Ken-po Goku-i: A karate-ka’s greatest strength

Kenpo Gokui

The lines of the ken-po goku-i are set from an atomistic aspect simply because it is the manner in which the brain learns. Its nature is completely holistic and like the I Ching must be in a form that promotes learning and understanding so a person can see, hear and grasp the nature of a holistic system. The gokui is a method to teach us how to be holistic. Its terseness is the best that can be done to convey its holistic meaning.
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

Master Zeng said, "Am I preaching what I have not practiced myself?"

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

“A karate-ka’s greatest strength is in observation, the more observed, the more the karate-ka comes to know. Such knowledge gives the karate-ka power, especially when others fail to see.” “The eyes must see all sides,” a ken-po goku-i meme as part of the whole that is the “goku-i.” Awareness is about seeing all sides or the myriad of things in the Universe. Our Universe is not just that of the vastness of the space that surrounds our Earth but the vastness of that space the surrounds each of us as if a micro-cosmic variation of the entire Universe.

To achieve such mastery of the seeing of all sides we must cultivate that which is observed more than merely seeing but to analyze all that we observe then synthesizing what we need to survive in our own Universes. It is truly our greatest strength and the greatest weakness of each individual karate-ka dependent on a myriad of things of which seeing all sides is but one.

One, being the great “Tai Chi” that through the natural way of the Universe, i.e., Heavens, Earth and Hu-mans, is to divide into the four then the eight and finally into the sixty-four hexagrams that tell us how to travel the path of life as karate-ka.

The more we can observe through the wholehearted efforts of education, training, practice and attaining of experience is how we accumulate the inherent knowledge necessary for mastery. Observation leads to education; education leads to knowledge; knowledge leads to understanding and understanding leads to analysis and synthesis of old, new and the creative - to see all sides of things.

I would further add that “to hear in all directions” holds the same weight, i.e., as in “While a persons unbalance is the same as a weight” thus making a lack of observation leading to the end results null and void without the addition of hearing and weight and a loss of balance when these principles are missing or incomplete.

To observe takes all the senses with the two of sight and hearing dominate, dominant sensory input processes that provide a wholehearted whole of observation and awareness, etc. This is one meaning attributed to the goku-i!

Bibliography (Click the link)

“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)