The stout bald-headed
monk kneeled in the mud gripping his walking stick. He was blind and so
tilted his head slightly to better hear his attacker through the sound
of pouring rain. His opponent leapt forwards, a gleaming sword raised
above his head. The blind monk darted off to the side and stopped. The
attacker
stopped also, a surprised look on his face, and then fell forward into
the mud. A flash of metal reveals a sword blade in the monk’s hand. With
a flick of his wrist he shook the blood off the blade and slid it back
into his walking stick. This scene was from an old Japanese movie series
based on the folktales of Zatoichi - Ichi the blind monk. Ichi carried a
sword hidden in his walking stick and roamed feudal Japan righting
wrongs and defending the weak from the strong. He was Japan’s Zorro but
with one major exception, he was blind. This did not seem to hinder his
skill with a sword and curiously the Japanese public did not seem to
question the character’s authenticity. Being a blind man did not detract
from what people thought he was capable of. It is true though that
Zatoichi was special in another way, he was a martial artist.
I remembered this
scene and wondered if it was truly possible for a blind man to learn
sword fighting. This was no idle speculation. I had just begun teaching
a self-defence course at the local community centre when a woman, Susan,
called and asked if I offered private lessons, I did. Would she have to
come to the community centre? - Yes. Could I pick her up at her house
and drive her to the
center? That was
a strange request and had me confused for a moment. Then I asked her if
she had a disability. At first she was reluctant to answer, it was
obvious that she felt embarrassed. I told her not to worry about her
handicap since anyone can learn martial arts. Then she asked me. “You
probably think this is ridiculous but could I learn self-defence even
though I’m blind?” My initial reaction was to say no but I had just told
her that anyone could learn martial arts and I hate making a hypocrite
of myself if I can avoid it. In the martial arts the idea of a blind
person learning how to fight is not considered far fetched.
Theoretically it was possible, though no one I ever met knew how. So I
told her the truth, I didn’t know, but if she was willing to try, so was
I.
In some martial arts
schools, advanced students are taught fighting techniques while
blindfolded in order to develop a kind of secondary sensory accuracy.
The implication is that when one loses the sense of sight, the other
senses will become more enhanced and will compensate for the loss of
vision. That is why Zatoichi tilted his head in the rain, to focus on
his enemy using his heightened sense of hearing. Japanese folklore tells
of how the Ninja trained blindfolded until they were able to move about
and fight naturally in complete darkness. They were called Warriors. If
Susan was to be successful in learning self defence she would need to
become one.
I arranged to go over
to Susan’s house for coffee and to assess her situation. I told her I
would decide afterwards whether or not I thought I could help. I learned
that Susan was thirty-six years old, divorced, and lived alone with her
ten year old daughter. She had lost her vision as a complication from
childhood diabetes[i].
Her physical fitness level was poor. Dark haired and about 5’ 3” she was
approximately thirty-five pounds overweight. Her vision was completely
absent being unable to distinguish even light from darkness. She had
also had a partial liver transplant and as well as several other
surgeries. She spent much of her time alone in the house until her
daughter returned from school. Susan owned a seeing-eye dog, a friendly
golden lab named Spencer, and with his help she was able to find her way
to her neighbour’s house, but she never ventured further than that.
Susan had a collapsible white cane somewhere in the back of the hall
closet that she felt uncomfortable with and seldom used.
I questioned her about
her other senses, were they more sensitive and were they able to offset
the lack of vision to any degree? Susan thought her hearing to be more
acute than when she was sighted, but that she felt there was little
advantage to this. No other senses were thought to have become more
sensitive or improved. Susan had no training in any practical methods of
dealing with her blindness such as instruction on physical fitness,
sensory enhancement training, or use of the cane. She was told that
classes on how to read Braille were available at the Centre for the
Blind but that was a two hour bus ride away and so she declined.
Susan had no previous
experience in any athletics and given her handicaps and physical
condition I thought it was a hopeless case. I was about to decline to
teach her when I asked her the question martial arts instructors always
ask new students; why do you want to learn martial arts?
Her answer was a common
one - fear. The reason Susan wanted to learn Martial Arts was because
she was afraid, and who could blame her. She lived alone in a rural area
with her young daughter, she was a woman, and she was blind. Her fear
was not irrational at all, but it was interfering with her enjoyment of
life. She dared not go anywhere alone. She had no family and only a
couple of friends that would take the time to drive her once a week to
the grocery store. The few times she ventured out of the house alone
she experienced panic attacks that were accompanied by feelings of
vertigo, a sort of spinning sensation as though you were falling.
