The Old Man

A friend sent me this ...

As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting inside the car, with the door open.

The old man was looking at the engine. I put my groceries away in my car and continued to watch the old gentleman from about twenty five feet away.

I saw a young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm, walking towards the old man. The old gentleman saw him coming too, and took a few steps towards him. I saw the old gentleman point to his open hood and say something.

The young man put his grocery bag into what looked like a brand new Cadillac Escalade and then turn back to the old man and I heard him yell at the old gentleman saying, 'You shouldn't even be allowed to drive a car at your age.' And then with a wave of his hand, he got in his car and peeled rubber out of the parking lot.

I saw the old gentleman pull out his handkerchief and mop his brow as he went back to his car and again looked at the engine. He then went to his wife and spoke with her and appeared to tell her it would be okay. I had seen enough and I approached the old man. He saw me coming and stood straight and as I got near him I said, 'Looks like you're having a problem.'

He smiled sheepishly and quietly nodded his head. I looked under the hood myself and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me. Looking around I saw a gas station up the road and told the old man that I would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside and saw three attendants working on cars. I approached one of them and related the problem the old man had with his car and offered to pay them if they could follow me back down and help him.

The old man had pushed the heavy car under the shade of a tree and appeared to be comforting his wife. When he saw us, he straightened up and thanked me for my help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine) I spoke with the old gentleman.

When I shook hands with him earlier, he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked the usual question, 'What outfit did you serve with?'

He had mentioned that he served with the first Marine Division at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. He had hit all the big ones and retired from the Corps after the war was over. As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his wallet, but was stopped by me and I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA card.

He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name and address on it and I stuck it in my pocket. We all shook hands all around again and I said my goodbye's to his wife. I then told the two mechanics that I would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station I told them that they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man. I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me.

One of them pulled out a card from his pocket looking exactly like the card the old man had given to me. Both of the men told me then, that they were Marine Corps Reserves. Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I should look at the card the old man had given to me. I said I would and drove off.

For some reason I had gone about two blocks when I pulled over and took the card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long time. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name......... 'Congressional Medal of Honor Society.'

I sat there motionless looking at the card and reading it over and over. I looked up from the card and smiled to no one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together, because one of us needed help. He was an old man all right, but it felt good to have stood next to greatness and courage and an honor to have been in his presence.

Remember, OLD men like him gave you FREEDOM for America. Thanks to those who served...& those who supported them.

Remember, Freedom isn't "Free" -- thousands have paid the price so you can enjoy what you have today.

Traditional Martial Arts vs Mixed Martial Arts

Rob Redmond over at 24 Fighting Chickens always has something interesting to say about karate. This time is topic is the utility of a traditional martial art, such as Shotokan Karate, vs Mixed Martial Arts, with regards to normal people like you and I. The full article can be read here. Below is an excerpt.

The Most Effective Martial Art on Earth
by Rob Redmond - June 16, 2009

Every martial arts magazine must apparently run an article on a regular basis that asks which martial art is more effective. Two martial arts are compared, and the various pros and cons are assessed. Then the author ducks the whole issue and writes a cop out about how neither is really more effective – it just depends on what your goals are.

I’m here to tell you that there is one most effective martial art on earth for hand to hand combat without weapons. Are you ready to find out what it is?

The most effective, dangerous, viciously cruel martial art is everything that is banned in an MMA fight.

I am frequently asked what I think of MMA compared to Shotokan. I don’t really think you can compare them. Professional MMA seems to be populated mostly by people who have lived tough lives and have nothing to lose.

Amateur karate competitions seem to mostly be populated by middle class suburbanites with everything to lose. If they lose a tooth, they can’t close the big business deal the next day. Please don’t hurt me!

Because of the demographic differences between the amateur karate point circles and the professional MMA ring set up for television – there is no way to draw any comparison. I’m sure if MMA were undertaken by suburbanites and there were more heavily muscled tough guys doing Shotokan that the reputations of the these two arts would be reversed. Certainly I would never succeed in MMA. I might break a nail.

I can see it now. “Dang! You broke my nail! What do you call that move? Throw a shoe at Rob and he breaks a nail blocking it? Cruel! So cruel! You owe me an apology.”

I am also frequently asked about the recent success of a competitor in MMA circles who supposedly has a Shotokan background. Look, I’ve never seen anyone in an MMA fight doing anything that I learned in a Shotokan dojo. I’ve seen the new, powerful competitor Ryoto Machida, and nothing he does resembles anything you’d see in a Shotokan ring to me. He’s a kick boxing wrestler just like the rest of them.

What I am interested in are the things that the MMA associations ban. That’s where the gold is.

To please the gods ...

I wrote previously about Samurai Archery. Here is another article about the mounted archer, the Yamabuse. Below is an excerpt. If you click here, you'll be directed to the orginal article.

Time's Arrow

Traveling back 1,500 years through yabusame -- archery on a galloping horse

By MARK ROBINSON

Baseball may be the jewel of Japanese sports, but this field of dreams -- a boggy expanse of plowed-up rice paddies bisected by a soil embankment approximately two hundred meters long by four or five meters wide -- is set up for something else: a display of horseback archery, known as yabusame.

This ancient mix of sport and ceremony is at the same time refined and vigorous, and, it turns out, somewhat in-your-face. Mounted archers draw arrows in long bows and let fly at targets hardly bigger than opened laptop computers, all the while galloping at full tilt.

Standing below the embankment path during a run is like being passed by a semi-trailer, complete with a cheek-stinging spray of sand and gravel. The sight of the horse charging down the precarious track all straining muscles and pounding hooves, leaves the impression that this sport may in fact be rather dangerous. And the horsemanship is the more impressive for typically being acquired, senior archer Shigenori Tanaka says, on shared horses at sessions held no more than once weekly.

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Nami Kaneko

"Our skill level has risen these past few years," says Mr. Tanaka of the Takeda School, one of two groups performing yabusame in Japan and the organizer of this event. "But the real samurai were good shots, not like us Sunday riders." At 37 years old, Mr. Tanaka has been riding for 12 years, long enough to break both forearms and reach the rank of kyoshi (teacher), second only to hanshi, or master.

Mr. Tanaka, who also serves as Takeda's press officer, is radiant and lithe -- almost rubbery -- in his feudal-era striped pantaloons, dusty soft leather shoes and gold-embroidered chest protector. Add in a cheeky red hat strapped around his jaw, and the overall effect is more sweet than warlike. Around him a couple of dozen men and women, costumes vivid against the dull soil and dead stubble, make their final touches. An ensemble of taiko drums has been set up beside a nearby blossoming plum orchard.

Halfway along the track, where Mr. Tanaka stands, is a small watchtower with a single hanging drum for the bugyo, the master of proceedings. Opposite the tower is the central of the three target areas, each with a pole about two meters high. At the head of the track, horses fidget in their corral in front of a Shinto altar.

It all seems like ancient times -- or at least a samurai movie. (Indeed, the school has trained riders for films that include "Seven Samurai" and "Kagemusha"; the late Toshiro Mifune, Japan's most macho movie star, was a graduate.)

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Nami Kaneko

Mr. Tanaka, whose day job is in a high-tech division of Toshiba, joined yabusame to reconnect with his Japanese roots. He displays an equal mixture of pride and humility at his skill. "I was already shooting targets two years after I started," he says. "Most people take four or five. In the teacher's judgment, I learned quickly."

Takeda attracts apprentices for both spiritual and sporting reasons, and preserves a practice that it traces back almost 1,500 years, although Yoshikazu Kondo, a professor of Japanese history at Kanagawa University, says it wasn't until the Heian period (794-1185) that the first written mentions appear. Flourishing until the end of the Kamakura period (1185-1333) before losing popularity (perhaps because methods of warfare changed, and civil strife declined), it was revived as a martial art early in the 18th century.

In the Meiji period of the late 19th century, militarism helped yabusame's resurgence, and attached to it -- as to most martial arts -- the formal elements of state Shintoism. "There was no such dimension to yabusame before Meiji," Dr. Kondo says.

But there was always a spiritual side. Yabusame is a sport with a looser approach to competition than you'll find at, say, the Olympics. The point wasn't so much to determine a champion, the professor says, as to please the gods.

Samurai Art Exhibition

I've posted previously about an art exhibition entitled Art of the Samurai. Another exhibition is opening in San Franciso, entitled "Lords of the Samurai." An excerpt of a review is to be found below. The full article may be found here. Of course with the full article, there are some pictures to go with it. One of them is on the left. It is entitled "Wild Horse" and it was painted by the famous samurai, Miyamoto Musashi.

Art review: 'Lords of the Samurai'

Kenneth Baker, Chronicle Art Critic

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Lords of the Samurai," which opened Friday at the Asian Art Museum, evokes a martial ethos completely antithetical to the remote-controlled carnage of today's high-tech warfare.

The samurai of premodern Japan belonged to a social order in which the cultivation of martial virtue did not preclude but encouraged cultivation of artistry in other disciplines such as calligraphy, painting and the composing of poems.

The core precepts: that as guardians of civil order, samurai ought to internalize something of their culture's highest accomplishments, and that the ideal of an honorable death implied that of a worthy life.

In a catalog essay, Takeuchi Jun'ichi, director of the Eisei-Bunko Museum in Tokyo, from which most of the exhibition comes, recounts an extraordinary incident of the emperor's intervention to end a battle that jeopardized the life of the daimyo, or warlord, Hosokawa Yusai.

Head of the Hosokawa clan at the time, Yusai (1534-1610) was probably the only man in Japan at the time with full knowledge of a canonical poetry anthology and of an orally transmitted esoteric commentary upon it. This knowledge, probably more than his hereditary prerogatives and his military and civil achievements as daimyo, argued for his life being spared.

