KAKEMONO OF THE MONTH — DECEMBER

The scroll for this month features Bodhidharma (“Daruma” in Japanese), the founder of Zen Buddhism, seated in lotus position and facing the wall in meditation. This is one of a series of works calligrapher Paul Myers focused on the figure of Bodhidharma. The calligraphy in upper right reads, “Hasshōdō,” the “Noble Eightfold Path.” Bodhidharma is an important figure in martial arts history because, according to legend, the exercises he taught the monks at the Shaolin Temple in China (to facilitate arduous sessions of zazen) became the basis for kung fu.

Travisano Oshō, one of the two members of our dōjō that are ordained Buddhist ministers, adds insights to the meaning of the Noble Eightfold Path:

“The cornerstones of the Buddha’s teachings are the Four Noble Truths, of which the 8-fold Path is a part: First, the truth that we all experience suffering; Second, that it is caused by our cravings for things that we think will fix it (e.g., ‘I’d finally be happy if I could only do a proper side roll in the Ukemi-no-kata’). Third, we can stop our suffering if we stop these cravings, i.e., a good side-roll won’t ultimately fix me, because I’ll only find something else that I need to fix later (like sumi-otoshi, or anything with a bokken). The Fourth Noble truth is the Eightfold Path: the Buddha knew that trying to turn off our desires for stuff ain’t gonna work, but we CAN live in an intentionally honorable and purposeful way. Do this, and the suffering will fall away on its own. The Eightfold Path covers eight areas to attend to in our lives — our view of the world, our intention, our speech, our actions, our effort, our livelihood, our mindfulness, and our concentration.”