by f.Channell » Sun Nov 28, 2010 3:53 am
I found the book, I will give it another read. One thing about Zen is that it is not simply a martial arts thing. One can find it within any "do" of Japan and among all lifelong arts such as poetry, gardening, the tea ceremony etc.. Most books I have read are from the counter culture era of the early seventies. As much as I have read, and written essays on the topic. It is a rough thing to pin down.
One description I have read is that explaining zen to someone is like explaining the sea to a fish. It is all around them and absolutely necessary. In that context, perhaps zen is not something to be ignored in how it has influenced karate-do.
Of course it is also meant not to be discovered, only pursued. Like training a kata, to never be mastered and put aside.