| Karate, a rather old art, is often seen as a hard, | | | | Zen, is the central meaning of everything- at least |
| physical form of fighting. But, it is grounded in all | | | | of the student of karate- and other students of |
| of the indicia of Zen- focus, being in the moment, | | | | philosophy. It is about learning to accommodate |
| spontaneity, and concentration- all hallmarks of | | | | current realities in light of what one has learned- |
| both arts (Zen and Karate). At the heart of both | | | | and trained for- and adjusting one's self to |
| arts is meditation- which might be defined as a | | | | survive- and perhaps thrive- in that reality. So, |
| disciplined way of "letting the mind go". It is not an | | | | karate is, to a significant extent, all about being a |
| easy thing to do- and it does require training- but | | | | warrior- that is an important word in the lexicon |
| it is achievable almost immediately- at least on | | | | of the martial arts- a warrior is a master of one's |
| some small level. The karate student achieves this | | | | self- way more important than being a fighting |
| "letting go" by doing kata- which is a form of | | | | champion- it's about doing something in a total, |
| karate exercise- and it requires total focus- it's a | | | | completely holistic manner- and that can take a |
| form of moving meditation- and at it's core, yes | | | | lifetime to master- but, importantly, it's the |
| it's about fighting- but fighting itself contains the | | | | DOING that matters- not arriving there, that |
| seeds of a greater concept- and that is the total | | | | counts. It's the process- not the goal. |
| management of one's being in time and space. | | | | Karate- and Zen- are all encompassing arts- that |
| How to move economically, how to focus, how to | | | | cannot be fully described in any one article- but |
| concentrate all fo one's power- in effect- how to | | | | this article might be described as the tip of the |
| "be" in the most efficient and powerful manner | | | | iceberg- so that the interested reader might |
| possible- that is the heart of karate- and the | | | | investigate further the many layered connections |
| doing of that- accomplishing that- is also, a Zen | | | | that exist between karate and zen- and how to |
| moment- one of pure "being there". | | | | get to a good level of being. |
| The art of karate- which is synonymous with | | | | |