Scientific Karate Do. Masayuki Kukan Hisataka

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      ^chapter _{1 Philosophy of Karatedo}

      1. Spiritual Development of the Individuality in Mind and Body

      Spiritual development of the individuality in mind and body is the motto of Kenkokan Karatedo and expresses its philosophy. Karatedo, as initially developed, was a method of fighting to dispose of an adversary in the most efficient and acute way. It has evolved through the centuries and has been imbued with the Zen philosophy to become a way of life, where the goal is to further the development of the mind, the body and the spirit. From its origin, karatedo has kept the efficiency in techniques and the maximum concentration of physical and mental power that can only be possible when one's life is the issue of the fight. Zen has brought karatedo into the realm of religion. Man understood that his art, limited to destroying other men, could not liberate him from his most fundamental fear, the fear of death. The object of his fight changed from others to himself: if he could not surmount the fear of death by killing, he would do it, possibly, by living and applying the same methods against himself that he had used against others. Techniques would be a means of perfecting the body which would respond at once, and with determination. In the process of this absolute concentration of mental and physical activity, the mind would be freed from the material constraints created by the most fundamental issues of life and finally overcome the fear of death. The original goal of killing has become one of living.

      In modern karatedo, where violence is tightly controlled, techniques are still to be executed as if it were a matter of life or death. The body is thus taught to react with all of its power at once under the complete control of the mind. In order to reach this stage of complete harmonious discipline of mind and body, techniques must be practiced thousands of times under all kinds of circumstances. The body will by then have gained an automatism which will free the mind of the task of controlling the execution of the technique. That is why it is said in karatedo that the ki should not be put entirely into one's technique because, absorbed with this, the mind will not see the opportunity for the attack. Neither should the ki be applied entirely to the opponent, because the technique will then be improperly executed. Instead the ki should be exercised everywhere, in oneself, in one's technique, against the opponent, in his technique, etc. This also means that the ki is nowhere in particular because the ki is 'being at one' and is located everywhere at the same time. This may appear as a contradiction to the dualistic logic of Cartesian thought, in which something is either here or not here, black or white, right or wrong. The oriental, however, reconciles this apparent contradiction with a more intuitive approach which says that a mind empty of thoughts is not necessarily in a state of nothingness. On the contrary, it is in a state of acute awareness but without goals. It can thus perceive everything at once but without concentrating on anything in particular; thus not being given the opportunity to be unaware of that which is seemingly less relevant. In this state of total awareness, the mind is at peace with itself and in harmony with its environment. Karatedo is one of the ways to reach the higher mental state described by most religions of the world; be it Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity, they all preach different methods for man to transcend into a superior state of grace. In the Nirvana or paradise, man is integrated with the universe or with god.

      The road to this state of complete harmony with the universe is certainly a long one, but in this quest for the absolute, man can build a strong СКАЧАТЬ