Buddhism and Japanese Martial Arts

Buddhism and Martial Arts

The principles of Buddhism and its application in Martial Arts

East Asian religions are known for their focus on the 'inward self philosophy' -- that is, the belief that individuals can momentarily achieve a peaceful state of mind through meditation and actions that seek to create harmony between the human mind and matter. As one of the oldest religions in the Asian region, Buddhism subsists to this philosophy, including in its religious principles concepts and traditions that allows the individual to achieve momentary peace.

One of the most popular forms of achieving the state of "nirvana" or the ultimate state of being and existence is through the discipline of martial arts. Martial arts originated primarily in East Asia, a form of fighting arts that does not use weapons, merely the individual's energy and capability to use his/her body strategically against his/her opponent. Martial arts are identified according to its main movement: striking or grappling. In striking martial arts, the most popular forms are karate, kung fu, and taekwondo, while grappling martial arts are identified through judo, aikido, and jujutsu.

On the surface, Buddhism as a religion and martial arts as a form of fighting arts do not seem to stem from the same principle and philosophy. However, upon studying the philosophies behind both Buddhism and martial arts, they are actually based on one main goal, which is to create harmony between mind and body, a state of nirvana, a supreme state where the individual achieves spiritual peacefulness and bliss. This paper posits that martial arts is based on the principles of Buddhist philosophy, with the main goal of creating harmony within self, by uniting body and mind through fighting stances and actions martial art forms are uniquely known for.

Martial art is described, as stated earlier, as the "union of apparently contradictory states qualities. This underscores the monistic nature of the worldview ... action and inactivity, beginning and fruition, aggression and protection, being and nonbeing, and positive and negative" (Friday & Seki, 1997:68). Indeed, these sets of determined dichotomies characterize the elements present in an individual's mind and body, opposing concepts within the self that can be fused together through concentration and centering of the energy, a guiding principle that makes an effective and successful accomplishment of a martial art.