[Guest]

Would anyone like to discuss the martial arts and possibly the philosophy behind them...From reading some of the posts it seems that a few of us study martial arts and/or are into philosophy.

I have a good deal of knowledge and interest in these two subjects and would like to talk to others like me.

We can talk about topics such as who would win between two famous martial artists, questions about the different styles and origins.

This is something I can preach on and on about and was wondering if there were any peoples out there that shared my passion.

If you want to get this thing going then you know what to do...

[Guest]

I'm not a great philosophist or something like that, but I like learning about great philosophists and I think philosophy is quite interesting. What exactly is philosophy? Philosophy is the study of human nature and occurences in life. All great sayings like, "A wise person chooses less work while a smart person chooses more work", is a reflection of how humans act. I openly support this topic, it's a good one. Although I'm not quite as interested in martial arts, but I think it's also interesting to talk about. :)

Edited July 4, 2008 by SillouhetteMind

[Guest]

That's part of what I was going for...like did you know that samurais used to practice Zen only to relieve them of the fear of death...it seems that some people have adopted philosophy of religions and discarded the rest of the purpose or belief system.

Do you look at the glass half full or half empty?

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"No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." - E.R.

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"If one has faults, cease them! Do not smear them out on others." - not sure

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What about martial arts philosophers

"If he bruises you, tear his flesh. If he tears you flesh, break his bones. If he breaks your bones, end his life." - Bruce Lee

I love both topics and this is an open topic. I was kinda hoping to get some debate going between martial artists about myths, style origins, etc...

Please keep posting

[Guest]

Wow, I never knew samurais practiced Zen to stop their fear of death. Thats an interesting fact. Anyways, I've heard about Zen a lot and I know only that it's a religion. What is Zen?? Is there a basic belief they practice or do they worship some kind of god?? I would really like to know more about that. And I know Bruce Lee is a martial artist, but what exactly did he do that made him famous? A lot of people talk about him. I think a debate about this would be very intersting. I hope others post!

[unreality]

Bruce Lee was in martial arts movies, kinda like Jackie Chan

[Guest]

Wow, I never knew samurais practiced Zen to stop their fear of death. Thats an interesting fact. Anyways, I've heard about Zen a lot and I know only that it's a religion. What is Zen?? Is there a basic belief they practice or do they worship some kind of god?? I would really like to know more about that. And I know Bruce Lee is a martial artist, but what exactly did he do that made him famous? A lot of people talk about him. I think a debate about this would be very intersting. I hope others post!

I'll try to answer both without being too longwinded...

In a nut shell there was an Indian prophet named Sidhartha Gautema who practiced living life in the moment and ceasing all desires in life thus becoming The Buddha, or enlightened one. He had many followers who took his teachings in different ways and started different sects of Buddhism. (Kind of like Jesus spawning the different Christian sects.) There was one follower named Bodhi Darma (Please forgive my mis-spellings as I am not Indian and do not have my books in front of me ) who was listening to one of Buddha's sermons where Buddha held up a lotus flower and then smiled...Bodhi Darma smiled back, acknowledging that he understood. Bodhi Darma then traveled to China and sat in a cave meditating for nine years(supposedly) to attain enlightenment.

(side not about Bodhi Darma's famous cave meditation is three fold.

1. He got so frustrated with drousiness that he cut off his own eyelids. Green tea grew where the eyelids fell hence the tradition of drinking green tea before and during meditation.

2. You can supposedly go to his cave in China, as a tourist or whatever, and see his shadow imprinted on the wall.

3. One follower wanted to learn from him so bad that he cut off his own arm to show his devotion hence the one-handed prayer salute in Shaolin.

When he finally began accepting students, he started the Shaolin temple. The Shaolin people practiced the sitting meditation art and called Chan' Buddhism. The monks were meditating so much that they were getting fat hence the joke of the big fat Buddha. Bodhi Darma saw this and so created an exercise program to help maintain health and longer meditations as a result. The exercises were taken from mimicking animal movements. When the Mongolians invaded China and started ruthlessly killing people the monks turned the exercises into a fighting art now known as Kung Fu and used it to defend themselves.

There were Japanese patriarchs who traveled to China during a religious turmoil going on in their country at the time, kind of like reverse missionaries. They learned the type of sitting meditation and called it Zen in Japanese. Subsoquently this is where they learned some of their martial arts which we now call Karate. It was called Nahate back then.

It's late and I will type at ya about Bruce Lee tomorrow, I promise

Later...

