C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Embracing the Pain and Hard Work of Budo Zen      Real Zen training sucks.  Real budo training sucks.  And that’s okay.  In fact, that may be the point.      Another fact: If your training, in budo or in Zen or in the combination of the two, doesn’t suck—at least some of the time—then you might not be training correctly.      First, both disciplines suck because they require hard work, and this is especially so if you’re combining the two.  Lots of hard work!  And this isn’t something that should just be “passed over.”  You need to embrace the pain, and embrace the hard work if you want to succeed, which is exactly, by the way, how it should be.  If you’re going to succeed at budo, at Zen, or—even better—at both, then you need to understand this early on in your training, and you need to embrace it early.  If you do, then something will happen that doesn’t suck : ...

Budo Zen, Just as with the Martial Arts, is Hard Work but It's Worth It! In my last essay on Budo Zen, I discussed how Zen, real Zen, is hard work. I would like to explore this idea a little more in this present essay, especially as to how this applies to, and is good for, the budoka or other martial artist. Martial practitioner or not, most who take an interest in Zen don’t stick with it. Not once they realize the hard work that is involved. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Not really. That’s just human nature. But what does surprise me is when actual Zennists, or perhaps practitioners of any form of Buddhism, believe that more and more people in our modern world will become keenly interested in the dharma. Some believe that Zen will somehow grow into one of the west’s most popular religions. I’m not buying it. Never will. If it does become that popular then trust me, it won’t be real Zen of any type. Apparently, I’m not the only one that feels this way. I...

  A samurai and the love of his life had just gotten married, and were traveling by boat to their honeymoon, when a massive storm hit.*  The samurai's wife began to tremble in fear, for there was no shore in sight, and their boat was being tossed and turned in the massive waves that were sure to capsize it at any moment!  She ran to find her husband, a brave warrior who she thought would provide her comfort in their seemingly perilous situation.  But when she found him, he was peacefully looking out at the sea, as if the sun was out and the waves were calm. Lightning cracked across the sky.  Thunder rumbled from all directions.  The boat lurched forward violently. "How can you be so calm?!" the wife yelled, frantically clinging to her husband.  "We are about to die!  Do you not value your life?" When the samurai heard these words of his wife, he looked down upon her, pulled out his katana, and put it to his wife's neck.  She looked at him....

The following was written spontaneously, that is, without planning or "thinking" about what I was going to write about, I sat down at my computer, and had a few musings at the back of my mind. The following is the result. Ramblings on Budo: More Budo "Minds" Not long ago, I wrote an essay on the different “minds” of budo, such as mushin , often called “no mind”, and shoshin , often referred to as “beginner’s mind.”  (I wrote a couple of essays on shoshin.)  But here, in this minor essay, I have in mind (pun intended) some other “minds” that, although they aren’t discussed outright in budo, they are encountered during practice.  And sometimes they are discussed outright in other Ways (such as the Way of Zen).   These include monkey mind, wild mind, centered mind, and big mind, to name just a smattering few. Monkey mind is a mind you’re, unfortunately, all-too-familiar with if you have ever tried to focus, even for just a brief period of time, on one solitary thing...

  Budo as Embodied Practice Integrating Mind, Body, and Spirit "Mind, Body, and Spirit as One" (design by C.S.) “Mountains and waters are the expressions of old buddhas.” ~Eihei Dogen This quote from Dogen comes from his masterful “Sansuiko,” or the “Mountains and Waters Sutra,” an insightful and rather poetic work (as are all of the great zenji’s pieces) written in the 13th century.  If Dogen would have been a follower or a practitioner of budo—as many of his spiritual descendents would come to be in the following centuries—he may have added, “and fists and feet are nothing other than the Way.” Or not. But there is nothing cute (or trivial) about such statements.  They are expressions of a deep, somatic truth.  The “spiritual” is not something otherworldly, but is expressed—and, therefore, encountered—in the mundane, the material, and the everyday; in mountains and waters, in punches and in kicks. This is the reason that budo is not true budo unless it contains a ...

  The Budo Secrets of Internal Energy from the Master Samurai Kaibara Ekiken This quote from Lao Tzu is one that Ekiken himself quotes in the Yojokun . Part Two Controlling Inner Desires In all things, if you are unendingly diligent, you will undoubtedly see an effect.  For example, if you plant seeds in the spring and nurture seeds in the summer, surely there will be a large harvest in the fall. Similarly, if you make an understanding of how to care for your health and continue to do so for some time, you will definitely see effects: your body will become stronger, you will become free of disease, you will not only maintain your natural lifespan but lengthen it, and you will enjoy your life.  You should not doubt this principle. ~Kaibara Ekiken* I begin this second part of the series with this quote from Ekiken, which occurs toward the beginning of his “ki power masterwork” the Yojokun .  I wanted to begin with this quote for the simple reason that it gives you a go...