George Breeden Blog 14

Zen and Kendo

Zen introduced many ideas into the practice of Kendo, the forth most of those were its metaphysical conceptions. These new metaphysics: “…helped transform sword-fighting to a religion…” (Swanson 134) What this means is that Kendo no longer represented the secular significance of motion. Rather it was immersed in a new found purpose. The Kendo master continued to practice the Kata and Iai, but with the understanding that each swing of blade or twirl of the body was done not out of a pursuit for perfect violence. Instead as the Katana continued to represent the soul, the Kendo master translated that into a Zen understanding which negated the very existence of the soul. What this meant is that suddenly the blade represented the negated reality of existence, which is perhaps the most important of all Zen conceptions. This is explained in the words of the famous Zen teacher Takuan. In a letter to a prominent sword master of his time Master Takuan explains:

“The uplifted sword has no will of its own, it is all emptiness. It is like a flash of lightning. The man who is about to be struck down is also of emptiness, as is the one who wields the sword. ... Do not get your mind stopped with the sword you raise, forget about what you are doing, and strike the enemy before you. They are all of emptiness, but beware of your mind being caught in emptiness.” (Suzuki 114-115)

This conception of emptiness is one that is largely foreign to the modern western mind, but it can be observed easily enough in the primitive mind. Van Der Leeuw tells us that for the primitive man: “Life…is still a unity.” (11) This is to say that primitive man experiences a state of being where distinctions are not made. The very idea of making a distinction does not make any sense to the primitive man because they subscribe to the understanding that: “We do not need to search for paths and boundaries when there are no boundaries and therefore also no paths.” (Van Der Leeuw 12) In reality this is the exact idea that Zen swordsmanship is speaking too. In many ways Zen makes a return to the primitive mind set by negating the accumulated mindsets that have obfuscated man’s truly relation with reality. Zen abandons those mindsets and follows in the belief that: “To realize perfect enlightenment you must let fall body and mind.” (Kapleau 6) This means all distinctions are dropped and the individual is left to experience reality in the unifying emptiness that it is. Kendo incorporates these same ideas of abandonment in to its motion, because it understands that:

“…if the combatant has to think to himself, ‘I see the sword coming and I should utilize block, and then counterattack with...’ the battle is lost before it has begun. What is required instead is a pure awareness, a ‘mind like a mirror,’ in which no thinking interrupts the spontaneous response demanded by the life-situation.” (Zeuschner 76)

Thus Kendo becomes a practice that depends on the clear mindset of unity in order to achieve the most beautiful form of motion. Even though Kendo appears to be a highly stylized disciple with it many elements, the reality is that it is really one of simple interaction. All of it different elements are meant to help find the rhythm in the motion of the sword in the understanding that:

“The rhythm must be discovered; then the dance arises, which imposes it on the environment, thereby drawing the environment into the movement as well. This is what is meant when the dance is spoken of as a ‘motion-magic.’” (Van Der Leeuw 15)

This “motion magic” is achieved when the sword and the warrior enter into the resonating rhythm of what surrounds them. It is then that the dance of Kendo truly takes place.