meditation Archives - Ichi Kyu Diary

Courtesy, Etiquette in Karate is still required over Zoom

Questions of etiquette and courtesy are serious issues for karateka.

The path of Martial Arts begins and ends with courtesy.
Masutatsu Oyama

Oyama, the founder of our style, made several references to the importance of courtesy in his writings. I am sure, given what I’ve read of his writings and based on stories heard from Senseis, that he emphasized courtesy to his students.

Our small karate club strives to follow his example in preserving courtesy and etiquette in our karate practice.

Wear Your Dogi and Obi to Class!

This has not changed for our small club, even after we’ve moved our teaching format to Zoom. The temptation over Zoom is to become less formal. At work or school, we can easily remain in our pajamas, since the lower half of our bodies is usually not visible from camera. This informality is so widespread during the pandemic that the local papers and Twitter posts abound with jokes on the subject.

During karate class, we have students working in limited spaces, where only part of their bodies are visible. Despite this, we ask students and instructors to wear gis. During the fall and winter months, even in Los Angeles where winter might just constitute two weeks of rain in January, students wear full gis. During the summer, by contrast, during a beach to work out, students can wear a dojo t-shirt or a plain navy t-shirt. Over Zoom, students are on their honor to wear full gis.

Over Zoom, we make an exception for the monitor. Since monitors cannot practically participate in class and adequately perform their duties, the club allows monitors to wear street clothes. It’s the one perk of being the monitor.

Why wear a gi for a class over Zoom?

Donning a gi for class helps put you in the correct frame of mind for karate. When I put on my gi, I represent my rank: my behavior needs to be appropriate for that rank. As a shodan, ichi kyu or any high-ranking senpai, you are expected to set an example for your kohais. This starts with appropriate attire. For high rank, your gi should be clean and neat. It may be worn or stained from years of practice, but it should not look like it sat in the corner of your closet for a week. Part of caring about our karate is caring for our karate uniforms. Junior students watch more senior ones for behavior queues, so senpais need to set a proper example. That example setting starts with the basics: wearing a gi.

If you discover your gi has come open or your need to straighten your gi during class, we have a procedure to follow for this. Within the dojo, training outdoors or over Zoom, it is customary to give a quick “Osu,” bow and then turn. You then turn away from the instructor and other students to make adjustments. Over Zoom, turn your back to your camera. Often, during a vigorous kihon, a sensei or senpai will call out “Turn around and fix your gi!” Take that opportunity to tidy your appearance: tuck your gi back under your belt and make sure your belt is knotted properly.

Line-up and Meditation

Facing Shomen

Classes start with a call to “line-up.” In a physical dojo or in a park, we would face Shomen, and organize ourselves into a line, with the highest ranking person standing to the left and the lowest ranking person on the right.

The dojo’s sensei or the highest ranking sensei stands before the line of students. In our old dojo, our Shomen was a large Kanku mounted on the wall above the large mirror. On the beach, we acknowledge the ocean as our Shomen. In a park, Sensei R. would often choose a large tree, and sometimes he’d pick an animal or a person to be the Shomen. Occasionally, with humor, Sensei R named a parent or a late-arriving student as the Shomen.

What is a Shomen?

Traditionally, in most karate styles, the Shomen is a wall within the dojo, considered the “front” of the dojo, without a door. I like Kyoshin Ryu Academy’s explanation:

“… the shomen is the proper side of the dojo and a place of respect…. there is always a focal point. This is the shomen.”

In most dojos, you will find photos of a style’s founder, a photo of the head teacher’s instructor, along with other symbols in this area of the dojo. Bowing to the shomen acknowledges and shows respect to our teachers’ teachers, as well as to karate’s long history.

Child at Salton Sea, personal photo from 2015

Sensei R., who also has roots in Native American traditions, taught that the Shomen represents the sacred. Yes, we view karate teachers who came before us and karate’s great history as sacred. Also, we view natural phenomena, like the ocean, a great old tree or or even other creatures, as sacred. They, like our founder Oyama, have the potential to teach us, as long as we have the ability to listen to and see them.

What is Rank? How to line up by rank over Zoom

Over Zoom, lining up by rank means standing in yoi, or the “ready” position, with your camera on. Even though we cannot make a physical line by rank over Zoom, we can still stand at a proper distance from our cameras, showing as much of our bodies as we can in our limited space, be still, focus on the instructor and wait for class to start. Students stand with their hands in fists, straight to their sides, or resting on their belts. The instructor and monitor will notice when students are ready.

Though we cannot stand in order of rank, rank is still important. Lower ranking students are given less responsibilities and are expected to follow along during class as best as they can. They are allowed to pose questions at appropriate times, but not interrupt class with questions. Good instructors, however, will pause class to access student understanding and ask if there are questions, giving students an appropriate time to speak up.

My oldest often says to me, “Own your rank!” reminding me to speak and behave with authority fitting my rank. She reminds me that, as shodans, we must lead by example. That example includes offering encouragement and forth right correction to kyu rank students. This can be particularly important over Zoom, when instructors and students do not see you smiling or nodding from your little Zoom window. You have to speak up at appropriate times, according to your role and rank during class.

Maturity as Part of Rank

Age and maturity are also factors in rank. In Sensei R’s dojo, he distinguished between “adult” ranks and “junior” ranks. We also had kyokushin kid ranks, whose belts differed from that of the older ranks by having a white stripe run through the colored belt. Each of these ranks, adult, junior and kid, had different requirements. In this fashion, Sensei R took both life experience as well as the developing coordination, emotional and mental abilities into account.

An advanced kyoku kid would take on a colored junior belt, skipping the white belt rank. This would take place when Sensei R felt the child was mature enough to attend a junior class, normally around age seven or eight. Prior to this, a kyoku kid might advance up to a brown and white striped belt. When younger children moved from a kyoku kid rank to a junior rank, they often start at orange, or ju kyu, the most junior rank of color.

