A self defense martial artist can often see the holes in a defensive position. This skill is learned by first realizing how many holes you have in your own self defense skills.

A good martial arts teacher, however, will teach more than this one perspective of defense. The student’s defensiveness will also be exposed. This is the kind of defensiveness where we put up mental and emotional blocks. If a student stays overly defensive about this aspect of their self, then that attitude will inhibit their learning and advancement.

So, let’s consider that our defensiveness is keeping us from seeing and experiencing the inexplicable that is occurring all around us, 24/7, 365.

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“It is crucial not to fix your eyes on one place,” states Kadensho, the Hereditary Book of the Martial Arts, by Yagyu Tajimanokami Muenori (1571-1647). His essential advice for martial artists is also true for spiritual seekers. It describes a certain state of mind.

“In judging your opponent’s reaction to the trap you set for him, see him without looking at him; that is, do not fix your eyes on one place. Keep your eyes in motion all the time, and catch glimpses between each movement.”

I have been reading stuff like this for years. It sounds great, but what does it mean in practical terms? There are people in everyday life who possess a degree of understanding about this. A dedicated martial artist comes to understand it, and to realize it. Boxers know this, as do world class tennis players. They hardly think about the game - it is coming too fast. They go into a zone.

Here is what this saying means to me: learn to gaze when I look at someone or something. Because the thing I am looking for, the thing I am wanting to connect more deeply with is ‘in between’ movement, in between words, in between right and wrong. It can be found in a gaze, and in a feeling. Stop thinking so much. It is in the middle, in the center… a place I am unaccustomed to looking at and dwelling in.

Tabata, Kazumi. Secret Tactics. Tuttle: North Clarendon. 2003. (6)
Photo credit: Gaze, by Manuel Librodo

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The inexpressible becomes expressible through building common experiences. We can see this in everyday life.

For example, a solitary traveler returns from the far reaches of the world and says, “Let me tell you what great things I have seen.” But no matter what he says, it doesn’t convey his astounding adventures. So, the listener politely nods her head, occasionally murmuring, “That sounds great.”

On the other hand, when one or more people share an indescribable experience, a vocabulary emerges. Read the rest of this entry »

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Miysmoto Musashi, widely considered one of history’s greatest warriors and strategists, developed nine principles for living:

Never have a wicked heart.
Train not by thought, but by practice.
Learn a wide variety of arts and skills, and do not fix on only one.
Know not only your own techniques but also those of many others.
Find out rationally what is an advantage and what is a disadvantage.
Foster an intuitive ability to judge all things.
Feel an essence you cannot see on the surface.
Pay attention to the very smallest phenomena. (Everything takes its own course, and sometimes we get unexpected results.)
Do nothing in vain, for the energy and time we have is limited.

One who always keeps hei-ho in mind and trains vigorously can be superior to others and also judge matters better than others. The person who comes to control his own body by hard training will have physical strength greater than others. If a person trains his mind in a similar manner, he will then become spiritually superior to others. Accomplishing the above things, he will never be defeated.

Tabata, Kazumi. Secret Tactics. Tuttle: North Clarendon. 2003. (54-55)

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