Samurai Zen

By Scott Shaw

An illustrated guide to uniting physical control with mental calm, by an experienced martial artist and practicing Buddhist.

The medieval Samurai of Japan have long been depicted as the consummate warriors of Asia. While the physical training the Samurai underwent was intense and exacting, much of their skill was based on their mental refinement as well as their physical prowess.

At the forefront of integrating spiritual understanding into the martial arts, Scott Shaw, the author of Zen O’Clock draws upon his years of study of Buddhist culture to show you how to acquire higher awareness through the art of Zen and Iaido, or the meditative art of the sword. He begins by teaching you how to control and refine your physical senses, while quieting your mind and your emotions as well as your reactions to other people’s energies. Next, with clear instruction and photographs, he guides you through both standing and seated forms of Iaido. He also includes powerful breathing exercises for centering yourself and directing energy.

Includes illustrations

Praise for Scott Shaw’s The Warrior is Silent

“An easy-to-read introduction to recognizing and developing the spiritual depth of the martial arts.” —Publishers Weekly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 15, 1999
• ISBN: 9781609254407

Scott Shaw

Scott Shaw is a regular contributor to all of the major national martial arts magazines and has a Ph.D. in Asian studies. He is the only non-Korean ever to be promoted to the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt in the Korean martial art of Hapkido by the Korea Hapkido Federation. He is the editor of the Tuttle Dictionary of the Martial Arts of Korea, China, and Japan and is the author of Hapkido: The Korean Art of Self Defense, andThe Ki Process: Korean Secrets for Perfect Health.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

The medieval Samurai of Japan have long been depicted as the consummate warriors of Asia. Their swordsmanship and military expertise were refined to such a degree of excellence that they became legendary figures in the annals of martial arts. Though the physical training the Samurai underwent was intense and exacting, much of their skill was based not simply in their physical prowess, but in their mental refinement as well. The cultivated enlightened attitude which formed the framework for their martial art abilities and their unique mental perspective in combat were both founded upon a philosophic approach to life known as Zen Buddhism.

Buddhism came to the island nation of Japan at the hands of Korean missionaries in the 6th century A.D. From this initial introduction, and with later transmissions from China, Japan began to integrate Buddhism into its native religion, Shintoism. Though Buddhism was embraced early in Japan, it was not until the 12th century, when the Buddhist teacher Dogen brought a version of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism to Japan, that the Samurai, who were then in military control of the country, became engulfed in its practices.

The teachers of Ch'an, known as Zen in Japanese, taught the Samurai that the primary factor which must be adopted into their training was the acute focusing of their entire physical, mental, and spiritual being. From this one-pointedness of body, mind, and spirit, they would be able not only to become superior warriors in battle, but ultimately experience Nirvana, or enlightenment, as well.

As Zen Buddhism evolved in Japan, the Samurai came to follow a path focused on enlightenment which practised seated meditation, known as Zazen, as well as the physical movements of their martial arts. No longer was the act of preparing to kill an opponent simply an act of war. Instead, the Zen Samurai raised their physical martial art skills to a level of meditation where such art forms as Iaido, the meditative way of the sword, and Kyudo, the meditative art of the bow, were born.

It may be difficult for some people to understand how the act of preparing for physical battle can, in fact, be an exercise in meditation. Zen Buddhism, however, is not a philosophy based in accepted reality. Zen exists in a state far from the confines of what defines the practical mind of the individual. Zen is nonrational in its approach and its application to spiritual illumination.

At the heart of Zen understanding, it is taught that the embracing of Nothingness leads one to enlightenment. To embrace Zen Nothingness, known in Japanese as Ku, the individual trains himself to leave behind all elements of conceptual reality. In addition, all actions, whether physical or mental, must be performed in a state of consciousness known as Mumen, or No-mind.

