Kensho: Phase Transformation, III. 3
“The Path of Seeing” – Kensho, Entering Phase 3 8th century Indian Buddhist monk Kamalashila, in his Stages of Meditation, says there is only one way to reach the path of seeing: through the “thorough analysis of the nature of the mind.” This point is not disputed in Zen. Bodhidharma: […]
Kensho: Phase Transformation in Kata, III.ii
Previous articles in this series: “Damatte Keiko: Phase Transformation in Kata, I” “Flow: Phase Transformation in Kata, II” and “Satori: Phase Transformation in Kata, III.1″ Satori: Phase Transformation in Kata, III.2 The following paragraph was written by D.T. Suzuki, an accomplished Japanese scholar and the leading transmitter of Zen to the west. It is from his […]
Kensho: Phase Transformation in Kata, III.i
Introduction This is the third of three articles on “Phase Transition” in martial arts practice, which describe the path of practice from beginning to end. The third phase is Satori or freedom. I will post this article in multiple installments. In the first article in this three-part series, “Damatte Keiko: Phase Transformation in […]
Takuan’s Solution for Practical Combatives
Combat training simulates conditions of high stress. It works that way now and it worked that way in Tokugawa era Japan. Under hyper arousal we experience changes in sense perception and physical performance that can hinder our effectiveness: Our field of vision contracts to a small circle right in front of our eyes, an effect known […]
The Bun Bu Trinity
Bun Bu Ryo Do, “The Way of Both Pen and Sword,” seems like a binary system – with the arts of war and the arts of civil life complementing each other as needed. As martial artists we learn to fight. We also cultivate the self-control, respect and clarity of mind which free us to connect […]
Funakoshi’s Crisis Intervention – Bun Bu Ryo Do, Part 1
Funakoshi Gichin’s book the Karate-Do Kyohan (空手道教範) is a concise and comprehensive technical manual. It is meticulous and accessible and, without confusing beginners, opens the door to deep understanding for practitioners with the experience to grasp what is there. In it, Funakoshi Gichin bookends his technical material with personal comments. At the beginning he explains his motive for […]
Members Test Positive for Excellent Spirit
Training on our own and holding classes online is not what any of us were expecting. It is a great test of spirit, and meeting that test is a great statement about our commitment to our art and to each other. We never missed a class as we transitioned to meet the new conditions. Our […]
Bun Bu Ryo Do: Cultivation and Power
The Unified Field Theory of Martial Arts Ethics, tactics and metaphysics form a unified field of action. Martial artists who regard them as separate are at a disadvantage. These three dimensions cannot be separated. If you try to separate them, becoming an expert in one and neglecting the others, you may advance temporarily, but you will soon […]
The Action and the Scenery
We are all responsible for other people. Our family and friends, students and teachers, co-workers, clients and customers, our neighbors, ourselves, and who knows how many others who may be influenced by what we do. We are practitioners. We train. As we do, we strengthen our body and mind, and refine our lives. Because we […]
The Fog of Peace
Modern commanders can map and model a vast battlespace and watch it change in real time. They can locate fighters and civilians. Guns and armor, aircraft and satellites. Threats and targets, and the changes of posture and subtle movements that signal a new phase is about to begin. They can act on that intelligence to […]
Martial Arts & Martial Law
Operating in the dark is a challenge. Darkness may be helpful. Sometimes it is necessary. But it’s difficult to orient in the dark; harder to detect obstacles, threats, targets and the path we need to take. Which is a lot like training now. Isolated from the dojo, separated from friends, from the normal routines and […]
Training in Time of Plague and Panic
We train to detect threats before they emerge, and to deal with them effectively if they do. Threats are always present in our environment, sometimes in the distance, sometimes up close. Opportunity is around us too. At our Tuesday evening class on September 11, 2001, pretty much every member of the dojo showed up to train. […]
From Buddha to OODA
Restoring Tactical Bunkai Analysis to Kata Bunkai: Tactics not just Techniques Even among those in martial arts who say they are teaching “the warrior way” some overlook what actual warriors do. The reciprocation of training and experience – between the world of the dojo on the one hand and of the street and the battlefield […]
The Kansha Controversy
If you do a word search on the titles, keywords and quotations in the articles I have written over the last few years you will see, month by month, who has been inspired by what I have written: who has republished it, or who has changed some words, reordered the ideas and posted it as […]
Senior Karate Training
Our Senior class is for people 65 years old and older. Sometimes classes for this age group are watered-down version of “the real thing.” Older people are sometimes treated as less competent versions of younger people. They sometimes think of themselves that way. New technology makes old technology seem obsolete, and irrelevant, and sometimes ridiculous. It […]
Mastery & Happiness
Habituating to operating in a flow state requires: clear goals, high challenge, performance feedback, complete engagement in purposeful action, being in control, feeling that your efforts matter. As you pass the phase boundary through training, to flow, you experience a merging of action and awareness. Your action becomes spontaneous and effective. These conditions are associated […]
How to Encourage Mushin or “Flow” in the Dojo
Researcher Steven Kotler writing in the Harvard Business Review, listed four conditions that produce a flow state – intense concentration, goal clarity, feedback as to how well you are doing, and a properly matched challenge to skills ratio. We use these continually in martial arts training. If the challenge level is set lower than the […]
“Group Flow” in Kata
Researchers have identified a phenomenon they call “group flow” which emerges in the performance of well-trained groups. In traditional martial arts we know it well. When members of a team, band, military unit, business or dojo “cooperate, agree on goals, skills and patterns of action”, then “group flow,” or group cohesion, emerges. Pioneeered by psychologist […]
People Get Ready
Some people feel worthless. They get used to it. You may know someone like that. It’s not good. For every person with an inflated sense of their own importance there may be many more who feel like their life doesn’t matter. They feel like the world is rigged against them. It may be. Maybe they […]
The Path to “Flow”
The path into a state of “flow” is open to everyone who sincerely wants to take it. It is blocked to observers.
Training the Hara
The science of high-performance – of advanced states of body and mind known as “Flow” – confirms what we discover in traditional karate training: Training the hara is essential to effective martial arts. In one sense the “hara” refers to the center of the body – our center of gravity, the center of our energy. […]
Mushin and the Science of Flow: Phase Transformation II
This phase transition is sometimes described as entering “flow” or “the zone.” In Japanese budo zanshin, mushin, immoveable mind, unstoppable mind, unfettered mind are used to name aspects of the same experience.
Damatte Keiko: Phase Transformation in Kata, I
It was a short drive from the dojo to the beach – on Okinawa you’re always close to the ocean. The driver was a long-time karate practitioner who agreed to teach me a new kata during the last few days of my visit. This stretch of beach was wide-open, with the endless sea, brilliant sun, […]
The Sharp Edge of History
A guy walks into the dojo and says: “I just want to learn to fight.” He paused for a second. “I really don’t care about all that other stuff.” He didn’t say what other stuff he meant. We didn’t ask. He wanted to learn to fight. We teach that. He started that day. What he […]
Police Incident
Motels are like life. You never know what will happen. And at some point, you have to go.
Kansha, II
I’ll tell you another reason we have the Gratitude calligraphy in front of the dojo: Gratitude is not a mushy, sentimental feeling. It is a hard practice. It’s up there as a reminder to appreciate having a good place to train, and to appreciate each other. It’s easy to focus on what’s lacking. Faults of the […]
Thanks to our Readers Worldwide
Thanks for all the great feedback on “The Good Fight”! If you have not read it, here’s some info on what’s in it: There is a sense that the world is spinning out of control. People feel something is wrong. Martial arts has a role to play, in our lives and beyond, to make things right. That […]
Ansei Ueshiro’s Nin Tai
One day Ansei Ueshiro walked onto the training floor. This was the first time I had seen him there in my three years in the dojo. I had met him briefly several times over the years. Those of us who started in the 80s had never seen him do karate. Mr. Ueshiro was an early […]
You Are Your Art
In the olden days the word “art” was applied to anything that required skill; like the art of farming, the art of architecture, the art of war. This is the use of “art” in “martial arts.” It doesn’t mean “for aesthetic purposes,” or artsy or intuitive. It is not distinct from “scientific.” Builders work with […]
The Good Fight
The groundbreaking new book by Jeffrey Brooks. In a culture of commercialized, trivialized martial arts, The Good Fight is essential reading. “Eloquent and thought-provoking…” -Mark Tankosich, Hiroshima University of Economics, Dan Rank Sho-ha Shorin Ryu and Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei Jodo “Such deep thoughts about martial arts are very rare! I really enjoy the excellent content.” –Prof. Christof Paar, Kishaba Juku, […]
The Rhinoceros Tale, 3rd Edition
Reviews of “The Rhinoceros Tale“, by Jeff Brooks: “An unforgettable account, crackling with energy and full of heart… the kind of book that can change your life.” – Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series “…honest, entertaining and forthright…” – Dave Lowry, author of Autumn Lightning “The best book I have read in a long time …filled with […]
Two To The Head
Our double punch has a unique high-power application, facilitated by uniquely Okinawan training.
The Warrior’s Choice
Warriors can neither cling to safety, or be careless with their lives. None of us can. A pivotal moment in the fate of Okinawa and of Japan lets us reflect on the depths of our martial art.
