Surfing the Internet, I often find descriptions of Iaido being "zen meditation in motion" - but is it true, and to what extent? Let's try to shed some light on this topic!
Most Japanese martial arts traditionally have slight influences from the two main religions locally practiced: Shinto and Buddhism. The first is a form of autoctone animism, in which each object (and some in particular) is regarded to have a "spirit": the river, the mountain, the sword, the dojo. The second, introduced centuries ago by warrior-monks clouded in myth, took root especially in the form of Zen, a meditative religion focused on the awareness and then rejection of the "self". In Sword Arts, and particularly in Kendo and Iaido the dual "soul" of Japanese belief is definitely present: the reiho or dojo etiquette and ritual, with its multiple bows to the center of the dojo, to the sword and to each other has strong echoes of Shinto, while the focus and strive to reach and keep mushin ("no mind") during the execution of the forms clearly draws from Zen philosophy. That being said, it is very important to point out that these elements are incidental and functional to the practice and do not really have a "religious" content at all - in fact I know of practitioners of any belief from Christian to Jew and Muslim as well. That is because the reiho while ritualistic, serves the purpose of reminding you that it is a live, real and dangerous weapon you are handling, and therefore a very rehearsed, structured and controlled framework needs to be in place to avoid injuries to yourself and others. And the "mushin" concept, far from meaning that your mind is "empty", means that you are extremely focused on everything that can happen from any directions in a natural way. So, meditation is not the primary aspect of Iaido practice at all - that is not to say though that very intense, very focused sessions without talking and with a high number of repetitions won't feel like a sort of meditation, or even a dynamic "rosary" if you will, in which you are joined together in mind, body and spirit with your sword. To be fair, some high level Senseis tend to be more "spiritual" than others; however in our School we mainly focus on the technique, with spiritual growth being a side effect of this. What it is sure, and it was one of the main draws and benefits I always got out of practicing Iaido and Budo in general, is that in those hours you come and commit to it, your head beautifully "clears" from the thoughts, stresses and tribulations that life constantly throws at us - I leave to you the judgement if that is meditation, after all. We regularly organize Iaido Courses in Singapore. Please contact us if you are interested!
0 Comments
|
The Blog and news of Shuhari Dojo, Iaido in SingaporeAuthorAll the latest info about our courses and events. For anything else, please contact us by email.
Archives
October 2022
Categories |