Thursday Reflections: Understand the harm and benefit in everything.
Posted on | March 5, 2009
All around us there are many things going on all at once. It’s impossible for us to keep track of everything that surrounds us. Sometimes while we’re focused on one thing, we miss the whole picture. And other times we simply stumble into the middle of something already on going. Confused yet? Good.
What I’m talking about is the circumstances that come up every day. Most of us interact with other people for quite a large sum of each of our work days. When we’re off, or rather on the weekends, we interact with others outside of work. All this interaction creates possibilities. And a portion of the possibilities aren’t very good.
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Thursday Reflections: Know the principles of the crafts.
Posted on | February 26, 2009
“Know the principles of the crafts“, is very vast and unspecific, but there are a couple of ways I look at this. It may be different than how you perceive it, which is fine, because who is to say who is right and who is wrong?
There are principles behind every craft, no matter whether that craft is a martial craft or not. Think of artists, whether you they draw, paint, or make things out of wood, there are many principles behind each and usually they vary. One of the things they all have in common though is that they are all creating something new through the use of their hands. Their hands may be using other tools, but aren’t their hands really the tools themselves?
Depending on your point of reference, you could say warriors, of any kind, are the creators of death and chaos. They’re destined to shed others blood from their weapon of choice in their hands. Yet, maybe you might say they’re saints, those that enter the battlefield simply to protect their family no matter what. Even in the face of death, they give it all they got and then some. Dying and killing merely become concepts of little importance in comparison of whatever they fight for.
Miyamoto Musashi on the back of a whale!
It’s the same in every art. I can draw death, I can draw life. Which is “right” and which is “wrong“, is based on your perspective, not on fact. No matter how different these arts may be, they all have a large amount in common when it comes right down to it. Personally, I tend to believe Miyamoto deeply understood this. Considering he was very fond of working with wood to create Buddha’s, I can only believe that the art he chose, and all others, provide wisdom in the form of different outlooks on any circumstance. It’s almost like putting a puzzle together. Each outlook, or different point of reference, you have the more you can piece together a clear picture of any circumstance. You may never have the full picture, from having gathered every piece, but just like a puzzle once you get so far along you can simply estimate to the best of your knowledge based on the facts(pieces) you’ve been given.
Thursday Reflections: Become acquainted with the arts
Posted on | February 19, 2009
Often, people become accustomed to their own art and if they were to try adapting to another style or art, they would have quite a hard time in doing so. I happen to also be in the group, that has this problem. There is a tendency to read Miyamoto’s third rule, “Become acquainted with the arts”, and take it as “we should become acquainted with our art”. There is a vast difference between becoming acquainted with our art and the arts. Miyamoto was not only speaking of Martial Arts, it was believed that he was also referring to the fine arts and the works of various artisans.
There will always be more to learn from every art no matter how long you practice it. Sure, you may become a so called master in your particular art, but what does that really mean? Well, if you believe you’re a master of your art, first off you probably have quite an ego drive, but more importantly you should realize that you’re only a master of your art. Being great at one art has very little to say about how good you are at another. In fact, you may be able to beat others that use another art, but does that mean you can do what they do? Not at all. I may know how to fight, but I won’t ever tell you I can break dance, or more realistically, practice Capoeira.
I wouldn’t dare attempt to perform the moves found in Capoeira, because I’d simply make a fool of myself. To be honest, I’m a very “grounded” person. That’s not to say I can’t perform jump kicks and the such, but I just prefer to keep my feet on the ground where they belong( 
). So, lets say you have the ability to defeat someone who practices Capoeira, does that then invalidate the usefulness of Capoeira? I don’t believe so. I believe each style has it’s purposes. Do you have any clue at how coordinated you have to be to be able to perform some of the moves they do? Eventually you develop a stability and control over your body that can easily be seen.
I’m not saying you should suddenly drop your art and go study Capoeira because you haven’t ever studied it before, but I’m also not going to tell you it’s a bad idea, because it’s not. Just realize that no matter how much you practice your art, if you simply fight with only your art, you’re going to only be a master of that art and not a master of Martial Arts in general. It’s been suggested that you should study your enemy, if only to learn how he moves, but I also suggest taking what is worthy of being used from his arsenal and putting it into yours. Just imagine, what if you took all the best features out of every art and put them into one, what would you have? Just something to think about.
My instructor recently said to me, “Who else have you been training with? You’re using a totally different style compared to last time and I know you didn’t learn it from me, nor is it a form of Aikido.” My reply was quite simple and to the point, “What does it matter what style I am using?” Of course, his answer wasn’t what I expected, “Ah, I see. So you finally figured that out?”, followed by a smirk. This conversation was during a sparring session, considering we often talk, or rather discuss, things while we’re sparring. The more I study and practice, the more I realize none of it matters, your style or art, because the more loyal you are to one particular thing the more you lose from the others.
If you apply the rule, that we just used for Martial Arts, to everything else such as other arts or crafts, it can really expand the scope of your view on everything. Whether I get a chance to practice every art(in every sense), I still love learning about them. The mind is a powerful thing and cultivating it is a huge part of walking the path of Martial Arts and Zen(We’ll talk about Zen another time). In fact, Capoeira kind of kills two birds with one stone. Capoeira is an art that will also increase one’s overall control of their body.
Tags: acquainted > art > arts > experience > miyamoto > musashi > style > tr
Thursday Reflections: Practice and cultivate the science
Posted on | February 12, 2009
Miyamoto’s second rule(at least, as the way it was listed) is to practice and cultivate the science. It’s apparent that we all need to practice our Martial Arts in order to attain a higher understanding of them, but I don’t believe that’s the only thing Miyamoto was talking about. I believe he was also referring to practicing with others, as in expanding and sharing the art, especially because of the way he says “practice and cultivate the science”.
