se smetti di alimentare l’ego ti accorgi di essere
e sei piu’ fluido, piu’ intuitivo, piu’ imprevedibile, perche non ti preoccupa nulla ne vincere nè perdere , semplicemente fai quel che fai nel modo e nel tempo giusto. qui ed ora.
e giuocando puoi vincere, se vuoi, ma preferisci perdere per fare contento il tuo prezzioso amico avversario che ti permette di giuocare a fare il guerriero.. oppure vinci ma per aiutarlo a capire dove sbaglia..
questo è il vero combattimento con l’ego.

la sopraffazione , la volontà di sconfiggere l’altro aumenta le predisposizioni gli scanda e l’ego e ti allontana dalla via del samurai.

perche come diceva il piu’ famoso maestro spada mai esistito , nell’ agacure (guida allo stile di vita del samurai)

“la via del samurai e la morte” io leggo la morte dell’ego….

ciao
massimo

karatè e fare quel che fai.

se mi dai un calcio devio la tua gamba se mi dai un pugno devio il tuo braccio.
posso colpirti senza toccarti, con un’urlo improvviso nell’attimo in cui decidi di partire possi fermarti .
stacco la mente e mi fido decenni di allenamento agiscono anche io curioso di vedere quel che accadrà.
nen c’è spazio per i pensieri , l’agire è qui ed ora.

combattere in amicizia….. è un bel giuoco.

ma se tu vuoi veramente farmi male, se ti arrabbi se mi prendi sul serio ,e ti prendi sul serio, con tè non ci vogli avere a che fare, con quelli cosi’ , funziona decisamente meglio uno spray al peperoncino……
uno spray al peperoncino batte decenni di allenamento…
il piu’ forte combattente del mondo…. puo’ essere fermato da una bimba armata di spray che ridicoli i combattenti che si credono forti.

il karatè è un’altra cosa..

ciao
massimo / sento

Pur non avendo continuato, quei pochi mesi avevano posto un seme per la meditazione. Qualche anno dopo quel seme è germogliato.

Il mio percorso personale è fatto un po’ di parole ma soprattutto di esperienza. Non avendo più praticato le arti marziali nè tantomeno lavorato con Vernon Kitabu Turner non posso darne un giudizio personale.

Tuttavia mi sembra che in alcuni praticanti delle arti marziali vi sia parecchia attenzione e competizione (leggi ego) sulle credenziali o sui “pedigree” dei praticanti. Non è poi così differente dal chiedere a una persona se ha una laurea e dove l’abbia presa per giudicare le sue capacità intellettuali o scientifiche.

Kitabu Rishi è nero, non arriva da una formazione tradizionale di arti marziali, anzi arriva dalla strada e da una pratica spontanea di meditazione, poi approfondita con un maestro Zen. Anche questo è un percorso legittimo. Ripeto, non lo conosco veramente e non ho alcun motivo nel difenderlo. Cerco a mia volta il vero e se qualcuno mi dice il perchè è una panzana o un truffatore potrà contribuire alla mia (e credo di altri) conoscenza.

Anche, mi piacerebbe capire perchè l’”efficacia” della spiritualità vada dimostrata nel vincere in un combattimento.

Per chi sa l’inglese, riporto un brano dal suo libro trovato in rete. Scusate non lo traduco, non ne ho il tempo.

SPIRITUAL ROOTS OF KITABU ROSHI

I am a loner,
I stand and walk alone,
Though I travel the endless road,
I call no place my home,
For the life of one such as I
Is never spent one place,
And I am fated to wander
Until death has stilled my pace,
And though I travel this road,
Neither do I know
From whence the power comes
Or whither I must go.