Junior ranks moving to adult ranks, however, often depended upon the age and skill level of the student. A junior shodan is considered the equivalent of an adult ichi kyu, or brown stripe. However, younger junior shodans earn silver stripes on their black belts, rather than moving to the adult rank, until they are between fourteen and sixteen years of age. At that point, they are asked to retire their junior shodan belts in favor of an adult ichi kyu.

Balancing skill versus maturity

In the dojo, depending on the class, Sensei would have adult ranks line up ahead of junior ranks. Junior shodans, however, would line up behind adult ichi kyus. Junior shodans, after all, had performed rigorous tests similar to that of adults and thus earned their position in the line-up ahead of adults with intermediate or beginning ranks. That said, karate still dictates that one show courtesy to one’s elders, regardless of skill level. It’s a balancing act for the junior shodans: be polite to the adults, but still teach and offer correction when necessary to do so. In the dojo, students could take their queues from Sensei R, or the Nidan Sensais and Senpais. Over Zoom, that process is a bit more tricky. However, our students, taught to be courteous, have learned to offer advice and correction in a kind manner to all.

Meditations: Mokusou

We begin each class with a standing or sitting meditation, and we end each class in a similar fashion. After students have lined up, the instructor will call out “Mokusou,” which is a signal for students to start meditation. We clear our minds and typically count three breaths. Instructors may choose to shorten or lengthen the meditation period as they see fit. Likewise, at the end of a good work-out, the instructor will ask students to breathe with him or her. We normally end by bowing to the shomen, our Senseis, our Senpais and then our fellow students. When the instructor calls out, “Otagai ni rei,” i.e, bow in appreciation to your fellow students, class is dismissed.

Bowing to show respect and consideration

Note that bows are performed to all. We start by bowing to the shomen, that which represents the knowledge and consideration of those before us, who brought us karate. The shomen also represents what we each may consider sacred. We then bow to our teachers, according to rank, and end with bowing to each other. Like Sensei R. naming a student the shomen who had wandered into the park work-out late, we acknowledge that our fellow students and human beings are deserving of our kindest regard and respect. Our time together during training, as well as our time together on this earth, is sacred. We should treat it as such.

Ultimately, the rules of etiquette that we follow in karate give us ways of showing courtesy to our teachers and to each other. This includes the teachers who came long before us, who created karate, as well as our elders and fellow students. We don our gis to show respect to the karate community that we train with. Lining up by rank and age acknowledges the hard work, effort and life experiences of others. It also allows us to enjoy regard when we have worked hard to achieve a rank. This, in turn, teaches us to respect ourselves as well as others.

I’ll end with a final quote from our style’s founder regarding courtesy.

“Courtesy should be apparent in all our actions and words and in all aspects of daily life. But be courtesy, I do not mean rigid, cold formality. Courtesy in the truest sense is selfless concern for the welfare and physical and mental comfort of the other person.”
Masutatsu Oyama

Self as Myriad in Zen, Democracy as Self

Transitions in the Nation and in My Life

Well, this past week was full of changes. Our nation of the United States held an election. It held more drama than either side expected. AP called the results just yesterday. In some states, election officials are still counting votes.

I changed jobs. Thursday was my last day at my old employer. Friday was my one day between jobs, and tomorrow I will start at a new place. The new company also allows for remote work, so that was a relief.

This past week was also my “meditation” week. That means that, in lieu of push-ups, sit-ups and squats, I meditate for ten minutes. I continue to do my ten minute writes on a daily basis, though those are not always making it to this blog.

Ten Bulls, or 10 Ox Herding Pictures

Also, sometime last week, I finished reading the Mumonkan. I’ve started a small section called 10 Bulls. According to Wikipedia, the 10 Bulls, or 10 Ox Herding Poems, are drawings accompanying poems which describe the stages of attaining enlightenment in Zen. These stages include bringing the wisdom of enlightenment back into society.

Senzaki and Reps transcribed my copy (Zen Flesh, Zen Bones). Tokuriki, a contemporary of the more modern transcribers, illustrated it. “Contemporary,” I should note, is about 1935. This is more recent, certainly, than the twelfth century original of poems and drawings (now lost). The original first appeared in China. The illustrator for mine, Tomikichiro Tokuriki, according to a site called “Japanese Woodblock Prints,” lived in Kyoto. His family produced twelve generations of woodblock artists!

I’ve read five so far. They are an easier than the Mumonkan. The Bull seems to be a stand-in for the mind, and many of the poems, so far, deal with “taming” the mind with meditation and breathing.

Discovering the Footprints
(10 Bulls, second poem)

Green Ox statue at a Sinclair Gas, July 2019; photo taken on RV trip on the way from California to Colorado; yes, that’s the RV we drove in the background!

Along the riverbank under the trees, I discover footprints!
Even under the fragrant grass I see his prints.
Deep in the remote mountains they are found.
These traces no more can be hidden than one’s nose, looking heavenward. (Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Ten Bulls, pg. 244)

Already in the second poem’s commentary, we see the Buddhist idea about the illusory self actually introduced as multiple selves:

Then I learn that, just as many many utensils are made from one metal, so too are myriad entities made of the fabric of the self. (244)
Kakuan, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

This idea of the myriad within the self I find to be one of Zen’s, and Buddhism’s deepest and most interesting insights.

Democracy and the Myriad Self

Sometimes I think of the myriad entities like the many people making up a democratic nation. Because we are a democracy, we have as many “influencers” as we have people, and as many “deciders” as we have voters. If the self were the United States, then each of us is part of that myriad making up its self. We are not always of one mind. Often we are conflicted, even divided against ourselves, chaotic and messy in our tactics and decisions. Yet we are one. Yes, we change directions often. When we are honest, those switches can lead us to equilibrium.

Most of the time, in our politics, there are two roughly balanced sides. Sometimes there are more than two sides. Each side is actually a collection of interest groups, and they agree to support each other. Finally those groups are made up of individuals. Individuals, like this nation, are each a self which is really a myriad, too, and internally conflicted.

