The Importance of
MEDITATION
IN THE
INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS

   Seated meditation is an integral component of most systems of internal martial arts. It is not uncommon for Chinese martial arts teachers to believe that reaching particular basic stages in meditation practice is necessary to proceed to the higher levels of martial arts training, proficiency, and the high levels of health they promise.

   Most involved in the internal arts are interested in more than merely the fighting ability that can be attained. The internal arts are rightly famous for what they can teach about one's interaction with others in the world. They teach an attitude of calm and deliberate action, action that appears effortless and yet is highly effective in bringing about the desired result. To this end, the various meditation practices form a bridge between the physical manifestation of principles learned through internal martial arts training and the application of those principles in one's life outside the practice hall.

   However, there are few if any teachings about meditation in the annals of the Chinese internal martial arts. There are various reasons for this, the most apparent being the oral nature of the majority of the teachings. While practice manuals were written for the benefit of students at large, who wanted a sure way to remember forms sequences or fundamental principles of proper body movement, it was much more difficult to formalize and record teachings about meditation practice, which is often highly individualized and idiosyncratic.

   Consider the following facts: (1) there are few teachings about meditation in the annals of the Chinese internal martial arts, and (2) the internal arts are based in Taoist and Buddhist principles and Buddhist pugilism (as most scholars maintain, the Buddhist Shaolin temple is the source for all Chinese fighting arts), and (3) Zen Buddhism is, historically and ideologically speaking, the convergence of Buddhism and Taoism, and (4) the Zen annals are replete with written transmissions on meditation practice; because of these facts, Zen's written transmissions present the source of information on meditation that is best suited for the internal martial artist. It is a valuable source that has been overlooked far too long!

Shunryu Suzuki
(1904-1971)

Author of:
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
and
Branching Streams Flow
in the Darkness

In internal martial arts practice, we need to concentrate with a strong will to achieve the proper postural alignments while executing complex postures. This is particularly difficult when lines of force--forming through the contraction and expansion of portions of the larger muscle groups--are constantly changing, as they do during the execution of a form. Yet if this concentration is not coupled with a more wide-eyed awareness or attentiveness to the ever-changing variables that come into play while executing such complex movements, we lack the feedback required to make progress.    This quality of mind--intensely concentrated yet widely aware--is what is cultivated in meditation. It can be characterized as relaxed and open yet connected and so closed. And the physical analog of this mental state is what the internal martial arts attempt to imprint the body with. A relaxed and yet connected and properly aligned body is the source of power in the internal arts, and a relaxed and yet connected and properly awakened mind is the source of the will or mental fortitude necessary to bring about such a unique state in the physical body.

   As many internal martial arts teachers will tell you, there is nothing esoteric or mystical about meditation. The skills gained from the practice of meditation effect one's skill level in the arts of Bagua, Xing Yi, Tai Ji, and Liu Ho Pa Fa. Further, the various meditation practices serve as a vital bridge between the physical manifestation of principles learned through internal martial arts training--yin/yang, soft/hard, yield/strike--and the implementation of those principles not physically but psychologically, for example, as in dealing with others and oneself in the affairs of daily life.

   Physically, one learns to overcome power by, first, yielding and succumbing in a controlled manner to the attacking force and, second, following that yielding by precisely-placed attacking movements powered principally by the coordinated use of the largest muscle groups in the body, the upper legs and buttocks. This is difficult to do, and requires long hours of intensive training.

   Psychologically, these same principles form the basis of the Taoist philosophy of action in general--that is, all action, both interpersonal on the one hand, and intrapersonal or one's relation to oneself on the other. These principles which one has worked so hard to ingrain physically--such as non-opposition to strong force, and action only at the most appropriate moments and in the manner that will bring the greatest result with the least gross effort--are metaphors for the best type of interpersonal and intrapersonal interaction as well.

   Such attention to physical movement as symbolic of mental attitude is not uncommon in Taoism as practiced in the religious setting. Nor is it uncommon to Buddhist practice. Both Buddhism and Taoism involve elaborately symbolistic ritual in order to help the initiate move beyond a merely and overly-intellectualized approach to the teachings; the teachings are intended to be put into action, and that requires that mental gymnastics--though they are of great worth--be put aside eventually in order for the practice to become one that is lived.

