how martial arts relate to spirituality
People claim that martial arts is purely physical and technical and its primary (even only) aim is just to survive a nearly impossibly likely physical confrontation (i.e. a fight).
Ninja means one who endures (therefore surrenders desire to pain & problems of life, based on that discipline). However - upon authorization - he may possibly assassinate, lie (including camouflage), and steal (including espionage) but only upon necessity in order to aid in liberation because there are some (especially in high places) who will not surrender the ego, which will cause alot more suffering than their own, in addition to their own. More info about its left hand path philosophy @ https://nodojoninja.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-left-hand-path-ninjutsu-politics.html.
Even when it comes to attacking anyone, even those in high places, it is about liberating everyone: the attacker, the defended, and especially the attacked! This is because ascension is attained by pushing through (osi / oshi) with endurance (shinobu) against resistance (due to attachment) of the body-mind / ego self where duality / illusion of separation lies. This is where the term "os" comes from, but more likely from "onegaishimasu" implying willingness to reciprocate (by attacking the ego self), which is the same anyway.
The ranks in martial arts (eg. 9th kyu to 2nd kyu; each with a corresponding element color) represent spiritual advancement (e.g. ego level 9 to ego level 2), not a measure of a disciple's pockets, which most schools currently have representing.
You get a black belt (embracement of evil) for 1st dan, because it represents love / unity / non duality (here for more info) from white belt (embracement of good). However, it also may mean readiness to inflict selfless evil upon selfish evil (especially within) to eradicate it. It also may mean realization of unmanifest darkness (soul) as opposed to manifest light (body).
Masculine is actually evil at a higher element (fire), and feminine is equally (or possibly even more so) evil at a lower element (water). Good and evil exist in both masculine and feminine in both male and female. In fact, all life necessitates selfishness therefore some level of evil, manifesting in feminine or masculine, in male or female. The trick is detach from life therefore especially from the good (simple masculine earth / kind feminine air), because it is that attachment that makes us resist (therefore cause / be attached to) the evil (aversive feminine water / vindicitive masculine fire) in life 🧬.
In Ninjutsu however, red is used for feminines & green for masculines (before black belt) to balance out their natural tendencies for compassion & survival respectively. More info about balancing left (masculine) / right (feminine) brain here. Also critical thinking (Element 4) is highly.. critical in Ninjutsu due to its left hand path philosophy.
Ultimately upon the practice of martial arts, the practitioner should be able to accept, endure, and even enjoy evil (challenges) through constant exposure to conflict (problems) as peacefully (within therefore without) as possible. No life is free of pain of problems (because no life is free of desire for .. life), and it really is about changing our relationship with them cause most of us indulge in anger (ill will by punishment / banishment) or escape by pleasure (aversion by ghosting / sense gratification) when they occur, but those block energy channels to enlightenment and affect health negatively. One must learn to persist and push (oshi) with endurance (shinobu).
This applies in the same way to any evil be it temptations / problems. When it comes to them, the brain splits: right / lower / past / water brain glamorizes / dramatizes (flight) and left / higher / future / fire brain obliterates / destroys (fight), while no mind (Spirit) / non dual middle way neutralizes evil, the way up & out of illusion. The more you go with mind, the more you suffer through descent due to (selfish) evil because you accrue karmatic debts to settle before liberation.
Also, a bushi (warrior) constantly handles the worst caliber of problems (life or death) therefore all life's problems become play time in comparison.
Training can actually be done through ANY discipline, as long as it involves postures & movements to protect, develop, & minimize body, principles to realize to develop & minimize mind, and challenges (temptations / problems) to respond to neutrally therefore with energy efficiency (aided by adaptation to situation especially to resistance) to develop & maximize energy.
At the end, the content does not matter, for it is only the means for mind by mind to remove mind (therefore ego).
However, neutralizing problems is as per martial arts of The Left Hand Path (dominant fire element), but the ultimate aim of spirituality as per the Right Hand Path (dominant air element being relatively higher frequency / lower density) is neutralizing temptations. In other words, it is renunciation of life by conquering source temptation therefore minimizing sense stimulation & mind utilization, be it through pleasure or pain to prevent suffering especially through otherwise resulting problems (therefore pain) in the first place.
Therefore, martial arts is a good start to spirituality, as it awakens the inner fire element for harmony by preventing (otherwise destroying, though preferably neutralizing) problems and activating logical / rational thinking to rely on economy of motion & thought as well as technical power (therefore efficiency) rather than on animal-instinct brute-force or memory or imagination (past & future causes suffering), aside from obviously aiding in survival, orderliness, courage, confidence, and fitness. If the instructor (or practitioner) are good, then aid with formlessness / creativity by losing attachment to form / sequences of movements & techniques. Instead, with the aid of compassion & critical thinking (air element): reverse engineer to unveil underlying principles therefore unlock the highest mind (ether element).However, for any form / kata / tao, one better either put effort to understand & break it down therefore to modify and more likely recall & utilize it, or understand its underlying modeling technique of uniting masculine with feminine through whichever principle (be it postures or hard & soft or linear & circular or attack & defense or limb-positions at center etc.), or simply take it as a form of practicing surrender through endurance (alrhough preferably through renunciation through constant repitition through kata AKA tao), or a combination of the above.
All martial arts are ideally & technically (yes not practically) about austerity through bare minimum (earth element / Raja Yoga) but through spiritual evolution derived from discipline training, the self (body-mind, then soul) grows to Self (Spirit) therefore the motives behind it grow from the individual to family to society to country to empire to continent to planet to Universe. Either way, what injures the hive injures the bee, so even if it is only about self defence, the wellbeing of the self is affected by the wellbeing of others, for all is connected, all is One.
However, most Dojos turn their discipline's techniques, ranks, certificates, and principles (if any) into means for satisfying their desires & amassing wealth, which politicizes, monetizes, and materializes spirituality exactly as happened with root religion, generating more suffering within & therefore without (between) people between different arts, within the same art (different or same strains), and even within the same network or club!This is exactly the opposite of what is intended, and can perpetuate the suffering from teacher to student (therefore from the next teacher to the next student) extending it to society consequently to the entire planet, consequently (in the long run) to other planets.
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