In karate, we seek to strengthen both sides of our bodies, the left and the right. During kihon, each exercise alternates those sides. We practice blocking as well as various strikes. Karate seeks balance, between parts of the body, but also between the aggressive and defensive skills. Kanku, the advanced kata we are learning, is full of mirroring: what you do on the right, you repeat on the left. You travel forward, backwards and side to side during Kanku.

Balance and Meditation

Karate also teaches us to focus our fragmenting mind through meditation. Meditation, then, becomes a unifying force. I hope karate will also serve to strengthen and unify its practitioners, despite the differing politics we may each hold.

Likewise as a country, we need to acknowledge the two horns, two eyes, two nostrils, four legs but one nose and one tail of the bull. The bull can move forward, but it must coordinate its many limbs to do so. We must not forget how to walk together.

Bearded Dragons, Zen Versus Learnin’, and Karate

Sunday October 11th, 2020

Personal Practice and Karate Class Summary

This past week I practiced “meditation week.” I meditated most days. Last Monday, however, I made up for missing push-ups, sit-ups and squats the previous Friday. I’m still either running or jumping rope every other day during the week. Honestly I prefer the treadmill to the jump rope. This means I need to do more jump rope sessions.

On Clark St. in Burbank; our neighbors’ sense of Halloween humor!

On non-cardio days, I still get out and walk in the neighborhood. Despite the pandemic, my Burbank neighbors have continued our Halloween tradition with creative and humorous local displays.

Last Tuesday, Sensei R taught a Tai Chi class. It was both challenging and relaxing. Friday night, N taught, and her class was surprisingly challenging: she held “contests,” to see how long we could balance on one leg, or hold a plank, or to see who was most flexible. N herself won for balance; I managed to hold the longest plank, though DJ really made me work for it, and young CF handily won the flexibility title. Rounding out the week, Senpai SL, our “weapons specialist,” taught bo staff. I had thought I was pretty good at bo staff, until I witnessed Senpai SL perform flowers and figure eights with two staves at once! He taught a great workshop: my aching shoulders bore witness to the value of the class for fitness.

Zen’s Denigration of Scholarship for Enlightenment

I’m still reading Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Currently, I’m in the older portion, the Gateless Gate or the Mumonkan. The treatment of language is an on-going theme. Several stories illustrate the inadequacy of language to bring a monk to enlightenment. I’ve come across at least two examples of monks destroying writings. In an earlier post, I wrote about my feelings on this. One monk destroyed a work written by generations of others [pg. 108] while another, his own writing [206]. Language and reason hamper the monk’s progress in these stories.

How ironic, given the elegance of the stories themselves! In fact, Mumon ends each of his treatises with a poem. What a conundrum! We know about Mumon, his scholarship and poetry through his writing. Moreover, much of Zen’s reach outside of monasteries today results from these beautiful writings and similar works.

Zen’s debt to the written word and poetry is embedded in the earliest introduction of Buddhism to China. According to Wikipedia, An Shigao, an Indian Buddhist monk who settled in Luoyang, first taught Buddhism there.* He translated a set of ancient Buddhist texts on meditation into Chinese. So, at the birth of Ch’an/Zen in China, we already have scholarship in the form of translation. Buddhism entered China with language, writing and its logical traps.

_{* This is an oversimplification: he’s the first known translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese; we do not know if there were others.}

Enlightenment, Language and Fire

Yes, and cats, who can teach us much about living in the present

In “Blow out the Candle,” Tokusan, a student, attains enlightenment after Ryutan, his teacher, offers him a candle. It was night, and Tokusan planned to walk home. As soon as Tokusan takes it, Ryutan blows it out. The next day, Ryutan praises Tokusan; Tokusan burns his writings and leaves the monastery, presumably to teach elsewhere.

Mumon’s commentary includes a second story about Tokusan. When he arrives in the area near Ryutan’s monastery, he comes with a thick commentary. The Southerners, he believes, need instruction on the sutras. He happens upon an old woman. She asks him what he carries that is so heavy. He tells her it is his commentary on the Diamond Sutra.

She observes: “I read that Sutra, which says: ‘the past mind cannot be held, the present mind cannot be held, the future mind cannot be held.’ You wish some tea and refreshments. Which mind do you propose to use for them?” [Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, “Gateless Gate,” page 207] This encounter humbles Tokusan. He asks her for a teacher. She directs him to Ryutan. So, Tokusan begins his search when he encounters this woman. She summarizes years’ worth of scholarship the Diamond Sutra in a single sentence and an offer of tea. He ends his search by burning his own commentary, that symbol of mental entanglement.

Mumon’s Flaire and an Old Woman’s Tea

Fire as a transformative force figures prominently in these stories: the burning candle, suddenly out, plunges both teacher and pupil into the stark reality of night. Tokusan’s flaming commentary, even the old woman’s cooking fire, are metaphors for enlightenment. Enlightenment burns suddenly. It is only understood through experience.

But the poet Mumon attributes Tokusan’s entrance to the path of Enlightenment to the simple words and logic of an old village woman. Perhaps the real story here is that language, logic and learning points the way, until it doesn’t. Some concepts can be understood and studied. Others must be experienced. How do we know the difference? By observing what’s useful.

Personally I like the fact that Mumon evokes this old village woman: he shows we do not have to be monks living in monasteries to experience enlightenment. We can also be old village women who read sutras on occasion, but also brew tea and bake treats. Tokusan owes as much to her as to Ryutan.

Zoom Dinnertime Conversation on Belief, Education and Experience

Interestingly enough, we had dinner over Zoom with a good friend, G., who edited a local atheist publication for about two years. He has long held that irrational belief, or, in his view, religion, is the root cause of many of our current societal disasters and woes. A lack of understanding of history dooms us to repeat its mistakes. Adhering to superstition or simple short-term financial benefits over what we know from science has left us with both a damaged environment and damaged health.

Belated birthday gifts from G. to my husband and me; these will be fun reads.

