To study the Way is to study the
self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to realize no
separation between self and other.
To realize no separation between self
and other
is to become one with the myriad
enlightened beings
and go on in endless enlightenment
forever.
--Dogen Zenji, founder of the Soto school
of Zen Buddhism, 13th – 14th c. CE
Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance.
Self-control. Indomitable Spirit.
--the Tenets of Tae Kwon Do
One of my
"Dharma sisters," a fellow Zen student of Dai-En Bennage Roshi, recently
asked me how I could practice a martial art-isn't it violent and combative?
How can I make it fit with Buddhist practice and principles? I told her that
the way I have worked this out for myself is to think that if I had to use
Tae Kwon Do in a self-defense situation, if I could prevent an attacker from
doing me harm, I would be helping both of us; and that as for sparring, the
little bit I've done is like a game of tag or a dance, from which both parties
learn and benefit. So I see no distinction between martial arts practice
and Zen practice. To see and value my attacker as myself, and to compassionately
prevent that self from doing violence to the manifestation of him/herself
that is me-yes, that's different from the Buddha who plucked out his eye
upon demand and gave it to a man who pretended to need the eye of a holy
man to cure his wife's illness, and then looked on with equanimity as the
man laughed and ground the eye under his heel. But I'm still a few incarnations
away from realizing my own Buddhahood, I think, so a better response in my
view would have been to prevent the man from incurring such bad karma! To
give an attacker time to rethink his mistake and give up-essentially, to
defend him from himself until he realizes he is Buddha-maybe this is how
one fights with courtesy, which is no different from integrity if the other
is no different from the self.
Integrity was
hard for me. Integrity means being true to oneself, which require shaving
a self to be true to, and I don't think I started to have one until I was
about 30. I've since learned that it's hard for women to develop a f inn
and healthy sense of self in a patriarchal culture, because our selves seem
so contingent and we so often survive by indirection, subversion and dissembling,
adjusting our beliefs, opinions and preferences to those of our mates/boyfriends/family.
As a girt I tied to protect myself or to get what I wanted, until I finally
realized that in order for my life to mean anything I had to be consistent,
and to be consistent I had to risk being honest. Integrity means wholeness,
indivisibility. From integrity comes commitment, and vice-versa. Actually,
maybe courtesy is commitment, too--commitment to treating others in a certain
way, to recognizing the Buddha or God or humanity in everyone and holding
it in equal value to the Buddha or God or humanity in oneself. Integrity is
extending that same value to oneself, recognizing that one has wholeness and
weight, and that that weight has meaning. That to give ones word, for instance,
should mean something. That where one stands counts, as on a chessboard: e.g.,
I'm a knight, and I can be relied upon to fulfill the knights function, and
not get up and think maybe I'd rather be a pawn today, it’s easier and I
don't have to move as far, and maybe I'll be captured and have a good rest.
Integrity means one can be relied upon, by oneself and by others.
From integrity,
then, it's a short step to perseverance, which is remaining on the path that
one has set for oneself, maintaining one's integrity, in spite of obstacles.
Perseverance is not blind stubbornness--it's very aware. And one can reassess
one's path, guided by integrity. But practicing courtesy and integrity gives
one the courage to persevere for the sake of others and oneself--to be committed
to a path.
None of the above
can be accomplished without self-control, but all of the previous tenets also
feed this one. With grounding in courtesy, integrity, and perseverance,
self-control grows from within--it's the efficient expression of power more
than a matter of refraining from doing what one shouldn't. In Zen there are
the Four Supreme Efforts: Not to allow an unwholesome thought to arise; Not
to allow an unwholesome thought that has arisen to continue; To encourage
a wholesome thought to arise; and To maintain a wholesome thought once it
has arisen. Taken together, these Efforts are the essence of self-control.
