Tag Archives: The Martial Way

Win #37–Does The Way Really Exist in Karate?

The Way in the Martial Arts is one of those things people talk about without knowing about. They are just sure that there is a True Path. And they are right. That everybody knows about it, and that leads somewhere, but don’t really know what it is and where it goes is one of those fascinating things.

The True Way refers to the scientific truth of how to use the body. It refers to a scientific arrangement of art to get the body there. The goal at the end of The Way is Perfection. Gichin Funakoshi wrote a fabulous bit of verse at the beginning of Karate Do Kyohan, one line of which goes, ‘The Way Straight and True…who will pass it on.

Here’s a lengthy win, but a good one…

I reached this conclusion while observing the progression of awareness that is necessary to move from one level of Dharma Combat to the next. It became very apparent to me that there is a distinct gradient of awareness that is followed.  [For example, first you are introduced to the concepts where you “think” about how to make things work. Then, through application and “effort” you learn to handle strength and force, and you eventually learn to use less effort with motion and flows. Next, it then becomes necessary to progress through the level of Emotion by overcoming such things as fear and anger, so that you can reach beyond the simple “Joy of Combat.” Beyond that, you enter into a realm which requires a much finer level of awareness, where you need to be able to simply “look” or observe what the opponent is doing, unencumbered by thoughts and emotions, even to the point where there is no mind involved at all. And then, as if that isn’t the ultimate, I believe you can go to a universe where intentions are senior to the physical universe, where one simply “knows” that his opponent and all things including himself are connected, and the True Art is reached where the experiences of “poetry of motion” and the ultimate Game of Life are all that exist!]–SN

Perfection through Karate. You can start the journey by picking up a free Karate Ebook I wrote.