Since time immemorial, human beings, in their quest to survive, has devised ways of self defense that will protect them from their hostile environment. This quest for survival has led him to create forms of struggle, with or without weapons, where familiarity with death and extreme situations I have come to the knowledge of himself, opening up to human dimensions more in line with their true nature.
So, is it correct to think that the martial arts, the arts of Mars, Samael gear only aim to establish a pattern of self-defense and attack against one or several opponents, or on the contrary, we can add a important component to your practice? Is the approach to the very edge between life and death, lead to a perception of reality beyond our comprehension? This article, which will focus on the Japanese martial arts (Budo), aims to add a little more light on this issue. The work is not intended to be exclusive with other forms of struggle, from Egypt and Mesopotamia, to Greece and Rome were carried out as part of the initiation tests that were to aspiring select group of mystical warriors. We begin our journey.
Legend has it that a colonel named Bradford, a retired officer of the British army, marched to the East in search of people who had heard that, living somewhere in the Himalayas and practiced in an energetic exercises Lamasery and strengthened the spiritual body, so that as him, "old and out came young."
Leaving aside the mythical and legendary component, which is known for sure is that Tibetan Buddhist monks and practiced since ancient times some form of body control that will surely be part of his monastic training, aware of the intimate relationship between the body, mind and spirit. Later in their journey through Asia, these monks disseminated these exercises as part of their doctrine, by the neighboring countries.
So it must be how they came to India and was developed by acquiring the philosophical influences of Hindu culture, favoring the emergence Yoga in its different forms: Raja-Yoga, Karma-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga, Hatha Yoga, etc..
His arrival in China would occur probably with the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, who on arrival at the Shaolin Temple in southern China, monks found his pitiful physical condition.
proliferated throughout the region thieves and bandits, so it sought to improve physically to the monks, and for this, began to instruct them in unarmed combat system based on indigenous Chinese and Indian forms, which in turn were inherited from the Tibetan, that they would have to deal with situations. Thus establishing the progression in teaching showed that to reach the spirit it is necessary first rule of body, thoughts and emotions, marking a clear guideline for the subsequent development of Kung Fu and Tai Chi. This temple went great orders of chivalry like the Yellow Dragon.
At that time, the Chinese trade, Japanese and Filipino as a meeting place was a small group of islands south of Japan called Okinawa. There the traders exchanged goods and customs. These products were also martial arts in each region, resulting in a fusion island of them all, resulting in a style called Okinawa-Te (Hand Okinawa), the forerunner of Karate.
Japan had just emerged from a long civil war aspired to own the wealth and culture of the islands. Thus in the fifteenth century invaded imposing their laws and way of life. This environment of tyranny favored among the people, the sense of resistance to the invader. Okinawa teachers in this situation made the decision to introduce the arts to fight the inhabitants of the island, but in secret, since it was banned by the Japanese. In this way began to be held secret meetings to teach people the fighting techniques.
note here the secret component in education, something that had already ocurrido anteriormente en culturas mucho más antiguas. Para asegurarse que perdurara la enseñanza, los maestros seleccionaban a aquellos discípulos de confianza dignos de recibir los más valiosos secretos de su arte. Se aprecia aquí que en estas artes existía una parte exotérica y otra esotérica, sólo reservada a los alumnos más preparados. Cuando un arte no poseía continuidad en su parte esotérica, cuando ya no existían alumnos preparados para ello, sólo quedaba su parte exotérica, es decir, las técnicas corporales que por sí solas no conducen al despertar de la Conciencia.
La influencia del Budhismo Zen y del Shintoismo en estas artes, originó the emergence of true warrior spirit. Ascetics, who along with intense physical training, put them in touch with the finer points of his own body as the vital energy (Prana or Ki) joined meditation practices, in order to transcend their physical limitations and achieve a mental vacuum state to open the door to self-knowledge.
The tea ceremony, flower arranging, calligraphy and especially the knightly arts of the samurai warriors are examples of forms of expression with a strong sense of transcendence, where control over the movements daily acts gives an exquisite artistic sense fruit of victory, not an outside enemy, but on a much more dangerous and important: the conquest of the instincts.
note that these arts, provided they practiced primarily spiritual purposes, constitute an extraordinary means to experience the true reality of yourself. The virtues and defects, the strength and weakness, subtlety and awkwardness are visible for those who want their own enrichment intimate. The teachers themselves were not only one art, but art that dominated many facets in order to achieve a further refinement of their actions, thoughts and emotions.
There is a maxim that expresses Japanese that: "Who reaches the master, is shown in all their actions."
Some of these teachers as the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, considered the greatest martial arts master who ever lived, reach extraordinary spiritual levels were able to capture in his art. Ueshiba Sensei, who as historians say, was the most religious of Japan, had a life full of amazing facts well documented and recorded. This person was and remains the model for many people, beyond the merely physical, sought and continue to seek the mastery of their fears, instincts and weaknesses, not through of empty theories and speculations, but through a sustained and constant practice with sincerity and heart that will open the way to possibly self-awareness, Nature and the Universe.
The message mourned the old masters in the form of all-body movements, it is necessary to hide for those too impatient and proud hearts to understand, and visible to those who, with humility and simplicity, and after long years of training, find the true meaning prompting Tibetan, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc., to create systems of external and internal struggle, leading to the men who crave and seek with sincerity, the true and only reality, making them true warrior in the broadest sense, as there have been at all times.
From Gaul Celtic warriors, knights and Tigre Aztec Eagle, the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages, warriors Khsatrya Hindus, etc. Are just some examples of the many forms it has taken over the search history transcendence through art warrior.
Currently, there is some martial arts, unfortunately, are only one more sport where the goal is merely to get championships and trophies being true motivation of these, almost entirely displaced, forgetting its essence, disregarding tradition or adapting it to their own interests, away from that which leads to genuine liberation of the individual.
From here, a salute to all those who continue to look on condition of anonymity. Joseph Savall
