The iron wall starts here.

So often I’m assailed by the white robed bare foot community with their delicate words of ascension into the realms of the enlightened. They speak of it, these pajama wearing types as if it were getting on a hot air balloon ride. Where on a clean spring day one drifts effortlessly up into the open serene sky, with the world ever visible below. Where once in the soft gaze of heaven god appears in his ever manifest beauty and the whole of the universe is revealed.

Ridiculous.

The act of changing anything is a complex undertaking, like climbing mount Everest, or more probably, an out and out war. For the reality of those whom seek** the ultimate self one has the fight of a life on his hands: his two most opposing sides. Neither side can settle for a truce or arrange a cease fire. Neither could live with the other once the presence of one is recognized. How could the enlightened self live with the selfish ego? And how could the ego allow the open endless spirit put down so many of the carefully laid traps it spent years creating?

All great endeavors require the destruction (if that word is to negative for your delicate ears, then: re-invention by the dis assembly…) of previously created paradigms. We have to willingly assail the wall of the self in order to find the cracks. We must change the whole of our being in one swallow. This is never not a violent act. The only other option is to simply leave the self as it is and return to the cave to fade from the world.

Did the Buddha simple sit by a tree one afternoon after having a nice meal and some wine before bed and come to the conclusions he did? No. His war of the self took years and even when he thought he had it mastered, sitting there under the Bod-hi tree, he was attacked again by “Love / Death” and his many incarnations of the maya of life. Even then he had to fight and as the gods threw swords and spears from a million million million minions, the Buddha didn’t sit and take the wounds, he fought them off with his own devices. He was at war!

The point of my rant is simple. We are a species of re-creation. Each birth is a genesis into the universe. A starting over. With these origins some other thing must be sacrificed and even in the most violent ways, destroyed.

A samurai or a warrior’s spirit is not in his sacrifice, but in his overcoming. His death is a kind of rebirth to something not so obvious. His actions are in fact the cocoon of his metamorphosis, it is by way of his every action that he can even spin the silk by which he changes.

** There are few real seekers these days. Most of us (including myself) are satisfied with the fox of the ego whom is a cleverer being than your conscious mind could ever be. For the Fox accepts all faiths, all ideas, all values, all thoughts, all ways of approaching. it is clever enough to even accept those things that supposedly destroy it knowing full well that without the actual war against it, the actual usurping of the power from it, it will be like a character in Shakespeare, whispering just the right words into the ear at the right time and never fading from it's place. It has nothing to worry over, for it realizes that it must exist if we are to remain as we are today.

The Nature of the sword

In you am I

Sheathed you are a Dragon
where your fiery heart pounds.

Unleashed a Buddha.

Training

Training
There is an oddity in the nature of our physical learning versus that of our discovery of knowledge. Most of our schooling systems take very small steps at the onset to see how quickly the student can learn. In the case of math it starts with understanding the numbers, what they actually mean, and then building on that with basic addition, then subtraction, and so on. History, science, Language, are all built on piece by piece until a clear picture of the underlying principles are visible to the student, versus simply plying the brain with an overwhelming strata of data.

Physical learning tries sometimes to include this sort of approach. A newcomer to baseball is taught the locations on the field, the idea of catching, the nature of batting, etc. But the most important parts of the physical learning are scarcely acknowledged. For example, in baseball, one is taught to hold the bat, where to stand, and what to swing at, but the subtle nuisances of direction of the hands, angle of the bat, the location of the feet, and all that other stuff are simply glossed over. A very primitive ideal is usually in place by physical type teachers, that is: only some knowledge can be taught, the rest is inherit. They tend to believe that you either have it or you do not and there is no amount of training that will every help you hit the ball more often, further, or accurately. They believe it is natural talent.
There is a certain truth to this, but it is not complete nor is it a law of a nature, instead it is more like a loose rule. The truth is that we human beings are wired in a particular manner. Some of us can step up to the plate and swing the bat ‘naturally’ because we hardwired our brains to understand the subtle physics of the sport, while others, whom have not wired themselves that way, need some programming to come to the same place. And yes, we are responsible for the wiring itself, nature makes the paths, some easier and more plentiful, but the actual learning is related to sensory input from birth.

It is possible, with proper teaching to be just as good as any other person at any given talent, related to age and physical circumstances of course.

I propose that the problem is in the way things are taught. Since I am mostly writing about martial arts, I will try to keep my analogies on the dojo floor and off the baseball field.

I believe that in most training halls the order in which the student acquires his skills are out of step with the nature of the brain and the subsequent mind/body complex. Most training halls do not indicate the order of learning a particular technique or skill, but instead leave this up to the student. This is a mistake. The student should not be allowed to dictate his own learning path.

If a student is working on his punching and he, by his mental wiring, believes that speed is the key, he will put that long before learning to punch straight, or if he believes that power is the only real importance than speed will be an irrelevancy.

