Which is more important?

Our group was doing a ceremony for the local Japanese Community.
We were joined by a fairly large group of local Buddhist Priests from other temples.
One of the older Abbots asked me a question. "So you do kyudo with him too, right?" As he laid his hand toward my teacher. "Yes" I responded. "So, tell me then, in kyudo which is the most important the taihai (approach) or the Hassettsu (8 stages, of shooting)?

The Ogasawara Sensei all cleaned the dojo when they visited. When we took the mops from them, they just went outside and started raking and cleaning up; we couldn't stop them. Everytime we took ono job from them they found another.

''Sha wa, rei ni hajimari, rei ni owaru,'' Shooting begins with etiquette and ends with etiquette. Actually almost all of the modern 'do' arts begin their treatise this way, by just replacing the 'sha' at the beginning with whatever exemplifies their art. I find the investigation of how to embody this philosophy quite compelling.

Just as intriguing is the fact that the written character translated as etiquette can also be translated as the act of bowing. So the physical manifestation of etiquette and manners is the bowing.

So what is bowing? Humility? Respect?

What is manners?

What is etiquette?

And how do we manifest this, not only in the dojo, but in our daily lives. How do we interact with everyone that in such away that we embody this 'Rei'?

Treat everyone with humility and respect?

When we act with humility and respect, I think our interactions become more kind too. 

Not just the answer to these questions in our head but in our lives, this is where the practice of the 'do' arts will have it's greatest impact, not just on our lives, but for the entire world.

The 'Dō' 道 arts of Japan and 'Zen' 禅

Zen 禅 is a form of Buddhism that arrived in Japan from India as Dhana via China as Channa. The Japanese version of this is Zenna or Zen.

Dhana is a form of Buddhist meditation, absorption meditation to be precise. It is said by the Zen Masters that this is the meditation Shakyamuni Butsu (The founder of Buddhism) experienced to awaken to the true nature of reality.

As Dhana traveled through China it absorbed much of the Chinese thought, especially the principles and language of Taoism. It is this mixture that became Chinese Channa or Chan.

The same happened in Japan with the Descendants of Dogen Zenji (the founder Soto Zen in Japan), when they mixed and merged the Chan with the existing teachings of Japanese thought. It is this combination that we now know of as Zen.

The 'Dō' 道 of Japan is the Japanese pronunciation of Chinese Tao 道.
The dō existed in Japan along with Confucianism and Buddhism in Japan since the 6th Century AD. But these Taoist aspects played a minor role until Zen came to Japan. The dō arts of Japan reflect this influence of  Zen on the arts.

This is most easily seen as the role Zen played in reviving the sacred portions of arts like Calligraphy, Flower arrangement, Tea Ceremony and the other arts the aristocracy were playing with. The Zen monks interacted very strongly with the Warrior Class of Japan as well; and influenced their understanding of the world greatly.

Especially after peace time during the Tokogawa Shogunate...

Dōjō道場 (Way Place, A place for Training in The Way)

Dōjō道場 (Way Place, A place for Training in The Way)

The original term 道場 dōjō was used in Buddhist temples to denote a training hall. Not usually martial arts in the beginning, but later they began to be used this way. Today the term is most well known as a martial arts training all. But it is a hall to train in The Way; In the Temple, The Way was expected to refer to A Way of the Dharma.