He is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, is in his sixties, and has health issues on top of his cancer. He’s concerned about the state of the world as well as his own health. Although he views the coronavirus pandemic as just barely a pandemic, through the lens of history, he sees it as a personal threat to one like himself. He described compared the coronavirus pandemic to both the Spanish flu and the Medieval European plague, and found it less worrisome from this perspective. However, since chemotherapy has compromised his own immune system, he’s certainly afraid of catching it. He is exactly the demographic most likely to die from it.

G. threw out a statistic about how many persons, in the US and Europe, do not accept that the earth is round, or that the earth rotates around the sun. He also gave examples from his days as a community college teacher of young adult students not knowing when Jesus lived, or when slavery in the US ended. Finally, he gave examples of ignorance among elected officials. He concluded that education, itself, is not valued enough in our country.

Reading versus Doing

G. grew up in Quebec and has a particularly dim view of the Catholic Church. We talked about how some people cannot be reached with reason. G. summed it up as follows: “If persons did not arrive at a particular opinion through reason, they can’t be swayed from it through reason.” We discussed how experience, your own or that of others close to you, influences most of us more than any amount of study or reason.

He used the shifting cultural norms around LBGTQ persons as an example. Forty years ago, most people in the US did not support gay marriage. Many viewed homosexuality as a kind of aberration. Today, a majority of Americans see it more as they view left-handedness: a minority of people are simply born this way. G. attributes this shift to the recent openness of LGBTQ persons themselves. Previously, gay persons hid their identity and now they do not. As a result, most Americans have a family member or friend who identifies that way. This personal experience with gay family and friends, in his opinion, shifted public opinion towards acceptance.

Again, enlightenment comes in the form of direct experience, and not though education, basically a form of inferred experience of others over time. I did not bring up Buddhism or Zen in the discussion with G., but suspect he would feel similar to me on combining the fruits of scholarship with fire.

Bearded Dragons: a Tangent

So S celebrated his thirteenth birthday last Wednesday, and this little critter was his present. He named her Kalessin, for the oldest dragon in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. We call her Kali for short.

Learning to care for a reptile is a challenge. Luckily, there is a wealth of information on-line about the care of these creatures. We also purchased an excellent book on bearded dragon care with a gift certificate from his aunt.

Last week, she was not active. We worried her terrarium was too cold. The pet shop, Burbank Scales and Tails, kindly replaced the bulb with a warmer, better one free of charge. They were ready with advice when my son called, too. This past weekend, however, our terrarium thermometer indicates the bulb heats her home too much! We have ordered a light stand, so we can adjust its distance. Now, we’re using wood blocks or wash cloths wrapped in duct tape to prop it higher.

I am thankful that we can rely on the experience of others, in the form of books, on-line articles and discussions with the knowledgable staff at Burbank Scales and Tails. Given none of us have prior personal experience in reptile care, we’re glad others are willing to educate us.

What does any of this have to do with Karate?

Everything! This is a karate blog, so of course we’ll examine how it relates to karate. Learning karate, like achieving enlightenment or learning to care for a pet bearded dragon, is half personal experience and half learning from others. Studying from karate is not the same as practicing karate. Practicing karate, however, requires the study of karate to be complete.

I recently finished Oyama’s book, “This is Karate.” So much great information is contained in its pages, as well as cool photos of Oyama and his students. So much Japanese terminology, history and philosophy lives within those pages. Reading it gives me impressions of our style’s founder that I would not have had otherwise. I picked up Oyama’s book, however, after learning who Oyama was in Sensei’s dojo.

That said, there is no substitute for attending my Sensei’s physical dojo for roughly eight years, and practicing with my instructors and fellow students. I’ve learned how to block better by fending off strong blows from TF. Watching Sensei M showed me just how hard a scholar can kick! Our dojo has had many strong women and intelligent men among its udancha, and each of them imparted some wisdom to me, through words, demonstrations, blows, blocks, kicks and their grace in the face of conflict or hardship.

I owe a lot to my Sensei. He showed me how wise, disciplined and strong children could be. It was a joy to watch S and F grow under his instruction. He showed me how to break bricks, and how to reach 100 push-ups, sit-ups and squats. He showed me how to earn a black belt. Most importantly, he demonstrated why the study of karate was valuable.

From Sensei’s Bonsai Class Exhibition in December 2017

Heat, Fire, Smoke, Survival

Sunday September 13th, 2020

Maybe because last week was a shorter week, the workdays and evenings were extra hectic. Nevertheless, it was meditation week, so I want to share at least one meditation entry. Our daughter has been having some issues with friends. This required more grown-up involvement than usual, so my attention has been there. I hope to do a better job in the future of keeping up with this blog.

The weather in Burbank is playing a prominent role in our lives right now. The wildfires in Southern California have pumped enough smoke into the air that it is not healthy to be outdoors. Ash so coats the leaves of my crepe myrtle that newer leaves are a different color than older ones. Our karate club had discussed meeting in a park, and we opted for Zoom instead. A week ago, we had a record-breaking heat wave to keep us indoors. This is all in addition to the pandemic.

Meditation Entry from Tuesday, September 8th.

I meditated for ten minutes today. It was quiet. I heard a cricket, but no birds at first. One airplane roar overhead. The air is damp–it’s cloudy and feels as if it may rain. We need it. Over the weekend, we had record-breaking beat. I brought two plants indoors: a “volunteer” walnut tree and a Santa Barbara hibiscus. I’d early lost the walnut sapling to the heat. The hibiscus suffered from the heat, too, and is struggling. It wilted and is in shock. Its leaves are brown, wilted and shriveled, but it has very small green leaves.

Last Friday, I hurriedly dug it up and put it in a pot. I feared the coming heat wave would finish it off. Transplanting it most likely added to its stress. However, I feared the 106 degree temperatures on Saturday and Sunday would finish it off.

My husband is a “lead” for a neighborhood website called NextDoor. People post everything from ads for garage sales, inquires on local street name origins and notes about lost and found pets. One neighbor had posted that a couple squirrels in their backyard died due to the heat wave over the weekend. Remembering this during meditation made me think about our own squirrels and birds. I’ve been looking for a little black and white Phoebe that likes our compost. I haven’t seen it today.