The old saying, “Practice Makes Perfect” is completely wrong and should read, “Practice makes Permanent.”

The proper order of learning

Accuracy
I believe, that accuracy should be absolutely first and that everything should be practiced as at such a slow speed that it could barely be distinguishable as technique. If a student had the ability to simulate slow motion in fluid single thought, and do so only on the idea of hitting an exact spot every single time, this would greatly increase the students accuracy. Training, should include long meditations on the techniques, done very slowly in the minds eye. All training should move as slow and fluid as possible, finding the exact locations of pressure, the exact points of strikes, the exact ‘mental’ state of the moment and more importantly the exact purpose of the technique, the struggle, and what the individual warrior ship means. There is a flood behind every strike.


Speed
Once accuracy has been improved then the inclusion of speed begins. It should start slowly, and progress, but not to full speed. The point of the process is to wire the brain to understand the timing involved in the situation, to develop a better spatial relationship, and to understand the dynamics of their own motor skills and reflex times.


Power
And once some understanding of speed is incorporated into the study, then power should be included. This means understanding the dynamics of the muscle and the body position, the nature of gravity, mass, etc.


I go back to the sword often, because although it is a dangerous weapon, it can be easily ruined in the hands of someone that takes no time to learn the necessary approach to wielding it. If for example, I handed the sword to some one that held it like a mallet at the fair, wanting to hit the bell with the striker, He would most likely bend the blade in the target or strike something other than the target because he hadn’t the faintest idea of controlling the tip of the blade let alone the angle of the cutting edge. If I handed it someone that played a lot of video games he would have incredibly quick reflexes but he may not understand the nature of ‘strength’ when powering the blade into a target that caused him to stick the blade and bend it. One action is not enough, focus on one idea is never enough. Martial arts, like all truly esoteric approaches to the universe are multiple, a kind of many headed deity, not unlike those found in India. True knowledge is not known by the the hammer that strikes the bell but by those ears, miles away that hear it fully.

Imagine (yep, sports reference) if you could slow the process of a pitch down, yet keep it’s correct arc from the pitcher to home plate, only just slow it down, so that you could swing the bat slowly, accurately, right down on to the ball, instead of having to practice at full speed every time. Luckily we martial artist can slow the pitch down by controlling every action of ourselves, and through visualization of the process.

Distance

“Grandfather, Owl?” asked the child.

“Yes my little bird?” replied Grandfather Owl.

“You are plump. You are happy. Never a night do you not return with supper”, said the child.

“Yes, yes, all true, so true,” said Grandfather Owl smiling a memory back to life.

“How?”

“What? What’s that you say? How, what?”

“How do you always return with food?”

Grandfather Owl, sighed, ruffling his feathers and then settled back to his perch.

“My little one. I merely see the mouse and attack. What else is there?”


Distance as Metaphysical

Distance is defined as: The space between two things.

A lot of us have come to assume this a concrete subject. The space between A and B is the distance. We forget that it is space and instead attribute a much more lasting quality to it. We think of distance as a real item. How far is it to get to work sticks because of the time it takes to complete this task. The time becomes the distance and since the passage of time is readily felt by our sensory inputs, we can make this distance something greater than it truly is: a mere definition of space. It is because of this that it's multi-dimensionality gets lost.

Forget what you know about distance. Forget it as an object, think of it as the emptiness all around you, after all, everything in every direction is at a distance to where you sit, reading this right now. Make these 2 dimensional measurements irrelevant to your fighting nature.


Distance as physical

In the fighting world, we think of ourselves as an object in space, occupying a place in the physical universe. This location is easy for us to define, as it is apparent to our conscious minds. The opponent, also, must live in the same dimensional universe, and thus occupy a location in this plane of existence. How close the opponent is to our physical location defines how much of a threat they are to us. Weapons, such as sticks and bombs, are designed to eliminate the space advantage (and to increase lethality). In this way an unarmed opponent thirty feet away is at a distance at which the person does not have to be fully invested in the fight. There are more options. Distance is life, because it institutes time on which options can be applied.

The physical distance between A and B are important, but there are subtle distances at play here too. The distance between A’s fists or kicks, the distance between B’s center of gravity to the ground, the distance between parallel strikes and the ground.

Distances are based on lines (or arcs – but for simplicity we’ll stay with lines) These lines are all angles from 0° to 179° (any other angle for us is a reflection of the rest and may only serve to confuse the reader). These lines of movement, of direction while moving through space to change distances are important to remember and recognize while learning how to move and maintain space so that you can continue to create time for yourself and maintain your balance. The lines themselves have global distances as well: the distance from fist to fist, from fist floor, from fist counter strikes. All these angles reflect other distances. Study on this.


Distance universality

“But Grandfather Owl. They must see you coming!”

“Then why is it I never starve?”

