Is there any Spiritual implication of MA?

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by runcai, Jun 26, 2014.

  1. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    In Zen there is only one posture. Sitting cross legged on a cushion.

    Try looking up Mindfulness or MBSR as a starting point. Not too heavy into the religion side of it and it works really well for a lot of people. I know it really helped me with my PTSD.

    Just to get you started a Zen saying I am rather fond of.

    Sitting quietly doing nothing.
    Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.
     
  2. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    You mean you have Post-Traumatic Demoralization Syndrome? But don't you count you breath or chant, etc.?
     
  3. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    People can be enlighten here. But some still refuse to. This is like leading a horse to water........
     
  4. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

    I didn't say whether or not I chanted or counted breaths. I have a mindfulness practice that works quite well for me. Do some reading and when you understand better I'll be glad to discuss it with you. In some Zen schools you simply sit and stare at the wall. I don't do that. Tried it but didn't like it.

    Another clue.

    If you understand then things are just as they are.
    If you don't understand then things are just as they are.

    :D
     
  5. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Great Zen!
     
  6. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    Good to know that things do work for you and not just as they are.
     
  7. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    Maybe it is my misunderstanding and that will not change anything, as I assume that the enlightened one will be gone.
     
  8. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    But they are just as they are. Things always are just as they are. If they weren't what would they be?

    Assumptions are bad, mmkay. If you assume you are not open to insight, mmkay.

    Expectations are bad, mmkay. If you have expectations you will be disappointed. Expectations are part of the illusion of control. You don't have any control over other people, places and things.

    There is only one thing you have control over, care to guess what it is?

    Hint: You are the sky, everything else is just weather.


    Oh, one other question is enlightenment permanent? There is a big discussion on the secular Buddhism web site going on over this.
     
  9. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    I am trying to make a link between the Mawangdui Daoyinshu 44 posture to Shaolin 108 statues and martial arts. Satori (悟)does not imply enlightenment, and that is why I could not make the link. The understanding of the self is not mindfulness but the awareness of the internal energy within the self. Maybe that is why I use the term "full-minded concentration". The process of from static to dynamic or from matter to energy is the transition in martial arts leading up to continuity and infinity.
     
  10. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    Think less, train more
     
  11. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Ah, that is where you went wrong...you are trying to link/understand anything labeled "Shaolin" :eek:

    What we think, we become.
    What we become, is from what we think.
    If we think what we will become, we must work harder

    Would the answer be in the Pali scriptures? ;)
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2014
  12. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Yes, it is in the Pali scriptures and like scriptures anywhere, the teachings are as clear as mud. :hat:
     
  13. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Wow, you really manged to get that completely wrong. :D
     
  14. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    So, it is a mistake to link the 44 postures of the Ma Wang Dui Dao Yin Shu to Shaolin, Buddhism and martial arts. The Shanghai University of Sport developed 12 sets of exercises from these 44 postures related to the 12 meridians. In a way Xingyiquan developed on the 6 Yin Meridians in the 5 element fists but its origin from the Shaolin Temple is questionable.

    Has anyone experienced a trance in doing martial arts including Zhan Zhuang?
     
  15. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Ah, this has nothing to do with reducing suffering. Good luck with that.
     
  16. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Next thing we will read is that Shaolin invented Zen

    Or, the monks developed fighting methods by watching animals..

    Or, that Buddha created or visited Shaolin

    Or, enlightenment is in the eye of the beholder
     
  17. runcai

    runcai Valued Member

    Therefore, the general conclusion of this thread is that MA has not spiritual implication.
     
  18. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    Nope, you can find spirituality anywhere. It simply depends on what works for you.

    However, the primary purpose of a martial art is to learn the martial art. The primary goal of Buddhism is to reduce or end suffering although personally I don't think suffering can be ended. Buddhism is more a treatment than a cure.

    Those teachers who promise a spiritual path in their martial art are teaching more, or maybe less, than a martial art.
     
  19. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Seems like mixing martial arts with spiritual is a whimsical romanticism founded by ether theatrical amusements or the misinformed
     
  20. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Morihei Ueshiba and Gichin Funakoshi are turning in their graves right now, buddy :p
     

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