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Well, friends, this has been a really educational ten months for me. I started this little project in the hopes that learning about and practicing these ten paramitas would teach me something deeper about them. And I do believe it did. Today, in this final post,…
We should aspire to have a relaxed and robust heart. -The Shoninki The ancient ninja manual called the Shoninki offers us this wise advice. Our hearts should be both relaxed and robust. But how do we do that?! As with all things in martial arts, there…
Jnana is about connection. I’ll admit, this final paramita has been difficult to practice. It’s more like preparation for jnana, rather than jnana itself. Because you can’t really do anything to make awakened awareness come to you. You have to wait for it. But what I’ve…
Zen koans can bring awakened awareness, if we let them. A koan is a story, statement, or question used for meditation. Koans invite you into a deeper way of knowing. Originating in 12th or 13th century China, they continue to be used regularly by modern proponents…
Walk the path of Heiho. Ancient martial arts master Miyamoto Musashi describes Heiho throughout The Book of Five Rings. Heiho is a way of life, and a way of being. Musashi writes, Broaden your knowledge and know the justice and injustice of the world; know the…
Are we using words with freight? Robert Aitken spent his entire chapter on jnana describing how language has lost its power. He writes, “All words and phrases were intimate with experience but many have lost their intimacy, which is to say they have lost their meaning.…
Jnana is healing knowledge. While learning about this tenth and final paramita, the word knowledge is regularly used to translate it. The reason so many Western writers use other translations (like awakened awareness) is because for us, knowledge is so riddled with complications. Knowledge can be…
Zanshin is total and complete awareness. You could say it is the martial arts equivalent of jnana, awakened awareness, because it is a way of being that permeates everything. When we translate it literally, it means something like “remaining mind.” Not ‘remaining’ like whatever is left…
Awakened awareness is like communion with the universal mind. That’s what Lama Surya Das says. I was thinking about that today when I was reading about the distinctions between Western and Eastern mindsets. In the West, we hold individuality to be so important. We can’t fathom…
Awareness embodies wisdom. But they are not the same thing. Lama Surya Das puts it this way: Wisdom is everything. Awakened awareness realizes this. In other words, awakened awareness is what allows wisdom to be embodied in a holistic way. Wisdom becomes being. Another way of…
