| 道 |
| DO [TO], Path, Way, Way of life |
DO is the Japanese pronouncing of the Chinese character for
TAO.
This term means "following the way of. . ." and is used in various spiritual-practical "ways" of training as Buddhism, Zen and also in Martial Arts, for example: Cha-Do (the way of the tea - tea ceremony), Kyu-Do (the way of the bow), Karate-Do (the way of the empty hand).
The approach in the far east is that what ever field of Art a person may study they always emphasize the importance of the "subjective" side of it, giving to it's technique a secondary consideration.
The Art of Karate-Do is expressed in every field in life. It is a way of thinking, a way of behavior and attitude towards your surrounding, relations with people, the way of doing things and eventually - spontaneous reactions to circumstances in life and well-developed intuition.
It is an individual challenge to discover and improve your self.
It is the student duty and privilege to make the effort, to study and practice by him/her self. The teacher, in accordance to this approach, will guide the student.
The student is responsible to improve him/her self while the teacher will route the student in order to keep him/her on track.
The word "teacher" in Japanese consists in two Kanji characters:
The strong continuous relation between Zen and the Samurai caste was created very strict moral behavior and ethic rules (BUSHI-DO), which sealed of approval at the 17th century in the foundation of the military tradition at the feudalism age in Japan.
Social researchers compare the BUSHI-DO influence on economy evolution in Japan to the protestant ethics in west. In fact, already in the "Muromachi" period (1336-1598), built up under Zen influence art and life patterns while Zen was distinctly adapted by Samurai's caste, which foster it's methods and accommodate them into Martial Arts and ethical values: strong character cultivation, simplicity, self-restrain, unflappability, concentration, determination, fortification, determination and discipline.
The highest level of fighting a samurai might achieve is "The way of sword without sword", that means: to win the fight without even draw the sword. To win by peace. Not to harm any one. To turn an enemy into a friend. To survive a fight you need to be good technically and highly qualified mentally, but to win a fight by peace - the highest qualities will be needed!
Philosophically the sword is not to kill people in a battle but our own greed, anger, and folly. It is directed towards ourselves.
There are a lot of stories, legends and plays (No and Kabuki) that stress this point, for example Muramasa and Masamune famous legend: in a sharpness test between Muramasa and Masamune blades, someone placed the blades in the river and watched how it acts against the flowing leaves down the stream. First he put Muramasa's blade and every leaf that met the blade was cut sharply into two pieces, but when he put Masamune's blade in water the leaves avoided the blade. Muramasa was very good, but could not go behind cutting as Masamune.
To articulate the importance of the mental and spiritual aspects of Martial Arts beyond the physical factor I will mention the "
DOJO", a place in which we practice Martial Arts.
A DOJO in Japanese means: "Hall of the way", Hall or room in which one of the Japanese ways (DO) of spiritual practical training is practiced.
Still, we are talking about Self-Defense Art - that means it must have pragmatic and practical approach.
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