Of the kaishaku teachings

In the beginning there was the singularity, all in one point, the density being infinite and dimensions not existing. This of course could be described as an impossible situation, which led to what we know as the Big Bang, the ultimate cosmic explosion. The substance of the universe sprung outwards from the primal seika no itten so the very first conception was that of directions, forming time and space. The latter just having started expanding could not yet contain enough room for the stuff of everything constantly bursting out, so towards the outer limits the composition was packed into a wall of existence blocking the flow from the core, and what became of that was another impossible situation: an explosion within an explosion. The energy seeking route began to spiral and these vortexes seem to have created matter; the same whirling is still found in atoms, galaxies etc. Origin lies in the unbearable heat of the furnace.

It is said that Truth does not burn in fire, indicating that whatever is authentic by its nature cannot be destroyed even under conditions most extreme. It remains unchangeable instead like the invincible Fudo Myoo standing amidst the flames. I on the other hand would suggest that Truth itself “burns the fire,” meaning its essence holds this quality like a purifying blaze. As such it inevitably is also an affliction to the one experiencing it; on many occasions there is an implication that when a person has to “face the truth” the moment is in some way unbearable.

Based on what we do know of physics we understand that there is a counterpart for each phenomenon taking place, in other words there are two sides in every issue. The same goes with the nine dimensions of space-time continuum. The idea of cosmic “wormholes” is sometimes demonstrated by bending a sheet of paper in a manner that opposite parts of it come to be in contact with one other and the area is then pierced. The hole emerged is thus situated in two different locations at the same time. Keeping Einstein’s model in mind we can think of the dimensions as “side A” of the sheet and the counterdimensions as “side B” of it. In addition to that the conditions inside the opening are equivalent to what surrounds the paper undepicted, the state of untangibility lying beyond space-time that is.

The universe in its duality functions as a curtain hiding the Absolute behind relativity’s veil. A glimpse of the other realm, if anything, is the ultimate trial we must go through when seeking the adjudication of facing reality. From this unbearable situation we are ultimately set free by Truth. Noda Kizaemon: “At such a time first wait a bit and by some means gather your strength. Then if you cut by standing firm and not missing the chance, you will do well.”

Yukio Mishima: "There isn't any fear in existence itself, or any uncertainty, but living creates it."

Frequencies and beyond

There are vibrations in nature, and likewise there is vibrating in the human body. Taking example from the spectrum of light we can observe these different levels or layers and the qualities they incorporate.

The red colour is the “lowest” one, so we start from the centre of the pelvis. It should be the very basis, like the foundation of a pyramid on which everything else is built. As it is fundamental it is also primal; when there is primitive reaction it is often said that one “sees red,” the molten rock of the core that is.

In the stomach we have the orange colour for it is the furnace which turns nutrition into energy. There lies all hunger and that we cannot bypass; when refined though, hunger may be fuel for the will, taking us to the heights we couldn’t reach by only using the wits we have. That is where we also bear the scar from the birth, connecting us to the origin.

The solar plexus is really the centre of how we’ve learnt to work with our bodies, shining yellow as the sun of the system of our physicality. The same way planets orbit stars we use our legs for moving around and our hands to execute all sorts of tasks; between the horizontal lines of the shoulders and the hips there is the plexus. Understanding this is very important in martial arts, especially because we use the muscle to control our breathing, thus moving as well.

The colour of the heart is not pink but green. The heart is to be like the growing of the plants in nature for we want to increase what we have inside. We also hope that the seeds are sown for the spreading of the growth. Circulation is similar to the circle of life, expanding from one point to the extremes by becoming branches and twigs so to speak. And when the movement of blood stops, it turns brown like the plants do when autumn comes. We must remember that the samurai spoke of “the flower of the heart” referring to the natural response.

Between the shoulders we have a point which is similar to the one we have inside the pelvis. This has a lot to do with moving the arms, executing techniques such as blocking and striking, and the lungs are there as well. The area widens and shrinks with the breath. When we breathe in we want the air to be bright and clean, full of oxygen to be taken to the muscles and every organ. While exhaling the air comes out through the larynx and that we use when we speak; the sound of one’s voice can be a very powerful weapon indeed. The colours we’re talking about are blue and indigo.

Then comes the third eye located in the brain; some speak of violet flame. To avoid stepping unto the zone of mysticism I would say that we’re simply talking about perception: immense sight in unseen situations. You can know things in your heart, you can reason in a debate, but what we’re dealing with now is the vision that’s both inner and external. “Strength without perception is spiritually useless and therefore of no true value,” said Ryuken in Hokuto no Ken. We also see the bending of the circle here as the spectrum starts going back to where it began; violet colour is but a combination of red and blue.