Takeuchi speculates that even the attackers besieging Yusai's castle, aware of the knowledge he embodied, feared to prosecute their full strategic advantages, hopeful for some resolution that would preserve the cultural treasure he personified.

The Dragon Head

More on the tong in San Francisco. Below are excerpts. The full articles may be read here, here, and here.

Enter the Dragon Head

Raymond Chow says he's left his gangster days behind to help bring peace to Chinatown's streets. Is he for real?

By Mary Spicuzza

published: August 01, 2007

Raymond Chow ducked the instant rival gang members opened fire. But he suspects he survived the Golden Dragon Massacre, a shooting at a Chinatown restaurant that left five dead and about a dozen people injured, because of seating preference. He and his fellow gang members always sat in the corner.

Spicuzza on Raymond Chow ("Shrimp Boy")

The infamous 1977 massacre was not Chow's first shootout, and it certainly wasn't his last. "Pretty much every street in Chinatown I have been [in a] shoot out, I have had a gun battle from the past," Chow said, walking along Waverly Place on a recent sunny afternoon. For him, it all comes back to this narrow street that dead-ends at the old Golden Dragon, which has since been renamed Imperial Palace Restaurant. "All that pretty much started in this alley," he said, pointing out various shootout locations from his past.

Back then Chow was an ambitious rising star in the Hop Sing Boys — a gang linked to a fraternal organization named the Hop Sing Tong. The Hop Sing Boys were then fighting for control of the streets of Chinatown with rivals like the Wah Ching and Joe Boys.

Many knew him by his nickname, Shrimp Boy. His grandmother had given him the moniker as a boy to ward off evil spirits — in the belief that evil spirits can't find little children if they don't know their names. Chow, who now stands about 5 feet 5 inches, also happened to be the smallest of five brothers, and the nickname stuck.

Shrimp Boy built his reputation as one of Chinatown's most notorious gangsters, one with an extensive rap sheet including everything from extortion and armed robbery to attempted murder and involvement in the heroin trade. Then he got busted in the 1990s while reportedly trying to unite different Asian criminal organizations, or triads, to create an international empire with Peter Chong, a reputed crime boss with a group named Wo Hop To.

It looked like Chow, who had spent most of his adult life in prison, was going to grow old there. That is, until Chong — who'd fled to Hong Kong — was extradited to the United States to stand trial. Chow was freed about four years ago after testifying against his former partner in crime.

Now Chow says he's changed his ways — or is at least making different choices — and leading a law-abiding life. He says he wants to help the community he used to "terrorize" by working with youth to help keep them out of gangs. And he's also the new leader, or Dragon Head, of a prominent tong, the Hung Moon Ghee Kong Tong ("Supreme Lodge Chinese Freemasons of the World").

Chow's appearance has changed, too. He still wears a couple of earrings in one ear, but his head is now clean shaven and his tattoos are usually barely visible under his conservative business shirts and Chinese tops. Still, walking toward Uncle restaurant last month, he said his notorious reputation made for a rough transition when he was released from prison. "When I come out of jail and I walk [down the street], everybody scared to say hi to me," he said. "Nobody really want to talk."

Now it seems as if the opposite is true. Each time we walked together around Chinatown, Chow was met with smiles, waves, and greetings called out from street corners and shop windows. Many called him "Big Brother," or "Dai Lo!"

"Now, today, they call me Dai Lo, as love, it's respect, it's to honor me," the 48-year-old Chow explained. "For the older people, to honor me like that, I'm grateful. And I take them as my teacher, my friend, and my family."

Of course, it's a word that Chow (born Kwok Cheung Chow) knows quite well. In the world of Asian organized crime, Dai Lo has another meaning: crime boss.

Mayor sinks 'Shrimp Boy' market

Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Former Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow is once again a man without a job.

No sooner did Chow's offer to run the city-funded Chinatown Night Market at Portsmouth Square for a mere $1 a year come to light than Mayor Gavin Newsom's office killed it - along with the market itself.

Citing a "significant change in the control of the Chinatown Neighborhood Association," which ran the market, the mayor's economic development czar pulled the plug on the venture by withdrawing $35,000 previously committed to the group.

The "change" to which czar Michael Cohen referred was the recent addition of six members of the Chee Kung Tong - run by Chow - to the group's board of directors and the subsequent naming of Chow himself as the summer outdoor market's new manager.

"As a result," Cohen wrote, "we have no choice but to terminate the grant agreement, effective immediately."

Chow - who has spent much of his adult life in prison in the United States in connection with gang activities - told us he had no problem with stepping aside. But he said it was unfair to punish the Chinatown community by stripping the funding for the street market.

"Why not be up-front and just say you don't have money for it?" Chow said. "But they (blame) me, and that's totally not cool. I feel like I'm the scapegoat."

Chinatown gang ties no hindrance to award in S.F.

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Sunday, August 27, 2006

A convicted Chinatown gang member who faced possible expulsion from the United States -- and who came under scrutiny earlier this year when a well-known community leader was shot to death -- just got a surprising star on his resume, thanks to a San Francisco supervisor.

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow and his tong are the proud recipients of an official certificate of honor from the city, an award arranged by Supervisor and state Assembly candidate Fiona Ma.

This is the same Raymond Chow who was active in a Chinatown tong called Hop Sing until he and two dozen others were indicted in 1992 on racketeering charges for their alleged involvement in everything from underage prostitution to the international heroin trade.

Chow subsequently was convicted of gun charges and given a 25-year prison term -- but he was released in 2003 after he cut a deal with the government to testify against a high-ranking associate.

San Francisco police, however, have since concluded that he's once again associating with members of Asian gangs, in violation of his deal, and the feds have been trying to get him deported to China.

That apparently hasn't stopped Chow from getting around. He's just been named as the local head of the Chee Kung Tong, or Chinese Freemasons, replacing his slain predecessor. And for his installation ceremony last weekend, Ma's office arranged for the tong -- which has chapters on five continents -- to receive the certificate of honor from the Board of Supervisors.

"Raymond Chow says he's learned his lesson the hard way and wants to be a positive influence on the lives of young people," Ma said. "I'm an optimist and want to believe that people mean what they say, but only time will tell."

Members of the Chinese community we spoke with were reluctant to comment on record. But San Francisco gang task force Inspector Henry Seto, who was among a handful of officers who monitored the fireworks-filled installation ceremony from the street, said he wasn't surprised by the certificate.

"I wouldn't be surprised by anything that happens in San Francisco," Seto said.

The Eye of the Dragon

I wrote previously about a tong related killing in San Franciso. The story isn't over. Below is an excerpt. The full story can be read here.

Change at Chinatown market under city scrutiny

Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A notorious former gangster has taken over a Chinatown street market that is financed by San Francisco taxpayers, a development that has set off alarm bells at City Hall.

Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow - who was once sentenced to 25 years in prison on gun charges but says he's gone legit - was named manager of the Chinatown Night Market on Friday by the Chinatown Neighborhood Association, a group with close City Hall ties.

The potential embarrassment of Chow's involvement, we're told, prompted a contentious closed-door debate about the city's $35,000 grant to the program - with Board of Supervisors President David Chiu cautioning against the deal, Mayor Gavin Newsom's staff largely noncommittal, and Planning Commissioner Bill Lee arguing to move ahead.

"The mayor wants the whole deal closely scrutinized," mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard said Tuesday after news of the controversy spread.

It is unclear, however, whether the city can do anything about Chow or the $35,000 - which the city awarded in a contract it signed with the market's sponsors in December.

The summertime market, where vendors pay a fee to sell their wares in street booths, has been operated since its founding a decade ago by the Chinatown Neighborhood Association, led by two longtime city pols, former Police Commissioner Pius Lee and ex-Redevelopment Commissioner Benny Yee.

Critics have complained that much of the taxpayers' yearly $35,000 contribution to the event has not been accounted for - a charge that was largely confirmed by a city controller's audit two years ago that recommended pulling the plug on the public funding.

Last week, Lee and Yee called a Chinatown news conference to say they were stepping away from the neighborhood association to pave the way for the group's reorganization. They said six of the association's 19 board members would be members of the Chee Kung Tong, or Chinese Freemasons - with Chow, head of the group, serving as the market's new general manager.

The First Emperor of China

This month's Smithsonian magazine features an article about the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, and is terra cotta army. The article is accompanied by many wonderful pictures. The online version has some extras. It's well worth looking up.

Some of the terra cotta soldiers will be part of a traveling exhibition which will visit museums across the United States.

Taikiken and Karate: An Old Relationship

The Japanese version of Yiquan, Taikiken, has had a long relationship with the karate of Mas Oyama, Kyokushin. At the Taiki Shisei Kenpo blog, there are a set of video clips which follows the career of a high ranking practitioner of both Kyokushin Karate and Taikiken. Enjoy.

Who Needs Fiction: Lucky Breaks

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good:

Tajiquan village

Over at Wujimon, there is a post about a village where nearly everyone practices Taijiquan.

Telegraphing

Below is an excerpt from a common problem in the practice of martial arts: telegraphing your intentions. The full article can be read here.

Telegraphing Movements

The first time I visited Sensei Katsuhiko Shinzato in Okinawa, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to know where a punch or kick would come from. He asked me to stand in front of him and try to punch or kick him. As soon as I would begin to move he would point to the attacking arm or leg.

What was uncanny was his ability to do this before I had moved very much, or perhaps even before I had actually started moving at all. When he pointed to my arm or leg, it stopped me from moving.

That was several years ago. I have thought about it often, but only recently have begun to understand how he did this (or at least I think so).

