Читать книгу Saijutsu. Traditional Okinawan Weapon Art онлайн

6 страница из 12

We sometimes speak of “masterful performance.” So-called “living national treasures” have been improving their skills for a long time. They try to use every means to fine-tune their technique which is really beyond that of ordinary people. This can be achieved only by daily practice. The same thing applies to the martial arts. If you continue to practice every day, someday you will be able to master the techniques that are beyond ordinary people’s ability. The main principle of the practice of sai or karate should be hard training. This training produces the same feeling that believers experience when they perform their daily practice of praying. Let me quote the words of Dogen, a famous Zen Buddhist teacher: “To learn Buddhism is to learn oneself. To learn oneself is to forget oneself.” To forget oneself is to be tested in an established way. By testing ourselves in an established way, we are also encouraged to try very hard. If we try very hard in the training of the sai or karate, we will forget ourselves. It also means to learn ourselves, and to learn ourselves entails learning Buddhism. In short, training in sai or karate leads to a spiritual awakening.