Mokuso - Silent Contemplation

Mokuso is Silent Contemplation. This is a very popular form of meditation in many martial arts circles.

We can even heard it said as we begin to sit quietly before class 'Mokuso!'
I was taught as a kid in Karate that it meant 'Attention!'; but I related this like Attention! in the military; and I suppose in some ways this is true. Even Zen can be a bit militaristic in it's tough disciplined approach.

Mokuso does come from a Buddhist background and is one of the 84,200 forms of meditation taught in Mahayana Buddhist that is prevalent in Japan.

This silent contemplation can bring up our awareness, wake us up, and bring us to attention.
It also allows our worries and cares from outside the dojo to dissolve and bring us into focus on the task at hand; perhaps even bring us to directly experience this present moment.

In martial arts being in the present moment, just like in Zen, is the primary way to live.

Temple Records

Temple records in Japan abound. Everything is recorded. In regards to Buddhism and the Warrior arts there are many writings and correlations.

We know of the Sohei, armies of warrior monks who used weapons though they were monks. We know of the Yamabushi, individual and warrior monks in non-affiliated temple groups, who used weapons both to protect themselves and also as methods to train in The Way.

We also know that many warriors upon retirement shaved their head, some simply because this was the safest and acceptable way to retire, and others sincerely to become monks, and perhaps some with the intent to repent in some way for their violent lives. In many cases they continued to use their warrior weapons as tools on The Way, much like the Yamabushi do.

The relationship between Zen and the Warrior Class of Japan is well known. Just like with the retirement situation of Warriors into Buddhism the relationship varied according the predilection of the Warrior's intent. Most received some basic initiation ceremony and a Buddhist name, but not evereyone studied Zen or Buddhism in any way, they simply supported temples or teacher so that they could support the Warrior's clan spiritually; but most used their priests as advisers and teachers; many studied Buddhism intellectually, but most took up Zen because of it's embodiment of the practice not because of it's intellectual and philosophical attributes. A great number of prominent Warriors took up Zen practice including Classical Interviews with the teacher to truly travel the Buddhist Path.

The priest of these Warrior students used every means possible to help them obtain the teaching. This included the creation of whole new methods and revival of others too. This was not the first time the warrior's weapons were used as a means of teaching, but it was possibly the most extensive. Zen is practice in daily life, and these weapons were the daily life of their warrior disciples.

Quality vs Quantity

Quality vs Quantity

They sometimes say that kyudo is all a matter of how many arrows we shoot.

I attended a few seminars with Takeshi Shibata Hachidan Hanshi. On one of these we were out to dinner with the 'heads' of kyudo in America, and Shibata Hanshi was giving us a lecture. He said (my translation so give it some room), 'something is wrong'. You guys seem sincere in your practice, and your students look pretty good, but something is wrong.' It seemed a rhetorical question or perhaps we were just embarrassed into silence... but our silence begged for more and he added, 'you guys can't shoot'.

Takeshi Shibata Sensei
Photo compliments of Rosemarie Read of Panama Kyudo Kai

Now Shibata Hanshi is one of the best shooters in Japan; for example on another seminar he was showing us how the body expands during hikiwake and especially to produce the hanare; he wasn't really concentrating on the target, but all of the 20 (or so) arrows he shot hit the target. (he wasn't even wearing a glove, just a little gauze on his right thumb).

He then sent us all off to try and emulate this expansion. As we all walked away I turned and asked, 'Sensei, how did you do that?' 'Do what?' he responded. 'You hit the target every time!' I said. 'Oh' He replied, 'I teach high school students; if I can't do that, they won't listen to me'.

I thought that was the end of the great lesson, when he said, 'I tell you what, I'm going to shoot one more and put it in the right corner'. Of course, I believed he meant the right corner of the target; but you know what, he put it in the right corner of the bulls eye! Still I thought he meant the right corner of the target, until he said, 'this one in the left corner', and it flew right into the left lower corner of the bulls eye; this one I'll put in middle', and he did... right smack dead center between the other two.

Now back to dinner... Sensei continued, 'You seem sincere in your practice, but something is wrong'. He seemed to wait for an answer this time, for us to explain why 'we can't shoot'.... 'why we can't hit the target'. 'Well', someone responded, 'You're right Sensei, we are sincere, and we teach the best we can, and shoot the best we can, I guess we don't know what we're doing wrong?' And with this we asked for his help. 'Well...' he asked, 'how many arrows do you shoot everyday?' 'Oh, everyday' we said, 'well, you know we have families and jobs during the week, and even on weekends we're usually teaching we don't always get a chance to shoot much ourselves...' and he cut us off. 'Ah, well there's the problem then.'

