I was working on an essay and I thought I'd post a draft here for comment.
Esoteric Karate
By John Kedrowski
No one knows who wrote the Bubishi. As far as researchers can tell, the book was the work of a several hundred year old Chinese Martial Arts student who took diligent notes and transcribed everything the Sensei taught. According to apocryphal karate history, this book somehow made it to the island of Okinawa where it was copied, by hand, as part of the transmission process that delivered karate from teacher to student.
Today, many traditions of karate carry forward this practice, where the Sensei loans his copy of Bubishi to his most advanced students, who in turn copy it by hand. This is how the book became known as the Bible of Karate.
To call his work a “book” isn’t appropriate. It’s loosely organized into subjects and may be organized according to the Sensei’s designs. Yet, there are common themes that tie the material together. One can get a pretty good idea of the contents of this book by looking at the titles of the articles in it. That list is as follows.
1. Origins of White Crane Kung Fu.
2. Master Wang Reveals His Secrets.
3. Advice on Correct Etiquette.
4. Philosophy.
5. Waster Wang’s Observations on Monk Fist Boxing.
6. The Four Quan of Monk Fist Boxing.
7. Nepai Quan.
8. Discussions on Seizing and Striking Veins and Tendons Using the Hard Fist Method.
9. Twelve-Hour Vital Points Revealed.
10. Prescriptions and Medicinal Poems.
11. Twelve-Hour Theory Recuperative Herbal Prescriptions.
12. A Physicians Treatment for Twelve-Hour Injuries.
13. The Eight Precepts of Quanfa.
14. The Principles of Ancient Law.
15. Maxims of Sun Zi.
16. Grappling and Escapes.
17. Seven Restricted Locations.
18. Four Incurable Diseases.
19. Effective Twelve-Hour Herbal Prescriptions to Improve Blood Circulation for Shichen Related Injuries.
20. Six Ji Hands of the Shaolin Style.
21. Delayed Death Touch Twelve-Hour Diagrams.
22. Twelve Hour Green Herbal Remedies.
23. Crystal Statue Diagram.
24. Bronze Man Statue.
25. Shaolin Herbal Medicine and Injuries Diagram.
26. The Guardian Deity of Jiu Tian Feng Huo Yuan.
27. Zhengs Twenty-Four Iron Hand Applications and White Monkey Style.
28. Eighteen Scholars White Crane Fist and Black Tiger Style Fifty-Four Step Quan.
29. The Forty-Eight Self Defense Diagrams.
30. Valuable Ointment for Treating Weapon Wounds and Chronic Head Pain.
31. Ointment, Medicines, and Pills.
32. Shaolin Hand and Foot, Muscle, and Bone Training Postures.
All in all, six of the articles are on history and philosophy, ten of the articles regard various healing methods, five of the articles are on vital points, and eleven of the articles are on fighting techniques and strategies. This is an incredible array of topics and they were all originally included in the martial art that became Karate. Upon critical analysis, there are some themes that become apparent. These overall themes are incredibly important for the karateka to understand because they provide the philosophic basis for the “Do” or the “Way” karateka are to follow.
Three themes stand out from these chapters. The first is philosophy, the second is knowledge, and the third is technique. These themes can be arranged in a hierarchy that can illuminate a karateka as he navigates the world. Thus, the Bubishi explains the basic ethical system underpinning the “Way” of karate.
The karateka begins all contact with others with philosophy. He uses the power of his intellect to influence the people of the world and accomplish his goals. When it comes to conflict, it is his first weapon. In Gichin Funakoshi’s 20 Precepts of Karate, he states…
1. Karate begins and ends with courtesy.
2. In Karate there is no first attack.
3. Karate is an aid to justice.
4. Control yourself before you attempt to control others.
5. Spirit first, technique second.
6. Always be ready to release your mind.
7. Accidents arise from negligence.
8. Karate training is not limited to the dojo.
9. It takes an entire lifetime to learn Karate.
10. Put your everyday living into Karate and you will find the secret.
11. Karate is like boiling water; if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool.
12. Don’t think about winning, rather about not losing.
13. Victory depends on your ability to distinguish vulnerable points from invulnerable points.
14. The battle unfolds according to how you move, guarded and unguarded.
15. Think of your hands and feet as swords.
16. Whenever you leave home, envision numerous opponents waiting for you.
17. Beginners must master low stances and posture; natural body positions are for the
advanced.
18. Practicing Kata is one thing; engaging in a real fight is another.
19. Do not forget to correctly learn the strengths and weakness of power, the stretching and
contraction of the body, and the slowness and speed of techniques.
20. Devise ways to live the precepts every day.
All of this material comes straight out of the Bubishi (it is thought that Funakoshi copied Ankoh Itosu’s copy) and although it looks as if some of it is simple practical knowledge on how to practice karate, it is much deeper. The twentieth precept gives it away by telling us to live the others every day of our life. Since we do not engage in combat every day in our life, these precepts must be thought of as important philosophic metaphors. It cannot be stressed how important philosophy is to karate, because this is intended to be the karateka’s primary weapon.
The second aspect of karate’s ethical ethos is knowledge. In particular, as shown in the Bubishi, knowledge of the body and of the ways of repairing the body are stressed. This is because the old masters realized that the failure of philosophy resulted in violence. When two parties reach a point where they can no longer communicate, the engagement has the potential to turn physical. It is therefore important for the karateka to learn how the body works, what it’s weak points are, and how to heal damage to the body. This is not necessarily done to inform the physical self defense techniques.
The Bubishi doesn’t pull any punches in describing and healing human suffering. It describes methods to ease the injured assailant’s transition into death and it describes some methods to fix the grotesque physical injuries caused by the techniques in karate. This knowledge is multifaceted. It informs the self defense techniques, it stresses the safe practice of karate by its practitioners and it reminds the karateka of the price for the failure of philosophy.
The final theme in the Bubishi is the description of various martial arts techniques. Most of these techniques are simple to understand and perform and are effective against many kinds of attacks. These techniques are shown in simple diagrams that the copier must draw to the best of his ability. It does not give detail information on the performance of the techniques and none of these techniques are anything that an experienced karateka hasn’t seen before.
For many people who are new to the Bubishi, this section of the book seems anti-climactic. One would think that the “Bible of Karate” would contain its most deadly secrets. To look at the technique alone misses the greater ethos that is put forward by this book. The old masters told us that karate was a “way” for us to conduct our lives. If our practice of karate was reduced to learning ways of physically defending against harm, we would be missing the “Do” that was actually laid out for us. It would be like looking at the moon and admiring its beauty, but then missing all of the heavenly glory that surrounds it. Karate is more then it’s physical technique. It has an esoteric side that is like an iceberg sitting in the water. The most important parts are hidden and only the tip can be seen. The physical techniques are the tip and everything else is under the water.