The next time we have a heat wave, I should open the shed and put out bowls of water. Yes mosquitoes may benefit from standing water, but other wildlife may as well. The neighborhood wildlife enriches our lives and is certainly worth preserving.

Focus, Phones and Wildlife

I have been having an on-going debate with F about whether or not to give her her cell during on-line classes. Her father and I contend having a phone during class will be distracting. If she texts or receives texts while the teacher talks, she will miss important concepts. Also, if she were in a physical classroom, the students would not be allowed to have cells out during class.

To make a point, I asked S to text F while I read an article out loud. I chose an article from the LA Times concerning the effects of global warming on vintners. She seemed to retain a remarkable amount of information when I questioned her. Then she confessed that S’s text messages had not come through. I aimed the rest of my questions at S. We discovered that he, in fact, had not absorbed as many of the points from the article as F, since his attention was divided.

Then we performed the same experiment on S. I found a different article about big cats being sited more frequently in Chile, also from the LA Times. Covid-19 restrictions had reduced traffic and other human activities, allowing cautious big cats to explore the suburbs. This time, the experiment went as expected: S received a few silly texts from F. Honestly, I was surprised each of them retained as much as they had. However, each also missed one of the major points of the article. I was still able to make my point: divided attention is not as effective as focused attention.

On-line learning and Socialization

F’s high school had Open House on-line this past Thursday. D and I put the question about phones and communication to each of F’s teachers. F’s contention was that, during a normal class, she would be able to talk to other kids in class. During on-line learning, her phone could provide a means to talk to other kids.

At least one of her teachers, her pre-calculus teacher, wanted nothing interfering with her students’ abilities to focus. She suggested a quiet place with no distractions for students. She asked parents and kids to put away phones during class.

Other teachers allowed the use of Zoom or Google chat for students to communicate, or used break-out rooms so kids can see each other and work together. Perhaps her Chemistry teacher, an older, animated gentleman, was most concerned about the loss of social interaction for the kids. He actively looks for ways to help kids connect to each other, as well as to him.

Overall we were impressed with the teachers and how they are handling the restrictions placed on them by the pandemic. We were also not convinced F needs access to a cell phone during class time. Her grandfather was less convinced, and suggested we try it out for a bit. He is often the one suggesting we test out our assumptions, and advocating for giving the kids more autonomy. So maybe the Chemistry teacher might allow the use of a cell during his class.

Finally Karate and Zen

So how does any of this relate to karate and Zen, other than through our lives? I acknowledge that’s the most important through-line. However, I’m towards the end of Oyama’s “This is Karate.” He dedicates a while section to Zen, and begins it with “Karate is Zen” (pg 320, What is Karate? by Masutatus Oyama.) He goes on to describe Zen as that which animates great artists and swordsmen, in addition to karateka.

What does it mean to say that karate is Zen? We could try to define Zen, but, by its own definition of itself, it resists such analysis. However, if we look at descriptions of what it does when it is attained, it may be best to understand it in this manner.

One Spirit to Cleave Stone

Oyama goes on to tell an old Chinese tale about a man who practiced archery late into the night, out in the country. This archer wished to truly master his art, and practiced constantly. One night, under a bright moon, he practiced in the woods. The only sound he could hear was his own arrows. Suddenly, up above the man on a rocky outcropping, the man saw the shadow of a great cat, perhaps a tiger, crouched to spring. The creature growled. The man swiftly drew an arrow, aimed, and let it fly; it hit the tiger. The man returned home.

The next morning, he decided to visit the spot to discover the kind of great cat he had killed the night before. He found no animal carcass, but rather his own arrow, stuck deep in a stone of the nearby crag. According to Oyama, the instant that the man thought his life was in danger, “… all of his spirit was immediately concentrated in the arrow, which he let fly with greater force than ever before ” (pg. 321) Oyama calls this concentration of spirit, or focus, “one spirit to cleave a stone.” He gives other examples of legendary swordsmen who fight with a single-mindedness that also reveal Zen.

Zen and Single-Minded Focus

By Oyama’s description, Zen, or the nothingness that one reaches, is actually a complete, single-minded focus–a focus so strong that one’s self seems to fall away, or be entirely concentrated in some activity, be it archery, swordsmanship, karate or meditation. When we practice karate, we strive to reach that single-minded state, where there is only that specific action: a strong upper block, or the downward force of a shutō-uchi on a brick, for the forward momentum of a mai-geri to an opponent’s middle section.

Zen in karate, then, can be described as the laser focusing of the self into an action such that there is no self. There are no concerns about dinner or chores or friends’ gossip or one’s hairstyle or scratching a mosquito bite on your ankle. The mind is clear.

I could point out to F that it is no accident that we do karate without phones. We do not and send and receive text messages while training. She knows this already. She easily focuses when she stands among karateka. Encouraging her to bring her karate to pre-calculus, or chemistry, or any other challenging school subject is what I ought to do.

Full Circle: Zen, Nature and Our Duty to the World

Finally, Oyama, as well as many Zen masters turned to nature as a source of renewal or inspiration for finding Enlightenment. Oyama, according to his own accounts, left human society for three years to live in the mountains, and at temples, to study Zen and practice karate. Reputedly, he meditated under waterfalls, struggled with wild animals and smashed stones.

I wonder how he would feel if he were alive today and living in California. Record-breaking heat, wildfires and smoke, clearly all made worse by human activities, threaten our health as well as our ability to go out into nature. I’m guessing he would recommend we devote effort to preserving the natural world. One cannot meditate under waterfalls if there are no more natural bodies of water, or struggle with wild animals where there are none.

Macro-micro

Santa Barbara Hibiscus before the heat wave

The two articles we read in our little concentration test were both about the impact of human activities on the natural world. Global warming adversely effected the crops of vintners: they planted crops earlier and those had less time to mature due to the more blazing summers. On the converse of this, reduced human activity in Chile, due to the pandemic, was allowing wildlife to flourish in more suburban areas, and their presence was both studied and welcomed by the human residents.