   Because most of us fight with others physically so little if at all, yet we all encounter psychological battles with others and with ourselves daily, and we all, too, battle the potentially debilitating effects of aging, it would be a great waste of time if the internal arts failed to benefit us where we need them the most--in our daily struggles. Fortunately, the internal arts offer such benefits.

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D.T. Suzuki's
The Zen Doctrine
of No-Mind

"...this volume delves into the whole purpose and technique of Zen training, and in the view of many, goes further into the depths of Zen than any other work of modern times."    -editor Christian Humphreys, a noted Eastern Studies scholar in his own right.

   Written by the famous Zen scholar and teacher Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, The Zen Doctrine of No Mind is a commentary upon and study of the Zen teachings of one of the two most significant figures in the early history of Zen in China, Hui-neng. The importance of Hui-neng is second only to the founder of Zen, Bodhi-Dharma, who came from India to spread Buddhist teachings in China.

   Hui-neng is the founder of the southern or "direct enlightenment" school of Zen. He is the first personage to codify the fundamental principles of Zen into a single transmission, known as the Platform Sermons of the Sixth Patriarch, or the Lu-tso T'an-Ching. The T'an Ching is comprised of the lecture notes of the students of Hui-neng.

In the famous gatha--or illuminatory poem--expressing his views on Buddhism which Hui-neng presented to his teacher Hung-jen in order to earn the right to his place in the lineage, he contrasts his own view (in stanza 2) with the view predominant at the time (stanza 1): 1. This body is the Bodhi-tree. The mind is like a mirror bright; Take heed to keep it always clean And let not dust collect upon it. 2. There is no Bodhi-tree, Nor stand of mirror bright. Since all is void, Where can the dust alight?    The method referred to in stanza 1 as, roughly, 'dust cleaning', is that of the Northern or gradual enlightenment school of Zen, in which it is believed that continual perseverance and elaborate method are needed to attain and maintain the state of perceptual awareness and attitude referred to in the literature as "enlightenment." Hui-neng believed this attitude--outwardly complex and seemingly sophisticated--was inwardly barren. It lacked the outward subtlety and inner complexity necessary to bring the practitioner to the unimpeded expression of his own nature or enlightenment.

Hui-neng's method is referred to in stanza 2 as, roughly, 'realization that all is void'. This reduces to the realization that there is nothing in the way of enlightenment, and therefore nothing that needs to be done away with or got through. We do not do something to attain unimpeded expression of ourselves, but rather we do nothing. By doing nothing is meant that we stop doing what it was we did before that prevented self-realization.    It may by a fine distinction Hui-neng is drawing here, and it may appear that he is merely arguing for one of two equivalent ways of stating the same thing. But the distinction may be utterly significant with regards to Zen, because much of Zen teaching and training is devoted to overcoming the mistaken and deep-seated belief that the source of what impedes one lies principally outside of oneself; Hui-neng's formulation puts weight on this mistake by emphasizing the illusory aspect of the impediment. We do not so much obtain the state by accretion as regain a state by ridding ourselves of self-created impediments that have covered it over.    Hui-neng was the first to transmit his teaching using everyday, non-technical language. He came to Zen in a unique way, progressing from layman and laborer attached to the Yellow Plum Monastery to official inheritor of the lineage of the master who resided there. He was illiterate.

Dr. Suzuki was professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Otani University, Kyoto, was the greatest living authority on Zen Buddhism, and was the first to bring Zen teachings to the West. In addition to his natural language, Japanese, he read in Sanskrit, Pali, and Chinese. He wrote and spoke English fluently. Because of the depth of his knowledge, Dr. Suzuki was honored in every Buddhist temple in Japan.

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xxxSo famous that it has been reprinted nearly forty times, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is the first of two book-length collections of informal lectures delivered by the famous Shunryu Suzuki, who established the first Zen monastery outside Asia. A lineage holder in the southern Soto branch of Zen Buddhism, Suzuki delivered these lectures to a group of Zen initiates after morning meditation once or twice a week over a number of months.

xxxZen Mind, Beginner's Mind is not comprised of a set of instructions that will bring about the desired result by simply following them. Instead, Suzuki teaches the student in such a way that the student learns to teach himself.

