C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Nine Never Allow Yourself to be Saddened by a Separation 16th century painting of Musashi (public domain) Another translation that I like of this musing is David K. Groff's that reads, "On whatever the path, do not be sad about parting ways."  If you are following a "way," then you must be prepared for the fact - inevitable some might say - that you will have to separate yourself from others who are not following the same path that you are embarked upon. When one first reads/hears a maxim such as this one or one similar, our initial reaction is to recoil from it.  We - as a human race - love our attachments!  Not only are we saddened by a separation, but we never want to be separated in the first place.  Of course it's natural for us to feel saddened upon separation, right? We are attached to many things other than just people.  Some of these attachments are subtle and we might not even be aware of what it is we are a

  Essays and Thoughts on  The Dokkodo Part Eight Never Be Jealous Musashi using two swords (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.   -Shakespeare (from Othello) If you have done Zen practice for any lengthy period of time, then you are probably aware of many of the negative emotions that you  struggle with - or ones that you don't.  These emotions can come upon you when you are sitting on the cushion meditating.  They can come upon you when you are in the dojo (or dojang) training.  And, of course, they can even come upon you in the most mundane times, such as when you are in the checkout line at the grocery store, or when you are stuck in heavy traffic, or when you are busy cleaning your home.  In other words, negative emotions seem to always  be there, lurking just beneath the surface no matter the situation.  Of course, you can also have "good" emotions that come up, as well. 

  Years ago, when I was a regular columnist for Ironman Magazine , I wrote an article in which I said, "bodybuilding has ruined strength training in America."  I'm pretty sure that I got more hate mail from that ONE article than all my others put together, and I wrote a LOT  of articles for Ironman  in the '90s and the early years of this century, so that's saying something.  But I stand by that statement.  Now, you may ask yourself, why am I beginning an article on strength training for martial artists  with an anecdote I wrote for a bodybuilding magazine that most martial artists are never going to read?  And the reason is simple: bodybuilding has also ruined martial arts strength training  in America.  Why?  Most martial artists who take up weight training in this country are greatly influenced by bodybuilding-style training , whether they know it or not, the kind of training that relies on multiple sets of multiple reps in order to achieve results.  And they a

  Essays and Thoughts on  The Dokkodo Part Seven Do Not Regret What Has Been Done Woodblock print by the artist Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi of a man holding a mirror to Musashi in order to get a better look at the swordsman.  Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. jpd 01793) Often, regret is nothing more than a way of "holding on," of our inability to truly let go .  In this way, you can see how this maxim relates to our previous one of being "detached from the desire" for worldly things.  Our regret, when looked at from this perspective, is something that we are actually attached to .  We don't want  to let go of our past.  And so we don't! Our regrets - as with many other things - are nothing more than our attachment to the past.  We think, we ruminate, we worry about what we might have done different.  And so we stay stuck in a past that only exists in our mind, or in our thoughts , to be a little more precise.  For we could say that our mind - whate

 The 10x5 Method: 10 Sets of 5 Reps for Massive Growth AND Strength & Power "If you get a pump while training with heavy weights, you will get big."*  -Pavel Tsatsouline The great Pat Casey was a firm believer in exactly the kind of training discussed here. The above quote by Russian strength training guru Pavel Tsatsouline sums up what is often called the energetic theory of muscle growth .  This theory, in more detail than the aforementioned quote, means that - in order to grow a sufficient amount of muscle mass AND strength - you need to have both fatigue and tension present in your training regimen.  But therein lies the problem.  Fatigue best happens through a high volume of training - multiple sets of high reps, or very few sets of high repetition training taken to total momentary muscular failure are great ways to develop fatigue, and also an ideal way for some  lifters to build plenty of muscle.  But it sucks at building absolute strength.  The converse is true

Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part 6 Be Detached from Desire Your Entire Life Statue of Musashi and Kojiro in battle. (public domain) This passage seems a little odd when first we read it.  It's odd because, well, didn't Musashi desire  to be a good samurai?  Isn't it desire  that pushed Musashi to want  to be a great swordsman in the first place? But this saying isn't quite what it seems.  Roshi Richard Collins, author of No Fear Zen , has this to say: "The word for desire here, yokushin , suggests specifically selfish wishes, lusts, or cupidity, that greediness for physical pleasure or material accumulation that resists control."  In other words, you are to be detached from those things which prevent you from practicing budo.  Your desire  should be for attaining deeper and broader martial skills, not money or fame or to even be a fighter (as opposed to a martial artist).  Of course, just because one calls himself a martial artist doesn't mean that

Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Five Think Lightly of Yourself, and Deeply of the World A scroll depicting kami Hachiman dressed as a Buddhist monk (courtesy of Wikimedia). The Bodhisattva Hachiman was well-loved by Taisen Deshimaru, the author of The Zen Way to the Martial Arts (quoted below). As with  most  of Musashi's musings, this one is another that seems at odds with modern sensibilities.  This is, of course, because the modern person's values are almost always the opposite  of the sayings in The Dokkodo .  Yet - and here is where "modern man" gets the most confused - when you think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world  you actually become much happier, more joyful, and more in love with life.  As the Dalai Lama says (and this is a paraphrase), "the purpose of our lives is to be happy."  But he adds that "happiness is not something ready-made, but comes from your own actions."  And how do you achieve this elusive happiness? &