Zen and influence on Martial Arts

yo!

im working on a project for my theology class...which yes..is all about christianity >.< but of course i have to find a way to slip outta that subject..lol but anyways...i was going to just do it on the history of buddhism...than my search for info got into zen...and than some of the zen searching turned into martial arts searching..lol...im concidering this topic "Zen and its influence on Martial Arts" i have taken karate for a while...and the style i took there was quite a bit of mediation before and after the classes...and the kata and ways of breathing inorder to strengthen and focus ki...what i was wondering is if anyone here thinks this is a good topic and can help me out and point me in a direction to go from here..im not too sure what im looking for..but it sounds like a good topic ne? ^ ^;; or maybe someone can help me with a few corrections or maybe a rephraseal of my new topic to make it a bigger topic...after all its gotta be a 5 page essay with a 5 min power point presentation X.x i also dont know much about Zen...every site i go to starts off with the same intro..than wants me to buy something to continue...crappy sites -.-"

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LMKai:
yo!

im working on a project for my theology class...which yes..is all about christianity >.< but of course i have to find a way to slip outta that subject..lol but anyways...i was going to just do it on the history of buddhism...than my search for info got into zen...and than some of the zen searching turned into martial arts searching..lol...im concidering this topic "Zen and its influence on Martial Arts" i have taken karate for a while...and the style i took there was quite a bit of mediation before and after the classes...and the kata and ways of breathing inorder to strengthen and focus ki...what i was wondering is if anyone here thinks this is a good topic and can help me out and point me in a direction to go from here..im not too sure what im looking for..but it sounds like a good topic ne? ^ ^;; or maybe someone can help me with a few corrections or maybe a rephraseal of my new topic to make it a bigger topic...after all its gotta be a 5 page essay with a 5 min power point presentation X.x i also dont know much about Zen...every site i go to starts off with the same intro..than wants me to buy something to continue...crappy sites -.-"[/QUOTE]

Hi LMKai,

Zen is a state of individual enlightenment and detachment from the world. Japanese samurai found in Zen a way of improving their combat readiness and ability to fight (called bujutsu). Samurai who steeped themselves in Zen became indifferent to fear, discomfort, and the threat of death.

I would recommend reading 'Zen and the Art of Archery' by Eugen Herrigel. It's only 100 pages and I found it useful even though I do not train in archery and have no particular interest in it, after all, the book isn't really about archery.

Here is a little link to give you an intro into Zen: http://www.buddhistinformation.com/zen_in_the_martial_arts.htm

Hope this helps!