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What is it?


benos

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Reflecting about the last few weeks I wonder how to transfer the practice successes to match reality. I know that I put exstreem pressure on myself to performe. I know that the answer lives inside me . I know I need to take the presure off to perform well. That is my quest .Relax the mind and let the body perform.Its easy to disconect when no one is watching .So the answer to my own question is evident dont notice everyone else . Treat the match as a relaxed practice. Thinkers think about doing,performers just do it and dont think about it ??????????????

I would say that's a good summary. Just make everything you are going to do and see your only priority.

be

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Reflecting about the last few weeks I wonder how to transfer the practice successes to match reality. I know that I put exstreem pressure on myself to performe. I know that the answer lives inside me . I know I need to take the presure off to perform well. That is my quest .Relax the mind and let the body perform.Its easy to disconect when no one is watching .So the answer to my own question is evident dont notice everyone else . Treat the match as a relaxed practice. Thinkers think about doing,performers just do it and dont think about it ??????????????

I would say that's a good summary. Just make everything you are going to do and see your only priority.

be

I had a match Tonight and I must say I am on the right track . I was calm and shot exstremely fast. I was a little slopier than I would have liked .I will back off a little. I have had the privalidge of shooting with Max and I pictured myself as he would shoot. I didnt quite pull it off but with a little time and more practice I feel I will hook up and go. The movement flow is the last thing that hasen't quite come back all the way.

Thanks again for a great ,helpfull thread.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a recommendation to start a Zen forum, so here it is. Post your favorite sayings, stories, or whatever...

Just what is "Zen"? I don't know.

The word Zen translates as meditation. So I asked Bohdidharma, and this is what he said:

"Buddha is Sanskrit for what you call AWARE, MIRACULOUSLY AWARE. Responding, perceiving, arching your brows, blinking your eyes, moving your hands and feet, it's all your miraculously aware nature. And this nature is the mind. And the mind is the Buddha. And the Buddha is the path. And the path is Zen. But the word Zen is one that remains a puzzle to both mortals and sages. Seeing your [original, essential] nature is Zen."

be

As a student/competitor, I was taught this.

As an Instructor, I teach this.

From "The Zen Way to the Martial Arts"

Many people practice the martial arts, in Europe, the United States, and Japan, without really practicing the way of Budo or the way of Zen.

And the general feeling is that the principles and philosophy of Zen have nothing to do with the practice of the martial arts as sports.

People who do not want to follow the teaching of Zen, the true foundation of Bushido, do not have to do so.

They're simply using the martial arts as playthings; to them they are sports like any others.

But people who want to live their lives on a higher dimension do have to understand.

Nobody can be compelled and nobody can be criticized. The first lot are like children playing with toy cars,

while the second drive real automobiles. I have nothing against sports; they train the body and develop stamina and endurance.

But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts is not there.

The teachers are partly responsible for this state of affairs; they train the body and teach technique, but do nothing for consciousness.

As a result their pupils fight to win, like children playing war games.

There is no wisdom in this approach and it is no use at all in the business of managing one's life.

What good to them is their technique in everyday life?

Sports are only amusement and in the end, because of the spirit of competition, they wear out the body.

That is why the martial arts should strive to recapture their original dimension. In the spirit of Zen and Budo everyday life becomes the contest.

There must be awareness at every moment - getting up in the morning, working, eating, going to bed.

That is the place for mastery of the self.

Taisen Deshimaru:

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Thanks for that.

I'm a big fan of Taisen Deshimaru's; his words reach me deeply.

Here's a few of my favorite quotes I sent out to the Maku mozo! list:

What matters most is to always remain beyond categories, otherwise one becomes narrow, narrower and narrower.

-Taisen Deshimaru

If our minds have no limits they can resolve all contradictions.

-Taisen Deshimaru

Questioner: Can you explain the here and now?

It is consciousness of time and space. What is happening here and now is what matters. Don't think about the past or the future, but concentrate on here and now. When you urinate, just urinate; when you sleep, just sleep; when you eat, practice zazen, walk, make love, exactly the same. Concentrate on the present and act and nothing else. If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.

-Taisen Deshimaru

Above all, do not create distinctions with your personal consciousness because if you do you will always be half-wrong.

-Taisen Deshimaru

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  • 4 months later...

When someone sees the benefits of Zen,you have opened your mind to unlimited possibilities.Zen is truly the effortless contration where the mind and body are one.When you are truly a Zen master,you become one with the universe,not just your surroundings,and you then see how all things work as one.

Howdy all. First post here. I started shooting USPSA a year ago and Love it. I find reading about "My Zen" very informative.

At every match just before that ever so scary "beep" I take a moment to get into my Zen.

I basically relax and concentrate on just the task at hand. I do a few simple breathing exercises as someone posted your Zen is in between your inhale and exhale.