First, at that time I did not understand how to generate power with the koshi. I had no idea at all! As a result, my movements, whether punches, kicks, or any other type of movement, were powered from the extremeties. For example, if I wanted to punch with my right hand, I would pull back with my right arm and raise my right shoulder. Quite obviously, I was telegraphing my movements. It must have been very easy for Shinzato Sensei to read my intentions and movements.

Dao De Jing #30: Violence

The Dao De Jing, besides being one of the foundational documents of philosophical Daoism, is one of the treasures of world literature. You can click here for a online version of this classic. Below is Chapter #30, on Violence.

30. Violence

Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
For violence has a habit of returning;
Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
And lean years follow a great war.

A general is well advised
To achieve nothing more than his orders:
Not to take advantage of his victory.
Nor to glory, boast or pride himself;
To do what is dictated by necessity,
But not by choice.

For even the strongest force will weaken with time,
And then its violence will return, and kill it.

New Finds

I've added a bunch of new blogs to the category of "blogs I follow." There are links to all of them in the "links" section in the sidebar.

As I've written before, I've lately been following the Wu style form as taught by Dr Stephen Hwa. One of his senior students, Jim Roach, has recently started a blog where he makes posts of interest to his students. I think they have value to anyone studying internal martial arts.

I train locally with Rick Taracks whom I've mentioned before, with this wujifalianggong group. Three of his students, Trevor, Mike, and Dan have recently started blogs and have some very insightful things to say. Dan is also working on a PhD in psychology, and has a blog on that topic as well.

Speaking of Wuji, here is a blog by that name that I found recently and whose owner has written some very good posts.

Another Taiji related blog, by a student of the Chen style is Vale Taiji.

An electic Taiji pracitioner is at Cloud Hands.

Here is a blog by a chess master and zhan zhuang qigong practitioner.

Finally, I want to mention a blog that I've been following for quite sometime, and I'd like to mention again. Many people read the Art of War, and take a few things away from that reading. To truly understand what Sun Tzu had to say requires really studying the text and applying it to real world situation. The proprietor of The Collaborative View has studied the topic of strategy and it's application like no one else I've heard of. The study of strategy is important at a minimum so that you can recognize when someone else is attempting a strategy that is going to effect you.

Please pay them all a visit.

18th Century Boxing

As the last post had to do with Western martial arts, so does this one. This time, I want to direct you to an article about 18th century western boxing. The article is a reprint of a contemporary book on fisticuffs. It makes for some interesting reading. You can find the entire article here.

Mendoza's Treatise on Boxing -A Few Extracts-

Humphries (L) and Mendoza (R) at Stilton, 1789.

The following extracts are taken from a chap-book published c.1800 that includes Mendoza's advice and lessons in the science of pugilism. I have been unable to find the original book by Mendoza, but material seems to have been freely borrowed from it for both this and other anonymous publications.

Thanks to Rob Lovett of The Exiles for the lessons in HTML format below.

Please note that comments in square brackets, [thus], are my additions.

MENDOZA'S TREATISE, WITH HIS SIX LESSONS

In the preceding pages is given a system of Boxing as generally practised by the most celebrated pugilists of the present day; we shall now add Mendoza's treatise on the subject, which, as the reader will observe, is comprised in a very short compass, and differs not very materially in general principles from the foregoing. The six lessons that form an essential part of his treatise are however well worth the notice of the reader, and an attention to them must be a very material help in acquiring a knowledge of the science.

The first principle to be established in Boxing (says he) is to be perfectly a master of the equilibrium of the body, so as to be able to change from a right to a left handed position; to advance or retreat striking or parrying; and throw the body either forward or backward without difficulty or embarrassment.

Scientific Self Defense

Here is a link to an article about Lieutenant Colonel William Ewart Fairbairn. He led a colorful life and was a martial arts pioneer. Below is an excerpt.

INTRODUCTION TO W.E. FAIRBAIRN'S
SCIENTIFIC SELF DEFENSE

By: William L. Cassidy

The author of the work, the late Lieutenant-Colonel William Ewart Fairbairn (1885-1960), is widely and quite correctly regarded as the foremost close-combat Instructor of the modern era. His remarkable career, which has been extensively documented, began in 1901 with the Royal Marine Light Infantry and service as a member of the British Legation Guard at Seoul Korea. In 1907 he signed on with the Shanghai Municipal Police, thereafter distinguishing himself as an innovative training officer and securing an international reputation by raising and commanding the famed Shanghai Riot Squad. During the period of his service with the force Fairbairn by actual record personally engaged in over 600 violent armed and unarmed encounters, in conditions ranging from routine police work to urban combat experience during the Sino-Japanese War.

Fairbairn retired from police work with the rank of Assistant Commissioner in 1940, at the age of fifty-five. Returning to Great Britain he was recruited by the Secret Service and gazetted as a Captain on the Army list. While so occupied he was the principal instructor's instructor to components of British Military intelligence, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS); the Special Operations Executive (SOE); the Commandos, and other specialized forces.

"To put in simply, Fairbairn's methods worked. Stripped of all the unnecessary trappings, his system of unarmed combat made it possible for a person of average strength and skills to meet and win against an opponent trained in the martial arts." This simplicity is admirably demonstrated in Scientific Self-Defence, a work originally published to serve as the complete exposition of his basic unarmed combat method. This work is the foundation of much of his later effort, including such commercially published extracts as Get Tough!, and the manuals and outlines he wrote for various agencies.

What is the essence of Fairbairn's method? Fairbairn himself wrote in 1925 that he believed his "...system to be entirely new and original, and, further, it requires no athletic effort to perform any of the exercises given. This system is not to be confounded with Jiujutsu or any other known method of defence, and although some of the holds, trips, etc., are a combination of several methods, the majority are entirely original." In an article analyzing certain aspects of Fairbairn's wartime work, I observed that his methods, "...were, from the very beginning, designed as a peculiarly Western Martial Art, a means whereby the English-speaking world could come to grips with and win over oriental systems." These statements lend outline, but the serious student of the subject requires greater detail.

Forging Training in Martial Arts

I have previously posted on Shugyo, or austere training. Another article caught my attention on the topic, a part of which is posted below. You can read the complete article here.

...

With the range of possible definitions applicable to each character, one soon recognises the degree of inadequacy of the unsophisticated term study when applied to shugyo.

To the martial artist native speaker of Japanese, shugyo has far deeper resonance than study suggests. For example, the renowned "father of modern karate-do", Gichin Funakoshi was known to venture outside to take advantage of typhoons for training purposes, typhoons that are noted for being particularly ferocious around his island home of Okinawa. Tales have it that whilst holding a tatami mat to create resistance to the howling winds, Funakoshi would test the strength of his stances upon the rooftops. (3) The significance of this tale to our discussion of shugyo is not the perceived eccentricity of Funakoshi and his peculiar penchant for training in extremes of weather. Rather, the tale illustrates well, the ability for a determined mind to employ any circumstance to further an understanding of the true nature of that which is being studied, the way of karate in our case.

Chito Ryu Karate founder Tsuyoshi Chitose, known reverently as O'sensei, was himself was required by his first teacher, Arakaki, to study the same kata (a standard routine of karate techniques), Seisan , for seven years before being introduced to another. Those unfamiliar with shugyo will doubtless be impressed by the depth of commitment and concentration displayed by O'sensei, a level of dedication rarely seen even in adults whilst at the mere age of seven. This last comment at first glance may be misleading in that it appears to make light of the efforts and achievements of the young O'sensei. Please consider momentarily the alternate proposition that O'sensei, Funakoshi and the multitudes of martial arts immortals not referred to here were in fact NOT inherently special.

Consider, instead, that all of the individuals above were ordinary people, the same as everybody else in every aspect besides obvious personal circumstances (language, nationality and the like). It would then follow logically that ANY other person could repeat their feats. Indeed with the right mindset it should be understood not only could any person repeat their feats, but in fact build upon them. Actually, the only thing separating such perceived greatness from the masses is hard work and an unfailing belief in the fact that the goal will be achieved. The important point to consider here is that one need not focus upon the glorified achievement of such individuals, for to do so risks deification of the personality, in turn dooming all others following their example to fall short of the ideal (the rest of us after all are mere mortals) . Far more valuable to those who wish to follow the Masters is to gain an understanding of the means by which they gained their greatness, and this in every case without exception was, is and always will be shugyo.

...

Cook Ding's Kitchen

This month marks the fourth anniversary of Cook Ding's Kitchen. Of nearly 20,000 blogs tracked by Icerocket, this one is closing in on number 1800. I want to thank you for visiting. I appreciate it very much.

A question that I get asked regularly is "what's this Cook Ding stuff anyway?" Cook Ding was a character in a story in one of the Inner Chapters of Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu). It's one of my favorite stories:

A cook was butchering an ox for Duke Wen Hui.
The places his hand touched,
His shoulder leaned against,
His foot stepped on,
His knee pressed upon,
Came apart with a sound.

He moved the blade, making a noise
That never fell out of rhythm.
It harmonized with the Mulberry Woods Dance,
Like music from ancient times.

Duke Wen Hui exclaimed: "Ah! Excellent!
Your skill has advanced to this level?"

"What I follow is Tao,
The cook puts down the knife and answered:
Which is beyond all skills.
"When I started butchering,
What I saw was nothing but the whole ox.
After three years,
I no longer saw the whole ox.

"Nowadays, I meet it with my mind
Rather than see it with my eyes.
My sensory organs are inactive
While I direct the mind's movement.
"It goes according to natural laws,
Striking apart large gaps,
Moving toward large openings,
Following its natural structure.

"Even places where tendons attach to bones
Give no resistance,
Never mind the larger bones!

"A good cook goes through a knife in a year,
Because he cuts.
An average cook goes through a knife in a month,
Because he hacks.

