WARRIOR WAY OR HEALTHING WAY?
BETTER POSSIBILITY OF JUXTAPOSING KALARIVIDYA WITH BUDDHISM
(draft)
p. k. sasidharan
Problem of doctrinal correlation:
Does Buddhism provide any doctrinal ground for its putative connection withmartial arts practices? What could be the doctrinal justification for bringing the south Indian kalarividya tradition (that goes popular nowadays in the namekalarippayat, as the traditional martial art of Kerala, as well as the forerunner of all martial arts of the Orient) in relation to Buddhism? Is it an aberration ofBuddhism to have relation with martial arts? Do the so-called Buddhist martial artsrelate to Buddhism as a martial art practice as such or as a rigorous form of physical exercise? If do they have any theoretical or doctrinal justification from Buddhismdoes that follow in the same way from all forms of Buddhism or only from particular sect of it? How do we explain the apparently seen dogmatic opposition betweenBuddhism and violence or martial arts, on the one hand, and their interconnectivity on practical level, on the other?
The above questions seem to be unlikely to pose in the context of any serious doctrinal discussion of Buddhism. Whereas, Buddhism has often been referred to, as one of the cultural and institutional sources that sustained the martial art practices. Sometimes Buddhism is also placed as one the various claimants on the lineage of kalarividya practices. Their connection is well stated in the historical accounts of Asian martial art forms such as Kung Fu, Karate, Taikon do, that prevail in China, Japan, and Korea respectively, the regions where religious Buddhism has got a popular appeal. The relation between Buddhism and martial arts might look paradoxical. It would be a paradox like beating fire with petrol gas. However,Buddhists and martial art practitioners seem to argue that the paradox of martialart, that is, the warrior way of conquering death fear, achieving calmness, and overcoming desires, could be the best antidote for embodying no-selfhood and non-violence.
Buddhist adaptation of martial arts as its meditation practice does not form to be a logical consequence of the classical Buddhism as such. Rather, it had been resulted from the sectarian break with the classical Buddhist doctrines on the nature and pathway of enlightenment. Even within the school of Zen or meditativeBuddhism, which is considered to be originally founded by Bodhidharma, the legendary wandering south Indian monk, who himself is believed to have introduced the martial art practice at the ShaolinTemple, the topic martial arts do not find much doctrinal explanation. There the question regarding the doctrinal correlation between Buddhism and mart arts seems to have significance only in the context of the wide-ranging ideological schisms and cultural modulations withinBuddhism.
It appears that, nowadays, martial art is taken to have only a contributive role for the experiential realization of spiritual enlightenment envisaged byBuddhism. Zen Buddhism in general seems to resist the possibility of gaining enlightenment through the method of physical conditioning in favor of its meditative path where the awareness is a spontaneous happening. There may not be having a place even for yogaicmeditation through which the enlightenment is supposed to gain as a process of altering the level of consciousness. Therefore, the ideological developments within the school of Zen Buddhism need to be examined in order to seek the possibility of a better doctrinal correlation between Buddhism and the so-called martial arts and other physical culture practices. There is no less vibrant presence of martial arts and the related physical training, knowledge and belief practices within the regions/cultures where Buddhism or any of its variant form has ever made its influence.
The concepts such as ‘Buddhist martial arts’, ‘Buddhist warriors’, ‘martial artspirituality’, ‘spiritual warriors’, ‘monk-soldiers’, ‘protectors of Buddhism’, ‘Shaolin-soldiers’, ‘bushi-do’ or ‘way of the warrior’, ‘defense of others’ (other-defense as against self-defense’), ‘inner war’, ‘spiritual warfare’ have been much prevailing within the long and wider history of Buddhism. This means that, despite the seemingly opposition between Buddhism and violence related practices, the culture of combating is found to be very much present at the heart of Buddhist practices. Even then, why there is a lack of scholarship on the doctrinal grounds for the connection between Buddhism and martial arts and other corporeal caring practices?
If the bushi-do spirituality or warrior way spirituality is the only way, in which the relation between Buddhism and martial art practice can be explained, much of significant ideas and welfare potentials of both cultural traditions would remain undermined and untapped. Apart from such an instrumental connection betweenBuddhism and martial arts, the present paper seeks to explore the possibility of tracing doctrinal aspect from which Buddhism can be brought in relation to martialarts. Thus, it may attempt to argue that a health care oriented spirituality perspective provides a better ground for the putative connection between Buddhismand martial art practices than the widely received ‘way of the warrior’ perspective of spirituality.
