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Here and Now...
Each form of martial arts adapted these basic teachings
to support their own philosophies. While Kung Fu and Ninjutsu spring from
the same well, they have developed very different paths, or teachings. We
will be looking into the specific philosophies of each discipline.
Buddha was a great teacher who founded the religion called Buddhism. Buddha lived in India 2,500 years ago. His name was originally Siddhartha Gotama (or Gautama). By this name he was known until he was 29 years old. Then he took the title of "Buddha," meaning "the enlightened one." A Buddha is a sort of prophet. Followers of Buddhism believe such Buddha's are born every few generations, to keep the faith of the people alive. Gotama, the Buddha, taught people the meaning of reverence, the love of truth, and the evils of superstition. His followers today number 450 million people, scattered over India, China, Burma, Ceylon, Tibet, Thailand, and Japan, Europe and other countries. He is also honored in the Western world as one of the greatest teachers of all time.
Legend says that Gotama was born the son of a king. When he was 19 he married a beautiful princess, and they had a son. Prince Siddhartha had seen visions that showed him how vain and useless was the life of a prince. Taking a last look at his young son in the arms of his sleeping mother, he departed from the palace, leaving behind his royal name and all the splendor that had gone with it.
He did not return until seven years later. This time he was dressed in a coarse, yellow robe, and begged for food in the streets. He had come back because his father, wishing to see him once more, had sent for him. The king, however, was ashamed of his son's begging and ordered him to stop. Buddha replied, "My noble father, you and your family may claim the privileges of royal descent; my descent is from the prophets of old, and they have always acted so; the customs of the law are good, both for this world and the world that is to come."
He left his home again, and took five pupils with him to study and pray in the wilderness. He fell ill and was believed dead, but he recovered when the kind daughter of a villager brought him food.
His pupils left him, and Buddha himself was tempted by thoughts of his past life, but the religious side of his nature won out in the end. Instead of returning to his old ways, he made up his mind to leave the wilderness and preach to the people. We are told he came to this decision as he sat in the shade of a fig tree, eating the food the village girl had brought him. The people of India call this tree the sacred Bo Tree of Wisdom.
Like all great religions, Buddhism teaches the importance of spiritual or holy values. Where it differs from Western philosophy is in the belief that if a person has a pure mind, everything he or she does will be pure and decent, and that if he or she has a pure heart, all happiness will come to him or her. The highest virtue, according to Buddha, is universal charity---giving all you can to anybody who needs help.
Buddhists believe in reincarnation, which is common in the East. It means we are born many times, and in each new life we are better than we were before. According to the teachings of Buddha, the good are rewarded by being born into higher forms of goodness, and those who achieve the highest form of goodness finally escape both life and death. These people, having reached their final stage of goodness, are not born again and therefore do not die again, but remain forever in the Buddhist heaven, called Nirvana.
Buddha taught and preached for many years, wandering from city to city. Many noble youths went with him, including his own son and his brother. He died at the age of eighty, preaching and teaching to the end. He left behind many notable sayings that his followers faithfully wrote down and passed on to others. On one occasion, for instance, Buddha was asked what is the greatest blessing. He listed ten different blessings, some of which follow:
"To serve wise men, and not to serve fools, to give honor to whom honor is due, this is the greatest blessing. To dwell in a pleasant land, to have done good deeds in a former birth, to have the right desires for one's self, this is the greatest blessing. To succor father and mother, to cherish wife and child, to follow a peaceful calling, this is the greatest blessing. To give alms and live righteously, to help one's relatives and do blameless deeds, this is the greatest blessing. They that act like this are invincible on every side, on every side they walk in safety, and theirs is the greatest blessing."
As we've seen, Buddhism was originally an Indian religion. Zen Buddhism, on the other hand, is the Buddhist sect of Japan and China. It is based on the practice of Meditation rather than on adherence to a particular scriptural doctrine. Its founder in China was the legendary Bodhidharma (Remember him? The father of Kung Fu.), who taught "wall-gazing" (a form of meditation where you stare at a bare wall) and followed the Yogacara or Consciousness School of Buddhism, which held consciousness as real, but not its objects.
The characteristic Zen teaching of sudden enlightenment, or Satori, goes back to Hui-Neng, an illiterate master of the 7th century who defined enlightenment as the direct seeing of one's own "original nature.' The golden age of Zen (8th­9th century) developed a unique style of oral instruction, including non rational elements such as the koan, a subject given for meditation, usually in the form of a paradoxical saying, to test the enlightenment of students of Zen. After the persecution of Buddhism in 845, Zen emerged as the dominant Chinese sect. Two main schools, the Lin-chi, emphasizing the koan and satori, and the Ts'Ao-Tung, emphasizing the practice of meditation (Zazen), were transmitted to Japan in the 14th century and greatly influenced politics and culture (e.g., poetry, painting, landscape gardening, the tea ceremony, and flower arranging) before declining in the 16th and 17th century.
Revived in the 18th century, Zen thought was made known in the West by the writings of D.T. Suzuki, and after World War II it attracted interest in the U.S.
Zen Buddhism is passive and peaceful in nature, hardly what you would consider one of the roots of today's perception of martial arts.