Within the little eco-system of our yard, I nearly lost my little walnut sapling to the heat. It had turned to a single sad stem with only tiny leaf-buds remaining. I was sure it was dead. However, bringing it indoors during the worst of the heat wave, watering it, and moving it between the shade and sun seemed to help it. It sprang back. Now my little purple hibiscus has suffered an equally sad fate and I’m hoping to nurse it back to health.

Conclusion

We have to do what we can to heal this world of ours. However, small, we can turn off lights when not in use; take care to avoid pesticides or poisons with the potential to kill wildlife when we garden, leave out water for wildlife during a heat wave. And yes, as humans, we are also obliged to look at the suffering of other humans and do what we can to help others. We can donate to charities that feed and clothe those less fortunate, especially the homeless.As humans, we are not separate from the natural world, but part of it. For this reason, Oyama reminds us that karate can help transform us to “better humans, better members of society and better family members.”

Meditation, Enlightenment and Karate

Monday August 24th, 2020

Yesterday, I got up a little earlier than usual for a Sunday and printed out the registration forms for my son for religious school. It will start after Labor Day, and we were asked to turn in paperwork yesterday.

D and I then tuned in to a livestream meditation and lecture by Anam Thubten, a monk of Tibetan Buddhism, and founder of the Dharmata Foundation. We have attended his lectures in person, too, and he is an excellent teacher. I was able to sit through the opening chants, prayers, and a few minutes of the meditation, then I left to drop off B’s paperwork with the Temple.

Yes, please don’t tell our rabbi we moonlight with a Buddhist monk! I’m kidding. In all seriousness, if our rabbi heard we’d listened to lectures on meditation, he would most likely tell us about the role of meditation in Judaism and draw interesting parallels between Buddhism and Judaism through, say, Kabbalah practices or even cite Ezekiel, who, according to Wikipedia, may have been the first Jewish mystic. So a real discussion with our Rabbi would probably end up along those lines.

The Temple was holding “drive through” religious school registration, beginning at 10 am and ending around noon. I did not want to be too late. When I arrived, my car was the only one in the parking lot, and the Rabbi and our Temple office manager were very happy to see me. They took my paperwork, gave me a packet of materials for my son, and presented me with a collection of shakers, tambourines, hand flutes and other cool little instruments, courtesy of the Temple’s music director. I chose a beautiful, polished wooden shaker for B.

The fact that I was the only parent there, of course, worried me. A parent, earlier that morning, had emailed me, disappointed that we planned to hold Religious School over Zoom. She has younger children, and said they are already struggling with school over Zoom. I emailed her that our school has to follow the city and county guidelines regarding opening. Rabbi was interested to know about this parent and hopefully he will call her. We may lose families who simply do not want to pay for Zoom classes. In any case, I chatted with the Rabbi and office manager a good fifteen minutes before the next parent arrived for registration. Then that was my cue to leave.

I’m glad I went when I did. After all, the teachings of Buddhism and the practice of meditation center, to some degree, on minimizing suffering. I fear if I had waited too long to drop off our paperwork at the Temple, I may have caused suffering, in the form of anxiety, in these two kind people. And causing them suffering while they are performing an important service for the Jewish community would certainly be unkind.

Karate transforming discomfort and pain into health

When I arrived home, D was still meditating with Anam Thubten, so I joined them. During the break, something occurred to me: karate, based in Japanese Zen Buddhism, has a different relationship suffering, or, at least, discomfort and pain. Normally we’d lump discomfort and pain in with human suffering and, by extension, the cycle of samsara. In karate, however, we learn to get “comfortable” with discomfort, and tolerate pain. Why? We expect this self-discipline to improve our health and, ultimately, reduce suffering. And they do.

Push-ups, sit-ups and squats can certainly make you uncomfortable in the moment. Pushing your body with jump rope, or going for a run, or by lifting weights can make your muscles sore and tax your breathing. The strength, endurance and increased cardio-vascular performance you derive from these will, then, improve both your mental and physical health. Karate, and other fitness regimens, does recognize that this apparent, short-term “suffering” does lead to better health. This better health, in turn, decreases human suffering by reducing disease and disability.

Karate, when performed properly, transforms suffering to health and strength. Its foundation in Buddhism courts this realization.

Through sanchin (a kata in which your senpais and even kohais may be called upon to hit you), kumite (fighting), self-defense and tameshiwari (breaking boards, bricks, stones, etc.), we learn techniques for tolerating pain, and even channel the energy from pain towards our spiritual practice. This sounds weird, so let me elaborate. The knowledge that we can defend ourselves against attack, through specific self-defense techniques, clearly grants some peace of mind.

Sanchin and tameshiwari, in particular, teach wisdom. How? Sanchin focuses on discipline and self-mastery. When we are completely focused during this kata, we are not thinking about a self receiving blows from other karateka, but rather, keeping the abdomen, thigh and arm muscles tight, correct breathing, and the next move of the kata. This kata is a mediation: the self, including that self receiving blows, is a trick of mind. The goal is to dissolve that self in a resolve to stay rooted, tight, breathing and in motion. Anam Thubten wrote a book called, “No Self No Problem.” Sanchin holds to this principle: there is no pain if there is no self to feel pain.

Tameshiwari pits our mind against our mind. The mind sees a brick and says, “I can’t break that with just my bare hand! It’s too hard!” But the karateka knows this thinking, like the brick, can be broken. Having seen Sensei and other karateka break bricks, bats and even cinder blocks with bare hands and feet, we see that that mind is not correct. Sensei teaches, demonstrates, coaches, discusses techniques, then orders, “Break that brick!” and you do! You chop through both the brick and your mental resistance.

The first time I broke a brick, I must have wacked it six times. It took me a while probably ten minutes or so. My right hand was sore after three wacks and I had to remove my wedding ring and switch to the left, but I broke it. During our holiday demo, the next time I attempted it, I broke it in three fast, successive wacks, but it took me less than a minute.

