On the trinity of being

[Josh Young]

I would be interested in your thoughts and further information concerning this third aspect, including your criticism of my rudimentary breakdown into health, martial, and spiritual aspects.

In order to facilitate discussion I find it helpful to define terms.
However as we explore these terms we may find that health itself is composed of essentially three natures, they are those that might be termed as 1,physical ,2 mental, and 3 action.

At first the validity of action as a part of health may not be apparent, however if we consider that martial pertains to interaction, and thus action, then we can see how the third aspect pertains to action, though the actual number of the aspects is meaningless and arbitrary.

Let us presume the following.
1 we have physical bodies
2 we control our bodies and express some aspect of being through or with them and this represent Mind/self.
3 we act through the combination or concurrent use of our mental and physical aspects.

We can further assert that no clear line exists between body and mind, and that to have either, which is for our intent and purpose: the same as having both, then we act. Thus these aspects of being of body, mind and action are inseparable.

For this reason I will call this trinity of being just that: a Trinity of being.
The first is being, this is unity. The second is duality and the third is the unity of duality and unity, which is essentially relationship, which implies action.


But for the purpose of this discussion lets focus for a moment upon spirit. This term is one that can be controversial, but let us agree that while we cannot know and prove the existence of a spirit in the sense of a soul, that we can still agree that the spirit of things can be described in a manner pertaining to their perceived properties., including in regard to mind, body and action.

In this sense spirit can be seen as akin to the type of spirit implied by the concept of 'school spirit'. And if there is a spirit/soul, then surely it is linked to the type of spirit in the school spirit concept by way of influence at the least. In a manner this type of spirit is not separable from action, but it pertains to more than just action, it pertains to states, including of mind, body and action.


So let us also agree that a martial art, in the sense pursued here, is a system which allows refinement of being and self mastery, and as such it must then refine the trinity of being, of mind, body and action, which together make up spirit, in a manner of speaking.

It can be seen that many martial arts these days are focused upon violence and little else. Let us note then that these martial arts do indeed train mind, body and action, as that this is occurring every moment of life regardless of such training being conscious. That is to say that all martial arts train spirit, but not always in a way that meets the purpose of self mastery. Some might be seen to focus upon a reckless spirit.

And I am reminded of a quote I read recently:
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare. Mark Twain

So then it might not be absurd to promote the idea that only those martial arts that focus intent upon the training of all of the trinity of being are those that can facilitate self mastery. And the truth is that character is present at all times, thus martial training is life training, not merely training for violent encounters.

Training the body is pretty easy, and well known.
Training the mind is less common, and training the action/spirit even rarer. After all actions reflect upon the state of mind and body.

So then a complete system in terms of the goals of martial arts should address all three aspects of being. It should also facilitate self defense, however this does not mean it cultivates a willingness to engage in violence. For this reason hiding the martial training is ideal, for otherwise it attracts violent challengers and leads one to enter into greater risks, and to do that is contrary to the principals of protecting the self.

What I mean to share, insofar as this is all my opinion, is that training of mind, body and spirit is taking place every moment of life. Martial arts can allow us to realize and use this for our best interest, which by the way is not synonymous with our desire or wants.

And while some martial arts place an emphasis upon violence, others place too little emphasis upon it. So an ideal art leaves no aspect of being or action untouched.

So then there is a classic of Taijiquan, called The Song of Real Meaning.
I quote the last line of the translation given by Dr. Yang:
With your whole being, develop your life.

We are born into the world, it is the temple, it is the school, it is the dojo. Church, class, these things are always in session. Mind body and spirit is what we are (for all intents and purposes discussed herein), thus to master self requires realization or understanding of mind body and spirit, not in a way of making claims about physiology, or qi or anything like that, but in terms of understanding the moment of [/b]now[/b] which transcends the limitations of symbolism, information and technology.

If I have not addressed some specific point or aspect of this subject that you would like to have me address, let me know and i will share what I can.

[pizwatc]

Thank you for your thoughts. Your original post on a different part of this forum provided a lot of interesting information about the physical changes in the body which occur as a result of internal practice. You focused on the changes associated with the flow of energy. I perceived your information to pertain to health and martial applications. I would be interested in any information which you could share concerning physical changes which occur in the brain and/or in the glands associated with brain function.

As to your thoughts about the spiritual interplay with martial training, I have a complimentary but slightly different experience. I have found that taiji practice has left me feeling that there is a "thinner" barrier between "me" and the rest of the world which I thought was not "me". I come from a Buddhist background which raises intellectual questions as to the existence of "self", "me", "mine" and "I." Taiji practice has provided experiential evidence that the "me" which my ego spends so much energy trying to maintain as a seperate and distinct entity may be a transitory and ephemeral concept which exists in a world better described by the concept of wuji or no boundaries.

[Josh Young]

I have very little information about the neural impact of qigong and Taijiquan, it should have some of the same effects as mental focus exercises so increased growth of neural connections should occur, preserving and enriching intellectual capacity in later life. Also the circulation aspects should increase blood flow to the brain and that should improve performance.

I concur with taijiquan impacting the perception of self as relative to the universe, however relating this to spirituality is something I cannot do. I realize that I am one with the universe, I'd be a fool not to know it, after all where does the line between me and the universe being? If not in my mind then it does not exist at all.
The undifferentiated postures of taijiquan, including in mental terms results in the transcendence of the limitations of self as that self is only a term or a concept that has little if any relation to reality. Taiji helps calm the state of being so as to make the subtle truths of being more accessible to the distracted mind. This is why I prefer it to other martial arts, it embodies a system of enlightenment. However I cannot relate this to "spirit" in a direct manner but can only say that it has a direct influence on the spirit of an individual, despite pertaining to mental postures.

As far as self being illusion, this is totally obvious once distractions cease. Taiji can lead one to cease to be distracted through having intentions, this is the purpose of undifferentiated postures and stick/adhere/listen/follow energ(y/ies)

[pizwatc]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I concur that words like "spirit" tend to bring baggage which muffles the actual experience itself. My practice has led me to view taiji as moving meditation and zazen as sitting taiji. My exploration of the universe consists of using these tools, and I have found no limitations associated with these tools. Such a wonderment.