The Three Hearts That Ride Six legs

Part I – The First Heart

Balance

Put down the pen for a moment and look around you. Look at the world. Be it man made or natural. Be it skyscraper or tree. Be it airplane or bird. Look at the way everything exists. Most things symmetrical, most things have similar designs on all sides, especially in nature. Nothing naturally exists where one side is not balanced by the other. The physical universe is so designed.

Balance is defined as a state of equilibrium and more often than not in the martial arts its sole definition is about the physical balance of the body. In most martial artists minds, the idea of balance is about angles, and directions of kinetic/potential energy.

The physical Balance

A human form is so designed to literally teeter on two thin, long, legs. The length of the legs is the sole dictator to how well balanced the wider and heavier upper body are maintained. Muscle mass in and of itself in the legs has no direct bearing on the ability for a being to remain upright. Two men of equal height and equal leg length would have the same tipping point (assuming the contact point were applied at the hips).

Kamae help to lower this balance point by spreading out the legs, thus lowering the center of gravity, and changing the tipping point to a finer angle verses it being much larger when we are standing upright. Most martial artists, wrestlers, and boxers already know this about themselves and do their best to incorporate as much as possible, a lower stance. In the real world, of course, lower stances make one slower to move and limit directional movement. A very wide and low stance limits the martial arts to only a few easily accessible directions. Over time, faster fighting methods have adopted a much more straight up stance where balance is pushed toward the opponent by allowing the upper body to bent slightly toward them, back leg pushing forward into the opponent. Almost as if the martial artist is walking into the wind.

Here in lies one of the key principles of balance: no fight is done in a vacuum. We all have to deal with the other persons potential. His balance as well as our own. We need never consider ourselves first and foremost, but as the whole cycle of the fight in one thing.

Imagine that at my joints a steel pin is placed and on those pins a steel rod is attached. This rod then connects to a steel rod and pin on my opponent. The rods have a damping ability where they can telescope in our out. I control this telescoping, my opponent does not. Therefore when he moves it moves my rods and causes my balance to be effected. If he moves in to strike me, I control my rods ability to telescope and alter their length to ensure my balance does not faultier, but some of the rods do not change length and keep him from advanced fully into my space.

Other times think of balance like holding a fire hose while you fight. It is always pushing you off in directions you have to struggle against. If his energy is the hose pushing you, you push back to maintain your balance.

The mental Balance

Balance is a central ideal in the nature of Warriorship. One does not dive into a heated battle without a strategy. Luck will only get you so far, mostly it will get you killed (or worse). Balance should come to the warrior in different manners. He should be welll grounded mentally. Able to see all sides of a situation. Trees are rooted, but they sway to the changing winds. Yet, even a tree sometimes breaks from to much wind. A warrior should be empathic, and his founding’s, those things he builds his morality on, should be things that are universally unchangeable: love, truth, life and the like.

His balance should begin long before he ever sees a single missile. This is a mental kamae on which one sinks their weight and learns the angles of their own mind. The warriors path should be filled with things that test his mental balance as well as his physical. A road untested should not be avoided, for fear is the ultimate tool of a warriors enemies on which he can unbalance even the best of us.

This doesn’t mean throw caution to the wind and race off to join the Foreign Legion. In fact, quite the opposite. The testing should come in ways that help the warrior understand his balance, not in things that completely disrupt it. Imagine if I told you to learn to fly an aircraft only I waited until we were in a flat stall, spinning out of control to hand over the controls. What good could come of such a test? And worse, who else do you take with you when you crash?

Strength is dealt out with just as much restraint as it is with swords. A balanced mind knows which and where.

The Universal Balance

In the end the warrior is looking to do one thing in particular and by way of doing that one thing uncovering others. He is looking for truth. The universe appears to us on the brink of falling over, to be spinning out of control with us, yet in reality, the closer we come to balance the less we see the universe as even being on the teeter to begin with. That underneath, in the quiet breathes we sense just how grounded and true the universe is. That it is immovable and that nothing can topple it.

Kali dancing on one leg. Saint Sebastian's bound feet. The universe never tips. It can not faultier.

Perseverance

The oceans deep and true
go on forever.
But the oceans, depth begins
one drop at a time.

Each drop eventually finds its way
up
up
into the blue sky.
It evolves, the spirit of change
and the whole of this single drop
escapes the single boundary of the ocean.

It meets other elevated drops
heaven bound they form a cloud
and off they go: a tiny white puff.

Then from My observation point
below the peak of the mountain
the cloud butts himself against her
unmoving
majestic greatness.

The cloud asks, "Can we Pass"
Fuji remains silent.
Yet the cloud persists!

I watch as it tries every advantage
every motion,
every possibility
Never thinking of retreat.

Then other small white clouds join
and eventually the momentum changes
and the cloud redoubles its effort.

Rain, storms, winds.
The cloud pounds Fuji
and the mountain bows
in supplication.

To this day the mountain lowers its head.

---

The nature of perseverance is not only the idea of continuing, but the recognition that growth and knowledge are allies in your struggles against those obstacles that stand in our way.