2014 - NinZine 3.0

得心 or 心得 (kokoroe 2)

kumafrJanuary 8, 2014

I do not speak Japanese but I love to “understand” the meaning of Japanese kanji.

This is one of the many things I learnt from Sensei during all these years.

Today, a friend sent me an interesting comment about “kokoroe” (cf. recent post). Kokoroe, “knowledge” is written 心得 shin/kokoro + u/toku. But when the two kanji of “kokoroe” are reversed: i.e. 得心, it is “tokushin” and means “understanding”. So knowledge is also about understanding Nature and Life.

This is good but it gets better!

The sound of the first kanji “toku” in tokushin can be written with different kanji and have different meanings in Japanese. For example, we all know that Karate, 空手 (“empty hand” today) used to be written Karate 唐手, Chinese boxing before Funakoshi Sensei changed it to have it accepted as a Japanese Budô at the end of the 19th century. Obviously a Chinese fighting system couldnt have recognized as a Japanese Budô.

So for “tokushin”, if we keep the sound but change the kanji, we get three interesting meanings.

1) The regular toku: 得, is the kanji we used so far, and it means “benefit or gain”. This is the one in tokushin, but change it (same sound) and you obtain (toku) two other interesting meanings which are:

2) Toku: 匿. This “toku” means shield. Tokushin then can also mean that our mind/heart is shielding us, protecting us from the outside world. Kokoroe, going from Omote to Ura is protecting us from what is bad or wrong. Because through hard training we reach the level where we obtain (toku) the “intuitus” (see “intuitus” in blog), or the awareness and ability to see through; we are protected.

But there is more, and I was totally amazed with what I discovered.

3) This last “toku” written 徳, becomes “benevolence”! In the post on Kokoroe, I quoted Takamatsu sensei writing about “Jihi no Kokoro”, the “benevolent heart”. This new kanji gives a deeper interpretation of the above mentioned text by Takamatsu sensei. In a way, we can see that tokushin (written Toku no Kokoro 得の心) is conceptually similar to Jihi no Kokoro (慈悲の心).

The Bujinkan art is not about war, assasination; it is about peace and this new Sanshin made out of “kokoroe, tokushin, and jihi no kokoro” is there to help us achieving this “benevolent heart” through long study. The only thing to do to get that is to commit oneself to the art. Ranks are nothing if they are not supported by high skills. Training is the key and will lead to true knowledge, the knowledge of the heart!

Takamatsu sensei confirms it when he writes: “Personal enlightenment can only come about through total immersion in the martial tradition as a way of living. By experiencing the confrontation of danger, the transcendence of fear of injury or death, and a working knowledge of individual personal powers and limitations, the practitioner of Ninjutsu can gain the strength and invincibility that permit enjoyment of the flowers moving in the wind, appreciation of the love of others, and contentment with the presence of peace in society.

Peace is our goal, and Ninpô our tool.

Remember that “Budô is not made in Japan, it is made in Human” (Hatsumi sensei). And this is why the Bujinkan path is open to anyone with a pure heart.

Kokoroe And Jihi no Kokoro

kumafrJanuary 7, 2014

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

In Japanese 心得 knowledge is kokoroe. Interestingly it is made up of two kanji 心, “shin” which is kokoro (heart, mind) and 得, “u” that has the meaning of: to get; to acquire; to obtain; to earn; to win; to gain; to secure.

Therefore, acquiring kokoroe (knowledge) is seen by the Japanese as obtaining things through a better heart, a better mind and not “intellectual knowledge” as we see it in the West.

And this definition reminds me of what Takamatsu sensei in wrote in a text called: “Essence of Ninjutsu”, in which he defines the 慈悲の心, the jihi no kokoro or “benevolent heart” of the ninja.

He writes: “Stronger than love itself, the benevolent heart is capable of encompassing all that constitutes universal justice and all that finds expression in the unfolding of the universal scheme. Born of the insight attained from repeated exposure to the very brink between life and death, the benevolent heart of Ninpo is the key to finding harmony and understanding in the realms of the spiritual and natural material worlds”

But then, if knowledge is linked to the heart it is not linked to the learning of waza and kata. This benevolent heart will develop through therepetition of these waza and kata but these forms are only the Omote and not the ura. Over the last thirty years I have trained an lot in order to understand and master the forms of theBujinkan but in the process I noticed that these forms ans techniques were not tthe answer. In fact the more I train in Japan the more I iunderstand that there is nothing more important than the feeling of the situation.

So we we come to see a huge paradox. We have to learn the forms in order to discover what lies beyond them. It is similar to trekking where the next hill might unveil a fantastic panorama. But before reaching this hilltop there is no indication of what lies behind. Walking the path of the Bujinkan you will come to understand this type of thing and be able to apply them in your daily lives.

The Benevolent heart of the Bujinkan is not something you can learn, it is given to you once you have polished your “brain knowledge” to turn it into a “heart knowledge”. And when you think about it, the concepts developed by Hatsumi sensei over the years, such as: “feeling, no strength, no waza, be happy, don’t think etc, make a lot of sense.

If you want to develop the 慈悲の心, jihi no kokoro, learn the forms, train hard, then destroy the forms and feel the moment; and do not rely too much on your knowledge.

As Sensei repeated many times: “in a real fight, a waza will get you killed!”

*benevolent heart: http://www.winjutsu.com/source/hatsumi.html

Important if you’re ordering DVD’s from now on

budoshopJanuary 6, 2014

From Budoshop by budoshop

dvd_case Shipping costs is getting higher, we’re not selling as much DVD’s as before, more and more people are happy with the download videos. We are also running out of DVD cases, and we buy them in bulk and they take up office space.

So instead of raising DVD or shipping costs we’re gonna start delivering the DVD’s without the plastic case from now on. When order you will get the DVD and a print out of the cover, but no plastic case.

I guess most of you who buy DVD’s have some system where you store the DVD’s to save space without the plastic cover anyway. If you want a plastic cover you can find it every where, search for “DVD case”. …

Gensô illusion

kumafrJanuary 6, 2014

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

Gensô illusion

Wearing the ninja outfit doesn’t give you the abilities. The Omote side is nothing compared to the Ura side of reality. Too many of us forget that 幻想 Gensô Is illusion. This is the same as in Genjutsu, and the essence of Gen jutsu, for me, lies in 虚辞 kyojitsu. And remember that kyojitsu is the backbone of the bujinkan. 虚実皮膜, “the difference between truth and fiction in art being very subtle, Art abides in a realm that is neither truth nor fiction”.

Zero no Chikara – no power

kumafrJanuary 5, 2014

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

Zero no Chikara - no power

The theme for 2013 was mainly ken and mutô dori. Sensei ended the year by speaking a lot about “zero no Chikara” or “no strength” (picture).
But did you know that 力 chikara and 刀 sword are nearly written the same? -the vertical line protruding on top of the”ken”. Therefore strength and sword are linked; and if you are not using any strength then you achieve 無刀取り mutô dori.
By using no power you have unlimited power as 無刀取り mutô dori is having the courage to do what you have to do, whatever the outcome might be.