Is there any Spiritual implication of MA?

where to find spitituality

Perhaps all monks do not, but some do.
There is enough martial spirituality in history from Shaolin to Kalaripayattu to the Knights Templar.
We should beware of dismissing MA as a spiritual path as they certainly have been for a considerable number of people and cultures.

Martial Arts are not spiritual for me, beyond part of being part of why I enjoy life and yet another reason to be grateful for my existence.

 

The Shaolin story sort of saying this, MA strengthen the monks to carryon their meditation. I think Sun Lutang said similar thing about the holy men in the past as well.

 

Enlightenment and hearing the voice of God could also be classified as cognitions. It rather depends on your framework. You're making a distinction based on your definitions. But they're hardly universal.

I think you're also drawing a false distinction. The term "spiritual" is extraordinarily broad and could mean many things to many people. Personally, I have no problem accepting that spiritual experiences are essentially powerful cognitions.

I do.

 

Thanks again, may be there is a difference between soul and spirit. A living being has many cognitions which includes supernatural power. I think a line should be draw somewhere between them.

 

Could you expand on that because I have no idea what you mean

 

I don't honestly subscribe to anything you just said. That's no judgment on you. There's no definitive answer to any of this. But I don't know that I buy into supernatural power. And I know I don't draw a distinction between "soul" and "spirit." I'm not familiar with a belief system that does. (I'm no expert, however. I studied a fair amount of religion in undergrad, but I'm no expert.)

I don't see the utility in drawing a line. I'm wondering what your motivation is for all this. It seems like you want to not only believe that there's some concrete spiritual power associated with martial arts but to also catalog and organize it. I'm curious to know what your end goal is.

 

Define martial arts as to exercise?????:zzz:

Wouldn't a soul and spirit be the same entity?

Supernatural? I thought we were talking about spirituality

Have you spoken to or been around actual Buddhists/Buddhists Monks? (Shaolin Costume Ones do not count)

Do you really have a clue what is the purpose of actual Buddhists/Buddhists Monks?

 

A person cannot have supernatural power. Any powers that we have are by definition natural ones, because we have them.

Some people possess very unusual powers (e.g. some autistic people have extraordinary memory skills) but they aren't 'supernatural'.

 

Actually, I'd say that martial arts provide quite an efficient avenue for answering questions regarding supernatural powers. All you need is someone who is both good at fighting and devoid of any supernatural beliefs to test your killer chi blasts against

 

Yes, some living creatures have unusual powers. I use the term soul just to mean a living creature, and it has certain awareness of the external environment and the internal consciousness, etc. What is the meaning of spirit in terms of a living creature?

From the little I known about Buddhism, there are ways to avoid the interference of various spirits to achieve emptiness or wholeness. Would you call that spiritual experience or just unusual power that can be achieve by a living creature through meditation in this example.

 

So like… spirit?



How about now?



What about now?


Now?



Now?

Where'd the awareness go!?

 

Living creatures cover such a wide range that you can't give any definition that might apply to all living creatures execpt simply being alive. What else do humans have in common with plankton? Or with people from Essex?

I'm afraid I have no idea what this means. Is it something do do with 'evil spirits'? If so, then I don't believe that such things exist.

 

Oooh evil spirits exist. Whiskey. It really gives me the worst nights.

 

One of the primary goals of Buddhism is to end suffering. After that it gets real confusing as there are many rather different schools of Buddhism. Some schools are rather pragmatic while others are chock full of demons, gods, supernatural powers and stuff. Some schools are heavy into meditation and others don't meditate hardly at all.

Btw, I follow a secular version of Pure Land Buddhism. One thing I can tell you is that you won't learn Buddhism at a martial arts school but you could learn martial arts from a Buddhist.

Namu Amida Buddha.

 

I think that Martial Arts are 'spiritual' in as much as they usually teach us things like self-control and a greater degree of physical self-awareness. Traditionally they have often been closely associated with different religions and/or philosophies, but it is just as easy to study an MA without touching on the religious/philosophical aspects at all. I see that as a matter of personal choice.

 

Human spiritualty or self-actualization does not have to be religious. I do not see Buddhism as a religion since there is no reincarnation.

 

You need to stop typing immediately and go on read up on what you are saying because you are so wrong you have come out the other side!!!

 

Some people have the awareness level of some of those animals if you ask me . . . . . . . . . .

 

Pretty confident that I already said that. "Self-actualization," for instance, is the term used in Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to describe a high level of personal development. Maslow is a well regarded psychologist.

There's no reincarnation in Christianity either. Are you positing that Christianity isn't a religion?

 

religion

It was a pretty odd thing to say, especially since Buddhism does believe in reincarnation. It's been a while since I read up on it but I think that the enlightenment it seeks serves to end the need for reincarnation.
Maybe he means that since there is no such thing as reincarnation, it is not a real religion. A bit dodgy, if that is what he means.

On the other hand I have heard a Buddhist say that Buddhism is not a religion because it does not seek to connect believers to a deity ('religion' comes from the Latin 're ligare' = to re-bind). So maybe he's right for the wrong reasons.

Any Buddhists want to comment?