C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Traditional and Non-Traditional Zazen as Training for Budo       In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves. O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.      O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.       “Great Waves is your name,” the teacher advised, “so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land.”      The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imag...

The Everything is Budo Practice of the Edo-Era Samurai Suzuki Shosan Suzuki Shosan has long been one of my favorite “Zen” samurai, and I have, for some time, wanted to write a profile on him.  I think more budoka need to know about him.  He simply isn’t as famous or well-known as other writers (of Budo Zen literature) from the early Edo period, such as Musashi, Yagyu Munenori, the zen priest Takuan Soho (author of the Unfettered Mind ), or Yamamoto Tsunetomo.  However, instead of writing a more “straightforward” profile of the legendary Tokugawa samurai, I have decided to write (either two or) three essays dealing with some of his viewpoints and “techniques” of Budo Zen that I think are important for modern budoka.  In doing so, I will also touch upon parts of his life that I think you will find interesting. In an earlier essay, as part of my series translating and commenting upon Musashi’s Dokkodo , I briefly discussed Shosan regarding his views on “do not fear de...

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Eighteen Do Not Fear Death While Following the Way Portrait of Zen Master Dogen (public domain), 1253, founder of the Soto school of Japanese Zen. His teachings on death impacted Zennists such as Musashi, either directly or indirectly. "Love and Death are the great gifts given to us; mostly, they are passed on, unopened." ~Rainer Maria Rilke This precept is the beginning of what can best be categorized as the "home stretch" of his final work. After this precept, there are 4 more. In many ways, each one of them summarizes, or perhaps seals , the preceding ones. I read an opinion one time that this should have been used by Musashi as the final precept. I don't agree. Now, I do think that this precept, or either of the final two precepts, could have been used as the final musing, simply because all three's emphasis on the finality of things. But I also believe that Musashi was - as we should know by this point in o...