Sensei says, at the moment of the break, the Universe suddenly opens, maybe for just a split second. Those seconds are exhilarating. Enlightenment seekers want those openings. Of course, the enlightened karateka knows that breaking a break will also give your bones little micro-breaks. If these are allowed to heal properly, your bones will grow stronger. Breaking again too soon, because your mind craves that wonderful feeling, can leave you with broken bones instead of bricks! If your mind still craves the Opening of the Universe, it can seek it through meditation, at least until the body has healed.

So, we who practice karate, we play with suffering and enlightenment. We resist our own minds and try to trick the mind into finding an Opening of the Universe. Anam Thubten offers another, albeit more methodical, possibly slower but less painful approach. The goal is the same: the Self drops away and Consciousness becomes that Opening of the Universe, where we feel all existence–all conscious life–is one.

My Rabbi might say that, according to Jewish mysticism and/or meditation, we also leave the self to the One: “’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh “, or “I am who I am.”

Thursday July 23rd, 2020

I meditated for ten minutes, under the loquat tree, focusing on a corner with lilies just starting to open, with a sprig of bougainvillea curling around them. The succulents recently planted nearby are doing well. Though I could hear the buzz of a weed-eater off in the distance and the whoosh of cars, the hooting mourning dove sounded closer, and stronger.

We had a visitor: a white and yellow cat, collared with a bell that gave no sound, wandered around from the side of the house. It walked right up to our sliding glass door, and stopped. It looked in at our cat, Bistro, who looked out. I took a picture. Lady Bug, his sister, was there, too, though she is not visible in the photo. The cat then saw me, and spent a good few seconds observing me. Suddenly it turned and scampered back the way it had come. Afterwards, the other cats, indoors, jumped to the windows above the sink, anxious to follow it. I don’t know why it ran away. Perhaps the sent of the other cats, wafting from the open windows, changed its mind?

Moments later, my son came outside. “Mom, Bistro is really scared of something. His tail is all puffed out!”

“We just had a visitor,” I said. I told him about the other cat and showed him the picture.

“That cat looks like a bigger version of Marvin,” he said. Marvin was another visitor we’d had years ago, when S was quite young, like Marvin, whose big ears made him look more like a kitten. S was still in elementary school when Marvin came calling.

To follow up on the opening of the Queen of the Night from yesterday’s entry: we checked on it several times: 9pm, 10pm, midnight, even 4am, and it didn’t open. After I texted Jessica in the morning, she responded with her thoughts: given how it was already drooping a bit, most likely it already opened Tuesday night, so we missed it. So better luck next time! However, I did find come cool time-lapse posts that others have made of this remarkable plant. Here’s a video credited to Brett Flippen as producer:

After a day or two, I should probably move this footnote to yesterday’s entry.

Wednesday July 22nd, 2020

This morning, instead of exercises, I meditated for ten minutes. I sat outside under the loquat tree and tried to focus on natural sounds outdoors. Despite the leaf blower running, I could hear birds and the neighbor’s fountain. However, my mind went everywhere: more changes and cuts at work; concern over this blog since our little martial arts club is unaffiliated, and, though I’m pretty sure I did join the IFK, I only have my daughter’s membership card; fears that the Shodan test will be less meaningful without kumite and in this potentially shortened form; fears that, if I find employment in another industry, the adjustment will be more difficult than expected. When I realize my mind has wondered, I try to find a bird sound or the water, and listen again.

Funny, when I glance over the list of worries above, actually contracting COVID-19 myself, or having a member of my family contract it, doesn’t rate. Why is that? Despite the fact that a good friend and a couple cousins have gotten it, and recovered, the actual threat of the disease feels unreal. My husband keeps a little cheat sheet of the rising national count on a daily basis, which I see, but do not pay much attention to.

Despite the fact that it feels unreal, I act on what I know. In the morning, I still spray down the kitchen counters and frequently touched surfaces, like light switches and refrigerator handle, with a diluted bleach solution. A note taped to the door reminds me and others in my household to wear a mask before answering the door, both to protect us and whoever is dropping off a delivery and ringing the bell. The doorbell, outside and inside door knobs and even the mail box are surfaces I spray with the diluted bleach solution. I take these actions every day. I know that, despite our best efforts, one of us could still contract the disease. Despite this knowledge, I don’t worry about it. I just do what needs to be done.

Other areas of my life could benefit from that treatment: regarding work, I should do my best to look around, and do my best on the job I have, while I have it. It’s not always easy and I don’t always succeed, but that is a good goal. Regarding karate, the same: do what Sensei requires and trust his judgement. He will grant the next rank, or not, depending on how each of us performs during our test. He has given us the requirements and will administer the test. Also, we’ve chosen to continue our karate practice at home, to the best of our abilities, under these circumstances. Our only other option was to stop karate; that option precludes not only a black belt test but also any progress in karate.

My friend Jessica, my “dirt sister,” came over today. Her Queen of the Night started blooming. It only fully blooms at night. We are to check it roughly once an hour tonight to see, and hopefully record its progress. Above, take at peek at where it was at around 5:30pm this evening.

Thursday July 9th, 2020

I sat outside this morning in the front yard to write. F was in an animated discussion in the back yard, by the time I finished my morning exercises. S was up, too, but dozing on the sofa with KKJZ, the local jazz station, playing in the background.

The front yard is so green! The crepe myrtle trees are blooming. The spider lilies are also still blooming, and the grapefruit tree has fruits slightly larger than golf balls hanging on lower branches. Jessica’s succulents look healthy, too.

Exercises: I did them this morning: sixty “tricep” push-ups (fists on the floor and on my toes), and forty “chest” push-ups on the mat, including about twenty still on my toes for those ones. Squats with alternating punches on the even sets of ten, and sit-ups, all done with clean Japanese counts. Evenings are always harder, but I did get in the sixty “chest” push-ups on my knuckles on the floor, with forty “tricep” ones on the mat, though most of that last forty was on my knees. I also did squats with alternating punches, and 100 lower-ab exercises, so mostly dutchmen and leg-lifts, with some toe-touches and diagonals sprinkled in there. What’s even better: no weird pains in the backs of my thighs or shoulders. Yay me!

