It may seem contradictory that a set of skills and techniques ultimately intended for combat is at the same time an evolutionary path. However, if we look at them from the right perspective, it will be possible to understand the benefits of martial arts and the fact that they are primarily a spiritual practice.
At the heart of these is the principle that the mind directs everything, the body can only achieve certain skills and powers if we work the mind first with dedication, however, what guides this practice is a set of values associated with the growth and maintenance of internal processes. and outside peace.
- In martial arts the main battle is against yourself and your limits.
- The axis of training is self-knownness and overcoming everything that limits our potential.
- Each new victory is the result of an internal process that eventually pays off.
Defeating a thousand enemies is good, but the samurai fighting with himself is the best warrior. The Dhammapada?
It is unclear what the origin of martial arts was, at least since there have also been sedentary communities there has also been war, so the exact moment when this reality led to the need to develop techniques, which quickly became arts, is not known.
However, in China there is a legend that seems to recount the origin of martial arts, says that an Indian monk, named Bodidarma, arrived in southern China in 475, spent nine years meditating on a cave, when he left his retirement. He found a temple called “Shaolin” and was impressed by the poor physical condition of the monks who lived there.
These monks practiced meditation all the time, but they had forgotten their bodies, so Bodidarma has created for them a regime of exercises aimed at improving their physical condition, but also to help them defend themselves from the looters operating on site. Diet has become what we now call martial arts.
The real value of studying martial arts is not to learn fighting skills and techniques, the key is in acquiring a number of internal virtues, in this world physical skills are acquired only after reaching a level of spiritual evolution that allows dexterity in the body.
Each technique and movement is associated with the inner world of the person who practices them.
In martial arts, combat is an extreme situation in which a person’s true abilities emerge, that is where the acquired values and abilities are put into practice, according to a supreme objective: to preserve life, she and others.
While there are different types of practices, the benefits of more traditional martial arts are strictly related to Zen philosophy, in this sense symbolically represent a search for the key that opens the lock that retains us, it is also a constant exercise to move away. all forms of thought and selfishness.
Zen applied to martial arts is based on four levels of consciousness and action:
As you can see, the benefits of martial arts are another ideal way to achieve growth and realization, in today’s world these practices do not involve breaking with the rest of society, on the contrary, they could be an interesting answer, moreover. , for many people who suffer and cannot overcome their difficulties with conventional psychotherapy.