Monday 20 August 2012

On my morning walk today, thoughts slipped into the technique involved in judo. It is based on being alert, agile and ego-less. You have to know what meditation is to excel in it. I have not had the fortune to learn it, but I can understand its principle. It is about being calm and quickly adjusting your position within any storm of aggression from outside, so that you act as the fulcrum turning the very same aggressive force down. And you do it without any emotion. There is no anger. If there is anger you lose your alertness and agility and you cannot quickly adjust your position to be the fulcrum. And if you do not come to that position at the right moment you will get hurt. You will lose the match. Then you are not a good judo player. If you do not know meditation you cannot be good at judo. Even a frail man can bring down a giant if he is alert and agile. You have to be a nobody to be alert and agile, because, when you are a 'body' with all the involved ego, you have a certain amount of mass, which is an impediment in being alert, agile and quick.

*****

1 comment:

P. Venugopal said...

arun, you tilt yourself into the position quickly, gently receive your opponent's fist in your palm and use his own momentum to help him to his fall. the more violent the physique and the intellect of the opponent, the more violent his fall. you are not part of it. you are just a catalytic agent, helping the action-reaction to take place vigorously, without yourself undergoing any change. i think it is the zen culture that is behind the eastern forms of self defense.