At this point someone was brave enough to ask, 'Sensei, how do you do it?'

'Oh' He said, 'in the morning I go to the dojo and shoot 100 arrows, I hit those 100. Then if students show up, I teach them. If not, then I shoot 100 more.'

That's 100 to 200 arrows a day! No wonder he can shoot so well. But there are a couple more lessons in there. He doesn't say he hits the first 100 to boast; it tells us that he doesn't waste them, he shoots them with care, he's not just 'chucking' them down there without giving each one it's due attention.

Also the main lesson for those of us at the dinner was 'before the student's arrive he shot 100'... and everyday he practiced. From that day on I try to shoot everyday, certainly I practice everyday even if it's sit, stand, bow & tote renshu in a hotel room. One of my students who heard this story began shooting 100 arrows a day too, and he got pretty good too.

Satoshi Sagino Shihan of Muyoshingetsu-ryu

On the other side of this coin is Sagino Shihan of our Muyoshingetsu school. Who told us to put everything we have into one shot. 'Shoot everyday' he said, 'shoot one arrow, and put your whole-self into that arrow... exhaust yourself completely'. We have a student who hearing this now takes 3 hours to shoot that one arrow every day. Cleaning and preparing his backyard space... cleaning and preparing his equipment and clothes... meditation... and beautiful taihai and hassetsu to release that one arrow...folding his kimono and hakama neatly... and putting everything away. And you know, he's really good too. My eyes once asked him about this practice, and he said, 'you know... when you only shoot one arrow... and it takes 3 hours of your day... you never waste that arrow'.

In the middle was Onuma Sensei, who on one visit to Los Angeles told us, 'Shoot 10 arrows every day. With 10 arrows you can really focus, many more and it's difficult. So shoot 10 arrows everyday without fail'.

Hideharu Onuma Sensei.
Photo from the book 'Kyudo - The Essence and Practice of Japanese Archery'
By Hideharu Onuma with Dan and jackie DeProspero

Since both quality and quantity obviously count, I think each of these approaches has merit. Each can have a place in our practice throughout the year. If I were to choose, I think I would choose quality over quantity; so the one arrow would be the best practice; but the guy who shoots 100 may beat you in the tournament; so maybe that's the best practice; but do we really have time in our busy lives for 100 or 200 arrows a day, can we really give each of those the quality our practice demands? If so, 100 is a great practice. Maybe the 10 a day is the best balance? I like balance and middle road, so my practice for many years followed this 10 a day. Today sometimes I shoot one arrow with all I've got; at least once a year, and sometimes coming up to it, we have our 108 arrows shoot; mostly with my hitori geiko (solitary practice) I shoot hitote (a handful, or in kyudo we define this as 2).

quality vs. quantity. both count. Again if I were to choose, I would probably choose quality. But they are not really separate; shoot as many quality arrows as you have time, energy, and attention to give them.

However many arrows you decide to shoot each day is up to you. But please practice everyday. And put your wholeself into that entire practice. Put your wholeself into your entire life... every moment of every day. The rest of our lives depends on it.

Thank you,

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...

Spiritual Martial Arts - Zen in the Japanese Arts (draft)

Before Zen in Japan, there was Chan in China; and before Chan in China there was Dhana in India. All of these are forms of Buddhism. Buddhism was formed by followers of Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni is the Sage of the Shakya Clan.

Before Shakyamuni was a sage, he was the prince of the Shakya Clan; but left his wife and family to become a yogi, and to find the release from suffering for all human beings. Once he awoke to the Way of Liberation from suffering; he became Shakyamuni.

As the prince, he was the best archer and one of the best warriors in the land. In yoga too there were methods of using yoga as spiritual training and martial arts; though this was not mainstream yoga it did exist.

Dhyana came to China as a separate Buddhist sect by the teachings of Bodai Daruma.  Bodaidaruma also taught some form of this martial yoga to the monks he was training; both as a means of self-defense, a way to be healthy, a way to stay awake, and a training method of the Way. These monks may have already been exposed to their own training methods as well, though the written history of the time was written and re-written, and does not always agree with the many versions of oral history passed down as well. Most scholars, of course, favor the written records as they find them and distrust and discount the oral history; logically this makes sense, but as monks we take at face value the oral history we are given, and simply allow for poetic license to convey an underlying truth, even if the written 'fact's may not bear it out as actual history.

