On 11/7/2015 at 10:37 AM, soaring crane said:

 

Who's Drew?
 

Is you drew yet, soaring?  I's passed.
 

6 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

Please do not use google translation for classic text. It was not make for that. I tried that at first too. It turns out to be not making any sense at all.
 

It made sense to me.  At least, some of it did!  

On 1/23/2024 at 7:13 AM, Eduardo said:

 

The trinity as a Christian concept has its origin in Tertullian, previously concepts such as the Son, Divine Wisdom (Sophia), were understood very closely to the emanations of the Gnostics.
Tertullian is the first to use the Latin word "trinitas." Regarding the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, he tells us:
The unity in the trinity arranges the three, addressing the father and the son and the spirit, but the three have no difference in state or degree, neither in substance nor in form, nor in power nor in kind, since they are of one same substance, and of one degree and one power.
 

Tertullian originated new theological concepts and advanced the development of early Church doctrine. He is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term trinity (Latin: trinitas). However, some of his teachings, such as the subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father, were later rejected by the Church. He later apostasized and joined the Montanist sect.

(Wikipedia, "Tertullian").

 

Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology similar to those of the wider Christian Church, but it was labelled a heresy for its belief in new prophetic figures. The prophetic movement called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic.

(Wikipedia, "Montanism")

 

On 1/30/2024 at 5:52 AM, Taoist Texts said:

hey man. i approve of your enthusiasm. what you were proposing earlier is qigong . nothing wrong with qigong. its a nice pastime with placebo benefits. its just not alchemy.

 

as to explaining alchemy, it is a tricky thing. first of all maybe 10 men in the whole world can do it, and of them probably only i can explain it in reasonable terms. of course i am not going to do it publicly. second of all when alchemy is reasonably explained  peeps flat out refuse to understand it. They can understand it. They just dont want to. Here is the beginning work, see if you want to

 

 

Using Google translate, which may or may not be accurate, I find the following points salient:

If the mind is not relaxed, the nature will be fixed. If the form is not labored, it will be perfect. If the gods do not disturb you, the elixir will be knotted. ... It can be said that you never leave the house.

I also partly agree with the post by Nintendao:

 

Quote

i’ve been told by both a cranky taiwanese grandma and an ascended jewish doctor that not a lot can be done with alchemy until one achieves yang within yin, that is to say, remaining conscious while the body is asleep. sometimes called trance, it’s a different thing to lucid dreaming. those energy flows perceived as various vibratory sensations, when the five normal senses are mostly offline, take on a new coherence.
 

"If the mind is not relaxed, the nature will be fixed."  Gautama spoke of a "station of consciousness":
 

That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–this becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill.
 

Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness… whence birth… takes place.
 

But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill.
 

(SN II 65, Pali Text Society SN Vol II pg 45)

 

My approach:

Just before I fall asleep, my awareness can move very readily, and my sense of where I am tends to move with it. This is also true when I am waking up, although it can be harder to recognize (I tend to live through my eyes in the daytime, and associate my sense of place with them). When my awareness shifts readily, I realize that my ability to feel my location in space is made possible in part by the freedom of my awareness to move.
 

I sometimes overlook my location in space because I attach to what I’m feeling, or I’m averse to it, or I ignore it. The result is that I lose the freedom of my awareness to shift and move, and I have difficulty relaxing or staying alert. When I allow what I feel to enter into where I am, then my awareness remains free, and I can relax and keep my wits about me.

(Waking Up and Falling Asleep)

That's similar to the approach in lucid dreaming--a presence of mind must be retained in the moments before falling asleep, but unlike lucid dreaming, the idea here is to discover the placement of attention by necessity in the movement of breath, and retain a presence of mind with that placement as the placement shifts and moves.

The necessity may be in the movement of breath itself, or with regard to support for the structure of the spine in the movement of breath.  Actually, the necessity may even be coming from perceptions of things beyond the conscious boundaries of the senses, but that's another topic.