The above poem is entitled “The Loner,” and is taken from my first book, Kung Fu: The Master, published in January 1975 by Donning/Hirschfield Publishers. I was fourteen when I wrote it. The spirit of aloneness was so strong in me that I felt it would always define my life. I had not yet left home physically but the poem was indeed prophetic Forty-one years later it still accurately describes my life. I remain alone. This aloneness that I speak of does not mean that my life has not been touched by the lives of others, nor that I am a sad and lonely soul. I have come to recognize that the greatest part of my life, like the sunken portion of an iceberg is invisible and Inaccessible, even to those who are close to me. The first hint of this probably came from my mother who called me her “peculiar child.” She noted that she would come into my room when I was no more than three years old and find me sitting up in the dark at two or three in the morning with my “doll baby eyes” seemingly glowing. “It was spooky,” she said. When I was older and school was out for the summer, I could sit motionless all day long under my favorite tree until my mother called me in at dusk. I was not conscious of the world around me during these times.

I grew up in a Christian home. My parents taught my siblings and me about God in such a subtle way that I never had a single doubt about His existence my entire life. Since that was so, my focus was simply to stay in communion with Him. Naturally, without any outside push, I concentrated on God the Supreme, or Father. I recognized the spirit of The Father in Jesus but I also recognized He was directly accessible to me, also. This was my childhood understanding. Thus were my roots established in imageless meditation and surrender to the divine. Much has been made of my contact in my teen years with Zen master, Nomura Roshi and later with Sadguru Sant Keshavadas in my twenties. However, it is important for you to recognize that the seed of the Universal Dharma (Teachings) was present in my life long before I even knew of the sages of The Far East.

On the strength of my child-nature I was at peace with God. Then at nine years old I heard a sermon preached by Reverend Joseph Copeland of Zion Bethel Church of Portsmouth, Virginia that immediately transformed my consciousness. He spoke on “Original Sin” and the collective guilt of Man. Then he clarified the mission of Christ, the atonement. Suddenly the church and all the people vanished. I peered into an emerging scene, as clear as the congregation had been only a moment before. I saw Jesus Christ in agony on the cross. He turned and looked in my direction. I knew he could see me just as I could him. No words were spoken but something was communicated into my mind. I received it. As I meditated on that one pure soul bearing the guilt for all others I felt the wretchedness of the world and the weight of my own flesh for the very first time. The scene of Christ melted away. I could not rest. My brother and friends sat near me but I did not care to participate in our usual distractions. When the minister gave the altar call. I stood up and went downstairs. To a chorus of “amen” I entered the folds of the preacher’s robe but something mystical occurred. I felt the cleansing spirit of Christ embracing me through the body of Reverend Copeland. I was transported to a new dimension, instantly healed of my wretchedness and bodily weight. I seemed to be made of air. That was my experience. I shared this experience with no one.

After my mystical encounter with Christ I became a diligent student of The Mind. I believed in a direct link to all knowledge and wisdom, and I sought to learn things intuitively whenever possible. I did not know that this path was setting me aside from others. There was no precedence within the black community nor the black church to understand a person drawn deeply into the inner-path, so there was no support or nurturing for me within my own community or family. Indeed, to many people, my approach to life was a threat to the familiar. Soon I was the “peculiar child” to more people than just my mother. I found myself facing hostility from unexpected quarters. Bullies were drawn to me.

My meeting with Nomura Roshi at age 19 was also a mystical experience, one I will discuss in more detail at another time. For now, it is sufficient to say, that when my Eastern District High School English teacher gave me a gift from her husband, Dr. Stablein, new doors of understanding opened. The book was Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau/ Roshi. One year after reading that book I met Nomura Roshi. Through the book’s information and the Zen Master’s presence I felt the truth of my path reflected back at me. For the first time, I learned that if I was peculiar, at least I had company. Ten years later, Sadguru Sant Keshavadas re-enforced my understanding and my calling with a bold statement given at our first meeting, “You were chosen by God to be a spiritual teacher.” I did not run off and stick up my shingle at hearing that. Instead I placed myself under his guidance for over 20 years. The master publicly endorsed me and ordained me official emissary of The Dharma through The Vishwa Shanti Temple in The Himalayas in 1977 but I hid my light as best I could. . As for my original spiritual roots? Nothing happened through the years that altered my faith in Christ. Nor the matchless one we call Father. Instead I observed with awe how all things come together into a marvelous whole when received with the childlike, boundless mind. Beyond the confines of organized religions there is the awesome, indefinable, ungraspable God beyond measure who can dance with your feet and play music through your instrument.

