Originally posted by TKDman
Well the site is right to an extent. Some Martial Arts schools and instructors take their art to a religous form. A lot of people take Zen seriously and use Karate as a missionary almost. I mean with their traditions, bowing, ceremonies, and even burning insense in some cases. Look at some Aikido schools, its almost some kind of Eastern Church. Many schools preach the Mind + Body + Spirit stuff. I can see where it is taken to a religous level. A lot of places practice Meditation and Yoga.... Im just here to learn punches and kicks not ur magical bs or your stupid stories.
I am glad my school is just Martial Arts and not magic bologna.
In my opinion, religion has to have a deity. Zen, then, isn't a religion. It's a philosophy.
As I mentioned before, prayer can be considered a form of meditation.
But meditation isn't "religious" or "mystical" by nature. It's simply a tool to improve focus and concentration. To me "mind, body, spirit" has nothing to do with religion. It's about melding the mind, body, and spirit (attitude, intent) toward a specific, focused goal.
Fanatics can warp anything out of proportion. Yes, there are fanatics who turn MA training into a religious thing. But, in my experience, they're rare.
There are also those who bring their religious beliefs into their MA training. I personally disagree with this, but I don't think it's "wrong."
And there are some systems that have religious undertones because the founder brought them into it. But I wouldn't count Aikido in this. Nor would I count anything that uses the Zen philosophy as this.
What this site is doing, though, is making some very broad generalizations, erroneous assumptions, and then using left-field logic to say that martial arts are bad. It was written by a narrow minded fanatic with some sort of agenda. And, personally, I think it's disgusting and very "wrong."
But, I live in America and, I believe, so does the author of that article. Therefore, he has a right (both legally and morally) to his opinion and I have to (both legally and morally) respect that. I don't have to agree with it, though. And am free to state my own opinion
Mike