Despite the lack of doctrinal elucidation on the correlation between Buddhismand the so-called martial arts, their practical or socio-factual correlation is not at all negligible. Hence, a broader perspective better than that of the martial arts seems stand in need for drawing a doctrinal correlation between Buddhism and the innumerable physical culture, therapeutic and corporeal practices. Probably the difficulty of drawing a doctrinal correlation of Buddhism and martial arts might be due to isolationism involved in the bushido or warrior way interpretation of martialart spirituality. Hence, the correlation seems to be possible only when the so-calledmartial art is relooked as one of the varied forms of physical culture practices that form part of a larger regime of health care oriented spirituality. This might require a critical scrutiny of the historical accounts of martial arts, which seem to have undermined the broad context in which fighting techniques became part of Buddhistmeditation practices. This would also be involving an attempt to track down the historical and doctrinal pathways through which Buddhism could likely to have traversed.
Alternative to the warrior way spirituality perspective that seems to have become a straight jacket for the explanation of their connection, a perspective of healthing way spirituality can be proposed here to account the ways in whichBuddhism seems to have made an interface with the cultural practices that are rooted in the corporeal caring. The ideas of meyykkannu or Bodymind from kalarividya tradition and vajrakayaor diamondbody from Buddhism are also invoked here in order to bring out the common concern around which both traditions could find a comfortable place to sit together freeing from the discomforts of bushido prison.
Critique of Bushi-do:
Technically speaking, bushi-do (the warrior way) is a Japanese concept of that developed in the context of the arrival of martial arts to Japan from China during the 11th century. It signifies a strict code of conduct meant for the Samurai (warrior class). As the martial art theorists and historians have taken it, an ethics of bushi-do (martial art or samurai ethics), which gets imbibed through the rigorous physical and mental training involved in the martial art practice seems to form basis for the connection between Buddhism and martial arts. A rigorous training of fighting techniques that involve possibility of death, leads to the development of a higher level of inner fighting helps to overcome the fear of death, and thereby realize a selfless existence equal to that of an ascetic/spiritual practitioner. Even though the term bushi-do was developed in Japan, a martial art culture that is based on theBuddhist spirituality seems to have been prevalent since the time of Bodhidharma of Shaolin Monastery and the development of Chinese Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism.
The warrior way perspective may be having relevance in the context of later historical adoption of martial arts in the spiritual practices of Buddhism in the countries like China, Japan, and Korea. However, if we go by the earlier doctrinal and historical evidences, it could be argued that the so-called martial art techniques were not adapted to Buddhist meditation practices in isolation. That is, they were not practiced as mere fighting techniques as in the case of a military setting of any political power system. Hence, in following section we shall try to show the way in which a corporeal caring or health caring oriented spirituality has been appropriated as martial art spirituality. Such an appropriation seems to have involving an adaptation of Buddhist spirituality as such for management of military system or political power.
From the Chinese sources, the beginning of martial art linkage with Buddhismcan be traced back to the history of expansion of Buddhism to China since 1th century CE. When Buddhism reached China it got mixed up with the spiritual traditions then prevailed there such as Confucianism and Taoism. With the Chinese interaction, Buddhism became rather scholastic in nature, which loosened its stress on the practical wisdom and the liberative pursuit of life, with the dogmatic adherence to the scriptural teachings. Bodhidharma is said to have introduced the meditative pathway for realizing bodhisattva ideal in place of the doctrinal exercises and ritual practices, when he reached China around the year 479. (Varying opinions are also given on the year of the arrival of Bodhidharma in China).
Quanshu or wushu (literally meaning ‘barehand exercises) is the traditionalmartial arts of China. Shaolinquan is said to be the oldest school of wushu. The name shaolinquan was derived from the shoaling Monastery in the Songshan Mountains of China. Even though there is no conclusive evidence on who has established shaolinquan, there has a wider circulation for the view that it was developed by Bodhidharma. There are other versions of Chinese source on the origin of Shaolin Temple as well as on the creation of wushu. Another India monk named Batuo who came to China before Bodhidharma was also credited to have founded the Monastry for preaching Buddhism. Bodhidharma legend seems to have gained much credibility due to the availability of two images of Bodhidharma as engraved on a stone tablet at the front gate of the Shaolin Monastery.
