Posted on by

Right Viewing & Martial Arts

Thich Nhat Hanh quote on attachment to views.
Now that I’m back in the Tempe area, I thought it would be a good time to revive this blog a bit and write about our local martial arts classes more often, or just post either martial arts, or meditation related things that I think are kind of cool, but aren’t necessarily appropriate for my blog on https://iliqchuan.com. Hopefully, you’ll think they’re cool too and want to come train with us!


I came across a couple of posts (the Thich Nhat Hanh quote above and the video below) on Facebook today that were completely independent of each other, but sort of on the same topic that I thought I would share, because they reminded me of something that is very important to I Liq Chuan (and meditation) which is the concept of “right view”.


Sifu often says “your view is blocking your view!”


“Everyone is right from their own point of view, but what is your reference point for viewing?”


In other words, if you’re looking at a situation from the common point of reference, which is our past experience, then you’re point of view is filtered by the mental feelings of “like and dislike”, and you’re responding and reacting to the situation rather than acting mindfully.


In short, you don’t see things clearly.


In a self defense situation, the dangers of not seeing things clearly should be obvious.


Sifu gave a talk in Poland where he said “I Liq Chuan teaches you to understand [the] condition, [the] situation.  So, if you see a situation of danger, you don’t walk into it—you walk away. Avoid danger. All this is part of the training.
Getting yourself in the proper situation, [is] like feng shui, the Chinese belief of putting things in good coordination so it doesn’t disturb you.  [ex: chair in front of door…over time, will annoy you, affect you.]


I thought the video below was an interesting example of what happens when you use past experience to try and judge a situation [or person].  Like the three blind men arguing about an elephant.

 

If you would like to check out our Tempe, AZ martial arts classes, give us a call at 315-628-0777 and take advantage of the special offer below!

Posted on by

Mindfulness Of Taste…

All mindfulness meditation has an object and subject.

The object is whatever you focus your attention on and the subject is your consciousness, or what is actually doing the observing.

Most often the thing being observed is the breath, but there can be many different objects to focus on, and in the Zen tradition, one type of meditation is to place a single raisin on the tongue and see how long you can maintain awareness of it there.

This morning I was enjoying a piece of dark chocolate when I realized I’d better get my practice in before everyone else woke up.

Since I had the chocolate in my mouth already I decided to use that as my object of meditation first; watching the bodily sensations due to the dark chocolate (like my heart rate increasing, the range of flavors as the chocolate melted, etc.)

If you would like to learn more about how meditation works with martial arts or would just like to learn more about mindfulness meditation, we’re now offering classes in Tempe, Arizona.

Call 315-628-0777 or use the contact form above if you would like more info.