The art of karate is one way to enter the mind of no mind. It is a pretty distinct fact that this is true. That said, you should seek to implement the principles in this article in your karate training, because society has destroyed true karate at a relatively fast rate.

Mind of no mind is also called, in Japanese, mushin no shin. While held up as mystical in the orient, it is actually pretty straightforward, but it does require a person to become somewhat enlightened. The real key here is to see things as they are, not as one wants them to be, or as they have been in the past, but as they are now.

The key to mind of no mind is to exist wholly in the moment, to isolate the now. Thus, when the kick is launched,or the punch is thrown, or the sword whistles through the air, you perceive it actually happening, and time actually slows down. Although, what is really happening is that you are being outside your mind, you are becoming calm enough to see time as it really is, as it really happens.

There are a few things you need to isolate and cultivate this ability to see time as it happens. One of the most important things is to experience CBM, or Coordinated Body Motion. CBM is when you move all body parts at the same time, and stop them all at the same time.

Correct body alignment is another necessary item. Using full CBM, the parts of the body must be lined up so that they are in the correct order. All forms should be practiced with this concept if one is to achieve mind of no mind, and enlightenment.

The real key here is that forms are a method to enable the individual to control his body. This is heightened, and quite different from something like ballet or gymnastics because the pieces of the form must be used to control another individual. Thus, the secret of mushin no shin, and enlightenment in the martial arts, is not to destroy, but to control.

To not destroy, although that ability is necessary, but to control. If you destroy, the game is over, and where is the enlightenment in that? And this is why Gichin Funakoshi did not hold freestyle, specifically of the tournament variety, up as part of the True Way.

One who learns to control will eventually separate his mind and body, and thus enable him to see time, and life, and the whole the universe, as they really are. The truth is that your mind obscures the fact that things aren’t what they seem, they are but a shadow of what is real, and this shadow obscures methods for shedding the shadow and leaving the mind. The truth is that the martial arts are one of the four ways of enlightenment, but in todays tournament obsessed mind it is as good as lost, unless you read and apply the principles detailed here.

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You think a fight will happen on a good surface with good lighting, so that you can see everything that is happening? You think the mugger is going to ring the front door bell and tell you to take your best karate stance because he want s to home invade you? You’ve been taking too many drugs, my friend.

The fight will happen on the worst possible surface with the worst lighting at the worst time. The fight will happen on the fresh watered lawn in your backyard under the stars. That mugger is going to pick terrain that gives him the best advantage, and the fight is going to happen when you least expect it

Fighting in the dark is easy if you just get used to moving in the dark. One of the easiest exercises to prepare you, very simple and fun, is just to move around your house late at night. Turn the lights out and move around, and work on remembering where the furniture is.

Pretend there is somebody there, shadow box, do your forms, and soon you will have developed an uncanny feeling for moving through the darkness. This matter of developing intuition is at the heart of the matter. You don’t want to rely on your eyes, you want to just know where everything is.

Practice moving around your backyard like a cat, climbing trees, getting used to the dark, actually building up to rolls and gymnastics. You can also set up an obstacle course, climbing over the house, ladders up to short jumps down, learning how to navigate no matter how dark it gets. You can eventually have somebody else set up the obstacles, and the game will notch up and turn delightfully unpredictable.

Finally, you must get friends to play with. Have the fellows you train with doing this with you, and start having wars. Two teams, both dressed in black, playing in the dark, remember to wear mouthpieces and practice relaxing when you fall.

In the end, it will be no big deal if a fight happens in the dark. You can have a lot of fun, and while becoming more aware and training yourself. You will have fun, be the ninja…and that poor mugger will run right into a box of fur and razor blades without knowing what hit him!

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One thing karate does is enable a person to enter the mind of no mind. The method of karate enables this as a pretty distinct fact. Unfortunately, society has destroyed true karate at a relatively fast rate, and so you should pay attention to this article, and implement the principles in your karate training.

It is also called mind of no mind in Japanese, mushin no shin. It is actually pretty straightforward, though it is held up as mystical in the orient, but it does require a certain degree of enlightenment from the student. The real key here is to see things not as one wants them to be, or as they have been in the past, but as they are now.