[unreality]

wow, nice post 5* topic

[Guest]

Wow, thanks dnae!! Good post! I got it now.

[Guest]

Do you do any type of martial arts? I think you must because of your interest in the subject. I find it odd how Buddhism spread to other countries so fast; Buddha was an Indian, and yet, supposedly more chinese are into it than indians?! I really hope that more people will start posting on this topic, it could turn out to be a great one!!

Edited July 4, 2008 by SillouhetteMind

[Guest]

And the things you said about Zen. Thanks for answering my questions, and I hope you won't mind if I ask some more? I heard that Zen is about being kind to each other and you do certain things like if someone says hello to you, you say hello back. If these are true, and you know more about Zen, can you tell me some of those certain "rules" of Zen that need to be followed. Thanks again! :)

[akaslickster]

Another ancient asian practice you may want to look into is tai-chi and/or feng shui. They sound to be benificial to all people in many differnt ways. Some day I will be trying it out. As for now, I need to be working.

[Guest]

Do you do any type of martial arts? I think you must because of your interest in the subject. I find it odd how Buddhism spread to other countries so fast; Buddha was an Indian, and yet, supposedly more chinese are into it than indians?! I really hope that more people will start posting on this topic, it could turn out to be a great one!!

there was an indian emporer that converted and spread buhdism then he die and one of his succesors converted back to hinduism thus the situation u stated

[Guest]

Another ancient asian practice you may want to look into is tai-chi and/or feng shui. They sound to be benificial to all people in many differnt ways. Some day I will be trying it out. As for now, I need to be working.

Yes feng shui is useful for wrong footing opponents by placing

in there way - that's how jackie chan does it Someone should make a compilation of his prop usage, it's awesome and the out takes are grea too

[Guest]

And the things you said about Zen. Thanks for answering my questions, and I hope you won't mind if I ask some more? I heard that Zen is about being kind to each other and you do certain things like if someone says hello to you, you say hello back. If these are true, and you know more about Zen, can you tell me some of those certain "rules" of Zen that need to be followed. Thanks again! :)

All Buddhism is based on the four truths:

1. There is suffering in the world.

2. Suffering comes from desire.

3. Suffering can cease.

4. The path to ceasation is to follow the eight-fold path. (Which is like the ten commandments)

Ch'an and Zen Buddhism took a more esoteric approach and decided the heck with being reincarnated a bunch of times and lets release ourselves in THIS life time. The practice of Zen would not work well for us Brainazians (or however you guys put it ) because the first thing you have to do is give up on logic. If you would like to begin meditating I would suggest try sitting quietly and focus on the number one. When your brain starts to wonder, move on to number two, and so on. You would be suprised how hard it is to sit and to not think about anything. That's the state that Zennists try to achieve permanently; to just see the world as it is without analyzing it. The Zennist are especially famous for their koans which are illogical poems and riddles that when one meditates on the answer, one must reach it intuitively.

A simple koan is, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

The point is to not care about such an impossible answer and not waste your time analyzing everything...just treat a thought like a fart in the wind. It will get your attention whether you like it or not but you can let it pass and not linger.

[Guest]

Who is Bruce Lee????

LOL, JK

Bruce Lee studied Wing Chun, a Chinese boxing martial art that was actually created by nuns...

He had so many ideas about martial arts and their applications that he went on to create his own style call Jeet Kune Do, which means the art of the intercepting fist. He died very young though and even though there are those who claim to be masters of such an art, how can you know Jeet Kune Do if the founder only taught it for a few years? This is the kind of stuff I'd like to debate about by the way. I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to martial arts and am very weary of these mixed martial arts. It's like they took the morals, discipline, spirituality, and way of life out of it and just teach how to pummel someone.

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As for me, yes I practice Goju Ryu which is the second oldest form of Japanese (Actually Okinawan but the Japanese hate it when you say that) Karate. There are five basic types of Japanese Karate and Goju stands out for these reasons:

1. They focus a lot on breathing techniques

2. Goju Ryu was the first to be called a style, instead of like Dnae family Karate or whatever.

3. The founder of Goju Ryu, Chojun Miyagi, was a very moral person and so most Sensei's dojos have prayers or codes that you must recite and follow.

