C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Eighteen Do Not Fear Death While Following the Way Portrait of Zen Master Dogen (public domain), 1253, founder of the Soto school of Japanese Zen. His teachings on death impacted Zennists such as Musashi, either directly or indirectly. "Love and Death are the great gifts given to us; mostly, they are passed on, unopened." ~Rainer Maria Rilke This precept is the beginning of what can best be categorized as the "home stretch" of his final work. After this precept, there are 4 more. In many ways, each one of them summarizes, or perhaps seals , the preceding ones. I read an opinion one time that this should have been used by Musashi as the final precept. I don't agree. Now, I do think that this precept, or either of the final two precepts, could have been used as the final musing, simply because all three's emphasis on the finality of things. But I also believe that Musashi was - as we should know by this point in o...

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Seventeen Do Not Collect Weapons, Nor Practice with Them, Beyond What is Useful Samurai wields two swords - a katana and a wakizashi - the hallmark of Musashi's "two heavens as one" style.   Here is another precept where there are often subtle differences in how it is translated.  But these subtle differences in translation can lead to subtly different outcomes.  So let's see if we can figure out the meaning of Musashi's words, then we'll see if we can apply it to our day-to-day lives. Roshi Richard Collins's translation is similar to the one I used: "Do not seek especially either to collect or practice arms beyond what is useful."  William Scott Wilson - who typically has the most "accurate" translations - has this one as: "While it's different with military equipment, do not be fond of material things."  Lastly, David K. Groff translates this as: "Do not concern yourself with...

For Fast Muscle-Building Results At first, I was going to write this as one "big-as-hell" article the same as my one from last week on old-school arm training.  However, I thought this might work best as a sort of semi-regular series on various "little known" or "secret" muscle-building tips and techniques for easy  mass-gaining.  Besides, it was getting kind of long as it is.  Introduction out of the way, I hope you enjoy... The "Iron Guru" Vince Gironda, seen here in his competitive days, was the inspiration for this article.  Gironda had more knowledge of "secret" muscle-building tips and tricks than just about any trainer before or since.   In many of my posts and articles, I often lament the fact that many lifters (and I use that word loosely here) seem to prefer over-complicated and easy instead of simple but hard  training programs.  I suppose nutrition would fit the bill, too.  But in the case of diets, I think more people are ...

  Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Sixteen Abstain from Fasting and Other Things That Affect You Physically Mas Oyama - modern-day heir to the Budo throne of Musashi - was a believer in Kangeiko , or "cold training" the same as the samurai at the time The Dokkodo  was written. Of all the musings/thoughts of The Dokkodo , this precept is the most widely translated - perhaps even mis translated.  For instance, Wikipedia  has it translated as, "Do not act following customary beliefs."  Roshi Richard Collins in his book No Fear Zen,  translates it almost exactly the same way: "Do not follow customary beliefs."  If you have read my past posts here on The Dokkodo , you know that I love  Collins's book, but I think this is the one musing where he  might  miss the point a little. Compare those translations with the translation by William Scott Wilson, the preeminent scholar and translator of traditional budo  and Bushido  works....

 Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Fifteen Do Not Hold Onto Possessions You No Longer Need By this point in our commentary on The Dokkodo , you know the drill.  There is always something more  to Musashi's work than at first glance.  Even for native readers in Japan, Musashi can seem paradoxical, quizzical in something akin to how a Zen koan might take a period of time to wrap one's thoughts around the nature of what is being read.  But this is even more so for those of us reading an imprecise English translation.  Once you couple this with the fact that Musashi seems so ancient  to our time and day, hopefully you begin to see how one can't just dismiss Musashi as being outdated, or how you must not be so quick to translate Musashi into a meaning that you  want his words to have.  That might make it more comfortable for us, but it's not going to bring about the changes that Musashi prescribes for us as modern martial artists. Let's look...

and Other S**t I Learned from a Lifetime of Training in Zen, Martial Arts, and Powerlifting Tom Platz's thighs were built through some of the most extreme, non-moderate training one can imagine!  And the results speak for theselves. Okay, so the title of this post is a little over-the-top.  It’s supposed to be.  But that also doesn’t make it any less true.  Whether you want to get in the best shape of your life, or win a powerlifting competition, or become a martial arts “expert,” or any dream that you have in life.  If you want to achieve any of those things, or anything else for that matter , then you must be determined to work extremely hard, moderation be damned. Modern “self-help” books recommend moderation as one of the ways to achieve your goals - especially in the West, where we think there is something “Eastern” to moderation, a balance of yin/yang or a balance of mind/body/Spirit.  But moderation is really NOT an Eastern “thing,” not any more at ...