"I have used this knife for nineteen years.
It has butchered thousands of oxen,
But the blade is still like it's newly sharpened.

"The joints have openings,
And the knife's blade has no thickness.
Apply this lack of thickness into the openings,
And the moving blade swishes through,
With room to spare!

"That's why after nineteen years,
The blade is still like it's newly sharpened.

"Nevertheless, every time I come across joints,
I see its tricky parts,
I pay attention and use caution,
My vision concentrates,
My movement slows down.

"I move the knife very slightly,
Whump! It has already separated.
The ox doesn't even know it's dead,
and falls to the ground like mud.

"I stand holding the knife,
And look all around it.
The work gives me much satisfaction.
I clean the knife and put it away."

Duke Wen Hui said: "Excellent!
I listen to your words,
And learn a principle of life."


I've been laid off for a couple of months now. I was fortunate enough to find a contract job writing software. One of my former customers won a program and had no one to work on it. The contract is for six months, and I think it could easily run through the end of the year. The company I work for is actually out in British Columbia, so I'll have at least one trip out there, hopefully for the change of colors in the fall.

I began my career as a contract software engineer, but back in the day, I had to go into the office just like the captive engineers. This is my first gig where I get to generally work from home, although I have to go in for meetings and what not. With the contract job, and the things I wanted to work on at home, I haven't yet fallen into a rhythm.

One of the things that I wanted to do when I got laid off was to simply devour books. I'm achieving that. On the average, I get a couple of hours reading in at a time. Other things that I wanted to accomplish are getting filtered out. I've been meaning to work on my chess game, but I'm just not getting around to it. I'm also finding that I'm not working on my Japanese language study as much as I had hoped. The difference is becoming clear between what I wanted to do and what I really wanted to do.

I've been working out of my basement. The Mrs tends to leave me alone, but it's really cold down there. Even when we had days in the 80's recently, I had to wear jeans, a shirt, a sweatshirt, white socks and shoes and I was still frozen and unable to warm up by the time I emerged in the afternoon.

I'm not making what I had been. I'm also paying for my health insurance, and have to pay both parts of unemployment tax, but this goes a long way in keeping the wolves from the door. Of course all of this is moot once my Nigerian benefactor desposits that $28,000,000 in my bank account.

I can't justify driving out to Ann Arbor every week for Taijiquan, even though they would work with me on the dues. I find that I've really cut back on my driving among other things.

I'm practicing a lot on my own though. Before I got laid off, I had purchased the DVDs by Dr. Stephen Hwa that I planned to study to improve my practice. I've decided to follow his form. I'm also training with the Wujiliangong group which happens to be within bike riding distance from me. I'm in good hands.

I've also been getting a lot done around the house. I lift weights and walk on a treadmill during the winter. My preference is to simply work in my yard when the weather is nice to maintain a functional strength.

I've lost about 10 lbs since I got laid off. I'm active, but mostly my diet has changed. I simply don't eat out as much. I would like to lose another 10 lbs, but they don't seem to want to come as easily.

I was talking to a neighbor who was also laid off. Off the top of his head he named another half dozen guys in the sub who were laid off. We're mostly in sales and engineering. We're all about the same age.

This recession has changed everything. When the automakers become profitable again, I don't think they'll be hiring back droves of people and neither will their suppliers. Life has changed for many of us: what we're going to do for the rest of our working lives, where we're going to live, our life styles, and how we think about retirement.

One of my favorite authors, Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written a couple of books, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan, where he describes what he calls the Black Swan. It's an event that comes along and simply changes everything.

My oldest daughter graduated from college a little over a year ago. She was fortunate, after sending our literally over 500 resumes to get a job last fall. She's working in her field for the regional public transportation agency. Many of her peers are still looking and there's simply nothing for them. Not even waiting on tables. It's not her dream job, but it's a job and she's getting experience in her field, and that's what counts right now.

She's living at home right now, saving money, and has begun working on her MBA. by the time she finishes, the economy will hopefully be better, she'll have the MBA and some experience.

My youngest daughter is graduating high school this month, and we have to get the place ready for an open house. She'll be going on to Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI; will study graphics design, and play volleyball for them. The economy should have recovered by the time she gets out of school and is looking for work.

A lot of the yard work has to do with making the place look nice for her graduation party. As it is, it's hard to believe that my youngest is now a college student. Truly, time flies like an arrow.

Hong Yi-Xiang

Over at WuSource.org there is an article about a documentary on Hong Yi Xiang. If you click here, you'll be directed to the article.

The late Hong Yi Xiang was one of the great names in Chinese Internal Martial Arts as practiced in Taiwan. He was a student of Zhang Jun Feng, who was a legend both on the island and beyond. From him, Hong learned Gao Style Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan, and Tai Ji Quan.

Hong's legacy was many high level students who in turn were able to pass their skills along to further generations.

Koryu

Koryu are the ancient Japanese martial arts that were actually practiced by the samuai. Modern Japanese martial arts just as karate-do, aikido, judo, and kendo are Gendai Budo. Gendai Budo is descended from Koryu. They have much in common, but they are really very, very different things. Koryu was meant to be handed down from generation to generation in a most exact way. If a given master instituted a variation from the canon, he would then create a new branch of the main system (-ha, Ono-ha Itto Ryu is a branch of the main Itto Ryu). Whereas in Gendai Budo, each master student seems to recreate the art. You can look to the profusion of aikido styles as an example.

A must-read if you're interested in the subject of ancient Koryu and modern Budo is the three volume classic by Donn Draeger: The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan.

Below is an excerpt from an article about Koryu. You can read the full article here.

Authenticity in Koryu

copyright © 2008 Jeff Broderick, all rights reserved

The whole issue of authenticity is one of those things I struggle with a lot, when I'm thinking about koryu.

Here's how a lot of people seem to think about koryu:

The best koryu have been passed down from generation to generation from the time of the samurai. The best warriors distilled their knowledge of practical fighting techniques and the skills necessary to survive a life-and-death struggle, and taught them faithfully to their students, who, through long and hard study, and deep insight into the techniques, mastered the techniques themselves and, in turn, passed them on unchanged to their students. And so on through the ages.

If that view is correct, then koryu represent not only a priceless cultural/anthropological heritage, but also an invaluable insight into effective combat techniques. Unlike modern "budo", these koryu "bujutsu", having been handed down from the time when life-and-death battles were a reality, must reflect true, killing techniques.

The model for transmission, according to koryu purists, would seem to be some kind of "photocopy" model. To use a visual analogy, the founding master creates a "map" of the techniques. Through diligent study, his chosen successor copies the master, creating an identical map, much like a photocopy of the original.

People who think this way believe, not only in the possibility of "true and correct transmission" but also in its likelihood. Consider this: Many currently-practiced koryu are on somewhere between their tenth and twentieth generation, and the current state of the art must reflect "the weakest link", so to speak, in that chain of ten or twenty masters. In other words, if there was even one "bad teacher" in that chain of teachers - someone whose understanding was less than complete, or whose physical mastery was less than perfect - then the subsequent generation would continue to propagate that error, or that weak point.

Koryu purists would argue that only the best students would be chosen to continue the school - those pupils who, through long and hard apprenticeship, would have the very best mix of understanding and physical mastery.

But isn't the reality far more complicated, and less ideal than all that?

Live Long and Prosper

Some of the Daoists were interested in in finding an elixir which would make them immortal. Achieving immortality is a bit of a stretch, but living longer in good health is a worthwhile goal.

Since I got laid off, I've lost about 10 lbs. I'm more active than I had been earlier, but the biggest change to my lifestyle is my diet. I simply don't go out to eat as much.

For dinner, we eat at home a whole lot more, but I rarely now go out for lunch. I either eat at home, or just have a snack.

Changing how we eat is a difficult thing to do. Perhaps making a few substitutions is a bit easily for a permanent change. Here is an article that suggests 8 very simple substitutions you might make that could have a real impact on not only your waistline, but your longevity.

Live long and prosper.

Who Needs Fiction: Komodo Dragon Attacks Escalate

This is an excerpt from an AP story. The full store can be read here.

Komodo dragon attacks terrorize Indonesia villages

IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer Irwan Firdaus, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 24, 1:58 pm ET

KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia – Komodo dragons have shark-like teeth and poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite. Yet villagers who have lived for generations alongside the world's largest lizard were not afraid — until the dragons started to attack.

The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.

Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.

Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, was doing paperwork when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand.

"I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."

Komodos, which are popular at zoos in the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet (3 meters) long and 150 pounds (70 kilograms). All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile (1,810-square-kilometer) Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer.

An Article by the Founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano

Someone sent me this link. As usual, there is an excerpt below. If you'd like to read the whole thing, click here.

The Old Samurai Art Of Fighting Without Weapons
Part 1 - Origins

By Jigaro Kano
Translated by Rev. T. Lindsay, April 18, 1888

Submitted by Stan Hart

Editor’s Note: This is the first part of an article originally written by Jigaro Kano, the founder of modern Judo (Jiudo). Part 1 investigates the origin of Jiujutsu (Jujutsu). There is also a glossary provided by Stan Hart, who translated the Japanese Kanji (characters) used in the original text. Part 2 discusses various schools and relates some stories about old Jiujtsu masters. The romanization of Japanese words that appear in this article are based upon the spellings used in England at the time the article was written.

In feudal times in Japan, there were various military arts and exercises by which the Samurai classes were trained and fitted for their special forms of warfare.

Among these was the art of Jiujutsu (1), from which the present Jiudo (2) has sprung up. The word Jiujutsu may be translated freely as the art of gaining victory by yielding or pliancy. Originally, the name seems to have been applied to what may best be described as the art of fighting without weapons, although in some cases short weapons were used against opponents fighting with long weapons.

