My Religion and Martial Arts

PrayingMantis · White Belt

I was wondering if my religion was buddhism could i still do Martial Arts or not?
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Ryan Beecher

alsey · Purple Belt

many martial arts (pretty much all the chinese and japanese ones) come from buddhist cultures of some form or another.

i'm not actually a buddhist, but my beliefs are very similar to those of buddhism. i think you will find that martial arts work very well with a buddhist philosophy, and your practice in each will help the other.

you might want to read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin

it sums up a lot of what i want to say in a better way than i can put it. basically, in the samurai arts, they had a concept called heijoshin. this is a state of mind which the samurai tries to cultivate, and it is essentially the same as the state of mind the buddhist tries to cultivate.

i will say though, that asking permission from an internet forum won't necessarily give you what you really want to know. my understanding of buddhism is that there is no list of things which are forbidden; its up to you to decide what is the right thing to do.
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"Gently return to the simple physical sensation of the breath. Then do it again, and again, and again. Somewhere in this process, you will come face-to-face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels." - ven. henepola gunaratana

krunchyfrogg · Green Belt

Wouldn't this be a question for your religious leaders, not some martial artists?
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"A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives."
-- Jackie Robinson

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke

Shui Tora · Green Belt

Think of it this way; if the monks in the templs of Japan and Chinese were Buddhists... Then how come they managed to be Warrior Monks (like the Shaolin Temple?)

So; yeah, you could be a MA if you were a Buddhist, as long as you vowed that you would only use MA in self-defence and not in vain.

Like Alsey said; Most styles come from cultures with Buddhist background...
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To know the road ahead; ask those coming back... ~ Chinese Proverb

" The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants. " ~ Master Funakoshi

Jiffy · Black Belt

As Shuri Tora beat me to saying, it depends on WHAT you are using it for. If you are doing it for the love of MA, I don't see how that could be a problem. If you were doing it for money or to get into fights, that's different.

What have your religious leaders said?
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The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's open.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

Your spiritual beliefs should really not be too much of a concern, unless you get into a dojo that has its own sprititual beliefs that would conflict.
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Success is where preparation meets opportunity.

www.chiefswarpath.com

ShotokanTre · Yellow Belt

ShotokanTre · Yellow Belt

setboy · Yellow Belt

Empty_Hand · Yellow Belt

Ones religious system, political affiliation or romantic partner choices should in NO way hinder a choice to take up the path of the "budo". I was so relieved that the dojo where I train is about one thing only....teaching Karate-Do. The day this deviates it will be...."time for me to leave".

This is an important issue for me personally, one of the cool things in my experience is I am a karateka, and I expect nothing from my sensai but instruction in KarateDo.

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