My personal "Interpretive" Lens!
"One thing has always been true: That book ... or ... that person who can give me an idea or a new slant on an old idea is my friend." - Louis L'Amour
"Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider..." - Francis Bacon
"What is true today may be reevaluated as false not long after. Judgements are frequently based upon a set of "temporary" circumstances surrounding them. Conflicting ideologies can exist simultaneously. Antagonistic dualities are complementary aspects of a unified whole: are seen as mutually dependent mirror images of each other." - Nahum Stiskin
Warning, Caveat and Note: The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books.
Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.
Kenpo Gokui
A person's heart is the same as Heaven and Earth while the blood circulating is similar to the Sun and Moon yet the manner of drinking and spitting is either soft or hard while a person's unbalance is the same as a weight and the body should be able to change direction at any time as the time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself and both the eyes must see all sides as the ears must listen in all directions while the mind must grasp all the tactile, olfactory and gustation data not seen on all sides and not heard in any direction
All Bottles are Truly Good
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Disturbance
I do understand completely, more today than yesterday, why Tatsuo Sensei really wanted his deshi to learn about the "Kenpo Gokui". To receive instruction on such a brutal form of combat with out the spiritual and moral guidance leads to a disturbing trend to violence in the training hall which does reflect on behaviors outside of that arena. So here goes:
I have noticed of late the pension for passing along content of such a nature that is can only be described as disturbing and more importantly unnecessary.
Such things remind me of the traveler who suddenly encounters a traffic jam only to find that the cause was not the accident itself but the "gawkers" themselves slowing down to view the scene.
It makes me wonder what it is in our nature that draws us to the, what appears to be an inherent desire, viewing of brutality. When we look at history we see things like this have gone on for hundreds and maybe thousands of years.
Do things like this server any purpose? Do others who view such stuff actually learn something that brings about morality and justice? or...does it just fuel violence?
I remember a moment in time many years past as a recruiter in the Military where group violence almost occurred but for just one moment of thought that defaulted the growing group mood to one of reasonable thought averting what I now know would have ended in brutal violation of a person. I shutter to think of what would have happened if the one person had not had the morality to step up to the plate and diffuse the situation.
We even enjoy the violence of movies and games. Look at the shoot-em up video games and the movies that seem to make a lot of money that are violent. You can justify it to yourself by saying that it is not necessarily the violence but the end result of humanity overcoming such things, i.e. the good guy conquers the bad guy, etc. yet thinking about it does this really require the graphic nature of the movie.
Over an hour and a half of violence for about ten minutes where the good guys finally win. What does the person viewing it really remember? The end or all the stuff that comes before?
Then we must take a look at what we practice. The only difference between pure violence and brutality and the practice of karate DO is the mental attitude and intent. It is easy to let things slide into the power trip and end up being brutal.
I am not the riotous one for I have slipped into certain less moral modes and I hope that I have learned the Way so that I am more in control of those types of losses in morality. Maybe it is knowing the difference and ensuring that one follows the right "path."
Maybe it is because we tend to repeat things over and over and over and over and over again because we have failed to learn from it. I hope that one day mankind/humanity does learn from its past and finally and irrevocably overcome our pension for violence toward others.
Maybe then we all would be posting on the art of the tea ceremony or flower arranging or calligraphy as our means of finding the true path vs. the path of the empty hand where the underlying possibility of violence can be shifted to brutality at any one moment.
I am not going to quit my art of Isshinryu yet this today, the video that is going around that is pure ugly brutality in the guise of "martial art", does cause me great concern and further hardens my resolve to follow the correct "path" to the "one" so that I am more than just someone proficient in punching and kicking but one who is a model to other practitioners on how to do it right.
At least I am resolved to try my hardest! Truly think before acting for the action you take can and does have irrevocable consequences to the person acting and to whom that persons actions affect.
Lessons...
History repeats itself to teach humanity a lesson it has yet to learn. Humanity also repeats experiences only because we may have missed the lesson or if we saw it we failed to learn from it.
Just to have knowledge of a lesson does not mean we have learned from it. We have to change ourselves and "live" the lesson in the right way in order to get past its constant repetition in our life.
The gokui tells us that in order to achieve a level of proficiency in the fighting arts and the "Way" we should practice and train to learn the lessons. Sometimes the repetitive practice opens the door and allows inspiration to enter and provide us the lesson then all we need to do is accept it and then "live it."
Life does not give us any choice in the matter; the Tao does not give us any choice in the matter; the Universe be it the sun and moon or the earth and humanity does not give us the choice of the lessons it wants to teach yet we do have the choice of "seeing" the lesson; "hearing" the lesson and finally learning to live it.
Nothing good is easy and this internal scrutiny of the self is the hardest "lesson" we will ever learn. I hope that I have the strength and perseverance to achieve that lesson. I may not want to admit to myself this fault yet if I am able and then can live it then I know that I will be the better person for it.
Isshinryu and Number Three (3)
Is shin ryu (one - heart - school)
K's (kihon - kata - kumite) or the triad of Isshinryu Karate-jutsu-do.
P's (practice - practice - practice) or proficiency is in the practice of something
R's (repetition - repetition - repetition) or proficiency is in the repetitive practice of something
L's (eyes - ears - knowledge; look - listen - knowledge)
A's - B's - C's (attitude - basics - confidence); proper attitude understands the necessity of performing basics which builds both confidence and proficiency through repetitive practice.
K's (karate - kobudo - kenpo gokui) To achieve balance in the way requires the study of the art coupled with the gokui, i.e. spiritual + physical.