It cannot be understood by the thinking mind. It cannot be rationalized. Zen Nothingness cannot be taught. Although Zen Nothingness cannot be taught, there are practices which have been handed down for centuries which bring the individual to the level where Zen Nothingness can be embraced. From this encountering of Nothingness, Satori, a sudden burst of enlightenment is experienced.

As the techniques of the Zen Samurai continued to evolve over the centuries, highly defined physical and mental practices developed which led to the refinement of consciousness necessary for the practitioner to truly achieve the unification of body, mind, and spirit, and to clear the thinking mind to the level where Ku could be grasped. From these practices, the individual's physical and mental awareness are heightened to a level not experienced by the average person, and he or she is led on a directed path which promises enlightenment.

The techniques which are presented in this book represent the methodical approach to the desired level of enhanced spiritual awareness known by the Zen Samurai. From them, modern individuals can guide their senses to the level of becoming profoundly acute, meditatively centering the mind to a degree where Satori can be encountered.

PART ONE

The Foundation of Samurai Zen

Enlightenment is available to all entities who are willing to transcend the realms of material existence and encounter cosmic consciousness.

1

BUTSZ

Butsz is the Japanese word for the Buddha. The Sanskrit word, Buddha, means, One who has awakened.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born in 560 B.C. in Lumbini, Northern India, near present-day Nepal. His father was head of the Sakya Clan, thus, Siddhartha lived the sheltered life of royalty. When he was 29 years old, just before the birth of his son, he witnessed death, poverty, and sorrow for the first time. This drove Prince Siddhartha on a quest to find the answer to human existence. He left his home and lived the life of a Sadhu, a wandering holy man, in hopes of finding the reasons why human life was bound by suffering. Finding no answers as a Sadhu, he sat down in meditation under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, near Varanasi, and refused to get up until he had reached enlightenment. At the end of thirty days he rose, an enlightened being. After his enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama roamed India as a lecturing holy man, developing many disciples until his death in 480 B.C. at age 80 from food poisoning.

Siddhartha Gautama is known as Sakyamuni Buddha, which means he is the silent Buddha from the clan of Sakya. Siddhartha Gautama is commonly referred to as The Buddha. He was, however, by no means the only Buddha. The Pali text, The Mahavadana Sutra, counts twenty-four Buddhas who existed before Siddhartha Gautama. Since it is understood that Buddhahood is obtainable by those who experience Nirvana, there are other Buddhas who have existed after Siddhartha Gautama as well.

Sakyamuni Buddha based his enlightened understanding on the premise of The Four Noble Truths:

1. All beings, human or celestial, are bound by Karma (the law of cause and effect).

2. The cause of suffering is desire.

3. The chain of suffering can be broken by obtaining Nirvana (enlightenment).

4. Nirvana is obtained by practicing the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path is made of eight precepts designed to lead an individual on to Nirvana:

1. Right Views

2. Right Intentions

3. Right Speech

4. Right Conduct

5. Right Livelihood

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

Buddhism spread from India to Nepal onto the Tibetan Plateau. From Tibet, it traveled into China in the 1st century A.D. Buddhism then moved onto the Korean Peninsula in A.D. 372 at the hands of the Chinese monk, Sun-do, who was sent from the Chinese state of Ch'in by King Fu Chein as an official emissary of Buddhism. In A.D. 552 the Korean Buddhist monk Kwall-uk (Kanroku in Japanese) crossed the Sea of Japan and brought Buddhism to the island nation of Japan.

2

THE TRANSMISSION OF ENLIGHTENMENT

The legendary Buddhist monk Bodhidharma (Ta Mu in Chinese, Daruma in Japanese) is the individual who laid the mystical foundations for Ch'an Buddhism, or Zen as it is known in Japanese. The enlightened legacy of Bodhidharma can be traced directly to Siddhartha Gautama, Sakyamuni Buddha. The path of enlightenment hailed by the Buddha was directly transmitted in an uninterrupted lineage through twenty-eight enlightened