The Fourth Point
Life and Death
The drama of Continental Airline’s pilot, Craig Lenell, dying suddenly of natural causes, in flight between Brussels and Newark, caught our attention. Our daily distractions often allow us to ignore a truth until something frightening happens and forces us to face reality. We get the message: death comes unexpectedly.
The Martial Way
As Evolving Martial Artists our passion for delving deeply to the roots of the martial way ultimately leads to the fundamental mystery of life and death. Think about it: in its original form, martial arts is one of the only pursuits, unlike sports, music, art and literature, that focuses attention and preparation on every possible life and death situation. These are the basics.
TanDao Philosophy
In Tandao, the basics comprise only part of the journey. There is a greater awareness. In our holistic model of tandao, the essence of our consciousness is represented as an equilateral triangle with a circle in the center. In geometry, it is with three sides that an enclosure is formed and structure begins. For all things, it is the measure of possibilities. At each of the 3 intersecting points there is: the warrior (body), the scholar (mind) and the monk (compassion/emotion). The striving for a balanced integration of the warrior/scholar/monk (body/mind/heart) is essential. The true power lies in the circle at the center. This represents the fourth point – the unifying center of being. This the master.
Martial Arts Training
In the martial arts, training can create a keen awareness of our human mortality. If we look at this holistically, this awareness is not just about the warrior conquering fear to act decisively and effectively during a deadly encounter. The scholar understands the mechanism of fear in the role of the detached observer. The presence of the monk in the martial way consciously develops an awareness and sensitivity to the interconnection of life itself.
Practicing meditation and the moving meditation of Tai Ji, Aikido and our TanDao forms, moving can help us to be fully present in the here and now of our daily lives. The seemingly mundane activities of doing dishes, driving to work, cooking dinner or interacting with others then become little miracles. With clarity and sensitivity we smell the roses we normally ignore.
For the Evolving Martial Artist, the fourth point is the ideal of the master. It is an integrated individual who is consciously balancing the warrior, scholar and monk. In doing so, we can elevate our consciousness of the hidden mystery inherent in every instant. So, when that inevitable moment does come, no matter how unexpectedly, we would have lived our lives fully. Feel your life now, take 3 breaths.
Lawrence Tan & Toni Josephson
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Yes, death does come out of nowhere. I have been trying to find the meaning of birth, then family, relatives, friends, lovers, marriage, kids and finally death. I am totally confused by this aspect of life itself. When a man dies, he can no longer smile or weep and his body starts to deteriorate after a a few days. A lover can no longer say “I Love You” after he is dead. Whether a man was highly selfish and dishonest (Hitler ?) or whether he was an honest man (Abraham Lincoln ?), after death everything becomes same.
In my culture, we have a concept of meditation (known as Hath Yog) related to Kundalini . Kundilini actually lies in every human but is in sleeping condition, the one who awakes his Kundilini can move the position of the planets across the universe but then he also has to face the consequences of disturbing a natural order. Earlier Indian monks has their Kundilini awakened after years of practice. Then they used to leave their body (people call it soul leaves the body which is not true. I don’t remember the exact word monks used for this), then they will travel the whole universe and then come back. During that part if you take their body and burn it, they won’t feel any pain. So the monks used to live and die everyday, hence when finally the death came, to them it was like a daily routine of cleaning their teeth.
Based on all my experiences, the one thing I have found to be true is that ancient Indian monks did use to live and die everyday. May be that was the reason, one of the oldest Martial-Arts Kalari is not popular in India. Indian monks were not interested in anything related to body and its connection with this physical world. There is nothing that confuses me other than the birth-death phenomenon.
I do want to live and die everyday, I want to understand this daily yet very mysterious phenomenon of life and death.