xxx The book is about the Zen attitude, that openness, curiosity, humility and joyfulness displayed by all great Zen teachers (and for that matter, all great teachers irrespective of their specific field). The book is about how to realize that liberating attitude and then maintain it, outside of the meditation room. Suzuki calls this attitude "Beginner's Mind."

xxx As is well known, those who are masters at their craft --whether artists or entrepreneurs or martial artists--make it look easy. This is because they approach it with Beginner's Mind, and so do nothing extra and do only what is required to achieve the desired result. Nothing fancy, it would seem from the observer's point of view, just perfection. And as a master will confirm, the perfection involves complex inner workings which are the result of determined effort to gain and retain a particular attitude or state of mind. Again, Beginner's Mind. The book divides into three sections: • Right Practice (body) • Right Attitude (feeling or emotion) • Right Understanding (mind)

xxxThe personality and idiosyncrasies of Shunryu Suzuki pervade the text. The retention of the author's voice is the mark of a high quality Zen record because when communicating the easily misunderstood message of Zen, it is often the subtleties of the teacher's expression that carry the burden of the intended meaning. From the introduction: "What the teacher really offers the student is literally living proof that all this talk and the seemingly impossible goals can be realized in this lifetime." When reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, one feels that one is there, in front of Shunryu Suzuki, and one feels overcome with such proof. xxxShunryu Suzuki's teacher was Gyokujun So-on-daiosho. Both are intellectual heirs to the Zen tradition that began with the great Dogen zenji.

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xxx Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness is Shunryu Suzuki's second and final book. A collection of informal but detailed talks about Zen Buddhism based on the Sandokai, a prose poem of the 8th century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Shiton Xiqian). The lectures, which occurred over a six week period, are a line by line, word by word treatment of this ancient Chinese text that is chanted daily in Zen monasteries of the southern or Soto school.

xxx "Sekito" means 'stone head', and refers to Sekito Kisen's having practiced seated meditation on a large rock at the site of the thatched hut where he lived and practiced alone for fifteen years. Sekito was Zen grandson of Hui-neng, referred to as the sixth Chinese patriarch and perhaps the most famous of all Zen teachers.

xxxThe Sandokai contains allusions to Taoist themes of nature and change. 'Sandokai' was originally the title of a Taoist book. It means "coming to terms with the interdependence of things." The final couplet of the poem can often be found inscribed on the han, a wooden board struck to announce the commencement of meditation in Zen temples: "I respectfully urge you who study the mystery, do not pass your days and nights in vain."	Includes: • edited record of Question and Answer session between students and Suzuki that followed each talk. • the original Chinese text of the Sandokai, a Japanese transliteration, and a complete English translation, plus a version compiled by the editor from fragments of Suzuki's lectures.
Because the Sandokai is rich with ideas, many themes important to the practice of Zen attitude and Zen meditation practice run through the book. One such theme is self-respect, of which Suzuki states: "When I was preparing this lecture someone asked me, What is self-respect, and how can we obtain it? Self-respect is not something that you can feel you have. When you feel 'I have self-respect', that is not self-respect anymore. When you are just you, without thinking or trying to say something special, just saying what is on your mind and how you feel, then there is naturally self-respect. When I am closely related to all of you and to everything, then I am a part of one big whole being. When I feel something, I'm almost a part of it, but not quite. When you do something without any feeling of having done something, then that is you, yourself. You're completely with everyone and you don't feel self-conscious. That is self-respect." (p. 32)
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XXXWhether considered as the companion to Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism or a thorough introduction to and exploration of Buddhist psychology and meditation practices, The Myth of Freedom is valuable for those interested in meditation and the effects of meditation practice on the affairs of one's daily life.

xxx Chogyam Trungpa is famous for his ability to express--in a modern, understandable idiom--the essence of the psychology upon which the meditation arts are based. Here Trungpa examines a foundational and often neglected issue in the meditative arts--the problem of our not realizing that a change in ourselves is necessary, worthwhile, or even possible because we think that we are already physiologically free, free to express ourselves--express ourselves to ourselves in self-reflection, and to others--in an uninhibited and straightforward fashion. That is, we presume ourselves to be already free. Despite the appearance of this problem affecting only those who decide against pursuing meditation practice because they take themselves to be already free, the problem's effects are far more subtle than this. They can effect the meditation practitioner at any stage of the process, creating a ceiling beyond which one believes it impossible to go, and limiting the one's potential for development.

