C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Mushin and Other Unique Aspects of Budo Zen Some Thoughts on Zen-Influenced Budo and the Differences Between Budo Zen and “Common” Zen Along with a Few Other Musings      I write quite a bit about Budo Zen and Zen Budo.  Budo Zen is Zen that is influenced by the principles of Budo and other principles found within martial ways in and outside of Japan (most commonly Korea and China).  Zen Budo is martial training that is influenced by the principles of Zen, as opposed to its more common influences.  It’s a popular thought in modern martial arts that the Japanese Budo is one thoroughly influenced by the ways of Zen, but that’s just not historically accurate.  Most martial ways, including those from Japan, have been influenced—assuming they are even influenced at all by philosophy—by Taoism and Confucianism, specifically Neo Confucianism, than they have been by Zen.  Within the Japanese martial arts, Shinto also had an overriding in...

History and Application of Budo as an Other-Power (Tariki) Practice      In Japanese philosophy, the concepts of “self-power” ( jiriki ) and “other-power” ( tariki ) have always fascinated me.  Primarily a concept found within the Jodo Shinshu sect of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, it has made its way into Japanese philosophical thought as a whole.  At first glance, it seems rather straightforward, but as one delves deep, you find that there is more to it than first meets the philosophical eye.  And as one practices , you find that the lines begin to blur, until eventually you cross over into a new way of seeing, of looking, and of being your Budo training that you wouldn’t have thought possible when you first took up the martial ways.  You come to realize that Budo training isn’t as much of a self-power practice as you had assumed.      At first, it may even seem absurd to think that Budo is a practice of other-power...