Although it seems to resemble wrestling, yet it differs materially from wrestling as practiced in England, its main principle being not to match strength against strength, but to gain victory by yielding to strength.

Since the abolition of the feudal system the art has for some time been out of use, but at the present time it has become very popular in Japan, though with some important modifications, as a system of athletics, and its value as a method for physical training has been recognized by the establishment of several schools of Jiujutsu and Jiudo in the capital.

Fear in Martial Arts

Fear is a real issue with which we must contend in our martial arts study. Below is an excerpt from a blog entry about fear. If you click here, you can read the whole post.

One day I saw him on the street, and he was all banged up. “What happened to you?” I asked. He didn’t want to talk about it. A few weeks later I saw him again and this time he confessed. He had been attacked by two teenagers who demanded money, he said. “I just stood there. They hit me and then stole my wallet. I didn’t do anything.” He was so embarrassed.

His martial arts training had failed him because it had been incomplete. He had not learned to use fear, to use his reactions to his advantage. Instead fear and the stress of the moment had become his enemy. He had trained in technique but he had never trained in how to deal with his emotions and body reactions that had gripped him. And he is not alone. This is an unfortunate limitation to most martial artist’s training.

Zen Master Dogen

Dogen was a great reformer of Buddhism, and the founder of the Soto Zen sect of Buddhism. I came across a blog entry about him. A small portion is excerpted below. If you click here, you can read the whole thing.

Dogen speaks clearly of the mind that seeks the way with clarity and how to maintain the intensity of practice over time. We couldn’t ask for a world of more distraction than the one we currently inhabit. To maintain our commitment to practice over 50 or 60 years requires that we find a way to refresh ourselves daily; there is no formula that works for everyone. We each find our own life koans to keep us awake. And we are not in monasteries where the routine is set up for us, responsibilities provided, and practice times reliable. One cornerstone of waking up is meditation and finding the strength of commitment to the Way to return to our practice daily.

However far we “stray” it is always good to remember

The key to cultivating the Way is knowing that your own mind is originally pure, that it is neither created nor destroyed, and that it is free of discrimination. The mind whose nature is perfectly pure is your true teacher and superior to any of the Buddhas of the ten directions you might call upon.

The Chinese Language in Modern China

I've posted previously about the Chinese language. Here is another you might find interesting. Below is an excerpt from an article about the evolution of the Chinese language in modern China. It's a very interesting read. If you click here, you can read the whole article.

The Chinese Language, Ever Evolving

By The Editors

(Credit: Princeton University Art Museum) Detail of a Ming Dynasty scroll by Zhu Yunming in the cursive script.

The Times recently published an article about China’s effort to manage the vast number of characters in the Chinese language. A government computer database, designed to recognize people’s names on identity cards, is programmed to read about 32,000 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, cutting out the more “obscure” characters.

This is not the first attempt to modernize a sprawling and ancient language. The most ambitious effort was the introduction of a simplified system of writing in the 1950s. As part of the Communist Party’s campaign to reduce illiteracy, simplified characters were promoted as the common written language, replacing many traditional characters.

More than five decades later, simplified characters remain the standard writing system of China, while Chinese elsewhere — especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong — continue to use traditional characters.

We asked several experts to explain the roots of this shift, and how it might affect the future course of the written language.

• Eileen Cheng-yin Chow, professor of Chinese literary studies
• Eugene Wang, professor of Asian art
• Hsuan Meng, writer, World Journal Weekly
• Norman Matloff, computer scientist

Martial Arts Books

Here is an excerpt from an article by Meik Skoss, who is a well known practitioner of koryu bujutsu, or Classical Japanese Martial Arts. His article shows that background very clearly. What are some of your favorite martial arts books?

If you click here, you can read the whole article.

To begin, there is The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu. The version I prefer is the one translated by Samuel B. Griffith, if for no other reason than that he was a career USMC officer who fought in World War II and afterward. Later, he continued his studies and this book is a publication of his dissertation for a Ph.D. at Oxford University. The edition by Thomas Cleary (from Shambhala) is good enough, but he appears to be merely a scholar. In my opinion, he doesn’t have the kind of experience or necessary expertise to really understand the subject.

...

On martial arts in general, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, written by Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith is one of the first encyclopedic books on Asian martial culture. A bit out of date in some respects, it is still, in my mind, the best over-all introduction to Asian martial culture. Available in a paperbound edition from Kodansha International. Draeger also wrote three books, all from Weatherhill, on the Japanese martial arts and ways. They are titled Classical Bujutsu, Classical Budo, and Modern Bujutsu and Budo. These have long served as the standard books on the subject and are important sources. Buy them!

Rapt Attention

A while back, I posted an article on the difficulty of paying attention. In the intervening time, it hasn't become any easier. Below is an excerpt from a recent article about paying attention. If you click here, you'll be able to read the whole article.

Ear Plugs to Lasers: The Science of Concentration

By JOHN TIERNEY

Imagine that you have ditched your laptop and turned off your smartphone. You are beyond the reach of YouTube, Facebook, e-mail, text messages. You are in a Twitter-free zone, sitting in a taxicab with a copy of “Rapt,” a guide by Winifred Gallagher to the science of paying attention.

The book’s theme, which Ms. Gallagher chose after she learned she had an especially nasty form of cancer, is borrowed from the psychologist William James: “My experience is what I agree to attend to.” You can lead a miserable life by obsessing on problems. You can drive yourself crazy trying to multitask and answer every e-mail message instantly.

Or you can recognize your brain’s finite capacity for processing information, accentuate the positive and achieve the satisfactions of what Ms. Gallagher calls the focused life. It can sound wonderfully appealing, except that as you sit in the cab reading about the science of paying attention, you realize that ... you’re not paying attention to a word on the page.

The taxi’s television, which can’t be turned off, is showing a commercial of a guy in a taxi working on a laptop — and as long as he’s jabbering about how his new wireless card has made him so productive during his cab ride, you can’t do anything productive during yours.

Why can’t you concentrate on anything except your desire to shut him up? And even if you flee the cab, is there any realistic refuge anymore from the Age of Distraction?

I put these questions to Ms. Gallagher and to one of the experts in her book, Robert Desimone, a neuroscientist at M.I.T. who has been doing experiments somewhat similar to my taxicab TV experience. He has been tracking the brain waves of macaque monkeys and humans as they stare at video screens looking for certain flashing patterns.

Another Legend Passes On.

In November 2008, one of the legends of Japanese Karate, Hidetaka Nishiyama, passed away. Below is a small excerpt from an article about Nishiyama. If you click here, you'll be directed to the full article.

“A Tall Tree In The Forest Has Fallen”

By Don Warrener

On November 8, 2008, we lost yet another one of the legends of martial arts, Hidetaka Nishiyama. He was the most senior of all the JKA (Japan Karate Association) Masters and now he has passed.

We will all remember his kindness and his knowledge on the biomechanics of karate plus his attention to detail in kata. But perhaps his greatest gift to us was his education on the culture of Japanese karate.

For me though it was November 8 2001 (seven years earlier) that I will remember Sensei Nishiyama for. This was the day my Sensei Richard Kim passed away and Sensei Nishiyama could see how I was visibly broken up. He said to me very softly and kindly in his broken English, “you come to my dojo and train is OK now”. Wow, I will never forget this kindness.

This rare interview was conducted at Sensei Nishiyama’s dojo in Los Angeles in the summer of 1999. It was video taped for future use as well.

Who Needs Fiction: My Money Troubles Are Over!

What luck! The contract was a temporary measure, but now all my financial troubles are over. This just arrived in my inbox:


Assalam Aleykoum ,

I am Mr Mohamed Garuba,the Senior & Auditor General of a Bank, during the Re: Transfer of $28,000,000.00 Twenty Eight Million USD)course of our auditing, I discovered a floating fund in an accountopened in the bank in 2000 and since 2003 nobody has operated on this account again.
After going through some old files in the records I discovered that the owner of the account died without a [heir] hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urge ntly it will be forfeited for nothing.
The owner of this account is a foreigner, a miner and an industrialist. He made millions of dollars before he died victoriously .Since DEC 26 2003 website details as follow: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200312/s1016642.htm/> and no other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it.

My investigation proved to me that the account has no other beneficiary and that until his death he was the manager director of aluminium & steel industries (PTY). SA. We will
start the transfer with the total sum involved {twenty Eight million dollars [$28,000,000.00 only, into your account, as a safe foreigners bank account abroad, but I don't know any foreigner abroad that's why I have contacted you to bear the legal sole beneficiary of the fund.

I am revealing this to you with believe in God that you will never let me down in this business. Also send your private telephone number and fax number including the full details of the account to be used for the deposit. I need your strong assurance that you will never let me down in this business proposition.

With my influence and the position in the bank, as an official whom is working in our favour we can transfer this money to any foreigner's reliable account which you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your country for sharing.

The bank official will destroy all documents of transaction immediately you receive this fund leaving and they will be no trace to any place and to build confidence you can wrote immediately to discuss with me the modalities,after I will make this remittance in your presented account and fix my resign date, to fly down to your country at least 7 days ahead of the fund transferred and confirm into the account.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 50% of the total amount, 50% will be for me, while 5% will be for your expenses might have incurred during the process of transferring. Reply to my private mail to you,

I am waiting for your reply.
(Best Regards)
Mr Mohamed Garuba,

300 Tang Dynasty Poems: #31 Mooring at Twilight

First of all, the important stuff Happy Mother's Day. The Tang Dynasty in China was considered something of a cultural Golden Age. Poetry in particular was held in high esteem. Any literate person would take pride in composing a poem. No homecoming or leave taking; no event was considered too small to have a poem lovingly composed for it's commemoration. The best of poetry from that era was collected in a famous anthology entitled The 300 Tang Dynasty Poems. If here click here, you will find a complete online version. Below is a sample of the Tang Dynasty poets' handiwork from that anthology.

