The REAL Connection Between Zen and the Martial Arts

Read on and discover the REAL connection between Zen and the martial arts!

Taisen Deshimaru - the great Soto Zen monk of the 20th century - clearly taught that there was a correlation between martial arts and Zen.

     There has long been a debate over how much, if any, influence Zen has had on the martial arts.  There has also been interest over the years as to whether or not mutual exchanges occurred between the various martial arts and the various Buddhist philosophies of silent/seated meditation - i.e.: Zen.  Zen is the Japanese translation of the Chinese "Chan", itself a translation of the Indian/Sanskrit word "Dhyana", which simply means "seated meditation" in English.  I write "philosophies" (plural) of Buddhist meditation because there are many "Zens".  Not only is Zen known as Chan in China, but it's also practiced as "Seon" in Korea, and "Thien" in Vietnam.  (Probably the most popular Zen monk in the world - right up until his recent death, which has brought even more attention to his writing - was Thich Nhat Hanh, who was Vietnamese, and, therefore, technically a Thien monk as opposed to a Zen one.)  Even within each country there would be different schools of Zen, some of them with competing viewpoints, as anyone who has studied both Rinzai and Soto Zen in Japan can attest.

     This is not the post for a "history of Zen", but even a very cursory glance at their histories reveals that Buddhism is prevalent (and has been for centuries) in most Asian countries where martial arts are also heavily practiced.   (The exception might be Indonesia, where Silat is hugely popular, and most Silat practitioners within the country are Muslim.)  Also, if you look at the martial arts that have been popular in America for decades (Kung-fu, Karate, and Taekwondo), you find those are also the countries with more Zen practitioners than anywhere else.  But just how much connection is there (and has there been historically) between Chan and Kung-fu (China), Zen and Karate (Japan/Okinawa), and Seon and Taekwondo (Korea)?  That is the million-dollar question! 

     There are many martial arts practitioners who assume there is a connection between Zen and the martial arts because, well, they've been told that there is a connection.  Usually these martial artists - even if they go on to be teachers in their respective lineages - love martial arts but don't have more than a passing interest in Zen or other Asian philosophies, so they never investigate whether or not there actually is a connection.

     Other martial arts practitioners have concluded - upon research, I might add - that there is NO connection between martial arts and Zen, or what little connection there is has been greatly romanticized to the point of almost fictionalization.  In fact, most of that romanticization is because of fiction, usually "wuxia" literature or samurai books and movies.

     What do I think? 

     The truth, like most things, is somewhere in between those two points-of-view.

     First, there is some connection between the two, however vague it might be.  If there wasn't, then I would never have learned to sit zazen as a teenager in the dojo where I practiced karate.  But the connection has also been greatly romanticized (that much the detractors have correct).

     Second, when someone makes the claim that there is no connection between Zen and the martial arts, is the person saying that there is no connection between Japanese Zen and the Japanese martial arts?  Or is she saying there is no connection with Chan and kung-fu?  Does the detractor realize there might be a connection between Taekwondo and Zen because Seon has (for a lot of Korean history) been the only government-sanctioned "form" of Buddhism within the country?

     I think when someone makes the critique that there is no correlation between Zen and the martial arts, she is basing this assumption on Japanese Zen, and, therefore, other Japanese arts.  Many of these same detractors may not even realize that Zen (Chan) is really more Chinese than Japanese (since China is the country of its origin); or that Zen is really an amalgam of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism.  Because once you branch out from focusing on Japanese Zen, you are in murkier waters, and some of the critiques no longer can stand up to a counter-critique.

     For instance, even though the history of it is shrouded in myth, and perhaps might be more legend than historical fact, there is no denying that Zen and martial arts originated from the same place/area: the Shaolin Temple.  Later in Chinese history, and more important from the point of view of a modern martial arts practitioner, there can be NO DOUBT that kung-fu and Taoism became closely aligned.  There was - and still is - an intimate connection between Taoism and the Chinese martial arts, and not just the internal arts, although in the internal arts it's so blatantly obvious that one really can't practice internal qiqong without also being a Taoist!  But aside from that clear fact, Zen as it developed in China after the Shaolin Temple became just as much a Taoist art as a Buddhist one.  (If you are familiar with this argument, then you may also realize that there are detractors of this, as well, who want to believe that Zen is purely a Buddhist religion - so pure that only Zen is the original Buddhism as taught by the Buddha almost 3,000 years ago.  To that, I only have this to say: HOGWASH!  But I will save that argument for another post, because it's equally as fascinating, I believe, as this one.)  Many of the writings of the Zen patriarchs in China, as well, mention "the Tao" as much as they do "Buddha-Nature".  Even some of the koans in "The Blue Cliff Record" contain "attaining the Tao" as a synonym for attaining enlightenment.  So once you know a little of this history of the intersection of Zen with Taoism in China, and once you understand how very clearly Taoism and Chinese martial arts are related, how can you argue that there is no connection between Zen and the martial arts?

     What about Japanese Zen and its relation to the martial arts?  Or more specifically, it's relation to styles of the various Japanese budo?  First and foremost, a lot of the "Bushido" crap taught in modern American dojos is just that: crap!  And, by the way, this is a more in-depth subject than the intersection of Zen and budo, because what a lot of Japanese practitioners believe about Bushido (I think) is wrong.  A lot of this is because Inazo Nitobe's book "Bushido: the Soul of Japan" is simply inaccurate and downright historically wrong at points, but it more or less has become the de facto Bushido text for many, if not most, American martial artists.  Further, if a modern Zen practitioner decides he wants to see what the philosophy of Bushido "looks like", then he will most likely read Nitobe's book, but please keep in mind that the modern Zennist knows as much about Bushido as the modern martial artist knows about real Zen: not very damn much.  So the cycle perpetuates.

     The reason some practitioners of martial arts or Zen decide that there isn't a connection between the two is because once they start doing a little research, they realize just how much downright malarkey has been written on the subject by authors who don't know what the hell they are talking about.

     All of this doesn't mean that Japanese Zen and Japanese martial arts have no history of intersection with one another.  But the connection - and THIS is the REAL connection, I think - is between persons and not schools.  In other words (Shorinji Kempo aside), you are never going to go to a school of Japanese martial arts and learn Zen in that school right along with martial skills.  However, you will find Japanese martial arts masters who are also highly "skilled" Zen practitioners.  And they know both for two simple reasons: they enjoy and practice both.  In Japan, many practitioners of the martial arts can take up a form of Zen.  They just choose not to do so.  But some karate-kas and judo-kas have taken up Zen, only to find that Zen compliments and aids their martial arts so much that they want to share this discovery with others.  In Japan, once martial arts and Buddhism were both well-established entities, a few individuals have taken up both - and become highly skilled at both.  And a very select few of these individuals have written down their experiences, the famous samurais Yagyu Munenori and Miyamato Musashi, for instance.  One reason these two samurai are so famous is because they were so very unique - and they were unique because they practiced Zen and budo.  And so, yes, unique means that the connection between the two has never been mainstream, even in Japan.  But it also means that, however rare, there was a connection.  It also means that there can still be a connection.  This connection is one that you will have to make yourself, but the results of making it can be rewarding.  Rewarding enough that, if practiced diligently, you may even understand the words written in calligraphy by the Okinawan Karate master Shoshin Nagamine, and hung on the wall of his dojo: ken zen ichi nyo.  Translated, it reads: Karate and Zen as one!