I should write up a page on how to start a home exercise regimen like this. I have been doing exercises like this since I started taking karate classes. My plan to test for a shodan, however, inspired the regular daily home regimen.

Starting out, however, someone who isn’t training regularly may have no idea of how many repetitions he or she can do, so that’s where to start: figure that out first. How? Set a timer for two minutes, and do as many of the exercises as one can for that time span. Count the number of push-ups and write it down. Then reset the timer, and see how many squats one can do in two minutes, and how many sit-ups one can do. That’s basically six minutes total of exercises–not an intimidating number at all. Take those numbers, and do that many every day, for 5 days. Do it once in the morning, and once in the evening. Now we’re at a twelve minute commitment total, but broken up over the day.

Of course, taking at least a minute or two to stretch between those two minute sets is smart. Realistically speaking, those six minutes will take closer to ten or fifteen, depending on how much stretching or rest a person needs between sets. Not letting the total time exceed fifteen minutes is important, however. The less time total one spends–say twelve minutes–the more likely a person will be able to stick to the regimen.

For push-ups, I may need to take a photo or sketch a diagram of what a tricep push-up is like as opposed to a chest push-up. Also, Sensei says it is very important not to go too deep and end up with a rotator cuff injury. So I should have pictures showing what’s fine and what’s too deep.

You do the regimen two times a day, five days a week, for three weeks. On day 5 of the third week, in the morning, time yourself for the exercises only. See if you are completing your original number faster. Hopefully what took you two minutes to do starting out will take less time. Even if it is 5 seconds less, that’s still good.

Finally, after you has been able to stick to the work out for 5 days a week, for three weeks, you meditate for that twelve minutes during the fourth week, twice a day. Meditation, besides being good for you, will “hold” that spot in your day.

Depending on your health and ambition, for the next 3 weeks, you add repetitions. If you could only do 5 comfortably, maybe add 2 to 5. If you’re dong 20 comfortably, try adding 10.

Tuesday June 23rd, 2020

It is late for my ten minute write. Twice today I meditated: seven minutes in the morning since I was running late, and once tonight for ten.

B and I helped lead part of kihon. Rather, Sensei asked me to help lead class, and I drafted F and S to setup and start, since I’m not actually off work until 7 pm, and our business unit are sticklers. F begged off, saying she didn’t feel well. S set us up with Zoom but hit technical difficulties. SL, a very sharp junior shodan my S’s age, led the warm-up by the time I was able to join. We had a minimum amount of time on-line before completely losing our connection. I called in on my phone, though leading a Zoom class over a smart phone is not ideal. While on the cell, my husband D assisted S in getting our laptop dialed back into Zoom. We were able to lead kihon kicks.

Luckily, Senpai T, a Shodan, along with his wife TF, also an ichi kyu, were also on the Zoom. They taught Pinan Sono Yon. At one point, I was able to watch the class 0n the laptop and suggest a couple items for them to cover, based on what I saw students struggle with. At one point, Senpai T controlled the Zoom camera while Senpai TF instructed. That way, we were able see the kata moves more clearly.

Senpai also had a couple high rank students lead the kata, and then asked a couple of the lower rank students to lead the kata. Having lower rank students lead the kata was helpful for two reasons: first, they go at a slower pace, which helps others learning the kata keep the pace, and second, they show the higher rank where the lower rank students need help.

Overall, they did a good job of teaching the kata. In the future, however, we may want to queue up a video of whatever kata we want to cover, and actually play that over Zoom. I’ll suggest this.

At the end of class, the sound on our computer conked out. S and I put in the general Zoom chat that we didn’t have sound, though we still had video. SL, who had begun the class, ended it with a standing meditation.

I was so glad that Senpais T, TF and SL were there to help. We also had another junior shodan, G, as co-host, who helped “pin” students leading kata, admit us when we lost connections, etc. She helped a good deal, too.

Monday June 22nd, 2020

I had a blood test done this morning at Quest Diagnostics for my annual physical. Initially, while trying to leave the house, I forgot my mask. After arriving and checking in at the clinic, I realized I’d left my bundle of cards in the car.

Instead of carrying a purse now, I take only important cards, such as my driver’s license, credit cards and insurance cards, and bundle them together with a rubber band. I usually put the cards in a back pocket. However, I wore some “skinny” jeans and was not confident about the back pocket. Since I’d planned to leave whatever I wore out in the garage for up to a week, I wanted to wear something I would not miss. So old, less comfortable skinny jeans seemed to fit the bill, except that then I didn’t have good pant pockets. I did wear a comfy plaid shirt with front pockets to compensate. In any case, I had to run back out to the car to retrieve the card bundle.

I will see my doctor soon, so the tests were to prepare for my annual physical. The gentleman who helped me was kind. He said his name was “Bernie.” He wore his silver hair in a braid and had high cheek bones; I couldn’t help but wonder if he is Native American.

Today, my son and I did interval training with jump ropes: per Sensei’s prescription, we jumped for two minutes and rested for thirty seconds, for six rounds. Afterwards, I practiced Tensho, and B critiqued me. B reminded me to pull my hikete hand back while the other hand performs its move. He also tried to distract me during Sanchin. Poking my belly button with a bo staff, even gently, he discovered, made me giggle. During my second attempt at Sanchin, he pushed, slapped, grabbed my hands, made noise, etc.–he performed the more “usual” distraction– and did not poke my belly button. This was much easier for me to handle.

I did not do exercises today. Friday was my last “official” day of exercises for nineties. Soon I should put up that day’s entry, because I timed myself for each set of exercises. This week is my fourth week, so it is the “meditation” week. After work, I set a timer and meditated for ten minutes.

Note to self: wear gi with belt over belly button for actual black belt test Sanchin, if B is helping to test me.