xxx By "myth of freedom" is meant the mythlike status the freedom to pursue our desires assumes when those desires are unhealthy. Put another way, ask yourself this question: How free is one if one is free to pursue only those ends that are in one or another way counterproductive? Certainly, under such conditions one's so-called freedom is merely illusory. And if from the outset and due to various fears one is not honest with oneself about what makes one happy or fulfilled or healthy, then one has from the outset made that goal virtually impossible. xx Includes sections on the following: The Myth of Freedom, Styles of Imprisonment, Sitting Meditation, Working with the Emotions, Meditation in Action, and others.

xxx Chogyam Trungpa is meditation master and spiritual leader, or Rinpoche, of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Raised from childhood to be a supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries in eastern Tibet, Trungpa left China in 1959, the time of the Communist takeover of Tibet. He studied comparative religion and psychology at Oxford University, England for four years and established the first Tibetan Buddhist study and meditation center in the Western hemisphere. He is the founder of Naropa Institute, the foremost academic center for the cross-fertilization of Buddhist and Western psychological healing traditions.

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xxx Unparalleled in the clarity of its presentation and the depth of its coverage, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a classic on meditation practice and theory that remains forever cutting edge.

xxx Too many persons meditate to little effect because they lack an understanding of (1) the function of it, and (2) the proper approach to it, and (3) the overall theoretical framework within which the practice of meditation rests.

The book includes material on the following:

xxx Many things can keep us from the kind of easy-going and yet highly productive, happy lives of which we are capable. Some believe the psychological condition of the average person--rocked by the stresses of a fast paced and technologically advanced culture--is a particularly unhealthy one. xxx The meditative or "spiritual" path is largely the study and practice of psychological teachings designed to lead to such a life of mental and physical ease. xxx Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a discussion of the path itself, and of what is involved in treading it most effectively. xxx What Buddhism suggests is this: the source of our unhappiness, our dissatisfaction and lack of ease in going about our daily lives, is (1) the unhealthy, neurotic, self-defeating desire for undue physical security, comfort, and pleasure, and (2) the unhealthy, neurotic, self-defeating desire for undue conceptual orderliness in our mental lives. xxx The first tendency leads to the physical excesses of materialism, an amassing of material goods, hedonism or preoccupation with physical pleasure, and the preoccupation with physical appearance, often to the exclusion of concerns for health. xxx In order to maintain the appearance of wealth, we acquire bigger homes an bigger cars. Yet most spend our valuable time working in order to do this. In order to present the appearance of being healthy, we diet rather than exercise. This is because the effects of exercise are not seen by others as readily as those of diet. We care more about how we appear than how we feel.	xxxThe second tendency involves rationalizing events and the world around us in such a way that all makes sense. This can instill prejudice because one's ideology--whether it be religious, scientific, or something else--can blind one to other attitudes to the world that may be equally valid and perhaps even true. Intellect is not in itself bad, of course, but rather what is detrimental is the inclination to explain away, ignore, or otherwise avoid what is threatening or irritating. xxxOften, what is irritating turns out to be the truth. As with tendency one, it is the excess exercise of a tendency that is detrimental. Why do we act to excess? Because, in an effort to avoid emotional and psychological difficulties life would force upon us, we focus our energies away from the difficulties toward these excesses and deceive ourselves into thinking such excesses best for us, therefore masking the original motivation for pursuing them--avoidance. xxx Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a collection or a series of lectures on the nature of this self-deception and the method of overcoming it--the practice of meditation from an informed point of view. xxx Trungpa does this by focusing on the grandest self-deception of all--the use of the spiritual disciplines as a means to reinforce the two tendencies. If we understand the most subtle means of self-deception then we are in a better position to understand the less subtle ones that threaten us daily and cut us off from the kind of lives we would like to lead--aware, relaxed, and joyful lives.
Chogyam Trungpa is meditation master and spiritual leader, or Rinpoche, of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Raised from childhood to be a supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries in eastern Tibet, Trungpa left China in 1959, the time of the Communist takeover of Tibet. He studied comparative religion and psychology at Oxford University, England for four years and established the first Tibetan Buddhist study and meditation center in the Western hemisphere. He is the founder of Naropa Institute, the foremost academic center for the cross-fertilization of Buddhist and Western psychological healing traditions.
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