Balance



In search of balance ... between cultures, philosophies and traditions, so remarcably diferent ... it is necessary, all the care, attention and common sense, so that " knowledge" does not transport us, into the past and especially that our minds do not make us live in the past, because as the word indicates... "It passed", does not come back anymore, it is "now" that we live and as such, we will have to take a look at the World and at Life in a lucid and balanced way . I ask to the practitioners of Japanese Budo, that by any chance , read these short notes, that they take them barely as point of reference and not like a "doctrine" of life...

Thank you.

Sensei Alex DaCosta

Monday 14 April 2008

Traditional Dojo


..........Traditonal Dojo


DOJO - Place of practice of the Arts of Budo, was initially a
mythical place, where the warrior would get ready both,
technicaly and mentally, to carry out his destiny of serving his
feudal Lord, in the most honerable and shortest possible way
(the Sakura´s flower, being of ephemeral duration, is the
symbol of the Samurai), it was suposed to be " the place of
awakening ", in connection with Buda´s word : " Wake up",
in other words " take conscienceness ", from therewhat Dojo,
meant, during many decades : "The Place of Enlightnment ".
JO = Place, DO = has a much deeper meaning, translated
normally as " Road " or " Way ", it will have naturally to lead
to the point of wakening of conscienceness or " enlightnment ".
So one of the fundamental elements of the Dojo, is the Kamiza
or place of the Kami (spirits), in other words an Altar, where
normally there is the Kamidana (miniature temple , where
the spirit of Masters, who developed the Arts, live in)
there must be two Sanbo (trays of the Shinto religion),
in which there are recipientes with salt and water as
purification elements , rice and "sake" as offering elements
to the spirit of the Masters, (Buddhist concept of offering food
and drink to their predecessors). The lines and direction of the
whole arrangement of the several elements of the Dojo, must
obey to the principles of Feng Shui, so the Kamiza and
respective Altar, must be at the point of sunrise, the Masters
pictures , must be in the line folowed by the Sun, as sign of
their help, for the duration of our lives, when such it is not
possible, then we should chose the most harmonious
arrangement. Nobody enters the Dojo, with his shoes on, not
in the physical space of the Dojo, muchless on the floors or
Tatami dedicated to the practice, is due to moderate the level
of voice and the subjects which we talk about inside a Dojo.
The Dojo as to be cleaned frequently, preferably by the
students themselves, before each training, and dailly if the
Dojo as an Uchi Deshi, otherwise it will be the Master to do it,
at liste the training spaces and important elements of the
Dojo. One understands as Tradicional Dojo , a Dojo where the
Master lives in, with total dedication, to his Art and total
concentration in his mental and spiritual evolution (it is not to
have a Dojo at home, but to live in the Dojo), living with total
delivery to the practice, the total extent of his day.
In general this was the rule, in the past, in Japan, in every Art,
not only in the Arts of Budo, but all of the Arts in general,
from Shodo to Shigin...
In a Tradicional Dojo , in general there are no " examinations "
of graduation, the changes of Kyu or Dan, are written on the
studend´s personal board, by the Master or by the Senpai
responsible for that task, it is only natural that, as time goes by,
the student is known " inside and out ", so the "examination"
is naturally unnecessary or just a simple protocol. So the student,
will concentrate on the Art and not on the degree that as been
awarded to him... obviously the degree reflects the level of
progress reached , but the level tells : the technique, the mental
and the spiritual ... and if in the beginning, we only see the
physical and the technique, much later we will value the mental
and the spiritual : " in Life as in Budo "
The hierarchy in a Tradicional Dojo is not based only upon the
graduation of the practicioners, the most important factor is the
seniority and the dedication to the Dojo, there are elements at
the top of the hierarchy, that do not practice any Art, but the
valuable services they do to the Dojo, have all the relevance
and give them an high status within the Family...
In Japan the Masters that followed this way and that
reached recognition, they were considered, by the Japanese
Government, living treasures or inheritance monuments of
Japan and they were compensated with a small pensions and
special discounts in public transportion, small hotels and even
in some restaurants. They had to participate, however in local
and national festivals , so they would transmite , the traditions
of the country, to the younger generations.
In current Japan this tradition, tends to disappear, it is however
very rare in the Western Countries, there are never the less
some westerners, who lived in Japan, that follow this tradition;
in Potugal we have, Hanshi Georges Stobaerts in Sintra and
Hanshi Alex DaCosta in Faro.
.
(I thank my wife Ana and my son Alexandre, for their great
sacrifice, that represents, living in a Tradicional Dojo, place that
is, to all intents and purposes, a public place...)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Alex,

What an interesting blog site you have here! Great.

Look forward to seeing you again at BudoSai 2008.

Reece.