C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Zen Budo and the Path of Striving for Achievement      “Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.” ~the final words of the Buddha       “The image of Buddhism has gone through quite a lot of change over the years. Nowadays people don't tend to associate Buddhism with striving so much as with peace and withdrawal, with being rather than doing. Whatever would old Shakyamuni think of that?       “Buddha pointed out that things are impermanent and you might take it from that that he was suggesting that it is futile wasting effort on things that are not going to last. However, the original moral was probably just the opposite. Buddha put a new spin on the idea of karma, remember. Karma had been taken to mean that you are what you are because of what you did in your last life so there is nothing you can do about it. This logic underpinned the caste system and it still does. This was a ...

The Importance of Proper Breathing in Budo      I have been training in the Budo for more than 40 years.  In the last few years, I have been to a few dojos and I’m sad to say (or write in this case) that modern budokas don’t know how to breathe.  Most of them aren’t taught how to breathe in the first place, so they’re not even aware that there is a way that a budoka should breathe.  This is typically because the teachers in these dojos weren’t taught it themselves.  When they are taught breathing techniques, it’s only on a superficial level, such as to breathe in through their nose and out through their mouth when executing a technique in practice, whether it’s a block, punch, or kick.  But there is more to breathing in Budo than this, and that may not even be accurate, either.  There are different ways to breathe, depending on the technique and the art.      The one thing that I’ve noticed modern budoka a...

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...