Karate: Path to the Present
Karate and Zen were inseparable elements of Bodhidarma’s search for spiritual perfection. The two were one, hence the historical basis for the old saying, “Ken Zen Ichi Nyo!” As the spirituality of the monastery mingled with the marketplace and the political arena, it was perhaps inevitable that the techniques be separated from the core of spiritual training and practice.
Today, martial arts are growing in popularity throughout the world. The face of karate today displays a variety of styles, teaching methods, goals and physical techniques. This variety ensures the vitality of the martial arts. However, Seido karate seeks to find the “original face” of the martial art, to take the founding tradition and apply and enrich it in a twentieth century context. Through the practice of Seido karate, every student should seek to discover what Dogen understood when he questioned the elderly Chinese monk.
Seido: History and Philosophy
Seido karate is a strict, traditional Japanese style of karate, into which I have tried to distill the essence of what I have learned about the martial arts in over 30 years of study, practice and teaching.
The World Seido Karate Organization officially opened its headquarters on October 15, 1976, in New York City. It is a worldwide organization, with thriving branches in such diverse places as Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa, England, and South America. However, within Seido, growth of the branches is not being pursued for its own sake. Quality of instruction and of the students is paramount.
The physical training in Seido is strenuous, emphasizing progressive development of strength, flexibility and aerobic capacity. One of the goals of Seido karate training is to develop strong bodies, which contributes to health and a general sense of self-confidence and well-being. In addition to developing students with the highest level of physical skills, Seido aims to develop individuals of the highest moral character, individuals who can then make significant contributions to a better life in the family, the work place, and in society at large.
This goal is achieved by the integration of Zen meditation into the practice of each and every student. Seido is unique, I feel, because it stresses the unity and inseparability of karate and Zen. This is not a new idea. Rather, it is a return to the origins of the martial arts. By returning to the roots of karate, it can be made extremely valuable for men and women in this century and the next.
Zen is not taught as a religion in Seido. It is a practice, i.e., seated meditation, which has no religious overtones or content. In my experience, however, it is an essential counterpart to hard physical training. The samurai, whose lives and values gave so much to karate, strived to develop bushido spirit. Today, our lives are much different from the samurai’s, but the bushido spirit can still be translated into our milieu. Seido seeks to develop in each student a “nonquitting” spirit. No matter what the obstacle or difficulty—emotional, physical, financial—I want my students to feel that, though they may be set back, they will never be overcome by any of these problems. The sincere practice of karate can impress this idea into the spirit. This is the modern interpretation of the bushido spirit of the samurai.
The Seido emblem is the five-petaled blossom of the Japanese plum tree, which is also my family’s emblem. It is my wish to carry over into Seido many of the things that I learned from my parents. I also wish to stress that all members of the World Seido Karate Organization are members of a family. No one in Seido trains as an isolated individual, no matter how good or skillful he or she is. Only by sharing and learning from others do we ourselves become whole and fully realize our human potential.
I founded Seido on three fundamental principles: respect, love and obedience. These are represented, incidentally, by the three circles within the center of the plum blossom of the Seido emblem. These principles represent what I have found to be essential to a healthy and productive practice of the martial arts. They also represent a way, or do, of being in everyday life.
If we truly have respect for others, it is inevitable that we treat them with courtesy and equanimity. It is when we do not have respect for others that we become angry with them, that we disparage them, that we find no value in what they say, and that we engage in destructive action. This lack of respect for others, oddly enough, is related to a lack of respect for ourselves. Karate, through the practice of zazen, makes us look at ourselves. If we do this sincerely, we inevitably find our beautiful, truly human core. To find this, however, we will have to wipe away many layers of dust and dirt, which cloud the bright surface of what the Zen masters call our “mirror mind” or “Buddha nature.” When we see ourselves clearly, not with a vain love or callous self-indulgence, but with a healthy respect, we shall inevitably see others the same way. The Zen master says we shall see no separation—there is no self, and no other.
It is easy to do violence to another if you see that person as separate and distinct from you. Our society encourages us to think in terms of the “other” country, the “other” system. When we think this way, it is easy to deny to others the respect they are due. In Zen, when you bow, you bring your palms together in gassho. This means “two into one.” There is no self and no other. Respect yourself and respect others.
Early morning training with Black Belt students.
Karate offers a means of building the principle of respect into a cornerstone of our lives. This is achieved through the strict, ritual courtesy and etiquette that all students practice every moment in the dojo. How we wear our uniforms, how we move, how we speak to senior students, how we bow—these are carefully prescribed and followed by all, regardless of rank. In one sense, this refines our manners and makes us more civilized people. In a deeper sense, it serves to ingrain respect into our characters.
Love is another fundamental principle of Seido. It is the most overused and misused word in the English language. Love grows out of respect. In fact, the two go hand in hand. People are very apt to express a sentimental love for another, yet they will show that same person much disrespect. With true love, this cannot be.
We must love our parents, who are our first and most important teachers. Our love for them can grow out of a real respect and appreciation for the sacrifice and suffering they have endured for our comfort. We can then give love to our families in the same way that it was given to us.
Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, spent his whole life trying to find the cause of human suffering. After doing zazen under the banyan tree in India, he was enlightened. After his experience, he felt compassion for the suffering of humanity. Compassion means a moving of the insides; we feel so much for someone’s pain and suffering that our insides hurt and are moved. Love, founded on a genuine compassion for others, is something that we should train ourselves to extend freely.
New York at twilight, with the Brooklyn Bridge and twin towers of the World Trade Center in the background.
Practicing kata at sunrise. Awosting Falls spillway, Upstate New York.
When we love freely, we can give and share everything. We need hold on to nothing. Our hands can be empty. Karate means “empty hand.”
The samurai loved rectitude, or right action. We should feel the same way. Morally and ethically, in all situations, we should train ourselves to love the just and honorable way of acting. Obedience is the final pillar in the foundation of Seido karate. In the basic sense, of course, it signifies being obedient to the rules and regulations of the dojo and of the organization. This is not out of some blind, military mind-set. Obedience goes with commitment. Students of Seido karate make a commitment to train as hard as they can to develop