To isolate the now, to exist wholly in the moment, this is the key to the mind of no mind. Thus, the sword whistles through the air, or when the kick is launched or the punch is thrown, you must perceive it as it actually happens, and then time will slow down. What is really happening is that you are at last seeing time as it really happens.

To isolate and cultivate this ability to see time as it happens there are a few things you need to do. One of the most important things is to develop Coordinated Body Motion. CBM is when you move and stop all body parts at the same time.

Another necessary item is correct body alignment. The parts of the body must be lined up so that they are in the correct order, and this must be done with full CBM. This is something that should be built into all forms practice, and is necessary within forms practice to achieve mind of no mind, and enlightenment.

Forms are the manner in which someone learns to control his body. It is different from gymnastics or ballet because the art must be used to control another individual. The secret of enlightenment, and mushin no shin, is to control an opponent, not destroy him.

To not destroy, although that ability is necessary, but to control. If you destroy, the game is over, and where is the enlightenment in that? And this is why Gichin Funakoshi did not hold freestyle, specifically of the tournament variety, up as part of the True Way.

Learning to control will eventually enable the student to separate his mind and body, and thus enable him to see life, and time, and the whole the universe, as they really are. Your mind obscures the fact that things aren’t what they seem, and that the things of the universe are but a shadow of what is real, and this shadow obscures methods for putting aside the mind. The truth is that the martial arts are one of the four ways of enlightening the human soul, but with todays tournament mind set this method is as good as lost, unless you apply the principles listed here.

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I was teaching a karate class some years ago, and I had a student whose father would go to the bar next door and imbibe while his son was getting strong and healthy. One day, after class, the father staggers in, and he actually has a gun, and he points it at me and tells me that that karate crap won’t do me any good if a guy has a gun. So I took the gun away from him and grinned.

Yes, it is possible to take a gun away from somebody, even when they are pointing it directly at your face. I did it, and I will tell you exactly how I did it in this article. That said, and even considering what I am about to tell you in this article, I recommend giving your money to an attacker, not risking your face against volatile discharge.

You must consider which way the communication is flowing when somebody points a gun at you. The typical scenario is a fellow steps out of some alley, gun in hand, and he says he will shoot. It is easy to see that the intent of his communication is towards you.

Moving at a speed, and in a way, that demonstrates total compliance, you raise your hands, and put them in a position that is best for what you are about to do. I have to tell you that you will have to decide what position is best, and you should do this through extensive practice. The most important point, however, is that you relax your muscles entirely and utterly and calm your mind.

Now, what you are waiting for is for the fellow to demand you give him your money. At this point the intent of the communication is away from you, and it is towards him. At this point he expects you to move towards him, an therefore he is not intending to shoot.

The trick behind this exercise, as I said, is to have totally relaxed muscles and an utterly calm mind. Shift your head away from the direction the gun will move in when you hit his wrist and off the line of attack. Using both hands you grab the gun as you slap the inside of his wrist.

There may be a discharge of the weapon as you slap the inside of his wrist, but the gun should have angled so it will miss you. With tons of practice, and specifically of the technique and of the ability to be relaxed in one position in space, and then virtually instantaneously in another position in space, you can actually try different methods of controlling the gun and refine this technique.

Having said all the above, let me say that the technique won’t work if the fellow is too far away, if he is not interested in getting your money, but rather kidnapping you for purposes of domination, or if you just read this article and never practiced it…a few thousand times, I also want to say that the reason I wrote this article is for purposes of enlightenment in dire situation, for training purposes, not to give you the idea that risking your life is more important than money. And, I want to let you know that when the fellow is caught and goes to trial, it is going to be a lot of fun to go point a little laughter in his face.

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He didn’t have a kid, so what was he doing at a demo for kids? I began slow walking towards him. I walked slower and slower, and time began to stretch and stretch. It seemed to take forever for me to walk the hundred feet to him.

By the time I reached him he was sweating and starting to shake. I threw out a big grin and a hand and introduced myself. He almost fell over with relief in taking my happy hand.

The fellow was a tree faller, and turned out to be one of the nicest fellows I had ever met. The reason he was at the demonstration was because he wanted to see karate. Living out in the woods, he had never actually seen it.