Yet there are wavelengths we’re unable to see, we only know of the areas of infrared and ultraviolet. So it is certain that on the outer limits we do meet with the invisible, and as described, that is where the opposites are united. In the same manner one’s body is constantly kept in balance and each part of the physique is led to operate according to one single strategy. All the colours or the qualities together form white light, so we should think of ourselves shining that brightly, without limitations but with acceptance. It does remind me a lot of the Taoist concept of nothingness, for in what way can harmony be described if not by picturing a state in which no shadow is cast?

We have mooted what exists, and beyond that there is blackness. It is something that the human mind cannot comprehend, the very essence manifested by the light. The black abides around and within the circle of colours, eternal, the All-Mother. Any time it is said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, “whose soul?” one should ask. When you look in the mirror it’s seldom someone else you see, so the reflection actually tells of who and what you really are, through reactions. This is why retreat is chosen. So there lies the truth of why Adder never turns away from looking into someone’s eyes: he focuses not on the colour of the iris, but gazes to the very centre and through, knowing he will only see himself there, in the blackest of the black.

Terracotta army of Helsinki

Inside the circle of awareness

Christopher Matthews demonstrating the straight-forward strategy of Bushi Kempo

Become one with the surroundings and make circumstances your allies. This is the basis of the strategy of the Ninja, referring to times of war not simply confronting adversaries.

To take a look at the modern day scene let us examine submission wrestling for example. A fine art, in which one is to go for having control over the opponent in order to put him in a submission hold at some point. This on the other hand makes it a form of sport rather than combat; what I mean is the tendecy to prefer a certain kind of layout. In catch-as-catch-can the idea is to place the opponent under a non-stop attack, in other words use every single situation to bring trouble. In sports it is always a competition between two athletes or teams, whereas when waging war one cannot afford competing in the first place. Just “catch a hold” as you can.

Sharpening one’s awareness should be practised everywhere and all the time. By simply having your eyes, ears and mind open the four-dimensional perception eventually becomes an automatic process of calculation: the person will start envisaging the possibilities at hand. Let us say you are trapped within a triangle of three opponents; you decide to make the first move and take the one behind you off balance to gain a couple of extra seconds. The guy on the left sees an opportunity there and throws a punch – you could block it, but realize that by doing so you would make yourself most vulnerable to the third guy’s attack. So you choose to move away from the punch and simultaneously knock down the guy on the right. Then you go on with the flow, rearrange if need be and do what you must. The training of such situations is to make one’s movements an ever-flowing lemniscate-like pattern in which some parts of the body are always ready for defence and others just as ready for counter-attacking.

The more there is tension, the easier the target. Struggling in this context would mean that you submit yourself to a contest of who’s better, stronger, faster and so on, which you may just as well lose. Fighting (efficiently) is nothing but reacting with so little effort that the opponent won’t know what hit him - never give the enemy a chance and you might have one yourself.

The manners of warfare and business can be compared in the sense that both are tightly bound to the phenomena around, you make your moves and get results depending on all else that takes place. This could be described as "slavery of action," yet art - such as poetry, painting etc. - is fundamentally different as it has the power to change the world instead, thus it bears no chain. To succeed in pursuing one’s ambitions is certainly worth respecting, then again artistic essence is a story completely distinct. Therefore it is the very art of war we seek.

By explaining matters from this point of view I am not saying that anyone should alter the teachings of their original discipline, I am encouraging them to dig deep. Embrace every technique, find the aspects and utilize them. Perception itself does not change reality, but it does work as a guidebook. People commonly see the world as a picture they try to fit themselves in; insight helps them understand that it is really a puzzle. Among the pieces you may go as you will.

Simon Latimer lecturing on the razor-like philosophy of his Daishin Ryu

Circle of awareness

On February 7th, at Talvisota (”Winter War”) wrestling show I am to have a match against Joey Impact and H.C. Andersen, two newcomers that are bound to hunger for victory over someone such as myself. My job is to make sure they’ll lose, and due to my martial arts background plus the fact that I train pro wrestling as a martial art my chances of fulfilling the commitment are way better than average.

In sports combat usually takes place in a way strictly controlled. There is one opponent, there are rules that say what must and must not happen, so you know what to expect. In a 3-way bout it’s a different deal: you put a guy in a hold and the other one strikes you in the back, he takes you down only to be attacked by the third party and so on. It does get chaotic, so that is when the higher aspect of wrestler is called to the arena.

Martial arts, especially when studied as military skills, are for one to be schooled in the zanshin state of mind which techniques will follow. In a real life situation there may be multiple attackers, countless of factors, anything can and will happen. Say you’re hit in the back of the head – the more you’re afraid the more tension there will be blocking the movement of your body and making the blow more devastating. Then again, once you let things happen as they come and just go with the flow you start creating influence that actually softens the world around you. The universe is not built of matter but dual directions through which energy moves. When somebody grabs you, do not seek strength to struggle but relaxation; you’ll take away the opponent’s game plan for a split second during which time you make the move to end the fight.

