Understanding Zen
Posted by Philip in Philosophy on May 3, 2010
In a discussion with my jujitsu teacher I said that I had come full circle with respect to a particular aspect of training. His response was to say that sometimes we think that going full circle is going backwards, or not having made progress, but this is not the case. Since the discussion, I was reminded of a quote in The Tao of Jeet Kun Do. Bruce Lee paraphrases an old Zen saying.
He says;
“Before I studied the art, a punch was just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. After I studied the art, a punch is no longer a punch, a kick is no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just like a punch, a kick is just like a kick.”
The Zen saying that Lee is paraphrasing says;
“Before I studied Zen, mountains were mountains, and water was water.After studying Zen for some time, mountains were no longer mountains, and water was no longer water. But now, after studying Zen longer, mountains are just mountains, and water is just water.”
Martial arts (and life) is very much like this. Before you start any martial arts, a punch really is just a punch. You don’t know what you don’t know. Your punch is wild and unstructured. After some training you realise that a punch is much more than just a punch. You realise there is much more to it. You may begin to know that there is much you don’t know. Your punch becomes more constrained, and structure becomes very important. Eventually, however, you begin to forget about the structure – it becomes part of you. You stop thinking about punching and just punch. A becomes just a punch once more.
Of course, the Zen saying is not about punching (although it applies). It is about life, the universe and everything else. If you really think about it, the table I am sitting at is more than just a slab of wood. This chuck of wood is mostly a chuck of nothing, a bunch of particles held together by quantum forces. Where does my arm, resting on the desk, end and where does the desk begin? It is hard to imagine, but everything is connected. Imagine for a moment, being able to see for a moment the desk from a quantum perspective (to see the matrix). This is what Zen Buddhism calls “Satori” or an awakening. Now imagine after such an awakening, when you next looked at the desk, what would you see? Just a desk?
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