Other Three's:
Heaven | Earth | Humanity
I-Ching | Gokui | Bubishi
Gokui Kenpo |Gokui |Isshinryu-no-gokui
Kihon | Kata | Kumite
Body | Mind | Spirit
Strength | Speed | Technique
Serenity | Tranquility | Humility
Shorinryu | Gojuryu | Isshinryu
Shorinryu | Gojuryu | Kobudo
Morality | Civility | Honor
Humanity | Justice | Courtesy
Intent | Restraint | Action
Energy | Ki | Void
Numerology equates understanding of the Tao. The Tao expresses our lives in binary, 0's and 1's, which together bring about all things that come from the Tao, the "one". The most elemental energy of the Universe that provides us the "Ki" through practice - continuity - intent. 1 is energy while 0 is void; void holds energy and energy can not exist with out the void.
Action is balanced out by intent and restraint. Justice is the fulcrum of courtesy and humanity. Civility is brought about by having honor and morality. Isshinryu was born of goju and shorin. Perfection in technique comes from equality in strength and speed. Spirit is forged by the mind and body working wholeheartedly. Kihon sets the foundation on kata and kumite. The gokui is the entry point in defining the living I-Ching and Bubishi.
Humanity can not exist with out heaven and earth which reside in void while the void holds the Universe.
To know the "3", to study the "3", to practice the "3", is to bring the three from their separateness into "one".
Ki is energy and void. Ki can not exist with out energy and energy can not exist with out the void. To join the three is the Tao, the "one"; for all things are "one"!
Attitudes and the Gokui
"Both your present and your future are deeply affected by the mind-set you bring to your daily experience." "Whether positive or negative, attitude is destiny." - P. M. Forni
Attitude defined: a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways; position: the arrangement of the body and its limbs, "one assumes a kamae"; An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item...
The gokui as a tome of living life either as a person or warrior requires that one take the appropriate attitude with an emphasis on the mental state of the practitioner not demeaning any of the other aspects, i.e. taking a position in life, in body mechanics, or emotional.
One who has an attitude of wholehearted intent in all they do is more attuned to the frequencies that connect them to the Tao which is the "one" that is both heaven and earth; sun and moon; hard and soft; seeing and hearing, etc. Literal connections to the gokui while underlying is the more spiritual connection we seek through a singular, or "one", practice of kara-te-jutsu-DO.
The gokui as well as the other martial classics allude to attitude which also has profound effects on a persons "intent". It means the difference between life and death, injury and non-injury, happiness and sadness, or even success and failure.
To achieve balance as taught through practice of kara-te with gokui means that those things mentioned are the flip side of the other that to achieve balance we have to discover that median that denotes proper attitudes that neither tip the balance in favor of one side or the other.
To practice with out the gokui is one such example that leads to the mere brutality of the physical or the intellect with out the ability to move, i.e. knowledge with out the ability to put it into practice is also not balance.
Study and practice in balance!
Elementally Speaking
The simplest form to express the Universe is with 1's and 0's. Look familiar. 1's are Yo or Yang while 0's are In or Yin.
When we say we wish to train to become "one" with the Universe through our "singular" form of practice, i.e. the fighting arts, then we are expressing a desire to make use of 1's. But you might say how does this provide balance? Simply finding the true energy of the Universe is to find the "one" which as we have come to understand is both 1's and 0's or In-Yo/Yin-Yang that makes all things possible.
The one means the void or the Tao which manifests itself into the duality that is our lives. We have left and right brain activity with one being totally logical, Yo/Yang, and the other of the true nature of the Universe, In/Yin, that allows us connectivity to the Tao. This is our singular form of connectivity that makes us human and provides humanity with its benefits.
If we can accept both the 1's and 0's into One much like one wire carrying what we may refer to as AC or alternating current. Notice the sine wave (In physics and chemistry, wave-particle duality is the concept that all matter and energy exhibits both wave-like and particle-like properties, i.e. called "wavicles") of AC which shows the range from the center line where it oscillates to both ends of the spectrum of energy and the height and proximity of the wave determines the energy levels.
Strong and powerful energy has close proximity and high peaks while very low and weak energy has almost no peak and wide distances between each cycle.
Ultimately one wishes to create equality for strength and speed while allowing for positive relaxation. In other words a balance that takes us to the "one".
1's and 0's are representative of existence itself and we strive to live within its parameters until we achieve the ultimate of our existence and that is being "one" with the Tao.
Lets go outside the box and let me say that if all this is true, i.e. 1's and 0's, etc. then the Universe is one huge ultimate and only computer that is everything. It is the Tao who provides us the results of all computational life.
Does this mean that the physical world in which we live is a digital world? Are we actually in a "matrix". Not one built from some machines run on artificial intelligence but one that is run on digital intelligence or "The Tao".
If the Universe is run on bits, on and off, the alternating current of life then the physical world is a digital manifestation of that "one" or the in-yo or 0's and 1's.
If this is correct then the scientists say that all computation is "one". If this were true then maybe the structure of our brains and the fact that in order to function on a level that would not drive us all insane splits it into two distinct area's so that both counterbalance the other so we see what we see in our world much like the idea of the "Matrix" and if we are able to bring our two minds into the "one" then all that we see, hear, feel, and understand to exist is merely a naturally developed and run matrix of the Universe or the Tao.
This does not mean that we can control the vastness of the Tao yet it does mean that we can work steadily and consistently toward being "one" with all that is the universe or The Tao. If this is to be believed then we can relax and enjoy our current lives for when it ends our minds become one and we revert to "one" and are returned to the void, which is void yet not empty.
If there is even a remote chance that this is all possible and true then the kenpo gokui is that one singular statement, i.e. an if-else-then statement, that directs us toward the various answers provided by the Ultimate mainframe computer called the Tao or the Universe.
Bibliography/Source of Inspiration