The 360 degree defence is like a circle of troops guarding every route to the capitol. This is not to be thought of as a clock-like plane but rather a shining sphere of awareness. Even in cases when the enemy is not stopped, information will travel. With the addition of “rhyme and reason,” the perception of continuity, you will dive into the magic ocean of 4D. Take the teachings of your art but never forget to apply. Keep in mind that training is not meant for the gym and it is not done for the sake of any contest. “Everything is Kung Fu,” yet I would simplify this by saying that everything is everything. The ring of Talvisota belongs to me, so does the ring of life.

Liu Fengcai

Wrestling a match

Place the emphasis on the word ”wrestling”. On Saturday 15.11.2014 I stepped in the ring to face a promising newcomer Jami Aalto. Due to the opponent’s Greco-Roman background it was the kind of match I had been waiting for, an opportunity to challenge both my skills as an old school wrestler and the audience’s perception. I expected Aalto’s athletic ability to be on a level better than average, whereas I had the experience and my hybrid style. It would be too much to say that Aalto never had a chance, but remains the fact that probabilities were on my side.

It was obvious from the start that we had an extra gear. Even finding a way to get the first hold was a competition, which Aalto actually won by having me in a waist lock as I tried to manipulate his arm and pull him sideways, a trick most typical in his original game. Knowing that he would go for a suplex I immediately hit the mat, defending until he had to change his plan and we got up; that was when I threw in some Muay Thai-type of techniques. The upper hand was soon mine so it was time to calm down and wait for Aalto to make a mistake.

It was easy to lure him into a half-hatch after which I would take him down and put him in a position he surely hadn’t been during his amateur career. Still, it was too early to have him pinned so I decided to take things a bit further – I wouldn’t call that a mistake from my behalf, but Aalto certainly proved his agility and quickness by countering some of my moves while standing up, so I wisely retreated to break the spearhead of his attack, making it somewhat of a mind game.

Back to the groundwork we went, and to take away Aalto’s speed I started working the legs. He soon had no other way to go but to try to get on his feet, by which he practically offered me a chance to put him in a sleeper hold. This didn’t end the match but clearly led to the final phase which did. There was still enough fight left in him for one more plunge: a series of moves you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a rookie, then again it definetely wasn’t his first match to begin with. Being mentally stronger of the two I was capable of standing the charge and driving him down once again to apply the ultimate hold in wrestling. When the bell rang the power of the Constrictor had been proven as usual, despite of Aalto’s resistance and him being undeniably an exception among the people I have previously battled in the ring.

There’s an element in pro wrestling that brings it closer to real fighting than most forms of combat sport: that is the grey area. The reality of the match is that the wrestler can bend the rules, which I do, not to let them limit one’s doings but rather to use them as a tool to destroy the opponent’s endeavours. For example, a rope break doesn’t indeed have to happen immediately; it is the referee’s count that tells you when to let go. So you have time to make your move. Even if the wrestler chooses to release the hold he may still take the opportunity and deliver a blow with a possible effect to the outcome of the bout. Think ahead, set traps and make it difficult for the opponent to succeed in any of his attempts – create several paths for yourself to follow and finally overcome.

Saturday’s match was something that isn’t normally seen in any wrestling show because of the tactics, because of the grappling aspect of it and because of the competitive approach of both men. Those things were also the reasons why the audience would still react as expected. It was the spirit of the duel that made it a fight to behold, reminding everyone which way to go as long as we keep claiming that pro wrestling is the very arena where modern day gladiators meet. The main difference to Rome then must be that I have no Caesar to hail. I’m there for myself, my own master - only the arms of Mercury surround me.

The unstoppable blow

The night sky is dark because it’s an endless abyss. What is most often admired as beauty in it, is nothing but a colouring made by sunshine, the sun itself being just a spark flashing for a tiny moment in the cosmic blackness. The blue cover hides the true nature of what surrounds us, and by this mask protection is provided to those who are in need of such. As we let darkness look into us our vision grows deeper until our eyes can look back in time into the blackest night of all.

The opposite of things ostensible is of course what's essential, which also rules over its partner. The two can be put together though, not by driving them towards one another on a straight line but by a detour of personal experience. In cases where learning would otherwise become difficult, we choose to try creating some scenery by visualization to help the brain, or sometimes the whole body, receive instruments of understanding the matter. In other words we are using imaginary training.

Let us think that we’re to hit an object with an iron bar using as much force as possible. If we’re already scared, despairing or under any kind of pressure in the situation, we tend to tense our muscles to the limit; the stress of one’s mind thus becomes that of the body which, with all its movement been turned compulsive, begins to fight itself. The blow then, despite of its energy or the qualities of the bar making it destructive, would be one lacking spirit. If the body is set free instead by relaxation it will literally let the move happen, not to mention what happens when individual techniques must follow each other with the circumstances constantly chancing (“flow”).