MOORING AT TWILIGHT IN YUYI DISTRICT

Furling my sail near the town of Huai,
I find for harbour a little cove
Where a sudden breeze whips up the waves.
The sun is growing dim now and sinks in the dusk.
People are coming home. The bright mountain-peak darkens.
Wildgeese fly down to an island of white weeds.
...At midnight I think of a northern city-gate,
And I hear a bell tolling between me and sleep.

Learning the Internal Dynamics of Tai Chi

If you click on the link, you will be directed to an artice entitled "Learning the Internal Dynamics of Tai Chi" by E. Marie Koepsell. It appeared in Tai Chi Magazine in August of 1998. I've included a portion below. Ms. Koepsell's teacher is Dr. Stephen Hwa, who teaches Classical Tai Chi. Please pay his site a visit. His lineage is certainly interesting. His teacher was Yang WaBu, who lived to be over 100 years old! Mr Yang was a direct student of Wu Chien Chuan, who is considered the founder of the Wu style of Tai chi Chuan. Wu Chien Chuan and his father Wu Chuan Yu were both Imperial Bodyguards who learned their Tai Chi Chuan from the celebrated Yang Lu Chan and his sons. The link was brought to my attention by Mr. Jim Roach, Dr. Hwa's senior student. There are some additional interesting things to be found at Mr Roach's site so please pay him a visit as well. Here is an excerpt from that article:

...

"The internal physical discipline of T'ai Chi Ch'uan" according to Dr. Hwa, 'involves the intensive training of the body and mind to develop discipline in movements so that the movements originate from the abdomen (dantien) and hack, in addition. the energy flow of these movements are developed in a relaxed body, giving an appearance of effortlessness:'

...

As we start aging,” according to Dr. Hwa "less and less of our movements came from the waist and back. We hold our middle stiffly, and more of our movements originate from the shoulders and the hip joints. This puts pressure on joints and we lose strength and mobility. Ultimately, we may stop using these area, of our bodies altogether. Atrophy sets in, creating the major problems of aging.”

He demonstrates this by having students raise their arms to shoulder height and push forward He noted that most people lift and push from the shoulder joint and arm muscle. and there is little strength involved. He demonstrated the way he pushes, using his back and abdominal muscles with the shoulder and arm completely relaxed- Similarly, When he moved his arm, across his head, his back and abdomen did the work.

Dr. Hwa similarly feels that T'ai Chi steps should involve the muscles of the torso, the large abdominal and pelvic girdle muscles, to lift and push the leg farad and hack. He said the leg muscles are used to move the body forward and backward. but the muscles of the torso do the work of lifting and positioning the leg, and planting the foot. The weight sifts after the leading foot is planted solidly on the ground, whether it is going forward or backward.

Turning movements of the body, according to Dr. Hua. are done with the feet stationary and the body swivelling at the waist He said it should not he a twisting motion where the hips or legs turn the body. but rather an abdominal movement. When he demonstrates !he movement. his lower and upper abdominal muscles appear to rotate in opposite directions, indicating all the power that this movement generates at the waist:

"The unifying principle of the internal physical aspect of T'ai Chi is that all movement and physical energy originate at the waist and back, the strongest parts of the body and its center of gravity." Dr. Hwa said.

...

"The first goal for the T'ai Chi practitiioner is to have the qi circulate continuously throughout the body, following the Yin/Yang changes of the movements. To achieve the Yin -Yang balance of the body and mind It is essential that these movements of intense energy and stretching be performed in an otherwise relaxed body and mind.

"The practitioner must not only be aware of the Yin/Yang of individual movements, but also the total Yin/Yang of the body as one goes from movement to movement," Dr. Hwa said.

...

I have taken only a few steps on the path of learning, but I am amazed by the richness of the art. My prior T'ai Chi exposure was enveloped in a philosophical and abstract context. But now I see that T'ai Chi can be explained in scientific, concrete terms and it is no longer such a mystery to me. I have developed even more respect and admiration for the art. Unquestionably, the internal physical discipline, with its power to bring out the inherent potential in a person, has been, for me, a most significant discovery.

Who Needs Fiction?: The Darwin Awards

The stories that make up the Darwin Awards get checked out. Someone sent these to me via email. I don't know if these are the authentic awards or not, but they'll make you laugh.

It's Time For: Stupidity

Yes, it's that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.
Here is the glorious winner:

1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15.

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

10. When a man 20 attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with friends and family...unless of course one of these individuals by chance is a distant relative or long lost friend. In that case, be glad they are distant and hope they remain lost.

*** Remember... They walk among us!!!

Improving Your Zhan Zhuang Practice

A good friend of mine, Rick Taracks, has begun blogging, and you can find his blog right here. Rick teaches internal martial arts in the Detroit area. He recently posted an article that would be helpful to anyone who practices zhan zhaung, or "standing like a stake."

An excerpt from the article follows. A link to his blog, Wujifa, is over in the sidebar, or you can click on the links I've embedded above.

The Concept of "Sit Down" in Wujifa Standing...

The basic concept of "sitting down" is an important one when you are first learning Wujifa standing. So, with this in mind I will do my best to sharing some helpful information on this and a few other helpful bits to explore. On that note hopefully you find something below to help as well with your own personal Qigong training.

The 36 Strategies: #30 Make the Host and Guest Exchange Roles

Next to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the 36 Strategies is the most widely known book on strategy to come out of Asia. Where the Art of War is an almost text book like overview of the subject, the 36 Strategies seeks to instill the idea of strategic thought by means of groups of 6 proverbs for each of 6 types of situations.

#30 is: Make the Host and Guest Exhange Roles.

The idea here is to usurp leadership in a situation where you would normally be subordinate. Another interpretation is to join the opposition, then work against him from within; eventually seizing power.

Art of the Samurai

I saw this posted at Budoseek.net. The painting above is a cormorant by Miyamoto Musashi.

Art of the Samurai: Selections from the Tokyo National Museum
April 18 – June 14, 2009

Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA 92706
714.567.3600

Art of the Samurai: Selections from the Tokyo National Museum features 81 objects from the Tokyo National Museum representing a wealth of artworks related to the everyday, traditional, and official role of the Samurai class of Japan. Focusing on the art and aesthetics of Samurai culture, the exhibition features a wealth of objects that are a testament to the accomplished level of society, education, and mastery of skills the Samurai developed between the 10th and 20th centuries. Included are beautifully crafted swords, armor, tea-ceremony utensils, screen and scroll paintings, Noh theatre costumes, and other fine works. This outstanding collection dates primarily to the Edo period (1603–1868) with many pieces classified as Important Cultural Property and National Treasures of Japan.

Mysterious Technique of the Cat

Taiki Shisei Kenpo has a post that clicks through to a translation of a wonderful old Japanese martial arts story, The Mysterious Technique of the Cat. Please click the link and pay a visit.

Pelican Sunset

Last day in the sand

Rat race starter's gun soon

Tide rolls away

Rose Li and Her Martial Arts

Rose Li was a remarkable female 20th century martial artist. Below is a portion of a biographical article on her, from a website created by one of her students. Some of her students continue her teaching as the Rose Li School. Please pay a visit. Enjoy.

Rose Shao-Chiang Li was born in Beijing around 1914. Her father was a relatively high-ranking civil servant and was for a time responsible for the Chinese coal industry, such as it was under the late Qing Empire. This brought him into contact with foreign engineers and he developed a great fondness for English culture in particular. He made sure that his daughter received the best western education then available in Beijing, which at that time meant church institutions: an Anglican secondary school and a German Catholic university. Meanwhile, because his first two girls had both died in infancy from a blood-related weakness, he gave this third daughter what would more normally have been a boy’s name, which might be translated as ‘continuing strong’. He was also keen that she should indeed be strengthened by access to the best forms of physical exercise then available, which naturally drew his attention to the indigenous martial-arts traditions then flourishing all across the capital. These, then, were to be the formative influences on the young Shao-Chiang: Han Confucian culture from her family, Christianity of the broad-church Anglican variety from her school teachers (from whom she also received the western name Rose), and the Taoist ways of what was to become her second family in the internal martial arts.

Later Miss Li used to tell her students that she was a Confucian in her personal relationships, a Christian in her social ethics, and a Taoist in her relationship with God and Nature. For them, then, working with her was more than just about learning physical movements: it was an exposure to a whole complex culture and history.

Rose Li was intensely involved in the study of the internal martial arts from the age of eight in the early 1920s until she was twenty-four in the late 1930s: her main teacher was Teng Yun-Feng (1873-1941) and through him she also had contact with an outstanding figure from the previous generation, Liu Feng-Shan (1852-1937). She was a regular attender at Master Teng's classes in the Temple of the Fire God by Coal Hill just north of the Forbidden City, but he also frequently came to give her individual lessons at her family home in the old quarter just west of the centre, where he would often stay to eat and chat with her father. Master Teng’s high level of martial-arts skill goes without saying: he had studied with central figures in the Tai Ji, Xing Yi and Ba Gua traditions, but his role as Rose’s teacher was an unusual one for an upper-middle-class family at that time, and he had been selected carefully by her father. For, although like most of his martial-arts colleagues he was a manual worker from the countryside and effectively illiterate, he placed a much stronger emphasis than most on the spiritual side of practice: he was keenly interested in Chan teachings, had a close relationship with the Taoist abbot of the temple where he held his classes, and was also a member of a western Protestant denomination. After Rose's father died, Teng Yun-Feng arranged financial help for her and her mother, indeed she regarded him as her second father and was present when he passed away.

