Happy new years everybody

And its another year, and I know it will be a great one.... For me, not necesarily everyone else. But I do send out good thoughts to everyone else in hope they can enjoy themselves as much as I will.

If you haven't been following my blog, I emplore you, please do. Because I say again, I am trying to publish a very helpful personal guide for fellow Buddhists and Martial artists. And you may or may not have similar experiences, but I hope this opens your awareness to my circumstance so you may be better aware of your own.

P.S: Apologies if this has been a bit zen-sided, my martial arts class has broken up for the year, but I will be returning shortly.

Now, my blog for today:
I was having a conversation with my step-mother just a while ago; I had described to her how wonderful it was being at the top of a snow mountain surrounded by blue sky with nothing but snow between you and the bottom of the slope, and how very exhilerating that is. She had never expressed interest in snow before (albeit a great love of my father, brother and me) so to my surprise, she said that she would give it a go. If I had had this conversation only a month earlier
her response to my heart-felt speech would have been something along the lines of: "My friend died on the mountains, so I do not wish to go there." But she explained, was that her new years resolution was to live more, and that is why she will let go of her previous inhibitions and go with my father, brother and me to the mountains.

This got me thinking... In Buddhism, it explains letting go, but over and over I hear of people feeling they haven't lived their lives or they have no passion any more, and passion is an important thing. So, then, does Buddhism ask us to detach from the passion in our lives? If we detach from that, do our lives feel good, do they feel like they are worth something? Passion of life is something vitally important to aid suffering, and my goal is to end suffering, yet, it does not end suffering, and Buddhism claims to. So what then, do I do? Do I employ passion, or do I employ Buddhist teachings in this life?

I think, the answer lies in the mid-way point. Let me explain; for my step-mother to gain passion in her life, she had to let go of the passion she had of her past. She detached herself from the passion of suffering, this is not a total detachment, but a detachment from suffering in one aspect of her life. But then, she grasps onto a new passion for life. This may seem just as attached, but she feels, if she lives her life in the moment, and really lives death does not phase her. As long as she lives.

I feel this is a step forward for her, but for some it may be a step backward to do the same (in the understanding that I realise this is in no way an offence meant, and she takes no part in Buddhism); for Sidhartha taught that to attain enlightenment, one must be self-less, and be empty of desire. This means the desire for passion also. Passion is an extreme feeling of ecstacy for one reason or another be it:physical passion, passion of the mind, or a spiritual passion, these are all feelings that are there because we desire them.

For one who is learning to be unnatached, this would not be a good step forwards. But I hope this may have helped those who have faced the same question.

The Suffering of Them

When you open your eyes, you notice many things, but even with my eyes half-open, I so notice the suffering within the world. The injustice, fear, loss, disease, pain; they all plague humanity. If there so was a way to end this suffering, only one path claims to know; this is Buddhism.

I have been following the scripts of Buddhism, and practicing Zen for about a year now, but never have I felt such a strong urge to find the cesation of suffering. My own family suffers greatly, each to their own pain. But my problem is, they seek no inner peace, only the means to happiness outside of themselves, to ease the pain with material or exterior things, but suffering is withing, so there can be no external healing from suffering.

And so, after seeing the pain people go through, knowing pain myself, and seeing the pain people are willing to put themselves through, I vow here and now to the whole world that I will follow Buddhism untill I attain enlightenment, and end suffering in myself, so then I may aid others in ending their suffering. I will follow the lead of Sidhartha Gautama, for he was surely a great man.

Thank you Sidhartha...

Letting go

The other day, whilest I was being taught Tai'Chi (yang style) by my father, I noticed, that to acheive perfection in the art, you had to entirely focus your mind on your body movement. You could not be thinking about other things, you could not be worrying about things, or be afraid of failing; and I feel this is the escence of Tai'Chi, the purification of the mind.

I noticed that this is so strongly connected to Buddhist teachings and zen meditation, Tai'Chi is a form (I feel) of moving meditation. It not only trains your body, it trains your mind and spirit also.

Then, later that night, I was looking at the five precepts, which are the moral code those participating in Budhism live by. (Here they are in case you don't know)
(1)You abstain from taking life.
(2)You abstain from taking that which is not given freely.
(3)You abstain from sexual misconduct.
(4)You abstain from speeking falsely.
(5)You abstain from taking intoxicants.

And even though it is common in our culture to drink lie and eat meat, I thought, everything in this sounds perfectly reasonable, and I am willing to live by this code. But I then went even further, and looked at the code ascetic Buddhist monks live by. It was very extreme, and I found I disagreed on a few points, which are mainly: You must eat only one meal a day, before noon. You never get involved in any sexuality lust or sensuality. You may not sing, dance, perform or wear make-up. You may never rest in a grand bed or seat yourself in a grand place.

These seem a bit extreme, almost like an indulgence into letting go. I feel, that after training yourself to let go of everything in that way, you would grow attached to your letting go. From there you need to let go of letting go. It would be a difficult path, and one that is not my way. I feel, to enter into ascetism, you indulge yourself in the path of misery. It is this indulgence that repels me so.

I feel, that to acheive enlightenment, you must live the mid-way path. Tai'Chi teaches you the mid-way path, in that you are neither tense nor loose, you are neither fast nor slow. Your body learns the mid-way. And in your body learning the mid-way, so will your mind learn from it. I believe Tai'Chi is one of the greatest martial arts, especially if you are following Buddhism.

Now excuse me, whilst I practice my form. :D

The way

Whats my way?

My way is to follow the path of Buddhism, find my truth; I practice martial arts to physically free myself and synchronise my body spirit and mind. I trust that one day, I will understand my truth and be free to live my life without limitations.

This blog will inevitably be about my journey through this. I will try and update it as often as I can, and you can be guarranteed I will not update it by repeating something or going off topic. This is my focus.
If you are trying to find your truth, are following buddhism or are interested in martial arts, I hope this blog helps you. I will try and make this usable to anybody as a source of experience or help.

First post ever

This blog is all about me finding my own path through life. Finding my truth, and asking the questions.

What is my path? Right now, I am following a path of Buddhism