The Budo Zen Way

 

Introduction to a Series on Training Wisdom and Philosophy for the Budo Zen Martial Artist

     “There has been much soul-searching and hand-wringing about the appropriate role of samurai or Budo Zen, focused on discipline and self-sacrifice, and what might be called pacifist Zen, focused on nonviolence and compassion. This supposed dichotomy is only a matter of emphasis, however. Budo Zen may focus on the determination of the martial artist Bodhidharma while pacifist Zen focuses on the serenity of the enlightened Buddha. One arrives at compassion through concentration, the other at concentration through compassion.” ~Roshi Richard Collins

     Starting with this essay, I want to do a series on walking the path of the Budo Zen way.  The title of this essay, and of this series in general, is, in a way (pun intended) a bit nonsensical.  Budo means “martial way.”  Bu meaning “martial” and do meaning “way” so, technically, the title here is “the martial way zen way.”  Nonetheless, for English-speaking readers, the title works for what it is that I wish to discuss.

     I began with the quote from roshi Collins for a reason.  (“Roshi” translates as “old teacher” in Japanese, but is used in English for the leader of a Zen community.)  This essay, and the series that will follow, is intended for martial artists—or at least those interested in the philosophy and wisdom of the martial arts—who wish to follow the martial ways for more than just learning to fight or for sport or for a way to improve their health and fitness.  Martial arts has much more to offer the practitioner than those pursuits, even though the majority of people who take up one of the arts do so with those things in mind.  Anyway, I started with Collins’s quote because he is not writing to the martial artist but, rather, to the average western Zen practitioner.  Most Zen in the west is what he referred to as “pacifist Zen.”  Though Zen in spirit and, yes, in actual practice, it sees Zen through a religiously liberal lens.  I would argue, as several have before me, that it is much more similar to liberal western Christianity—with the Buddha replacing Christ—than it is to how Zen was traditionally practiced in Japan, and China and Korea before that.  Collins’s Zen—rooted as it is in the tradition of the Japanese Zen master Taisen Deshimaru—is an antidote to that liberal western view.  (By liberal, here, I don’t mean political liberalism, but, rather, a liberal, universal approach to religion.  You can practice so-called “pacifist” Zen and be of any political leaning, left or right; the same goes for Budo Zen.)

     The Budo Zen approach, as opposed to the pacifist Zen means, is the best path for the martial artist, even if her art is in something different than one of the traditional Japanese martial styles.  The most popular martial art in America is TaeKwonDo.  It is a good path for the TKD practitioner, as well as those who practice any of the Chinese arts, or even an art that comes from Southeast Asia, such as Muay Thai or Silat.  The Budo Zen path for the martial practitioner is a way for her to conjoin her art in the spiritual rather than just the physical.  All martial styles are welcome.

     This path is available for all, no matter religion, ethnicity, creed, nationality, or, well, anything else.  In this manner, it is similar to martial arts in general.  Martial arts—at least, the ones that are most well-known and practiced by most in the West—have their roots in, primarily, Chinese religions and philosophies.  Zen, itself, is a direct product of what happened when the Buddhism of India met the Taoism of China.  Zen, by the way, is the Japanese word for the Chinese word Chan.  Chan, itself, comes from the Indian word dhyana, meaning, simply, “meditation.”  So Zen, in essence, merely means meditation, but over the centuries developed into a specific school of Japanese Buddhism, which is now one of the more well-known forms of Buddhism in the West.  Zen, however, as with martial arts in general, can be practiced without being Buddhist.  For instance, just for clarification, I’m a Christian who also practices Zen.  The Budo Zen that I will be writing about in this essay and in future ones can be practiced by anyone, of any religion or even none at all.  You can be atheist, for instance, and practice this martial cum spiritual path, though, truth be told, you would eventually (in all likelihood) run up against some experiences that may make you question that viewpoint.  The point is that the Budo Zen path of martial training is available to one and all.

     The Budo Zen path is rooted in two practices, which lead the practitioner to a way of being, which provides the martial artist with a therapeutic way of living, especially when the world around us can seem so chaotic.  It unifies the martial practitioner in his center, a spiritual center that provides a way of living that cannot be taken away by the vicissitudes of the changing world.  These two practices are, first, the seated practice of zazen (literally, “seated meditation”) and, second, the “moving Zen” practice of the martial art itself.  The two practices together lead to this centered way of being and, then, the living it out in daily life.

     As this series unfolds, I will discuss a variety of topics that will aid the Budo Zen martial practitioner in her training, discussing history, philosophy, and application as I do so.  If this series seems interesting to you, and if there are any subjects that you would like to see covered, then please leave them in the comments section below or shoot me an email.  Some of the subjects I may have already covered in past essays on Budo philosophy and wisdom, but if it’s a topic that I haven’t covered, or haven’t covered from a particular angle, then I will try to do so in this series.

     Note: If you read this blog primarily for my strength training/bodybuilding articles and essays, I’m going to continue to write just as many of those as I have been doing.  This series will be in addition to any lifting pieces and won’t result in less articles on those subjects—these essays will be relatively short, roughly 1,000 words or so, allowing me to still focus on my strength training articles.  However, even if you’re a lifter who could care less about Budo philosophy and training, you may find that these essays have more to offer the lifter than you expected.  In my own life, I don’t see much of a difference between my lifting and my Budo training.  One of my favorite Japanese sayings is this: “Deep reality appears in training the heart and mind.”  That applies to strength training and the martial way.