The Spiritual Importance of Traditional Weapons for Internal Martial Arts

"Books speak to the mind, friends speak to the heart, Heaven speaks to the soul, everything else speaks only to the ears". - Chinese proverb..

Hear your thoughts, but do not chase them a way with meaningless difficulties.Zenist maxim

Fear is a root human emotion but the smallest cursory search of our formative years reveals little in terms of a realistic solution to personal and family insecurities. Few of us could claim to have resolved the deeper issues of own personal losses. We can not cry over spilt milk but we do. Nor can we grasp opportunities before they arrive. Todays' world can seem and is often is a bad place to be. Modern societies are not modern. We are still bound to the tread mill of materialism and economic scarcity. Economically it appears some people want what can only be taken from others. Often they wish to take everything, property, resources, rights to control and human freedom. Numerous institutions hold the reins of power to ensure the desired course of social action. However it is our interpretation of events which roots both intent and individual sensibilities.

Mumon Ekai. The Gateless Gate 1183-1260

Modernities technology has given us an increasing awareness of the social costs of dis-empowering human potential. When injustice is created the flow of events which follow are presented as a necessary expedience. Historically we have no recourse but to dance to a tune that is played by the values of those in power. In terms of a Taoist perspective of history one can argue little has changed. Social difficulties arise out of a struggle to arrive at a level of new "natural order". Modernity is no different in social structure to the Confucian vision of social order which was defined through family relations, occupational class and position. Whether under a Modern or Confucian order personal freedoms are by no means easily maintained rights. Or else why do so many feel fearful. That there are laws and legal systems implies that injustice is natural and is therefore created by social interaction. When we make sense of the world we do not simply reach out for elegant meanings or reasons. No, we tend to sense an explanation through everyday beliefs. We say that the mass of our failings is but a trait of human nature. This is why traditionally every culture seeks to enhance self awareness through some discipline. I is at the core of our modern educational beliefs and schooling.

To develop character implies we possess a clear and conscious existence, yet our nagging sense of frustration and doubt demonstrates that at some unconscious level we do not know what we are being or what we have done. In this sense it is difficult to be aware of ourselves without self belief and self confidence.

The Sword is Substance but has no Edge

Modern Martial Imagery has struggled to maintain its relationship with its philosophic roots. In Zen archery the flight of the arrow can find no mark without proper alignment of archer, bow and arrow. The mark is felt to be "destined" an image of emptiness which neither targeted or target. If modern martial arts is to mean anything beyond personal desire then we must do battle with fantasy. Character in spiritual terms is a battle with ego, desire and purpose. Martial fantasys exist because one's character is uncertain at its root. To maintain fantasy requires that self obssession becomes a goal which removes the sensitivity of the heart.

In the spirit of traditional sword play it is the mind which is calmed to hear the voice of the inner self. Awareness is what we allow it to become through time and process. The process of our lives is created by Warfare of Needs resting on a bed of faith and hope.

The struggle to be tolerant in Zennist terms is the ability to accept there is a good life available. It is a struggle to believe in the good in life. Frequently this "good" is expected for the elite of a social group. They maybe favoured by society or have developed special positions. This creates a problem of acceptance. Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism cite that humanitarian realism and compassion will provide the support needed to secure change. Personal change requires to exercise of spontaneity couple to compassionate sensibilities.

Modernity offers to the Sage no new space to transcend. To appreciate traditional martial Wisdom is to understand the way in which we fall foul of our hopes, needs of faith. How do we accept our life decisions at public and personal levels? What questions do we fail to address? Can we admit with sincerity of heart and clarity of mind the effects for all peoples? Is there truth for all? A force for good. The will to believe in the GOOD in all life?

Our theories of life serve to explain our hopes and history. Modernities inhabitants are Europo-panised. International beliefs, civil liberties, and everyday contradictions the flood senses. We have learnt to cooperate with a complex matrix of beliefs which struggle to permit spontaneity or even freedom to grow spiritually. Classical ancient expression saw sagehood as the blending of eclectic understanding of past beliefs honed with the will to witness the power to change. Spiritual progress requires high levels of honesty for confirmed rational thinkers. Creative courage is a prerequiste of any radical change or spiritual course.

The ethos of modern martial arts is suspect and immature. Particulary the die hards argue that to

To be a winner can be simply the fantasy some on else is a loser. This is not the Way of Character, this is the Way of Power. A lack of enlightenment, yields the penalty of senselessness contradiction. The Taoist sage listens to their ordinary mind. To do this the sage must feel the way towards experiencing the reverance for life. The sage knows that any argument when considered objectively, can only demonstrate the relativity of a determinstic point of view. For character can only be received through the pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom arrives by listening to the heart of ones own beliefs and maturing past and through them.

........things that appear in the world are transient

If you view all things that appear as never having appeared,

then you will realize your true self. (Diamond Sutra)

If we are to approach the values of Enlightenment we have to allow that our lives can not simply be played out under the guise of consciously controled life. The western minded individual usually considers "my life" as an object to be possessed this is mistake.

Zen expression is like thunder, it is heard but never seen; and what is not sensed in relative terms has to be passed over, yet who can feel entirely satisfied with this? ThIS dualism is a Truly felt dilemma for spiritual being because our minds form two camps. One of idealism and the other beliefs designed to comfort our personal continuance. There is in this an indication that we have an innate sense of what it is to live as mortal. The mortal self possesses a mindfulness where life and being begin in terms of a sense of personal presence, and from that sense we are existent in a world perceived as loss and death. This as we have come to experience or at least expect it to be so. There is in each of us death camp's as it were, within our sincerest feelings. To be an individual is to endure the hurt of individuality, to grow and change through an unavoidable process of loss and death, in this we possess and are possessed by the shape of our identity and consciousness. Acceptance of death is a form of self realization. The mind seeks it out at times to give us distance from out distress.

The role of Sage is classically portrayed as a spiritual warrior As warrior we directed to meet and explore the freedom possible through detachment. To achieve unobstructed freedom demands that our greater selves deal with negative emotions which inhabit our ordinary selves. All manner of resentments, bitterness, anger and fear underwrite out spiritual selves. Many a good apple can rot with through modernities secular agendas. Freedom of expression takes root in the struggle to create value. The trick is to escape self doubt created by the expectations of the artists aspirations. The artist struggles against a background of conflict which reduces insight and spontaneous naturalness which Taoists called Wu-Wei no mindedness.Wu-Wei no, mindness is a difficult mental stance. Wu-Weo extolls that to be present, to exist and express the feeling of mystical being is to simply be. To be is to express one self acts without self,,,,- that one must take-no-notice of self and reach in to become no-thing. Taoist schools of poetry, painting, and music advocated a natural expressive form.

Naturalism is to feel oneself to be neither contending or separated from everyday acts. Traditionally internal martial artists are involved with a struggle to move away from the values of the old self and sense feelings of mystical being which encompass perceptions of naturalistic existence.

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the shadow,,,,,,, T.S. Eliot

Taunting death is for many the ultimate thrill of existence because we find meaning in the dance of attraction and repulsion. Whether in their running from an affront or fighting against it, the shape of ourselves and others often produces an intense form spiritual distress or revelation.Traditionally the Sword represented a symbol of truth and righteousness while the Pole or Staff repesents schooling in some guiding doctrine or religion. Typically the Traditional Weapon is important because it is a symbolic spiritual guide, while one leans on a Staff to to rest and prevent poor footing. Similarly the Sword cuts open the Way to bring light and justice.

There is no Sword

I make absence of

Self non action

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