Though in the beginning it seems almost impossible, it becomes easier with
practice (or so I hear). Self-control begins in the mind; but the mind is
not separate from the body, and to practice self--control with the body reinforces
it in the mind. Maybe from the body we team that self-control is not deprivation
but empowerment; practice of a martial art may be the supreme expression of
this truth (or maybe Zazen is).
I think if one
realizes the first four Tenets, "indomitable spirit" is inevitable--for if
one should perfect one's courtesy, integrity, perseverance and self-control,
what could dominate one's spirit? Any outward authority would be superfluous.
Please realize that I'm not invoking Nietzsche's "superman"--I'm too
grounded in the Buddhist concept of “no separation" mentioned earlier, which
leads me to assume that these tenets rightly practiced would be in the best
interest of oneself/all sentient beings.
The late Uchiyama
Kosho Roshi wrote about "living by vow," with sincere intention, and it’s
in that spirit that I'd like to apply the Five Tenets of Tae Kwon Do to the
Student Oath. The first vow is to "observe the tenets of Tae Kwon Do," which
may seem redundant. But it’s significant that the Tenets are taken as a whole,
as the subject of the verb "observe," meaning to follow but with an added
connotation of watching. This verb to me implies vigilance, a constant effort
to be aware and apply what one has teamed.
The second vow,
to "respect ... instructors and seniors," also affirms the values of courtesy,
integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit, as described
above--one's own as well as those qualities demonstrated by the senior students
and instructors.
To "misuse Tae
Kwon Do," prohibited in the third vow, would be not to show courtesy to the
opponent-who-is-oneself (and who by extension is also one's instructors and
seniors); to use Tae Kwon Do without integrity (not out of necessity, not
in one's own best interest, and/or without adherence to tenets and oath);
without a spirit of perseverance ("Oh, I know enough; I can stop with the
techniques I have, and use them however and whenever I want"); without self-control;
and without the animating force of indomitable spirit.
From all of this,
to "be a champion of freedom and justice" grows naturally, when one teams
to walk with courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable
spirit in the world. Here, though the first four tenets are necessary, I think
"indomitable spirit" is the key quality, the sine qua non of championing a
cause against overwhelming odds.
The intention
to "build a more peaceful world," here again, I think is inevitable according
to the logic of the preceding four vows. A more peaceful world begins wherever
and whenever one walks in this way. To paraphrase poet Nikki Giovanni, just
to be a natural woman doing what a natural woman does and going where a natural
woman goes, is to have a revolution.
Which brings
me to the way all of these tenets and vows resonate differently and have
a more radical impact and potential for women. For instance, we are bred
and trained to courtesy; but without integrity, perseverance, self-control,
and indomitable spirit, courtesy can easily become the hollow and timid conformity
of the oppressed. Integrity is problematic for the contingent self, as I
have already mentioned. Perseverance, for women, must occur against greater
odds. Self-control has to learn to be self-affirming and enhancing rather
than self-abnegating and self-defeating. And to embody indomitable spirit
is to claim a birthright and dare to display it outwardly.
For women to "observe
the tenets," then, is already to trespass into an arena where we claim power,
and to embrace empowerment as a way of life. In this arena, we "respect our
instructors and seniors" for their commitment, dedication and accomplishment,
not their given role in society. To refrain from "misusing Tae Kwon Do"
may well require constant observation of the Five Tenets, in a world in which
power has from time immemorial been used against us unjustly. But who better,
then, to be "champions of freedom and justice"? To me, though, the vow to
"build a more peaceful world' is the most radical. For women have traditionally
been seen as peaceful, but we have remained largely invisible in our role
as builders. If we can embody the Five Tenets and the four other vows of
the Student Oath, we can most certainly build a world.
A story from the Blue Cliff Record:
One day Lord Buddha was walking with Indra, prince of the gods. They came
to a beautiful valley, and Lord Buddha remarked, "This would be a good place
to build a sanctuary. " Indra bent down and plucked a blade of grass, and
stood it in the earth. World-Honored One, " he replied, "the sanctuary is
built."
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