Okay, I told her we
could do something about her fear, after that we will have to see how it
goes. What follows is the story of why and how the training methods were
developed to teach Susan self
defense as well
as some of the scientific principles I could find that might explain our
methodology, and how the reader can use these techniques to train
themselves or their blind students. We will also learn a little about
Zen along the way.
“One day in an emotional outburst the
master said "How idiotic! Nobody from a hundred years ago is around
today. All traces of them have vanished, but forgetting this, we
desire trivial things and become planners and schemers. What
stupidity."
Suski Shosan, Warrior of Zen
Zen
Buddhism is a school of philosophy that traces its origins to the
teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who was a prince in what is now India
around 500 B.C. One day he escaped the luxurious confines of his palace
and walked out into the city. There for the first time he witnessed
human suffering in all its forms. From that moment on, he renounced his
life of privilege and set out to discover the source and cure for
suffering. After six years of wandering and ascetic discipline
Siddhartha sat under a Bo tree and became enlightened and
thereafter was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake")
Siddhartha came to three conclusions, that life is suffering, that
suffering is a result of our attachment to illusions, and that to end
suffering one must overcome one’s illusions.
[ii]
The teachings of the
Buddha were passed down from teacher to student when around 475 A.D a
teacher named Bodhidharma brought the teachings of the Buddha to China
and became the founder of the Zen school. In China Buddhism mingled with
Taoism, an indigenous philosophy based on Lao Tzu's writings called the
Tao Te Ching (circa 5th century B.C.). He believed that a
harmony existed between Heaven and Earth and that it could be found by
anyone, at anytime- all they needed to do was follow the natural flow of
nature called the Tao or "the Way." His basic teaching was that the Tao
could not be spoken of, for words cannot describe the infinite Universe.
The result of this mingling was the Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around
1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called
Zen Buddhism. An often-overlooked point of interest is that Bodhidharma
is also credited as the founder of China’s most famous and respected
style of Kung Fu called Shaolin (Little Forest) named after the
monastery in which he lived and taught. Thus from its very beginning Zen
has been closely related with martial arts.
Principle Practices
The main exercise
practiced in Zen is called Zazen and is a form of meditation.
During this meditation one focuses on breathing, relaxation, posture,
and awareness techniques similar to those discussed later on in this
book. The other principle practice of Zen is just that - practice. A
famous Zen master wrote “We don’t practice to become a Buddha, when we
practice we are a Buddha.” This is contrary to the more common
idea of working towards a goal or reward. In Zen, the work is the
reward. This is not hard to understand. Much of what we do is equally or
more rewarding to us in the doing than in the end result. For most
artisans, cooks, artists, engineers, scientists, teachers, parents,
there is just as much satisfaction in the application of their skills
and talents as there is in admiring the finished products of their
handiwork. Because of this focus on ‘Putting your all in everything you
do’, Zen can be applied to any activity and one could just as easily
refer to the Zen of Cooking or the Zen of Automotive Mechanics as the
Zen of Archery.
Religion or Philosophy
Zen can be called both a
religion and a philosophy although neither term would be completely
correct. There are various inter-school and personal interpretations.
Some focus more on religious ceremony, others more on philosophical
principles. Therefore, whether Zen is a religion or philosophy depends
on whom you ask. Since Zen imposes no religious authority on believers,
people of all faiths could learn from it without conflict. For the
reader’s better understanding the sense in which the term Zen is used
within the following writing is as a philosophical and strategic
approach to improving one’s quality of life in general, and should not
be seen as forwarding any religious agenda.
The Way of the Warrior
Bushido,
literally meaning ‘The Way of the Warrior’, is a code of conduct adopted
by Japan’s warrior class known as the Samurai that dates back to the 9th
century. Bushido is a collection of behavior protocols that emphasize
honor, bravery, and ethics similar to the chivalric code of the medieval
European knights. Zen heavily influenced Bushido and for most Samurai
the two were indistinguishable. The life of a professional soldier in
medieval Japan was tough. Zen's teachings of perseverance,
self-discipline, and stoicism were well adapted to form the basis of a
warrior’s creed.
So what do these ancient and foreign
philosophies have to offer the handicapped today?
Like the Samurai, the handicapped face
hardships and suffering beyond those normally encountered in life. Like
the warriors of old, the handicapped may find affinity with a philosophy
that provides tools to promote courage, discipline, and perseverance.
That the warrior spirit can empower the lives of the handicapped is
aptly expressed in the following quote.
Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature nor do children as a whole experience
it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run, than outright
exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free sprits in
the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
Helen Keller, Let Us Have Faith
The Zen masters of old could not have said
it better.
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