Essays From The Master

Movement in the void: seeing past the trap of form in accomplishment
For many years of this life I have pursued a few goals all part of the greater goal that I defined as my “way.” In terms of combat this has taking the guise of use of the elemental techniques of fire using those of water and wind to create fire in the form of lightning or chthonic flame instead of earthly flame. Water is emotion or desire, the manipulation of personality and wind is the mind or logic, the manipulation of the visible or the understood. The techniques of water and wind combine to create a situation in which the will of the target is turned against the target resulting in emotional and logical responses that make the target open to the attacks of the user of said technique. By focusing so much on creating my own kind of fire and what it can do to make up for my limitations and the fact that I have gotten so far using that path I limited myself thus making my weaknesses greater. In building up what I have I built a trap with the very things that elevated me, in sensing the trap or the weakness it represents I must create strength out of that weakness. Ease with a set of techniques or tactics can become a crutch and when such occurs change is called for.
Any “way” once forged must evolve with the changes of time and with the level of one’s prowess with that “way.” In cases like this one the “way” has run its course but this does not change the elemental nature of the individual that made it needed in the first place. The arts of the element of air are logic and so on but also illusion, understanding and working the systems of the world from within the system. These arts are used to make up for some lack in the more overt forms of combat or by warriors that have gone past the time for action in the field. The arts of water are personality and so on but also the active use of understanding the drives that influence the formation of emotion and fixation through emotion as well as how those things can manipulate and shape the personality. Knowing these builds the will of the user and understanding the how of these allows one to affect the will of others. Now the aim is to stop using the combinations and break down my accomplishment before a crutch becomes an active trap and said trap become my end.
The reverse of fire is water so my aim is to focus not on the will of others but rather focus on channeling my emotions while keeping my mind clear. In terms of combat this means that I must avoid old patterns and the cold state that allowed me to be unmoved and bring forth fire in others. To channel my emotions will change how my body responds so I must take note of what feeling causes tension and which causes relaxation instead of making my inner water ice it must flow as lava to create geothermal electrical force. My mind or the inner air rather than being a screen must become a storm of snow; the logic must be cold and mathematical while being shaped s a fog or rather creating a false impression of being one thing when the reality is another. The “geothermal heat” is that same lightning but used on myself to push myself past those things I rely on as a martial artist. Rather than the flash and force of lightning this is entering the void and using the visible it’s self as a veil. Snow is atop the mountain heat lies within such mountains are known to be the lairs of dragons. Dragons are a balance of the tiger or warfare and the cobra or manipulation each has aspects that have been used but now is the time to use them whole and without reserve.
In terms of the I-Ching this is a union of the trigrams that represent heaven and earth or rather the will of the individual moving in concert rather than against heaven and earth or heaven and earth moving in concert with the will of the individual rather than against it. To apply this concept the system must be understood and my own passions used to fuel the actions I perform. This means being in the right place in the right time rather than creating a phantasm of the same in my targets and making them affect the very thing that will destroy them. To unite the energies of “heaven” and “earth” I must step outside the world I have made out of a zone of comfort and rather than the fire from below seek the coolness and the vastness of space. In the void, amid the stillness I must move and create air, stir water out of the air, draws fire from between air and water, make earth from ash and create wood as life along with the methods that go with each of those elements. From the air we get perspective, from water insight, from fire action, from earth sensation and from wood retrospective. From the unity of the five comes metal or tactics and out of the crucible of metal holding the five elements comes the jewel of strategy which when added to tactics becomes understanding.
Understanding of this type is the material of the warrior’s world which is the energy of that world held in form by the tension between the will of the individual and the tide of the cosmos. Here is the energy and here is the void the point within the void that shows the flow of energy in the void is the will of the individual creating through disharmony structure which is the goal of the individual. Intention is vibration which disrupts the stillness of the void and out of that disharmony flow the elements of nature. To do this requires that I embrace the air and water of my nature and not attempt to combine them as I used to. The techniques linked to all of the elements I must make more use of drawing out of the whole of the void rather than doing what I would be drawn to based upon my ego’s idea of what I should be. Set kata should be avoided in favor of movement based on what is sensed so that a block may come before a feint or a strike may come after a throw rather than any learned pattern.
This concept both philosophical and martial goes back to the root of the term Kokoro which is usually read to mean the heart of all things. Kokoro can also be read as spirit, intent and power with the heart sutra being an example of invoking it. If the Kokoro is the heart of all things, spirit, intention and power then in the right state of body and mind with the right training the right amount of power with the right image triggers will come. This requires me embodying the void and allowing the actions of others even as intention to be disruption which brings forth the right elemental energies in the form of response. This course of training is a shift from the Evading Shadow technique to that of the Kuroi Kaze or black wind, a kind of ghost that can take on any form or substance. The techniques of the black wind belong to the way of the moon in the Komuso Ryu system drawing on the other eight ways without emphasis on any of them or any combination of them. The weapon of the moon is the fan which symbolizes the power of resurrection and the fact that overt force in action or reaction continues the cycle of violence.