4. Goju Ryu means "soft-hard style" - everything is 50/50, I can fight on either side of my body equally and I've learned punches, other hand forms, kicks, ariel attacks, high and low defense, throws, grappling, pressure points, hard and soft attacks, hard and soft blocks, and most important, how to move in all directions and not be a punching bag

Karate was my last choice because I based it off of movies and books I read about the martial arts...I always wanted to learn Kung Fu or become a ninja

But I was pleasantly suprised with Karate and would recomend it to anyone, especially to those of you who have kids because of the humbleness that is instilled. Be carefull of Taekwondo, not to sound bias but every single person I've met that practices Taekwondo has been cocky. It must be an american kwan( Is it kwoon or kwan for dojo in Korean, I forget..) thing or something because I know that the Koreans over there practicing it are some of the most humble people you will ever meet.

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Tai Chi is very good for you AKA because it is a moving mediation, much easier than sitting. It is good for cordination because you are working your stabilizer muscles which rarely receive any special attention. Most people don't do isometric exercises. However, if you are looking to learn Tai Chi Chuan, the martial art, the only person alive still teaching that I know of is Dr. Yang Jwing Ming out of Boston. Maybe you can catch a seminar or something. They also have summer camp where you can stay in a room in his huge kwoon. LOL, but seriously, not to sound corny but I would recomend David Carrideans' beginner Tai Chi video...I know who it has on it but he's not the one leading the form. It is actually the basic Chen family style and very effective. It is only an hour long and remember, "You will not have time if you don't make time."

[unreality]

All Buddhism is based on the four truths:

1. There is suffering in the world.

2. Suffering comes from desire.

3. Suffering can cease.

4. The path to ceasation is to follow the eight-fold path. (Which is like the ten commandments)

so, in other words, cease desire?

suffering is bad -> suffering comes from desire -> cease suffering = cease desire

I thought you said Buddhists weren't logical? lol

I may not entirely agree with ceasing desire. Sure, it may help you understand the universe, but then what? If you find desire in ceasing desire, then you didn't really cease desire, you just shifted the focus of the desire

Ch'an and Zen Buddhism took a more esoteric approach and decided the heck with being reincarnated a bunch of times and lets release ourselves in THIS life time. The practice of Zen would not work well for us Brainazians (or however you guys put it )

I say "Braindenizens" lol

because the first thing you have to do is give up on logic.

or perhaps not. I think logic is written in the universe, so maybe it's the other way around. Use logic to have no logic. If that makes sense, lol ;D

If you would like to begin meditating I would suggest try sitting quietly and focus on the number one. When your brain starts to wonder, move on to number two, and so on. You would be suprised how hard it is to sit and to not think about anything. That's the state that Zennists try to achieve permanently; to just see the world as it is without analyzing it.

I'll try this sometime soon

The Zennist are especially famous for their koans which are illogical poems and riddles that when one meditates on the answer, one must reach it intuitively.

A simple koan is, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

The point is to not care about such an impossible answer and not waste your time analyzing everything...just treat a thought like a fart in the wind. It will get your attention whether you like it or not but you can let it pass and not linger.

I actually know someone that can clap with one hand, lol. It sounds like someone smacking their belly, if you want the answer to the koan ;D

[Guest]

Re Jeet Kun Do/Bruce Lee...

s now Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do according to the Bruce Lee Foundation (Lee Jun Fan is BL.s Cantonese name though his birth name -Li Yuen Kam, was dropped due to family problems). He later went on to denounce any formal or adopted way to promote a free style or "No Way". There is probably tons on the web of not Wiki

recommend a good posture and a breathing exercise such as pranayama yoga what ever form or style/s if you choose martial arts or not. Sad we think we know how to breath, but we can actually do it better most of the time, that goes for standing and sitting too. Often at the keyboard it's forgotten.

[akaslickster]

Yes feng shui is useful for wrong footing opponents by placing

in there way - that's how jackie chan does it Someone should make a compilation of his prop usage, it's awesome and the out takes are grea too

Awesome video and thanks for the link. I should spend more time on UTUBE.

[Guest]

I may not entirely agree with ceasing desire. Sure, it may help you understand the universe, but then what? If you find desire in ceasing desire, then you didn't really cease desire, you just shifted the focus of the desire

Yes, it is extremely hard to "let go" of pretty much life itself, to not care about anything anymore. That's probably why only a few people have done it.

The more beneficial practice to laymen/laywomen (Mafia etiquete ) is to try to let go of what you can and still go on with your wife. Yes you will be happier but you will affect those around you and they will keep asking you if you're OK, trust me, they always ask you if you are sad or something.

And yes I did type wife instead of life because I was on such a road until I met her and became attached to something worthwhile in my opion.

Buddha said that if there was a greater temptation than sex (or female companionship in a more wholistic view) that he would not have been able to withstand it.