Hanshi Duke Moore said it best in the introduction to the original manuscript for the Fighting Spirit of Zen – which was “Survival is everything, all else is trivial”.
I want to speak briefly on the essence of Budo. In order to do that – lets start with what Bujutsu is. Bujutsu are the tactics, techniques, and methods of using your body and weapons in warfare, as described by the Japanese Samurai. It refers to the physical warring techniques and methods used between opposing warriors. Budo, on the other hand is the “Way of War”. It refers more to the mental and spiritual realizations that come through the practice and execution of Bujutsu.
Most of us today, unless a soldier in the military, will not really have the opportunity to execute Bujutsu in war. Most of us will be relegated to practicing the techniques of war in our dojos. From that practice however will come the essence of Budo if, and only if, one realizes that the essence of Budo is death. Well that sounds a little morbid. I was more hoping to get some good fitness, learn some self defense, and make some new friends. Sure – that too. But without the realization that the true essence of Budo is realized in the moment that separates life from death, one will really never understand the truth behind the martial arts.
In ancient Japan, when two warriors faced each other in a split second of combat – swords raised above their heads, ready to cut each other down – and there was the realization that one of them would in fact die within a moment – the true essence of Budo revealed itself. In the military or law enforcement today – when a soldier rounds the corner and comes face to face with the enemy pointing his weapon back at him, and for a split second both realize that Survival Is Everything, All Else is Trivial, and that in a moment, one of them is about to die, the true essence of the martial arts reveals itself.
So why is this important? Because in the realization of the imminence of death, the shortness of life, the fragility of the body, the finite duration of one’s existence on this earth – does one finally learn how to live. How life must be executed perfectly, powerfully, compassionately, seriously, so that when the end comes – and it will – the warrior can be satisfied that he lived his or her life to the fullest, secure in the fact that he or she has fulfilled all of their obligations. This is the essence of Budo.
Recent Comments