Spirituality in Martial Arts - Can Fighting Lead to Enlightenment?

Martial arts, especially traditional ones in Asia are often connected with spirituality. This might sound a little bit like a contradiction. Martial arts were developed as a way of fighting and even killing other people. Where is spirituality in that? To be honest, I am not sure if spirituality is the right word. I've trained karate for 20 years now and I have studied various religions and here is what I think about this.

As a kid I watched a lot of TV shows like Kung Fu (1972). There are often some wise martial arts masters who know everything. I remember watching the incredible Shaolin monks on the TV and then, when they came to my country, I even went to see their performance live. Great experience! But seriously, fighting Buddhist monks? What? Buddha was clearly against any form of violence. It seems like Shaolin monks started practicing martial arts to protect themselves from bandits and thieves and also to have a sort of an exercise to keep their bodies healthy. The tradition of fighting monks is very strong in Japanese history. The monasteries played an important role in the political field and they were like a small private armies sometimes. This all reminds me of the crusades in Europe where knights were fighting in the name of God. According to my understanding of what Jesus and Buddha taught, to me, mixing religion and politics is nonsense. Almost every religion, just like basically any ideology in the world, was sometimes used in the past for greedy motives as a political tool. Religious armies are not spiritual for me.

Warriors Looking for Inner Peace

There are many stories about warriors who later became more contemplative and peaceful. Especially in Japan, samurai were often interested in Zen Buddhism. Being mindful of every moment in life. Japanese had a lot of ceremonial acts such as the tea ceremony, which aims to fully absorb the participants. Zen played a major role in Japanese culture. But again, Buddhism and killing do not fit together. Samurai were warriors. Killing their enemies, taking their heads, dying in a battle, committing seppuku (ritual suicide), all these things related to killing played a major role in samurai way of life. They were ideals that samurai cherished. I can understand that being this close to death might make people realize a lot about impermanence. That everyone will eventually die. Sometimes we feel like we would live forever. Death seems to be something unreal, something we just read about that happens to some people around, never happening to us. One of the meditations often practiced in Buddhism is death contemplation, which should lead to dissolution of the idea of our own eternal self. Realizing that all has to end sometimes.

Miyamoto Musashi is a famous samurai who won many duels and killed many opponents. At the end of his life, he became kind of a hermit and wrote his famous Book of Five Rings. He wrote down even some deep philosophical ideas there, but was he spiritual? It looks like his body was just exhausted and since his whole life was about fighting, he had not much else to do in that state. Therefore, he started living alone and contemplating his life. Another, probably better example of a former killer who later entered seclusion is Angulimala, a bandit who became a monk after meeting Buddha. It does not seem that his previous violent history actually led to any spiritual awakening, quite the opposite. He felt guilt after hearing Buddha's teaching.

Maybe Not Spirituality but Self-Discovery and Morality?

Karate became a part of my life. Not only physically. It's good to have an exercise to keep the body in good condition, but karate also helped me to realize that hard work is all we need to achieve success. Even if we fail in life soemtimes, we can stay calm when we did all we could. This is also what Musashi emphasized in his book! When training really hard, one learns how to overcome the limits of the body and mind. And honestly, it is mostly the mind that limits us. My sensei often says: When you think you cannot do more, you still have 70% of the energy left. So being consistent, not giving up, working hard, these things are what I see as one of the most beneficial things in martial art training.

Another interesting concept in martial arts is self-awareness. By learning various techniques, we learn to adjust our body to a very detailed extent. I often started to feel parts of my body that I was never aware of before. Learning about the body is something that might be close to spirituality. Meditation often starts with body awareness. Rick Hotton sensei often talks about karate as a connection to life itself. Focusing on the exercise makes one present, here and now. This is close to the Buddhist mindfulness. Artists and athletes often talk about getting in the zone. It is a state of mind where the individuality temporarily vanishes, the body and mind are in perfect harmony, and the performer is one with the performance. I often train karate in nature and sometimes I feel a great sense of joy and freedom when practicing kata surrounded by forest. This inner joy is something that makes the mind peaceful. But this is not only in martial arts, this happens in music, sports, poetry, etc.

I often remember the No Mind scene from the Last Samurai movie. When sparring with other practitioners, these thoughts often come into the mind such as I have a higher belt, I cannot lose! Oh sensei is watching right now, I have to do a nice technique. Oh, this guy gets on my nerves, I will humiliate him! This guy is too strong, of course he's gonna throw me on the ground at any moment. But forgetting about the opponent and about self always brings the best results. The body then reacts naturally. Focusing too much on the opponent's next technique or thinking too much about the strategy slows down the mind and the body and increases the inner tension and stress. So in this way, martial arts teach how to let go. There is this Taoist story about the archer who could shoot the target perfectly when training alone. When being in a competition and shooting to win a prize, his mind gets confused, his arms start to shake, his body starts to sweat. Minding too much! This is why at the beginning of every class we sit down in seiza position, close our eyes and just focus on the breath for a minute. It's to leave the problems we carry inside us outside the dojo. To calm down and focus on the training. At the end of the class, the same process helps us to relax the body after the training and to digest the new experience gained during the training.

I don't see any spirituality in the fight itself. Seeing people fighting for their lives just seems like watching animals in documentaries. We are also part of the nature so this might be sometimes necessary. Seeing people fight for fun or money also does not seem deep or profound. Enjoying hurting others is definitely the opposite way of spiritual growth. Many traditional martial arts can, however, teach their pratitioners about morality. In karate we learn how deadly and painful some techniques might be. I have realized that these are dangerous tools and I wouldn't want anyone to be hurt by them. When sometimes getting hit during the training, one can imagine how destructive such technique can be in a real fight in full power when the opponent is not holding back. It makes one reconsider the thoughts of hurting others. Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate style, created a set of rules that every practitioner should follow. It's called dojokun and similar rules can be found in many other martial arts. It is a similar concept of Bushido which was a code of conduct for samurai. These rules often emphasize morality. That the practitioner should not do any violent acts that would dishonor the style of dojo. That violence should be sued only as the last resort! Surprisingly, practicing martial arts can make people more peaceful. Not just because of these realizations above, but also by offering a way to release the inner tension and urge to fight in the dojo. Hard training is a perfect cure for stress and unreleased anger.

Some martial arts like Tai Chi or Aikido contain even deeper theories about inner work of the body and the mind. Perhaps they offer more to spirituality than classic martial arts that focus on practical usage in a fight. Let me know how you feel about martial arts and spirituality in the comments!

Keywords: meditation, Japan, Asia, philosophy
#karate #martialarts #kungfu #samurai