On "the elixir will be knotted"--I recently outlined "the scales" of my practice, on my site--note that the attention placed by necessity in the movement of breath has a singular location, a "one-pointedness":
 

... the scales are:  looking for a grip where attention takes place in the body, as “one-pointedness” turns and engenders a counter-turn (without losing the freedom of movement of attention); finding ligaments that control reciprocal innervation in the lower body and along the spine through relaxation, and calming the stretch of ligaments; and discovering hands, feet, and teeth together with “one-pointedness” (“bite through here”, as Yuanwu advised; “then we can walk together hand in hand”, as Yuanwu’s teacher Wu Tsu advised).

When the necessity of the moment becomes the relaxation of muscles in the lower abdomen and the calming of the stretch of ligaments in the lower body, especially at the sacroiliac joints, there can be a sensation for which "knotted" is a colorful description.

As to "It can be said that you never leave the house".  Gautama spoke about four initial stages of concentration--I describe the way I experience the first three above, in my description of "scales" (like musical scales).  As to the fourth:

The flow of “doing something” in the body, of activity initiated by habit or volition, ceases in the fourth concentration.  Instead, activity is generated purely by the placement of attention, and the location of attention can flow.

Again, a [person], putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, [one] suffuses [one’s] body with purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind.
 

(AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93; bracketed material paraphrases original)
 

“Pureness of mind” is what remains when “doing something” ceases.  When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath.

...The difficulty is that most people will lose consciousness before they cede activity to the location of attention–they lose the presence of mind with the placement of attention, because they can’t believe that action in the body is possible without “doing something”...

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration...

(Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)

And you never have to leave home, in that "the stage of concentration that lends itself to practice in the moment is dependent on the tendency toward the free placement of attention."

My take:  "I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom" (“To Enjoy Our Life”).
 

4 hours ago, silent thunder said:

In my experience suffering is not required. 

 

Gautama taught the methods to cease imposing suffering and be free.

 

Suffering seems an overlay, an imposition atop the process of reality through the unskillful means of aversion, attachment and lack of wisdom.

 

One may experience discomfort, pain, inconvenience, ignorance... that does not mean one must suffer.

 

Missing your presence @Marblehead

 

  Reveal hidden contents

But not suffering  about it...

 

For me, the first of the four truths precipitates the others.  That is to say, Gautama did not always drink beer, but when he did, he drank "Four Truths" brand.  When suffering is present, the other three of the four truths are equally valid and apply (when suffering is not present, no need to drink "Four Truths" brand).

 

On 1/28/2024 at 5:26 AM, Keith108 said:

White snow has melted

Moss and lichens revealed

Round and round, just now

 

_/|\_

 

Round and round, just now
a bobbin without a yarn
good thing I can't sew

On 1/28/2024 at 5:26 AM, Keith108 said:

White snow has melted

Moss and lichens revealed

Round and round, just now

 

_/|\_

 

Hi, Keith108,

The thread you're looking for is "Haiku Unchained", that's here:

 

I think Stigweard has passed away, but he left us his instructions for his "Haiku Chained" thread, in the first post:


 

Stigweard

• The Janitor

•  

• 

• The Dao Bums

•  

• 3,939 posts

On 8/1/2023 at 8:39 AM, Daniel said:

 

In buddhism is there a concept of being attached-to-detachment?  finding the release from sense-pleasure-pleasurable?  abandoning dogma becoming dogmatic?

 

in your opinion are these concepts important for maintaining enlightenment potential?
 

Not-CT-but-rather-MF-sez:  Gautama did speak of monks longing for the states of further-men, for the states of concentration, as a form of suffering.

On 7/25/2023 at 8:30 AM, Daniel said:

 

... which confirms that everything that exists has an inner-essence which is concealed by the "reflective" surface observed by the senses?