But we do know that both in India, in China, and in Japan there were martial practices that were simultaneously used by monks as training methods on the Way,

The biggest overlap and confusion comes to play in Japan; where some warriors, though few in the scheme of things also followed to some degree portions of Buddhist practice. Also there were warrior monks in some sects; so it can be easy to mix and merge the idea that all Japanese Warriors practiced Zen for instance; but this simply is not true. Most probably borrowed some Buddhist practices and ideas in their lives; all Japanese did that to some degree. The jukyo from the mainland consisted of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Japanese Culture consists of this jukyo combined with their own way of thought. Japanese Zen too, consists of all 4 of these; as it came to Japan and the followers of Dogen Zenji (founder of Soto Zen) encouraged this blending.

But what I am speaking of here is not the warriors who may have touched on Buddhist or Zen in their lives. I'm talking about the few individuals that brought this combination, or re-discovered it in their own lives, of martial arts and spiritual life. It was there for a few in Yoga, even before Shakyamuni; and it was there in China, even before Bodaidaruma; and it was in Japan before buddhism came.

This practice has always existed, and is being re-discovered again today by many martial artists; either through a lineage that has always had it; or in one that was recently re-discovered by a master of their own art in the last few hundred years. Or perhaps by an individual today that now realizes that not only can it be done, but that it always has been done....

Dosa - The Way of Movement

Dousa (動作) = Movement, the way you move or how you move,

動 = to move, to act, 

作 = to make, to work, production, same character as sahou (作法) = manner

We have spoken of Kamae and Inzo in previous posts, but I'll give a brief review and a few more details here.

Inzo being the Seal of the Kamae. The Inzo begins with the finger nails and toe nails to include the position of hands and feet as the point between our tanden and the universe around us. The Inzo seals the intent of the Kamae, so the Kamae is really important, as is it's seal.

Kamae is the Stance / Position / or Pose that implies both the moving in and moving out; but is primarily the position of our tanden in the universe. The position of our Tanden, of course, sets the position of our whole-self. When we discuss Kamae, we are usually talking about the body position, but since there is really no separation between... we are also speaking of: Where we are, How we stand; the positions we hold from our core principles and beliefs.

The third foundation of this triad is Dosa. The Dosa is the moving in and out of Kamae. How we move in the world. How we live our daily life... every moment of every day.

Of course all three of these rely on the secret 5.

1. Kokyu = Breathing

2. Yurumeru = Letting go / to relax

3. Tanden = Our Center

4. Hone = Bone

5. Hari = Stretching

The Dosa / Movement always begin and end with Rei (Manners / Etiquette / the physical bow). And Rei always begins and ends with Tanden (our Core). Moving with the Breath (Kokyu), Blood (Chi), and Bone (Hone) create a beautiful Dosa.

Being mindful of our position in the world and moving from our center without force, without pushing or pulling. By being in a beautiful pose for others to see and emulate, by showing movement of challenged ease, presents the Dosa of the Japanese Do arts.

Kamae - Position / Base / Stance

The teaching lies within each of us, and all of us.

Kamae 構え - Our presence, our position in the world, can often have a profound affect. We must be aware of how we stand.

In 'Do' arts we have 'Kamae'. Kamae is used to mean a stance. It is the base from which we move. It implies both position and movement. In kyudo every 'stop and no stop' posture as we pause to transition, this can be said to be Kamae. As we train please keep our Kamae in mind. Our positions and stances that we take in life are very important. Kokoro no Kamae is extremely important. Please give attention to these stances between the movements.

Every Kamae is accompanied by an inzo or seal. The Kamae includes the whole posture (wholeself, both body and mind/heart and more) the inzo is this as well, but concentrated on the extremities especially the hands, fingers and even the finger nails; the position of the inzo seals an intent that his naturally held within the shape and directions of the hands. These seals once formed have put into place the power of the Kamae and set the direction of this power.

The effect on the world of one individual being quiet and still is quite profound; the geometric increase of this, with each added individual is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Our profound presence is a fantastic present, in this present moment; This place in the universe effects directly the root of all suffering, of our ignorance, and the very root of our existence. Not just for the individual but for everyone and everything. It is of the greatest importance.

If we then interact in our daily lives from this place of profound connection! Imagine! Vision! Action! Daily activity of stillness and action... stillness in action... action in stillness... for there is no separation.