Had Miyamoto just said something similar to “practice the science”, then I wouldn’t have thought much more about it. Now, I know that cultivate means even more than that, which I believe is something else he is trying to express as well. To cultivate a Martial Art, we must not simply follow along or practice meaninglessly, we must surge forward to surpass it. I don’t believe any art, whether it is a Martial Art or not, is complete or that no expansion can ever be made on it. However, for us to be able to cultivate an art, I believe there are three minimum requirements that must be met:
- Practice the Art
- Expand the Art
- Share the Art
Obviously we must practice the art to move forward in our endeavors. After that, we must expand the art by adding to it, or rather, tweaking it. I don’t mean to say that you must add new moves, or remove things from the art, all I mean is that you might do some things a bit differently. For instance, each person teaches differently. Expanding an art also includes creating better representations or explanations as to how and why it works the way it does. Lastly, to cultivate or enrich an art, it must be shared otherwise it’s benefits are all for nothing and never reaches its full potential.
One of the biggest things I’ve been trying to work on is remembering to share. Too often I’ve had conversations with someone and we’ve talked about Martial Arts and I’ve talked about what I study and what I do, but I never really share with them. Lately, I’ve been trying to be more forward in explaining what it is that I practice and why, because I notice that the times I do, it shares a part of my knowledge with them since we end up going into long winded discussion sessions.
Tags: cultivate > miyamoto > musashi > practice > science > sword > tr
Thursday Reflections: Think of what is right and true
Posted on | February 5, 2009
In my Monday article, I went over a bit about the rules that Miyamoto Musashi laid out for those who wish to study his art. I decided that because of each rules profound significance, each is worthy of it’s own article, so I’ll be starting up a new weekly “tradition”: Thursday Reflections. Of course, the first series will be about Miyamoto’s rules. However, after that I will vary in writing articles based on reflections of past warriors. Sun Tzu will obviously be included at some point, as well as Yagyu Munenori.
I’ve decided for the sake of simplicity that I’m going to cover Miyamoto’s rules in order of how they were listed in my book, which is the way I outlined in my previous article. The first rule is: “Think of what is right and true.” This rule can obviously be perceived in many various ways. One of the first ways that comes to mind is to think of being a good person. Most everyone has views of how these ancient warriors were knights in shining armor, so to speak, and were pure people. I believe that to be a very important part of this message. I do believe he is presenting that “Do unto others how you would have them do unto you” approach but I don’t believe it stops there. I believe there is a more blatant but often missed message there which becomes quite apparent when you really think about it.
Picture of Miyamoto Musashi getting his fortune told.
To me the message speaks something I’ve always tried to focus on in my Martial Arts progression. Let me rephrase his words a bit to see if I can shed a bit of light in a simplistic way: “Think of what is right and true, in martial arts” or “Think of what works.” The moment I read his words I took it the way I would if I had wrote them myself, just the way Miyamoto portrays that he wants us to do. That which is right and true is that which works. It can’t be claimed that something that doesn’t work is right nor true. In today’s world it is even more popular than ever that people are being falsely taught things that don’t work. The biggest problem isn’t the teachers that are teaching these false methods, it’s the students who don’t question their teachers. I believe part of what Miyamoto was trying to get across with those words was to fix yourself on making sure you learn what works. Just because someone presents material to you, in any shape or form, doesn’t mean it is right, no matter who they are or what kind of credentials they have. Miyamoto was a master less Samurai, yet he learned from many over his time because he never put his full trust in what others said. Those that gave him sound advice were still questioned. I think too many of us automatically assume that because we may not know about a subject, that automatically we should believe those who may know more than us.
I can securely say that everything that everyone tells me, I test. It’s something I’ve always been good at ever since I was a kid. Someone would tell me something and I’d simply say I didn’t believe them. They’d attempt to convince me but if my mind was already set on the fact that what they were telling me possibly wasn’t true, I’d only believe them if they proved it to me. Now, don’t misunderstand, I didn’t do that about everything but only about the things where I believed they were wrong based on previous experience and common sense. It wasn’t that I was calling them a liar, it’s just that I believed in order for me to believe them I needed proof. The same way I use to look at things back then is how I still look at them now. Every word, sentence, phrase, etc that someone tells me, I take as opinion unless proven otherwise. Based on the opinions I accumulate over time along with my own investigation, I eventually conclude on my own personal opinion on the situation. That doesn’t mean my opinion won’t change or be influenced by future experiences or opinions, it just means I don’t take things as facts because someone says so.
On the Martial Arts side of things, I listen and learn from others but expect them to understand that is merely all I am doing. If you happen to show me a move or a technique, you can guarantee that I’ll expect you to at some point later on indulge in using it on me or someone else in a more realistic way which may be sparring or even me just attempting to resist. You can also count on the fact that I’ll be attempting it later on as well, because if it has the inability to be replicable easily in a real situation then it is not right or true in the truest sense.
Please, when you read my words, take them to heart how ever you would if you had written them yourself and then question all that I have to say. My words are no more trustworthy than anyone else’s, and because of that, there are even times that I’ve gone back to read over things that I wrote or said many years ago and question it. Form your own truth and rely on no one else’s knowledge to make up for your own. If you do not know about something, then learn, but do not just “believe”. Most importantly, remember to reflect not only on others words but also your own.
Tags: miyamoto > musashi > reflection > right > rules > tf > true > work
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