 

Daniel, here's Gautama's description of the final attainment in his concentration, "the cessation of ('determinate thought' in) feeling and perceiving"--check out the "disturbance that remains":
 

…[an individual] comprehends thus, ‘This concentration of mind … is effected and thought out. But whatever is effected and thought out, that is impermanent, it is liable to stopping.’ When [the individual] knows this thus, sees this thus, [their] mind is freed from the canker of sense-pleasures and [their] mind is freed from the canker of becoming and [their] mind is freed from the canker of ignorance. In freedom is the knowledge that [one] is freed and [one] comprehends: “Destroyed is birth, brought to a close the (holy)-faring, done is what was to be done, there is no more of being such or so’. [They] comprehend thus: “The disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of sense-pleasures do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of becoming do not exist here; the disturbances there might be resulting from the canker of ignorance do not exist here. And there is only this degree of disturbance, that is to say the six sensory fields that, conditioned by life, are grounded on this body itself.”

(MN III 108-109, Pali Text Society Vol III p 151-152)

Six sensory fields, including the mind.

The absence of the three cankers, no mention of any inner essence, no mention of any "doer" of action (action of speech, of the body in inhaling and exhaling, of the mind in feeling and perceiving).

No actor that stands apart, no essence underlying.  The thing itself.

(I always forget that a particular combination of characters, left bracket s right bracket, will cause the Dao Bums mini-editor to score through all succeeding text, sorry about that in the initial post.)

On 7/12/2023 at 1:34 PM, Cobie said:

.

I liked your post, Cobie, even though I couldn't read it.  I've grown accustomed to your absences, at least I know you're present on the conversation!

On 5/6/2023 at 11:57 AM, steve said:

Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as "leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs chod), beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on.

Some scholars have classified Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a "direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives.

But in Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).

~ Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

from 'Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State'

 

... Famous saying attributed to the Sixth Patriarch's disciple Nan-yüeh Huai-jang (667-744):
 

The [Sixth] Patriarch asked [Nan-yüeh], "Where do you come from?" Nan-yüeh answered, "From Mt. Sung." The Patriarch said, ''What is it that comes like this''' Nan-yueh replied, "To say anything would be wrong." The Patriarch said, "Then is it contingent on practice and verification (hsiu-cheng)?" Nan-yüeh said, "Practice and verification are not nonexistent; they are not to be defiled."

 

("Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation", Carl Bielefeldt, p 138)

On 2/26/2023 at 5:07 AM, C T said:

BODHIDHARMA 

 

"... So many are looking for this mind, yet it already animates their bodies. It is theirs, yet they don’t realize it."

That's key for me, the part about "it already animates their bodies". 

There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence.
 

(Common Ground)

 

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration:
 

… there is no need to depend on teaching. But the most important thing is to practice and realize our true nature… [laughs]. This is, you know, Zen.
 

(Shunryu Suzuki, Tassajara 68-07-24 transcript from shunryusuzuki.com)

(Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages)
 

I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom.

("To Enjoy Our Life", emphasis added)

On 1/23/2024 at 10:45 AM, NaturaNaturans said:

This thread seems like one that has allready been made, and If so, appologies. But what do your «practise» consist of? Do you follow a «faith?» Are you trying to reach a certain end point?
 

Reading, meditation, yoga, walk in nature, journaling… 

 

I think it goes without saying that there are no wrong answers, and I would love to hear from you and hopefully be inspired.

 

💃🕺

You asked for it, NaturaNaturans!

“To Enjoy Our Life” (from zenmudra.com/zazen-notes)
 

A friend of mine recommended a particular approach to practicing musical scales.  She starts with the minor scale on a particular note, say, C minor.  She follows with the major scale on the same note (C major), and then the relative minor of that major (A minor).  She continues in this fashion four rounds, then picks up the next day with the minor scale beginning a step higher (D minor).  In three days, she’s made a circuit of scales.
 

I’ve tried in the past to practice scales, but found myself giving up in short order.  The organization in her approach is helpful to me, and though I’m not practicing as regularly as she does (she’s a performing musician, as well as a teacher), I have begun to practice.
 