An agricultural tool called flail has also been used as a weapon in history. A hammer-like section attached to an ordinary staff with a very simple mechanism can be swung in a way extremely dangerous by a skilled fighter. Speaking of unarmed combat we might say to clarify the idea that the forearm and fist are to be the outer part to swing freely with the movement of the upper arm directing this energy. Taking the next step from this point would mean the whole arm being used as the hammer, the shoulder-line being the staff-section of the flail, the body being the hand that swings it etc. The same principle of keeping it elastic can be applied when one is using a stick or a sword, them being intertwined with the body via the hands. The weapon is then moved in a “lively” manner as the body also moves along the similar way with the swaying of the weapon.

From the flail was developed an instrument of battering even more fearsome, the Kettenmorgenstern. What if we imagine that the fist is an iron ball, the forearm is a chain and the upper arm is a staff those are swung with. The penetrating energy is increased for as the tool becomes “heavier” the body will have to move in a way more explosive in order to perform the strike like it should, so the movement will be more relaxed, very loose indeed.  This is where momentum grows out of; the strike will come even more steadfast and the hand will not only hit the surface of the target (to prevent the impact from affecting itself) but just go on with full force. The blow is to be directed towards the opponent’s spine, we must go for breaking the posture and unbalancing, and also remember psychological damage to be done.

Let us dive on deeper into the magic of the mind: the iron ball this time is placed inside the thick part of the forearm. It is attached to the shoulder with a strong metal chain that is the upper arm, the fist being but the tip of the aura of the hammer. By the feeling of this immaterial nature the hand will have no inhibition when striking, so instead of just giving a slap the fist will have an intention to go through, proceeding many inches to where the actual body of the target would be. This, if anything, is the Empty hand in practice, of – as Funakoshi expressed the idea – the hand of Emptiness.

Pursuing the results we start with the physical, travel through metaphysics and finally enter the reality of undeniable facts. Devastating blows do not emerge from trying but from executing.

In case the opponent reacts to what we’re doing (which will inevitably happen), it may lead to situations most undesirable, yet the flail-like body of the fighter, being loose enough, can still be kept moving on to the right direction even with the circumstances changing all the time; thus it is possible to maintain the attack. When advanced one will be able to expand the use of the method to all moving, breathing included, and eventually it will be one’s mind that’ll work as the Kettenmorgenstern, directing its force without any limitations.

Biomechanics form a tool we are to utilize just as anything. Even in a combat most intense the arm must not be frozen with the tension, nor must the fist be clenched any harder than a ball of iron is clenching itself. As the power comes from the centre the wave of it will move on to the outer limits, just like what is done when a dragon lashes with its tail.

Into the Safira

The competition to have status in modern day society, when seen objectively, is as unfortunate as it is desperate: a never-ending treadmill where all is but superficial. Most people do search for importance, admiration, willing to rise above what would be regarded as average, and what might be the artifice? Think of politics for example; the leaders, the ones to decide – what used to be taking care of matters for the common good has become a mere game of seeking control over others by any means necessary, running over those who are weak and stabbing the strong ones in the back soon as there is a chance to do so. Honesty and responsibility could not mean less before the eyes of the people these ringmasters should indeed be working for in the first place… It is certainly a sad hunt for so-called significance.

The measure of man, male that is, used to be his capability as a hunter to feed the community, as a fighter in order to protect and later as a labourer whose toughness was the guarantee of keeping the family unit safe. The male role today, competitively, seems to be that of a lover – so the man’s been reduced into a politician in that sense; his job being vamping or at least having the skills to do so, a hunter of not votes but affection, as in both cases of play-acting winning is based on treachery: adapting whatever ostensible qualities which would suit the situation at hand.

Men are divided into groups defined by the level of skill, with labels put on those: “alpha,” “beta” etc. Many would say it’s an evolutionary truth, a fact not for one to override, but the question to be asked is “what prize is worth the (self)deception?” The greatest human weakness is the will to be strong, which really offers the key to dominate the person. I choose to step away from the line I would be placed upon and go beyond the alphabet; not accepting the servitude as a puppet for anything, free of strings I can go where I will and do as I please. The next time you expect me to be obligated, make sure you ask my opinion before writing a book on biology.

Alpha-male may be the leader of the pack, but Wise Man is the elder of the tribe. The Zero is a circle complete, the eternal ideal that holds the power and knowledge within itself. Yet the shaman is enabled to even wield the energies of the Sacred Feminine – by becoming it. Cold is my womb, it is darkness I gather inside... Now in the abyss I finally face the Sun.

I am not a real man. I am an unreal man. The standard I set is that when people come to know, they refuse to believe.

Without Shakti Shiva is Shava.