As Bodhidharma wanted to advocate the Buddhism as closer to the way, the historical Buddha had preached, Bodhidharma seemed to have stressed on the idea of ‘experiencing the enlightenment Buddha possessed instead of following his instructions blindly’ (p.112, Sports and Games in Ancient China, China spotlight series, new world press, Beijing,1986). Thus, the reason for the introduction of wushu in the Monastery is considered mainly to be religious. As one narrative says, ‘In order to attain the supreme enlightenment, he devoted nine years to meditation, sitting silently in rock cave (later named after him) on the Five-Niplle Peak. To refresh himself aften long hours of meditation and protect himself from wild beats and poisonous snakes, he practiced a self-devised set ofwushu exercises with movements resembling those of a leaping tiger, a climbing monkey and a flying bird. In a short time, more and more monks followed his example’ (p.112). On the question of starting the wushu practice in the Monastery too has different opinion.
Chinese sources also indicate that theShaolinquan was served military purposes during the early period of Tang Dynasty existed between 618-903. While monks are supposed to lead a secluded life, the Shaolin monks were often used for political wars due to their wushu skills. “Apart from the bare hand shaolinquan exercises, the monks also learned qigong (breathing exercises), horsemanship and combat with weapons’ (p.114). Thus, they came to form a special force of the imperial army. The following descriptions on the characteristic feature of the shaolinquan might serve a great purpose to understand the nature and direction the earlier wushu techniques were adapted later. ‘One who has a good command of wushu is often described as being “versed in all the eighteen fighting skills.” And these words have almost become a set phrase in eulogy of a versatile master of any trade.’
The expression “eighteen fighting skills” has been taken to signify here the eighteen kind of weapons used by the warriors during the medieval history of China. As the above passage continues to describe, the eighteen skills ‘were first mentioned in a classic on the history of the Ming Dynasty. When Emperor Ying Zong was captivated by enemy troops in Shanxi in 1499, the story goes, the Ming court decided to replenish its armed forces with men good at fighting. A selective contest was held and an applicant called Li Tong, who could dexterously use eighteen kinds of weapons, defeated all other contestants to win top honour. Thus Li was said to be expert at “eighteen fighting skills”’.
Actually, the kalarividya of south India is well known for the eighteen series of body movement exercises. Since Bodhidharma had migrated to China from south India, it is all likely that the barehanded exercises that he had introduced in the Monastery could very well be an adaptation of the physical training exercise of kalarividya, which also involves unarmed self-defense techniques. However, the expression eighteen kinds of fighting seem to have construed as the name of eighteen weapon used in the medieval martial art system in China.
VAJRAKAYA:
(I need to work out on the insights of vajrayana school in order to seek doctrinal correlation between buddhism and martial arts. so far did not find proper material in this regard. tantric buddhism will also fall in this category. in fact what i am looking for some historical and doctrinal meeting points in the Tamil siddha tradition.)
[Vajrayana is an extension of Mahayana that is characterized by use of rituals and tantra yoga.
Vajrayana Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayana, Mantranaya, Mantrayana, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle.
These terms are not regarded as equivalent. Vajrayana is as an extension of Mahayana Buddhism since it differs in its practices, rather than its philosophy. The Mahayana has two practice paths: the Sutrayana method of perfecting good qualities and the Vajrayana method of taking the intended outcome of Buddhahood as the path. The Vajrayana requires mystical experience in order to experience Buddhanature prior to full enlightenment. In order to transmit these experiences, a body of esoteric knowledge has been accumulated by Buddhist tantric yogis and is passed via lineages of transmission. In order to access this knowledge, the practitioner requires initiation from a skilled spiritual teacher or guru.]