All this had a strong influence on the distinctive approach Miss Li would later introduce in her own teaching. Though fully aware of martial applications, she deliberately avoided any extensive discussions of these in her classes and included very little pushing-hands or sparring practice. In part this was a reaction to the high profile of 'fighting' in the west, which she saw as a vulgar distraction from the real value of the oriental traditions, especially in the case of Tai Ji. For her these martial arts were indeed arts in the highest sense of the word: they were for self-cultivation and for health, and they should aim to make some wider social contribution. At the very least, practitioners should not make their living from them but should pursue conventional occupations and live as ordinary householders.

Meanwhile, the young Rose also became increasingly involved in Christian missionary social work and increasingly interested in western monastic traditions: she felt a particular affinity with Anglicans, above all her special mentor Miss E. Fisher. Both her parents and also her martial-arts teacher had died by the early 1940s so, as the situation in Beijing became increasingly unstable under the impact of the Japanese invasion, she left for central China with a group of Christian missionaries. She attended the Catholic University in Peiping for three years from 1944, and then received an MA in Ethnology from Furen University back in Beijing in 1947. During the Communist takeover it began to seem advisable for someone from her social background to leave China altogether, which she did with financial and administrative support from the American Church Mission, initially with the aim of attending the Catholic University of America in Washington. However, she lived for a time in San Francisco and then studied educational psychology at Teachers’ College, Columbia University, receiving a second MA in 1950. On graduation she moved for a while to Honolulu and Hawaii, teaching in church schools and discovering a special gift for working with young children. For the next thirty years Rose Li’s life was to be shaped by involvement with Episcopal monastic groups and educational work. For a period of seven years she was a member of the Community of the Transfiguration in Glendale, Ohio; and then, when she moved to England, was for five years a member of St Hilda’s Priory in Whitby, Yorkshire. She worked for a time in kindergartens in the Ohio area, then taught Chinese language, first at Ann Arbor University, Michigan, and finally in the Department of Oriental Studies at Durham University in England.

Gao Style BaGuaZhang

I friend sent me an article which was very interesting, but the formatting wouldn't easily allow me to cut and paste a portion below.  Please follow the link.

If you are interested in the martial of of Ba Gua Zhang (aka PaKuaChang), a must read is the back issues of the out of print magazine dedicated to it, the Pa Kua Chang Journal, published by Dan Miller.

This particular article was an interview with C.S. Tang, an expert in the Gao Style of BaGua, and the unofficial historian of the style. The full article appears on Mr. Tang's website here.

Who needs fiction: Gangster Turns Buddhist Priest

This is from the Japan Subculture blog. If you click on the title of this post, you'll get the full article. A short excerpt is below.

Tadamasa Goto, one of Japan’s most notorious underworld bosses, is to enter the Buddhist priesthood less than a year after his volatile behaviour caused a rift in the country’s biggest crime syndicate.

As leader of a yakuza – or Japanese mafia – gang, Goto amassed a fortune from prostitution, protection rackets and white-collar crime, while cultivating a reputation for extreme violence.

Tomorrow, his life will take a decidedly austere turn when he begins training at a temple in Kanagawa prefecture south of Tokyo, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper said today, citing police sources.

The 66-year-old, whose eponymous gang belonged to the powerful Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, was expelled from the yakuza fraternity last October after a furious row with his bosses over his conduct.

Style Wars

Before getting to the point of this post, I'd like to point out to all of those taking part in the 2009 Lenten Challenge, that there is only 1 week to go! If you've been with us since the beginning, the finish line is in sight. If you've been on the fence about joining us, or have fallen off the wagon and haven't rejoined, how about one week dedicated to practicing every day? Please join us. We'd be happy to have you.

Next, my younget daughter bought a MacBook for school this fall, and will be buying the student version of Microsoft Office (Mac) for it. My older daughter is starting grad school and is thinking of buying a MacBook as well. She's wondering if there are compatibility issues between using Office on the Mac and Office on a PC. Will she have trouble giving other people files that she's created on a MacBook? If anyone is familiar with the two version, please let me know.

Ok. Over a Wu Source there is an interesting blog entry by GrahamB entitled "Your Shit is Fake." It's about the unnecessary and often endless style wars that takes place in the study of martial arts (among other things). It's a good read. Please pay a visit. I've excerpted a bit below.

Your shit is fake

Submitted by GrahamB on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 6:33am.

To badly misquote Tim Cartmell in Neijia Quan, Jess O'Brien's book of interviews with internal martial arts teachers, "People are just about ready to kill each other over styles. It’s ridiculous. There's no such thing as styles, there are only practitioners."

(I don't have the book with me, so if you know the exact quote then please post it in the comments section and I'll get it updated).

It's a very good point. A lot of the stupid Internet flame wars on forums are because somebody used the name of a style to describe a video or something, and that causes offense to other practitioners of that style who don't recognise what's in the video as being an "authentic" or "orthodox" presentation of their style. The weight isn't 50/50 between the legs like it should be, or their back heel is up when it should be down, they have the wrong "Shen Fai", they lean when they should be upright, etc.... You know the sort of thing. They're all essentially different versions of, "You're not doing it like my teacher does it, and I know he's right because he does it like a picture I have of Master XYZ doing it in a book published in 1934, which means I'm right and your shit is fake".

Largely it’s pathetic. Totally pathetic. In fact the phrase "your shit is fake" has become something of a martial arts forum joke because of it. People use it ironically now all the time. But still these sorts of arguments happen so often it’s worth looking at closely.

You see it across all styles. Practitioners of Japanese Daito-ryu are as equally likely to engage in this kind of bitching as practitioners of Chinese XingYi Quan. In fact, it's not limited to martial arts. You see the same thing in large, organised religions. The splits in the Christian church are variations of "Your shit is fake and only I, and my followers, have the true faith". People who fly planes into buildings for religious reasons also believe your shit is fake, and they're prepared to die for it. In fact, as soon as you "believe" in anything there must be a counter position that you now think is false. But this is taking this post off into other realms. Let's get back to martial arts.

Bagua Taijiquan

The excerpt below is from an article by Jarek Symanski on his website, www.chinafrominside.com. Please pay a visit.

Origins and features of Bagua Taijiquan

Based on articles by Qiao Hongru and Chen Lixin; translated from Chinese and edited by Jarek Szymanski, photos: J.Szymanski; © J.Szymanski 1999

Bagua Taijiquan has been taught by Guo Zhushan, the third generation master of Baguazhang, and become popular in Jinan (capital of North China Shandong Province) and Tianjin areas. Although transmitted within Bagua tradition, the style belongs to Taijiquan.
TRANSMISSION

Bagua Taijiquan comes from Yang Family Boxing; first Yang Luchan passed it to Xia Guoxun, Xia taught Liu Dekuan (nicknamed "Liu Big Spear"), Liu taught Cheng Haiting (Cheng Tinghua's oldest son), who passed it to Guo Zhushan (disciple of Cheng Tinghua and Li Cunyi) and Jiang Xinshan. It is said that Xia Guoxun was Yang Luchan's son-in-law so he must have received true transmission; Xia and Liu Dekuan were sworn brothers; Liu, Cheng Tinghua and Li Cunyi were also sworn brothers through Jinlan ceremony. Because of these close relations Bagua Taijiquan is said to relatively well preserve the original appearance of taijiquan. Since Guo Zhushan and Cheng Haiting were kungfu brothers and very skilful Bagua practitioners, they put some Bagua movements, kicks, etc. into Taijiquan, so that the flavour has changed. Since Cheng Haiting passed away early, Bagua Taijiquan that is known nowadays has been researched and developed by Guo Zhushan, who then passed it to Zhang Wanying, Jing Dewai, Qiao Hongru and others.

Guo Zhushan was born in Tianjin in 1901. His father, Guo Tiancheng, had a machine factory there, was very wealthy and was often inviting famous martial artists to stay at his mansion. Masters like Li Cunyi, Liu Dekuan, Zhang Zhankui, Li Kuiyuan and other were frequent guests. One of them, famous Bagua master, Cheng Haiting (also called Cheng Youlong) spent over ten years at Guo's house and was treating Guo Zhushan like his own brother.



Guo became Li Cunyi's official disciple at the age of eight and started to practice Xingyiquan first. Li Cunyi even took young Guo as his adopted son. However later, because of serious illness of legs, Guo took up Bagua Taijiquan Neigong (Internal Practice) under Cheng Haiting. Cheng taught him in the name of his father, Cheng Tinghua, so Guo Zhushan has been considered Cheng Tinghua's disciple. Practice of Bagua Taijiquan had miraculous effect on Guo, who at the beginning was able to exercise only in bed, and then, when his health improved, while sitting and standing, until he recover completely.

Later famous Wudang Sword master, Li Jinglin, asked Guo to teach Bagua Taijiquan to Li's sons and daughters.

In 1931 Guo moved to Jinan in Shandong Province and lived there until 1966, when he moved back to Tianjin. He passed away in 1968.

The name "Bagua Taijiquan" was decided in 1958. Qiao Hongru who originally studied Yang style Taijiquan, while learning the routine passed by Guo, realized that this Taijiquan has many Baguazhang features and as such differs from typical Taijiquan branches. Qiao suggested to change the name of the routine into Bagua Taijiquan, e.g. Taijiquan practiced within the style of Baguazhang, or Taijiquan that has Baguazhang features. Qiao's teacher, Guo Zhushan, agreed and since then the style has been called Bagua Taijiquan.

Tomorrow is Another Day

I'm heading toward my final days with my company. On Tuesday I have my exit interview and I give them back my gadgets, and then leave.