I wrote to my friend:
 

The striking thing to me about my experience on the cushion these days is that I am practicing some kind of scales, as it were.  Gautama outlined the feeling of four states, the initial three and then the “purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind”, the fourth.  I’ve described that “pureness of mind” as what remains when “doing something” ceases, and I wrote:
 

When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath.
 

The rest of the scales are looking for a grip where attention takes place in the body, as “one-pointedness” turns and engenders a counter-turn (without losing the freedom of movement of attention); finding ligaments that control reciprocal innervation in the lower body and along the spine through relaxation, and calming the stretch of ligaments; and discovering hands, feet, and teeth together with “one-pointedness” (“bite through here”, as Yuanwu advised; “then we can walk together hand in hand”, as Yuanwu’s teacher Wu Tsu advised).
 

In the months since I wrote my friend, I’ve had some time to reflect. There are some things I would add, on my practice of “scales”.
 

Gautama spoke of suffusing the body with “zest and ease” in the first concentration:
 

 “… (a person) steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses this body with zest and ease, born of solitude, so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this lone-born zest and ease.”
 

(AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS p 132-134)

 

Words like “steeps” and “drenches” convey a sense of gravity, while the phrase “not one particle of the body that is not pervaded” speaks to the “one-pointedness” of attention, even as the body is suffused.
 

If I can find a way to experience gravity in the placement of attention as the source of activity in my posture, and particular ligaments as the source of the reciprocity in that activity, then I have an ease.
 

Gautama taught that zest ceases in the third concentration, while the feeling of ease continues:
 

(One) enters & remains in the third (state), of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, (one) has a pleasant abiding.’
 

(Samadhanga Sutta, tr. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, AN 5.28 PTS: A iii 25; Pali Text Society, see AN Book of Threes text I,164; Vol II p 147)
 

That’s a recommendation of the third concentration, especially for long periods. Nevertheless, I find that the stage of concentration that lends itself to practice in the moment is dependent on the tendency toward the free placement of attention. As I wrote in my last post:
 

When a presence of mind is retained as the placement of attention shifts, then the natural tendency toward the free placement of attention can draw out thought initial and sustained, and bring on the stages of concentration.

 

Shunryu Suzuki said:
 

To enjoy our life– complicated life, difficult life– without ignoring it, and without being caught by it. Without suffer from it. That is actually what will happen to us after you practice zazen.
 

(“To Actually Practice Selflessness”, August Sesshin Lecture Wednesday, August 6, 1969, San Francisco)

 

I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom.

 

On 1/6/2024 at 7:01 PM, Mark Foote said:

that were never meant,
those vain thoughts were never meant
not worth the penny
 

not worth the penny

flowers by the roadside, bright

coots and ducks in reeds



 

8 hours ago, johndoe2012 said:

Something for me and most likely others here

 

https://www.shinzen.org/how-to-be-comfortable-with-everyone/
 

Not really looking to be comfortable with everyone, thanks anyway.

My mother's first husband was the author of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People"--that's sort of a family perspective for me, I guess... from the Amazon review:

Originally published in 1937, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a tongue-in-cheek primer by Irving Tressler on how to achieve more free time and peace by having few, if any, friends and acquaintances. "Some of us are born with ability to make others peeved, but most of us aren't."...

 

I find it's only necessary to be straightforwardly honest to retain my reclusivity.

8 hours ago, Summer said:

Can you feel it?

 

I don't know if its an ultra modern SIDDHI GET! I've unlocked (or if it even exists) but recently I noted that digital places have energy too. Just like buildings. You can feel a house where a lot of people argue, even when empty. Its walls are pointy. Same with internet it seems. It tells you who them mood is without even reading contents. You can feel it.

 

Not very friendly though which makes wonder "Why speak if you don't want to talk?". That is not very spiritually developed, no?

.

