Myung Sang, "Zen" (Chan in Chinese) is a method or
tool of concentration. Zen originally came to us from the Buddhist
religion, but martial artist later adapted Zen to meet their own needs, thereby
removing Zen from its religious context. Historically speaking, Buddhist
monks needed to discipline themselves in order to truly understand the religion
of Buddha. Ordinary people do not have the patience for the long hours of
silent and still meditation that is required of Buddhism. The Buddhist
monks were no different than ordinary men when they entered the monastery, so
they developed the necessary mind control, and this development is the beginning
of Zen.
Zen is the state of empty mind or
"moo-shim" (nothing in the mind). It is a state of
meditation. Very often, when experts teach their students in class, the
experts realize that the students are receiving a mental energy from them so
long as the students are concentrating well and dedicating themselves to the
lessons with a positive attitude. These students are achieving, at least
for a moment, a required Zen state. Or, just the opposite, when
students practice movements by themselves, they cannot then perform their skills
well in front of the expert. The students, for whatever reason, are not
able to enter the Zen state in front of the expert. With proper training
over time, the martial artist should be able to enter into a Zen state at will,
whenever needed.
Another example, when speaking in
front of others, some people cannot speak well at all because they are nervous
and afraid. This fear and nervousness blocks their mind and keeps them
from thinking well. However, if the person can control their fear and
nervousness with their mind, then they will have no problem speaking in front of
anyone at any time. Such control illustrates the state of Zen. When
you sit down near a stream, you can hear nothing but the murmuring of the
stream. But once in a while, the sound will disappear. When this
happens, you are in a state of meditation that transcends time and space.
You are in a Zen state. When two experts are doing combat in front of a
large crowd or on the presence of some other distraction, the expert who has
mastered Zen meditation is able to block out the noise or distraction, while the
other expert becomes distracted and is then unable to perform to the best of his
ability.
All of these examples are meant to
describe or illustrate the Zen state itself. They are examples of its
occurrence, which is one of the only ways to talk about Zen meditation without
actually practicing it. Being asked "What is Zen?", is a lot
like being asked about the taste of sugar. The answer to the latter is
"sweet". But, what if someone asks, "What is
sweet?". How will you describe "sweet". Describing
"sweet" is like trying to describe Zen. One must learn by
example, practice and proper teaching of an expert. to truly understand
and master Zen takes time and expert instruction.