What I had first done to him when we had met was the thing that most interested him the most. It seemed like the world was caving in on him, he later told me. He had almost, he later admitted, lost control of his bladder.

If you practice a classical karate that has been made true slow walking is easy to do. This means you must make sure you know what the moves mean when you translate them into actual usage, and you must align the time and shape of your form. If you learn how to do this then you can experience the true bubble of your perceptions, which is what your true body is.

Time is a measurement of the universe. Time is a perception. To the degree that you can control the universe, you can control time.

Of course the trick is to enter The True Art by perfecting your art, and then to increase the size of yourself. For if you can control your body, then you can control another’s body, and you can influence his perception of time. This requires immense dedication to form and detail and such, but it is, in the end, a simple trick.

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The first time I stretched time I was woken from my sleep by an uproar of shouts and emotion. I looked out the window and saw a couple of fellows beating my dog. I yelled at them, told them to knock it off, and they yelled at me, and the next thing you know I was pulling on my pants and running down the stairs.

I came out of the gate and took in the scene at a glance. Two fellows trying to kick my dog, and a frightened young girl holding a small dog, and I knew what had happened. My dog had seen the little girls dog and jumped the fence, and she had picked it up to protect it, and my dog had jumped around and barked at her, and the two fellows were really just coming to the rescue of a small girl.

Now I had a real problem. The guys werent wrong. How could I salvage this situation without hurting anybody?

I slowed down my walk, and the fellows suddenly blinked, and I could see that they were beginning to worry. They suddenly had time for worry to build within their minds, for though they were bigger than me, my eyes were filled with confidence. They began to shake and sweat.

I slowed my walk even more, and my dog suddenly stopped dancing around and sat down and looked at me, everything in the whole darned world had gone into slow motion. The little girl, still holding her dog, looked up at me. I calmly asked for an explanation of what had happened.

It was beautiful. You could see the relief in the two fellows eyes that things hadnt escalated into physical fighting, and they both began to babble. Each wanted to be the one to explain what had happened.

They finally stopped their babbling, and I finally looked down at my dog, who was looking up with a rather guilty expression. What are you doing, eh, you big knucklehead? His tail flopped half heartedly around on the ground.

I told the dog to get into the yard, and though he was renowned for ignoring me, miracle of miracles, he slunk on down the sidewalk and through the gate. I made sure nobody was hurt, and no one was. I smiled at the little girl and the two guys, and petted the girls dog, and left, and that was the first time I ever slow walked.

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The universe is a dichotomy, when you come right down to brass tacks. The concept of dichotomy is that everything has two side. Down and up, left and right, and so on into the realm of less than concrete ideas.

Within the Martial Arts we find that crux of war versus peace. And, one finds all sorts of other dichotomies in studying the martial arts. Dichotomies which strike right to the soul and heart of the discipline, and even question our very right to exist.

The beginner enters the school and is, in the very short while, confronted with the dichotomy of freestyle v form. Does he elect to study battlefield ready techniques of death and destruction, or does he opt for forms, with their abstract perfectionism?

Underneath this simple question of dichotomy is the question of destruction v control. Does the student practice techniques of destruction, which are quick and easy to learn, but perhaps not in keeping with the philosophy of the human soul, or does he practice techniques of control, which are more difficult to work on the street? The answer will dictate what kind of a human being he will end up being, and which way he goes in life.

Then there is the always question of sport v art. Should he seek abstract in his study of the martial arts, and be willing to wait perhaps decades for its benefits, or should he seek athleticism and a strong body, and then put that body to risk in contest? Again, the very worth of his life and his direction as a human being are the real question here.

Really, it is the age old question of matter v mind. Is man nothing but an animal, or is he a spirit contained in a body? Should he study to find his soul, and that is the point of it all, or should he study like a careening roller coaster, and that is the point of it all?

Really, man is making significant decisions in just considering these simple questions. With no sense of direction, and in a murky fog, he is choosing to go up or down. For what is the worth of the human being, and who is to direct us in this question of wrong and right in the human soul…but ourselves?

Betides. We choose, wrong or right, we choose. Whether we choose right or wrong, our uniqueness is put up to the light, and it is a choice to be valued.

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