As I wrote in another thread (somewhere), I think the participants in Dao Bums like to write, like to express themselves, and they hope that somewhere along the way they might get some positive feedback on what they've written from others.  Maybe even inspiration.

To the extent that folks are positive and substantive, I think Dao Bums can be interesting and informative.  Also, some of the old timers are a hoot!  I guess kakapo is able to trade tips with other practitioners of the particular practice he subscribes to, that would be a great benefit--I assume he's referring to a martial arts practice, which I don't really have anymore.

You would think Dao Bums would be about Daoism, but I think it's more about what Daoism has influenced, in the modern world.  That includes Buddhism and the martial arts.  Not so much talk of gaining immortality here, though sometimes.

Two cents.  I've started a lot of threads with zero participants, don't get discouraged!



 

21 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

 

they're not allowed in competition.
 

Right you are, and thanks for drawing that to my attention.  You're right, I never heard them mentioned in any dojo I ever attended, but I just assumed they existed (which they do).  I was taught the armlocks (which were not allowed below the black belt level of competition, at the time) and the basic choke (won a point on that, once).

No wonder the leglocks were abandoned, as part of the "gentle way":

The object of the leglocks is to bring about sprain or dislocation of the knee or ankle which compels the opponent to surrender. The Sprain is a rent of the ligaments of the joint; the Dislocation defines a durable displacement of the articular extremities, properly speaking.

(from the source previously linked)

22 hours ago, Nintendao said:

We be jammin'
 

Marley illustrates something I'm writing about now:

If I can find a way to experience gravity in the placement of attention as the source of activity in my posture, and particular ligaments as the source of the reciprocity in that activity, then I have an ease.
 

Looka dat bounce!  More striking without his shirt, like at the Sunsplash that his family has refused to release.

 

21 hours ago, zoe said:

 

honestly a big part of my problem is that I have an extremely active inner monologue and it can't help but jump out and ramble on about even the smallest sensation, it's hard to explain but it's like a voice that exists precursory to thought instead of relying on it though because in quietude it'll just start making a vague kind of mental "noise" that I can't adequately describe, it's not noise like white noise but rather like speaking without actual information or words involved, I can't even imagine how I would get it to stop. What ends up happening during meditation is that I'll experience a moment of quietude before it starts making the "noise", inevitably that brings a very very small amount of attention towards it which constitutes enough "thought" for it to have something to say at which point it will basically start rambling about TSTGF passages and actively describe my mental state, I can try to dismiss the thoughts it is reading out but it'll just keep making noise. It just doesn't go away, if I'm being honest I don't think it's ever been quiet for longer than a few seconds in my life, discounting moments where I was physically speaking or reading/writing something.

 

Again, I would recommend keeping a presence of mind with your location in space, as you fall asleep:

There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence.
 

(Common Ground)

Just before you fall asleep, exercise enough presence to allow the placement of attention to shift and move. 

Here's the way humbleone described his experience:

I woke up at 4:30 AM. After a quick drink of water, I returned to bed and tried your practice.
 

I hope I did it correctly, I was somewhat surprised that my mind moved around quite a bit. Not fast, but in slow motion the awareness would shift, from left cheek to right side of torso etc.. The end result was a light sleep state, but I was glued to the bed and then woke up exactly at 6AM, feeling refreshed like I had a complete 8 hours of sleep.

Once you have a feeling for the one-pointed placement of attention that moves, you can work sitting and standing to find the ligaments that control reciprocal innervation in the lower body and along the spine, through relaxation, and through calming the stretch of ligaments.  From the Golden Flower:

I find that the concentration that lends itself to practice in the moment is dependent on the tendency toward the free placement of attention.  Stick with the placement of attention out of necessity experienced in the movement of breath, let the placement shift and move, see how the thoughts behave:
 

So, when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated in your breathing and this kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. If so, how you should use your mind is quite clear. Without this experience, or this practice, it is impossible to attain the absolute freedom.
 