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one. I would ye be one as we are one.”

To attain this experience is to be enlightened. You cannot achieve this in a formal church service. That is fellowship. This work must be done within the temple of your very own being. You are already standing on holy ground.

If one is chosen, his path is pre-ordained. There are no bragging points on this path. It is written, “Whom God chooses he justifies.” “There is no good thing in the flesh,” The Bible teaches, and that applies to me. In and of myself, I am not good. However, the teachings that come out of me come from The One who chose me. In Zen it is said “the student should go to the teacher for the teachings, not for the teacher.” The teachings are given to free you from your burdens, to help you find The Way.. The teachings come from spirit and point to spirit, and that is where you must look.

I give credit to whom credit is due. That may unnerve some people. In the Bible it is said, “to some He sent preachers, to others He sent teachers.” Even though I have been a part of the church my entire life, I was drawn to teachers. The path of teachers are not be confused with Sunday school or Bible teachers. Our path is the inward path, the path illuminating “The Kingdom of Heaven,” or enlightenment. This is the path open only to an individual. It is not a congregational lesson. It is the path of those who aspire to spiritual crowns, not a maintenance program.

If you find yourself lingering around this site, or others of similar approach, it is because the inward pull in you is greater than the outward pull. The question is… will you have the courage to rise above your ego and intellect? Some people wonder that I think I am to speak on such matters. After all, I was not born in Asia. That is a marvelous question. I will answer it. The True Mind is Unborn, so there is no country of origin. Being chosen means there is no hope of escape from one’s mission or state of being. It is also means that the chosen one can discover no point of origin for himself. A guru needs a guru to mirror his mind and spirit. In this way he learns the nature of his being. This is on the job training. America is only a few hundred years old. Though it pays homage to God in a way, it does not understand the many aspects of His work. Sadguru Sant Keshavadas wrote the following:

A mahavatar is an incarnation of cosmic intelligence. His appeal is to the mind. A soul that attains infinite consciousness realizes that the world can be redeemed and manifests infinite love and compassion toward all beings. Even after departing this body, such a soul works for thousands of years through a divine body…a mahavatar becomes the way for all humanity to attain such awareness.
From Liberation from Karma and Rebirth, Sadguru Sant Keshavadas

Sant Keshavadas preached Cosmic Consciousness as Cosmic Religion or Vishwa Dharma. In 1977, I received his Dharma Transmission. I shy away from calling myself a guru, though his other Dharma recipient Rama Mata is indeed Guru Mata. I use the term Roshi because I came to Santji as a Zen practitioner and he received me as such, “No difference,” he said.” So what started with Jesus pointing at my mind became my Dharma. Now for some this may seem a massive leap from my Christian roots but I say it is merely going upstairs in the same house…

”Be not conformed to the image of the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

“Let this mind which was also in Christ Jesus, be also in you…”

These verses are easy to read. They are not easy to accomplish. This site is not about religion. It is about transformation of your mind. When you understand your True Nature, you will spontaneously celebrate or worship God, not in a dualistic sense but inseparably from all that is and all you experience. . That is love. All creation is part of the unfolding of Truth. The terms American Vishwa Dharma Zen or Zen Mushin Ryu Do are just banners where you will find my approach to teaching this Cosmic Truth. Each teacher by right, has his own approach when insight comes directly from his own soul. It is like a musician’s signature. The Truth like God is one. You can be certain of Truth; it illuminates the darkness. It sets you free. Do not take what I say as Gospel, a fixed and immutable doctrine. Put my teachings to the test; see if they work for you. This is a community not a one on one, mind to Mind meeting. Some points may strike home, some may miss, and such is life. If you keep coming, however, the arrow of realization will penetrate your ego. Something will hit you.

Kitabu Roshi