The Emptiness Concept

Martial Arts isn't empty, it's full of many different things.

So why is the name of this blog Budō no Kūkyo "The Emptiness of the Martial Way"?

Good question... Here's why:

The idea of emptiness is the concept of the impossible state of either a physical thing (such as an object or place) or an abstract thing (such as thoughts or ideas) containing nothing.

Much like the concept of infinity, it's unreachable, just as it is impossible to count to infinity, it's impossible to make something completely empty. There is no such thing as 'nothing' (in our universe anyway).
As Martial Artists the concept of emptiness is something we should attempt to understand. There are a couple ways of applying the idea of emptiness that we should keep in mind and (in some cases) strive for.

The Japanese word for 'Empty' is 'Kara' (as in Karate).
This Kanji is also 'Sora' meaning 'Sky'
and 'Ku' (as in the kata Kanku) meaning 'The Void'





The Void

The first application of emptiness in Budo is what Miyamoto Musashi called the 'void' in The Book of Five Rings.
In order to truly understand what is there is to know what is not there. Musashi explains that understanding the void brings a deeper knowledge of the nature of things.
Lao Tsu teaches that it is the empty space that gives some things their function, the example given in the Tao Te Ching:

     "Shape clay into a vessel; It is the space within that makes it useful."

It's the empty space in the Dojo that allows us to train there.
In a self-defence situation (or in any type of partner work at training) we are taught to look for the openings and gaps in the opponent's technique in order to take advantage of it, in effect looking for emptiness in order to fill it yourself.

No Mind

The Second application of emptiness is the Japanese concept of 'Mushin' (無心), No Mind.
This is the state of mind that a warrior should have during battle. 'No mind' means to not think about anything, to clear your mind.



From the Film The Last Samurai

When in a serious life or death situation there's no time to think, thinking slows things down and will probably get you killed.
The idea is to stop thinking and put the mind in a kind of a state of mediation. In this state we fully rely on the quality of our training and skill in our technique.
To be able to use skills without thinking requires muscle memory. This only comes with correct practice and repetition over a long time. You can only afford to switch the mind off when you have suitably trained enough. So, as with everything in Budo (The Martial Way), you can only accomplish Mushin after years of constant correct training, there's no easy path.

Seeking Emptiness  

The last application of emptiness I'll mention here relates to the first two (The Void & Mushin), it's about seeking emptiness.
In much the same way all Budoka (Practitioner of the Martial Way) seek and work towards perfection (with the understanding that true perfection is impossible), we seek to minimise many things, so emptiness is basically the perfection of a minimalist.
All Budoka should strive to minimise extra movements in an effort to make each technique more precise and expend less energy.

The less you do to accomplish your goal, the better, as long as your goal was accomplished correctly. For example, if someone attacks you, you should use the smallest number of fighting techniques to end the situation, no techniques is best.
This is the lesson that Sun Tzu's The Art of War teaches.
Sun Tsu talks about ending the conflict with the smallest amount of casualties possible, if the casualty count is 'empty' and you managed to end the conflict, then you have accomplished the best outcome possible.

 

 

 

So, Martial Arts isn't empty... but understanding, using and applying emptiness is a part of Budo, even if you don't realise it.




Thanks for reading.
Derm

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