This post’s title may mislead. I do not wish to speak of fighting per se but rather it’s nature. And specifically – a question as to the rationale people give for fighting; learning martial arts.
Now, I was a person that wanted to fight before. I admit this. But the reason I was in that state was because I did not have a grip on my mind. Primarily, this is why so many incidents occur. We are not in control of ourselves – completely. If we were, we would be able to achieve enlightenment. What stops us once we have the technique? How to easily get the, get a technique? Do a single Vipassana course. It’s free and it’s secular. Then it should be smooth sailing, correct? You have a technique for controlling yourself. Now all you have to do is follow that technique diligently. Day and night! Devote as much time as you can and you will be free, enlightened. The steps are “easy” but we don’t do it. This “why” is questionable. Why don’t we do it. There are many reasons for this: karma, [bad] habits, ignorance, apathy, lack of will power and other traits may be used as a excuse. But primarily it’s because we don’t have mental control of ourselves.
The reason I am delving into this specific point – we lack control of ourselves, of our minds – is because everything boils down to this. No matter how you look at it, it is irrefutably linked with our actions.
Speaking of fighting specifically, I question it. Why? There are stories I read. Let me post two of them below:
For one who is centered in the third eye dreams will become real and the whole reality will become just a dream, because when your dream can become real you know there is no basic difference between dream and reality.
2) I have heard about Lin Chi, a Zen master. As he was sitting one day in his hut someone came to see him. The man who came was angry. He may have been fighting with his wife or with his boss or something — but he was angry. He pushed open the door in anger, he threw down his shoes in anger and then he came, very respectfully, and bowed down to Lin Chi. Lin Chi said, “First go and ask forgiveness from the door and from the shoes.” The man must have looked at Lin Chi very strangely. There were other people also sitting there and they started laughing. Lin Chi said, “Stop!” and then said to the man, “If you don’t do it then leave. I will have nothing to do with you.” The man said, “It will look crazy to ask forgiveness from the shoes and from the door.” Lin Chi said, “It was not crazy when you expressed anger. Will it now be crazy? Everything has a consciousness. So you go, and unless the door forgives you, I am not going to allow you in.”
“Sometimes the master can do very trivial things, and the thing will happen. And ordinarily, even if a Shiva goes on talking about one hundred and twelve methods, nothing will happen because the preparation is not there. You can throw seeds on stones, but nothing will happen. The fault is not of the seeds. You can throw a seed out of season, but nothing will happen. The fault is not of the seed. The right season is needed, the right moment is needed, the right soil is needed. Only then will the seed become alive and transform.”
If the person is not ready then they cannot see the depth. There may be a God but what of Him? Let me go on with my job and my life! What fallacy is this? There are depths and one refuses to gauge them. Death is inevitable. And what after death? You become, become, become. Shaping into something else. From here you go elsewhere. This makes the most sense logically. It is also extrapolated by others, others who have achieved a depth of understanding – understanding through experience. To believe them fully without experience is foolishness. Yet so is rebuking and ridiculing them entirely.