seiga]

Does anyone here follow the Kyūdō?

Gasshō
Seiga
satlah

[Washin]

After having some experience of around 7 years in practicing Wudang Taichi, I have
recently focused attention on doing Kiko also known as Japanese Qigong.
There is less moving around in comparison to complex traditional Taichi forms
and one mostly performs while standing and trying to drop the body and mind.
As I heard, Kiko is now practiced in some Zen monasteries in Japan and elsewhere.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch...nel=OneDropZen

Gassho
Washin
sat/lah

[Guest]

Zen Sports: Martial Arts

Washin,
Thank you for sharing this Japanese form of QiGong. I will give it a try. I had learned a Korean form of Qi Gong that Zen Master Seung Sahn had developed called Soen Yu or Zen Wind.

I’ll share my martial arts story here.

I have been practicing Tai Chi for almost 30 years. It is what brought me to Zen. My first Tai Chi teacher is Taoist but kept his Taoist practice for his personal practice. So when I met Daido Loori, my teacher encouraged me to practice Zen as it was more accessible at the time. My second and concurrent Tai Chi teacher is also Taoist/Buddhist and has taught me some Taoist practices as well as a friend of mine who teaches Taoist arts and Tai Chi. (Also Buddhist and studied under Ven. Hsuan Hua and Katagiri Roshi).

I practice the 8 Brocades and 5 Animals Qi Gong as well as the Yang family Taiji Qi Gong. I also practice the Yang 8, 16, 24 and the Cheng~Man Ching 37 form and a rare version of the Yang straight sword form. And I do some TaoYin as well.

My second teacher Zhenkhan Sun is the nephew of the late Sun Jianyun who was the daughter of the great Sun Lutang, the famous martial artist and TaiJi master/Taoist and Confucian scholar. I am honored to be his student and friend. His best friend ( they consider themselves brothers) is the Abbot of the Bodhidharma Temple at Shaolin. I have met him a couple times. He has shown me TaoYin and Bone Marrow washing. He was supposed to be here in April at World Tai Chi day where we were demonstrating, but he got held up in travel and did not make it.

Deep Gassho to all who make their martial arts training part of their Zen practice and visa versa.

Gassho
Daiman


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

Here is the Soen Yu taught by Seung Sahn. In the video it is demonstrated by Zen Master Dae Bong who taught it to us at a retreat. I no longer practice this in favor of the other forms of Qigong practice.

Gassho,
Daiman
ST/LAH