As for what follows, well, storms never last, darkness gives way to dawn, and tomorrow is always another day.

Since I've been an adult, I've never had the luxury until now to practice in the morning regularly, before I go about my day. While I hope this situation is short lived, I intend to take advantage of it. Since I've been practicing more, I feel great, my head is clear and I sleep like the dead.

The placement counselor thinks my study of the Japanese language might help me stand out among job candidates. I haven't had a chance to work on Japanese for a solid hour every day for a long time. I intend to take advantage of that as well.

The future is all about possibilities. I will probably end up doing something in line with what I've done in the past, either technical marketing, but software engineering. But I'm keeping both my mind and my eyes open. Perhaps I'll end up doing something radically different (like what? I don't know), or even perhaps starting something of my own (again, what? I don't know).

What we end up doing finds us as much as we find it.

The Force of Gravity

Rob Redmond has a very good article on gravitas in karate, on this 24FightingChickens site. Here is an excerpt. It's well worth reading.

The Winner Has Gravity
by Rob Redmond - March 25, 2009

Most advanced karate players can observe two people in a sparring match and tell you who is going to win as soon as they see the match begin. They are looking for signs of one of the players possessing the power to pull or push his opponent. In most matches, one person will advance aggressively while the other retreats in reaction to him. Sometimes, the more powerful player retreats and pulls the less skilled person along with him. Either way, this gravitational effect of the more powerful player upon the weaker is objectively observable and is an effective way to predict the outcome of most karate matches.

Dao De Jing #29: Ambition

The Dao De Jing, The Way and It's Power, is not only one of the world's classics of literature, it is one of the foundational texts of philosophical Daoism. If you click here, you will be directed to an online version of this timeless work. Below is Chapter #29, on Ambition.

29. Ambition

Those who wish to change the world
According with their desire
Cannot succeed.

The world is shaped by the Way;
It cannot be shaped by the self.
Trying to change it, you damage it;
Trying to possess it, you lose it.

So some will lead, while others follow.
Some will be warm, others cold
Some will be strong, others weak.
Some will get where they are going
While others fall by the side of the road.

So the sage will be neither wasteful nor violent.

For The Sword Enthusiast

Click here to see a very intriguing video at KyuRyu AikiBudo.

Navigating Treacherous Waters

I wrote some time earlier about keeping a clear mind when the world is in turmoil around you. This morning at work, I found out that my last day would be the at the end of the month. Our company sales are down around 50%, and the company simply can't maintain the current headcount. About 1/3 of our office would get the same message by the end of the day.

The unemployment rate in Michigan is the highest in the country. Jobs are hard to find, but I only need to find one of them. Companies are hiring ... selectively. Employers are looking for specific skills and experience; I need to make the match.

I've heard plenty of people say when laid off that they want to take it easy for a while. I don't think that's a very good strategy. What I do think is a reasonable strategy is to turn over every stone to see what's under it, and to try and first find something that's going to pay my bills, and then when the economy improves, find something that I'll want to do for hopefully a long time.

I do want to take the opportunity to work on my diet, practice more, read and work on my Japanese language studies, but my main task is to find another job. Having some time off should make the Lenten Challenge a little easier.

At least it's starting to get warmer outside and I won't be cooped up in the house. From time to time, I'll let you know how it's going.

A Weekend in Shanghai

A friend sent me this article. It's from the Asia-Pacific Edition of the travel section of the New York Times. If you click here, you'll be directed to the full article. I've excerpted a portion below. If you follow the link, you'll find many more interesting Asia-Pacific related articles. Enjoy.

36 Hours in Shanghai

By ARIC CHEN

NOW that the Beijing Olympics are but a memory, the spotlight in China is moving to Shanghai as that city gears up to host the 2010 World Expo. With an anticipated 70 million visitors and 200 participating countries, the six-month World’s Fair will be enormous by any measure — not that Shanghai has ever needed an excuse to party. While the global economic slowdown has had its impact, Beijing’s naughty sister is still up to her tricks: from the flashing neon signs and light-bedazzled skyscrapers to the throbbing clubs and houses from the foreign-concession era hiding their decadent secrets. But beyond the clichés, mainland China’s most cosmopolitan city still offers a breadth of experiences.

Friday

7 p.m.
1) JOURNEY TO KITSCH

Tonight is about embracing the kitsch. So set the tone by taking the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, a Disneyesque ride from the historic Bund area (look for the sign across from the Peace Hotel on Nanjing Road East) to the futuristic Pudong district. Buy the 40 yuan ticket (about $5.70 at 7 yuan to the dollar), and a silver pod will shuttle you across the Huangpu River through an extravaganza of pulsing, flashing and spiraling lights, creepy blow-up dolls and even creepier voice-overs (“hell and paradise,” “nascent magma”). Don’t ask questions; just sit back and look forward to that cocktail at the end of the night.

8 p.m.
2) DINE AT THE TOP

But first more sensory overload. Emerge from the tunnel in Pudong and walk toward the Oriental Pearl Tower, a TV tower that would be Shanghai’s Statue of Liberty if the Statue of Liberty looked like a rocket ship in Christmas lights. Then head to the skyscraper with the giant hole at the top: the new 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center. If you can stomach it, go up to the 100th-floor observation deck (150 yuan) with its terrifying glass floors. Otherwise, enter through the Park Hyatt Shanghai and take the elevator to 100 Century Avenue, the sprawling restaurant on the 91st floor with triple-height atriums. Its six open kitchens serve everything from oysters and pasta to sushi, Peking duck and wagyu beef (dinner for two, with wine, about 2,000 yuan). Admire the geometric mosaic floors and swirling bas-reliefs — if you can keep your eyes off the panoramic views.

10 p.m.
3) DRINKING IT IN

You can’t avoid the Bund. Across the river from Pudong, this waterfront stretch of Art Deco and other edifices is Shanghai’s signature promenade and a hub of upscale restaurants and bars. At night, its floodlit facades offer an unparalleled vantage point for marveling at the giant light show that is Pudong. So go for a nightcap at the Glamour Bar (No. 5 on the Bund, sixth floor; 86-21-6329-3751), a perennially popular lounge with a 1930s inflection.

11:30 p.m.
4) UNTIL IT’S OVER

Caught a second wind? Head to No. 18 on the Bund, which, depending on your perspective, is either a hotbed for the stylish and beautiful or a nightmare of boozy, over-coiffed expats in too much cologne and too-tight camisoles. There you’ll find two swanky spots: Bar Rouge (seventh floor; 86-21-6339-1199) and Lounge 18 (fourth floor; 86-21-6323-8399). For something more underground, don’t miss the Shelter (5 Yongfu Road; 86-21-6437-0400), a testing ground for up-and-coming D.J.’s. Housed in a former bomb shelter and painted black, it’s packed with the hoodie-and-skullcap set.

Zen and Swordsmanship

Here is a blog entry that has to do with Zen, Kendo, and Musashi. Below are a few lines as a teaser, into which I've taken the liberty of inserting a few links.

Great Rivals, Great Treasures for Kendo

Yagyu Munenori was known to be a great rival of Miyamoto Musashi. Yagyu Munenori was the kendo teacher to the shogun, a great and gifted swordsman who was the founder of the “No Sword” school of kendo and just as famous as Musashi. Munenori was known to have favored using an early form of kendo bogu for the safe practicing of kendo. His mentor the the zen priest Takuan Soho was instrumental in forming his ideas for his kendo style and his book that he wrote “The book of the Shinkage-Ryu Martial Arts”. It is unclear how much he knew or if Musashi read Munenori’s insightful book. But it was clearly on his mind since soon after the book was released Musashi wrote his own book on kendo “a book of five rings” the most famous of all kendo books and unmatched in its wisdom.

The History of Judo

If you click on the title of this post, you'll be directed to a multi part history of Judo, from it's samurai jujutsu roots to the formation of the Kodokan, and beyond. I have included a portion below:

The Do form of martial art was a new concept. In place of older accumulations of technical skills, Judo linked these technical applications to the idea of philosophy and ethical application. The idea in Tao was to create a "natural man" free of prejudices, but bound by the development of character. Training in a prescribed manner toward a specific ideal of human behavior would elevate both the human and the human society. Adherents of Tao were to seek understanding of the whole of life through the intensive study of a segment of it, sensing and experiencing nature.

Self-perfection, the goal of Tao, was ultimately a Zen concept: of experiencing being the means to enlightenment, rather than attempting to substitute intellectual analysis for profound experience.

The physical experience, then, was useful in this quest only when it became natural, uninhibited, and spontaneous. Kano saw in British Philosopher Herbert Spencer's ideas of mutual effort in society to create a better society the modern, practical expression of these ancient Chinese concepts, and "mutual welfare and benefit" was a natural expression of how Kano believed individuals in society should function. Judo was meant, in its most basic elements, to be a physical expression of an ideal human society.

But Kano also saw in ju jitsu the antithesis of his concept of Do. Jujitsu was an amalgam of ideas and technical skills. The execution of the skills themselves often required either great strength, or superior leverage. In either case, damage, injury, disability and even death were not necessarily intentional, but plausibly accidental outcomes of the confrontational nature of the techniques themselves. Kano understood the idea of Kuzushi -- off-balancing prior to the execution of a technique -- had made a profound difference in both the manner and the strength necessary to execute a technique. Strong contenders suddenly became relatively weak when off-balanced. Iikubo, the jujitsu master, had been thrown easily when kuzushi was applied.

Kazuzo Kudo thought that Kano's fame was just as well founded on his exposition of kuzushi as a movement principle as it was for founding Judo itself.(6)

Kano, the Chinese literature specialist, looked back to Lao Tzu for inspiration; a two thousand year old guide to create a new martial system.