Bodymind:
A notion of ‘meyykannu’ (bodymind) that is available within the kalarividya tradition in Kerala signifies a modified level of cognitive capacity and selfhood attained by an individual human being in a certain special embodied action. The Malayalam compound term ‘meyykannu’ is derived from the two wordsmeyy (body) and kannu (eye). Even though, literally it means body-eye, its suggestive sense would be a reflexive activation or energizing of the physical body of man, sometimes even without the mediation of any tactile or visual sensation, to certain happenings in the world. That way the notion of ‘meyykannu’ has the signification of ‘bodymind’ in the sense that it has a perceptive capacity of the physical body of man. However, the mind-like functioning of the body does not seem to be simply signifying the one way activation of the body in absentia of what is usually taken to be the activity of mental cognition with the involvement of physical eyes. It rather points to a simultaneous or instantaneous occurrence of cognition, decision, and action
The state of meyykannu as a modified level of physical existence of man becomes possible through an embodied activity of persons in a specialized form of psycho-physical conditioning process of training. This process of conditioning of meyykannuis, in fact, a process of synchronization of the two organic activities, which appear to function differently in their normal and ordinary cases, such as mental and physical. The degree of modified level of their undifferentiated existence and functioning seems to be at variance with the degree of intensity and frequency in which the embodied training process is performed. The synchrony of mind and body, thought and action, or willing and doing that has been experience with the life-world of kalarividya tradition would, perhaps enable us to be skeptical about the prevailing assumptions about their existence and relationships. The assumptions that underlie in the usual ways of conceiving the entities/states like body, mind, spirit, soul, consciousness emphasis on their distinct ontological status. Instead, what appears to be available within the kalarividya tradition is an alternative perspective on the level of their synchronic ways of relationship and functioning. Hence, it becomes important here to show how the state of meyykannu is seen to have involving a sense of freedom as embodied well-being. This would be a matter of showing, on the one hand, how one is attaining the condition of bodymind, and on the other, how the state of bodymind enables one to get the capability of caring the state of bodyself. This would require drawing insights heavily from the experiential component of evidence materials within the tradition of kalarividya practices. In addition to that, there requires the reconstruction of the available insights which are involved in the ways of formulation and organization of practices in the history. There may have many instances of conceptual articulation of the bodymind that are available in the form of oral narratives. The oral narratives would include the experiential accounts of the practices, which are articulated in the form of household parlances, common sayings, riddles, songs, stories, morals, etc.
Kalarividya, which literally means ‘knowledge of kalari’ in Malayalam signifies the whole body of knowledge and beliefs related to the traditional educational institution known as kalari where the body-oriented life-care practices are imparted. The complex of kalarividya is constituted by a vide array of sciences, skills, beliefs, rituals, myths, and visions. It would include the practices related to the aspects of knowledge such as (if put them in modern terminologies) medicine, pharmacology, anatomy, neuro-physiology, metallurgy, self-defence, martial art, astrology, magico-psychiatry, meditation, sporting, performing arts, ethico-spirituality, pedagogy, life-styles, kinesthetic, bio-aesthetics, and so on.The component of self-defence is called abhyasam (feat or defence exploit). Kalari, kalarimura, kalripayat, atimura, thattum thadavum, adithada, chilambam,are the terms by which it is being referred to in different contexts. The word ‘kalari’ simply has also been used as an idiomatic expression for the self-defence practice.
However, nowadays, the entire complex of kalarividya has come to be represented by the term ‘kalaripayat’ with a view to project that this knowledge tradition is all about military practice. The contemporary appropriation of kalarividya as kalaripayat has been made following the expression ‘payat’, which signifies only those aspects of defence training exercise with and without weapons. The shift in the characterization is symptomatic of some deep-laid problems that are experienced in the modern/alien ways of perceiving or inheriting of an ancient form of knowledge practice. This would be the context in which the present attempt wants to engage with certain ways in which the modern interpretations of kalarividya, that it was entirely a martial art and so now it has more relevance as a folk performing art, have looked at some of its core ideals like ‘mayykannu’ (bodymind). As per the traditional wisdom, the accomplishment of kalari training is the level of perfection characterized as ‘meyy kannakal’ (the body becoming an eye). When the practitioner’s body transforms to the eyes he would become capable of sensing and acting momentously without the help of natural eyes. The ability of the synchronizing thought and action at the context of self-defence requirements is an achievement of enlightened or altered personality which is conditioned by the rigorous psycho-physical training that a practitioner undergoes. However, the contemporary performance paradigm of kalari has led to the estrangement of the tradition as a whole by failing to recognize its potentials.
No comments:
Post a Comment