(“Thursday Morning Lectures”, November 4th 1965, Los Altos; emphasis added)

Your mileage may vary, Zoe, I'm not dealing with what you're dealing with!


 

16 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

That's cool (Judo 🥋 not falling) do you ever still train? 

 

I know Qigong is pretty popular here and I'm not knocking it but personally I get more out of martial arts.
 

No, not training.  I tried to find another judo dojo when I first arrived in San Francisco--there was a good one out in the avenues, lots of guys from Japan--but it was too much, with my work (evenings, as a dishwasher) and the bus ride.  Tried to partake of Aikido as well, but strained something in my ankle sitting seiza.  So I mostly just attended the S. F. Zen Center practice, I was their volunteer door-person for short while, a couple of evenings a week (sit by the door facing out, and stop the occasionally crazy who tried to sneak into the building by the zendo door for purposes other than practice).

Still working to properly incorporate the zazen that gets up and walks around into my daily life, first had that experience in 1975 and I think it ruined me as far as having a "normal" life.  That's ok, who among the Dao Bums has a "normal" life, ha ha!  Only now coming to terms (so to speak) with that zazen, through some of Gautama's teachings in the Pali sermons.

The acupuncturist who practices BJJ, sounds like a great life to me.  I wish you well (and snowymountains too).

12 hours ago, snowymountains said:

 

Judo also has a lot of ground fighting, not as much as bjj of course, ie competitive judo doesn't (or at least didn't) have leglocks.

 

Keep in mind that before bjj because popular, wrestling, judo in the West where the only games in town for both stand up and ground wrestling & grappling - speaking of combat sports, couldn't get into traditional systems without sparring and competitions, imo they sucked 😁

Ok, apart from the leglocks... yer right, Judo does have a lot of ground fighting,  They're both derived from ju-jitsu, although only BJJ has ju-jitsu in the name.  Ju-jitsu has strikes and kicks, I did six months of ju-jitsu in high school along with the judo--nasty strikes, like finger-tips to the trachea.  

The sparring was the best part of judo, and the competitions were a chance to see what was real, outside the dojo.  

When I was learning the art, it was generally acknowledged that the Japanese won their matches standing, mostly with left-side uchimata, and the Europeans and Americans couldn't wait to take their opponent to the mat, where they mostly won by grappling.

I was able to spar with the sixth dan high school champion of Japan when I was in college.  What a privilege.  Spar is maybe not the right term--I was able to experience the effortless beauty of his technique, over and over. 

They did wrestle in Japan--the sixth dan had a cauliflower ear.  Glad I never got into it like that, although maybe the experience was worth the disfigurement.

I still have the sweep, that was the throw of my teacher, an unusual one.  He used to win sumo matches in Hawaii by diving past his opponent and sweeping the guy's feet out from under him.  The opponent would hit the ground before my teacher did, a win in sumo for my teacher.

Still, to me the most important art of self-defense is relinquishing activity to a one-pointedness that incorporates others through the extension of compassion.

11 hours ago, snowymountains said:

 

Judo also has a lot of ground fighting, not as much as bjj of course, ie competitive judo doesn't (or at least didn't) have leglocks.
 

by M. Kawaishi

https://judoinfo.com/leglocks/

On 1/19/2024 at 11:46 PM, Nungali said:

But your slumbering teems with such horrible dreams
That you'd very much better be waking;
For you dream you are crossing the channel, and
Tossing about in a steamer from harwich,
Which is something between a large bathing machine and
A very small second class carriage,
And you're giving a treat (penny ice and cold meat) to
A party of friends and relations,
They're a ravenous horde, and they all come on board
At sloane square and south kensington stations.

 

There I was, crossing the channel on a ferry, leaning over the urinal with my upper body so as to direct the vomit to the bottom should it commence, when the guy next to me zips up and says, "time for another liverwurst sandwich!"

13 hours ago, snowymountains said:

 

Keep in mind that only few dreams have significance most are garbage and one can always see something just because of a stomach ache due to food.

 

“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol