Explain spiritually in the aspect of martial arts?

Question

please give detail

Answer 1

Hi there

Zero, nothing, Mu

Thats what its all about.

Best wishes

idai

Answer 2

Martial arts, but particularly the Japanese martial arts, aren't about self defense.  They exist as something to be perfected.  If self defense was the objective then no one would study iaido and kyudo.

Perfected means three things together:

Achieving the result.  e.g. hitting the target, doing the throw

Doing so with good form and technique, and

Doing the technique without conscious effort. i.e. perfection  is inherent in the person who has mastered the art.

This photo is from the entrance to the Japanese National BudoKan.

http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image...

As you can see there are words like "perfect",  "respect", "courtesy", "solemn", "graceful", "modest" etc..

Words like "*winning/winner", "success", "victory" aren't there.  That's why some sumo people are against sumo being an olympic demonstration sport if Japan gets the olympics again.

*mentioned in the photo in the context of modesty.

Answer 3

"He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still"- Lao Tzu

Answer 4

As to why martial arts are "spiritual."

In Budo it was taught, the moment you took up the sword, your life was in danger.  The reason Bushido and Zen are so intimately tied, has to do with the fact that in Buddhism, any negative Karma carries over into the next life.  A warrior had to fight with honor, lest he be reborn an animal, or in a Buddhist h**l.

You fight, always, for a selfless reason, because any selfish acts accumulate bad Karma.  Since in Japan it is tied with Zen Buddhism, and in China with Buddhism and Daoism, Chinese martial arts deal with much the same issues regarding "honor."  As regarding martial arts in Daoism, the ethics of self-defense in Daoist martial arts have to do with a martial art barely being a martial art at all.

In Daoism you avoid and neutralize, but you do not maim, hurt or kill so strictly speaking the self defense arts of Tai Chi Chuan and Bagua Zhang are not martial arts.  In the strictest "you're learning how to fight" sense.  Despite its pacifist nature, Daoist philosophy martial arts, can fall into one of two extremes; extreme pacifism, which barely any injury is incurred on an opponent, or extreme ruthlessness.  So, why would a martial art based on Daoist philosophy be ruthless?

The simple answer has to do with the fact that for balance and order to be restored, recurrent themes in Daoism, one must do "whatever is necessary."  See, the balance of the universe is of ultimate paramount importance over a human life.  That means that if, say, someone has to die to prevent the deaths of millions, a Daoist can not hesitate in taking that person's life using martial arts.  See this conflicts with Buddhism, which holds all life is sacred, and I suppose that is the reason why in Kung Fu movies Daoist martial artists are almost always the bad guys.

Indeed, Xing Yi, or "spirit boxing," is possible one of the most cold blooded martial arts ever devised after Karate, and it is based off of Daoist Philosophy.  Another extremely cold blooded martial art is Baijiquan, a style so dangerous, that provoking an expert of the style is to invite being maimed for life.  The cold blooded nature of the art is rooted in the thinking that with such a reputation, a fight will not even start in the first place, and thus peace is preserved.

See what I mean regarding how this conflicts with Buddhism?  In Buddism, you are not supposed to be cold blooded or ruthless for ANY reason, and you always look for an option.  Despite these disagreements, the truth is the Wudang and Shaolin temples have always gotten along well, even freely sharing with each other techniques and secrets.  Wudang temple has its own martial arts because of Shaolin, and Shaolin has Chi Kung because of Wudang.  Contrary to Kung Fu movie fiction, the truth is Wudang and Shaolin martial artists have always gotten along great, with fights being restricted to tests of skill.

Sometimes it was Shaolin, sometimes it was Wudang, but as I understand Wudang martial art's reputation, I believe the Wudang styles hold the better win reccord overrall.  Martial arts spirituality, I mean the two together, is explored more in Bushido and the Shaolin traditions, than in any others.  Bushido stuff is generally a good primer, but ultimately you will also have read stuff on Zen Buddism, a tradition of which the Shaolin temple itself is a part.

hope that was helpful.

Answer 5

there will always be tyrants trying to take your stuff, so be prepared to defend all the cool stuff youve accumulated.

Answer 6

Martial artists spend their lives learning how to fight so that they never have to fight.

"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants"  Gichin Funakoshi

Victory without honor is not a victory at all.  Failure with honor is not a failure at all.