Taoism is a religion and philosophy followed by millions of people in China and other parts of East Asia. The religion is based on a book written more than two thousand years ago, perhaps by Lao-Tzu, whom we shall meet below. The book is called the Tao-te-ching, which might mean The Book of Reason and Virtue. It teaches that Tao is the beginning of all things in the world and must be followed by people who want to live a good life. Yet it never explains just what Tao is, and so many people have called it many different things. Some say it means the Way or the Path, others call it Reason, still others the Word, and some say it means God. Ironically, the Tao-te-ching says that if we do not know what Tao is, we cannot learn it.
Some of the ideas taught in the Tao are very much like those in the Bible. For example, it says that a truly good man loves all men, even those who do not love him, and hates no one. But because Tao is very mysterious, many people came to believe that it taught magic. One of these people, a man called Chang tao-ling who lived about five hundred years after the Tao-te-ching was written, was said to have discovered a drink that would make people live forever. The followers of Taoism, called Taoists, began to worship him.
No one really knows where the Tao-te-ching came from, but this slim volume of about five thousand words is the foundation of Chinese philosophy. Put simply, the Tao Te Ching describes an evolving force called Tao that permeates the universe. One can gain great personal power from being in tune with Tao, a condition known as Te.
During the 2,500 years of its existence, the Tao-te-ching has had literally hundreds of translations and commentaries published about it. Only the Bible has been translated more often. The Tao-te-ching appeals to each generation and never seems to lose its intellectual stimulus. Today, it is being studied by physicists, because it is so amazingly in sync with the current theories of the universe. It is being studied by psychologists and business leaders who hope to understand that quality of the Oriental mind that makes it so centered and insightful in world affairs and economics.
According to legend, the book was written by Lao-Tzu, a scholar who lived about 600 years before Christ, during the Chou Dynasty in China. It was a war-torn, violent time. Realizing the hopelessness of the era, Lao-Tzu retired from his position and prepared to leave the civilized world forever.
Before he was allowed to pass through the gates of the capital into the mountains beyond, Yin Hsi, Keeper of the Gate, insisted that Lao-Tzu write down what he knew for the enlightenment of those left behind; Lao-Tzu wrote the Tao-te-ching, directing it toward those individuals who were in a position to guide others--toward princes and politicians, employers and educators.
In a nutshell, Lao-Tzu's message consists of these points:
Lao-Tzu taught that the best way to control events was to use passive methods. He realized that excessive force in a particular direction tends to activate an opposing force. Lao-Tzu believed that it was essential for leaders to be ever conscious of the laws of nature--in short, to develop a sophisticated understanding of the ways that matter and energy function in the universe. He called this Tao. He understood that the physical laws of the universe directly affect the way that individuals behave and societies evolve, and that to comprehend these laws could give a person the power (Te) to bring harmony to his world.
Lao-Tzu understood the power sleeping in every individual. This power, Te, awakens when one is in tune with the forces in nature (Tao). The Tao teaches that a constant awareness of the patterns in nature brings us insights into the parallel patterns in human behavior.
Lao-Tzu believed people who do not feel personal power feel fear. They fear the unknown because they do not identify with the world outside themselves. Tyrants do not feel power. They feel frustration and impotency. They wield force, but it is a form of aggression, not authority. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent that individuals who dominate others are, in fact, enslaved by insecurity and are slowly and mysteriously hurt by their own actions. Lao-Tzu attributed most of the world's ills to the fact that people do not feel powerful and independent.
Lao-Tzu devoted his intellectual energy to observing nature and its physical laws. He taught that all things are related. Lao-Tzu believed that everything that exists comes into reality through the polarity of yin and yang--the positive and negative forces that govern the universe.
There are two major changes that occur in the lives of individuals who gain personal power--intellectual independence and simplicity. Taoism, a way of viewing the universe, is not based on faith; it is based on experience. Power will not develop in individuals who allow doctrine and dogma to stand between them and direct personal knowledge of the universe.
Simplicity in behavior, beliefs, and environment, moves an individual closer to reality. If you practice simplicity you cannot be used because you already have everything you need. You cannot be lied to because a lie merely reveals another aspect of reality. This is total freedom. Westerners are taught that freedom is something one has, but the Tao teaches that the absence of things brings freedom to the individual and meaning into life. To let go of things--such as unnecessary desires, superfluous possessions---is to have freedom. This is somewhat similar to twelve-step program teaching that you can keep what you have only by giving it away.
Lao-Tzu taught that each life contains the universe. But when individuals develop fixations about certain aspects of their lives---money, power, possessions---they become shallow and off-centered. Desires create a crisis within the mind. As individuals let go of desires, feelings of freedom, security, independence, and power increase.
Like the degrees in martial arts disciplines, the Tao has many levels of understanding. There is always a level waiting just below the one you currently understand. The deeper you penetrate, the more power you develop. The same is true when seeking higher achievements, or belts, in Kung Fu or Ninjutsu. The next belt represents a deeper understanding and increased power. However, you are competing with yourself, striving to get more Te for your own peace of mind, instead of competing against peers for ego gratification. But this search is not a competitive one; rather, it is the pathway to spiritual enlightenment and personal fulfillment.
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