As I become relaxed I focus my energy into the stage. After a year, I am only a "C" shooter but I find when I don't take that moment I really can mess up the stage.

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  • 5 months later...

What an incredible forum!

I came across this forum while searching for USPSA information for my area, and much to my surprise a Zen section! My wife and I started attending a (Mahayana) Buddhist center here in Raleigh last year. While we don't make it as much as we'd like to, we really enjoy the teachings of Buddhism, it just makes sense to me.

Cheers!

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  • 1 month later...

What is Zen? For me it is when I am aware of everything around me, everything slows down and I feel like I am moving at a snails pace. I feel balanced, focused and relaxed. The fact of the matter is that when I clear my mind except for the task at hand I generally shot rather well. It all about focus and clarity. Having some level of skill helps to.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My supreme goal...

The meaning of the way of shooting becomes transparent.

The holes manifest in the targets.

Shooting is no longer shooting.

Zen is not Zen.

DNH

And Dave is no longer here.

:D

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  • 5 months later...

New to the forum... didn't read the entire thread, so please forgive me if I'm running amuk...

This topic interests me, not because I'm into eastern religion, but because of a pretty life changing experience I had as a martial arts student back in my college days, where the lead instructor advocated a book called "Inner Tennis" to get some points across.

The concept that I was introduced to we called "relaxed concentration".... being calm and relaxed, yet very alert and aware. One has to let go of the noise caused by insecurities and self conscious judgements, and learn to watch, listen and feel.

I had never recieved much good instruction or coaching in any of my previous athletic endeavors (mostly hockey, with a little football and golf...) and never really excelled at them. But in the martial arts environment, I learned how to watch somebody do something...... really watch them. Then to attempt to replicate the actions....and to watch myself. Then to compare the two pictures in my mind and to tweek my own actions to better match the observed ideal. Sounds so simple... but I had never really been exposed to the concept

For the first time in my life I really excelled at a "sport" and was then able to apply this approach to excell at a lot of other things as well. And though, I moved on in life and never went back to practicing martial arts, the concept of relaxed concentration and the comparative "do-loop" approach to learning physical skills has been mine ever since. I even learned how to skate with my entire body, instead of standing erect and using just my legs (after doing it incorrectly for 15 years).

Knowing how to "calm down", being comfortable in my own skin, and not really giving a hoot what other people might be thinking, has helped my shooting a lot. And though I've only had a smidgeon of exposure to action pistol type competition, I seem to have a knack for it.

Recently I was gifted a second hand ping pong table and have been teaching my girls to play. My oldest daughter has never done well with hand eye coordination activities, but as I watch her flail away at the ping pong ball, I find myself telling her "calm down", "stop the jerky, spastic motions and pay attention to what your doing"..... "that's the way". Just last night, she finished up our time with a smile on her face, as she knew she had improved.... a lot. :)

Edited by ssnvet
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  • 10 months later...

Stolen from another student/instructor: it is "the miracle of minfulness"-Thich Nhat Hanh. Essentially being ever-present in this moment.

My interest in Zen started with the book "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", as I like to ride a lot of motorcycles in lots of differing conditions.

Each winter when it is time to slow down here in the MW I try to read the book by Hanh. Perhaps I should start reading it in the Summer?

" The teachers are partly responsible for this state of affairs; they train the body and teach technique, but do nothing for consciousness." -DavidA

I agree. Some years ago I started taking a meditation class of Qigong.( Chee-Kung) A pose released an energy ball from my hips which I could feel/see move up my spine, to my neck, and I nearly blacked out when it hit my head. The Instructor did not understand my description and relentlessly cursed me for not having eaten enough breakfast, before med. class. Meditation is my medication now.

Thank You for this thread.

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I think a lot of the samurais where always a step away from death itself. It's not war and it isn't peace. It's not yin&yang either. In the west, we just are not in tune with awareness. Motorcycles do offer true zen, because you die if you make a bad enough mistake, or someone or something else just kills you. Matches are amazing focus, I think I've only felt it when others were gunning for me (competition), or I really risked life and limb to live (ride).

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When speaking to my students or folks who know nothing about shooting, I find myself telling them that it is the most "Zen" sport that i have ever done. I then tell them about how important it is to be focused and aware of what is going on while you have a fire arm in your hands. Like A-Shot said "...it's a matter of life and death." There is nothing more important then what is happening right now. It's one of the few things in my life that actually calms my mind.

For me Zen is that calm. For you, of course I could not define it. ;)

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I found my Zen in a IDPA stage where sharpshooters were completing it in 22-28 seconds. I went to the start point, knew what I had to do and just shot it. Ended up finishing the stage 14.8 seconds and down 3. It was the weirdest feeling because as it was happening it felt slow.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was the weirdest feeling because as it was happening it felt slow.

I wonder if that is always the case, because when we are truly in the moment - simply observing - the sense of rushing that we typically only experience, is absent.

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