I have started training Shotokan Karate at the end of 1978, in Brasov, Romania, under the guidance of Sensei Dan Stuparu. Since then, I had the chance to learn from many masters: Adrian Popescu-Sacele (Brasov, Romania), James V. Morrone Jr. (Detroit, Michigan), Peter Velez and John Haral (San Antonio, Texas). In 1999, I have received my Shodan (black belt, 1st Dan) rank, in Detroit. I have started my Aikido lessons in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of 2000, under the guidance of Sensei Kevin Templer. I am training presently with Western Washington Shotokan Club ISKF/JKA, Chief Instructor Sensei Cathy Cline, 8th Dan.

Zen

“Trees show the bodily form of the wind;

Waves give vital energy to the moon.”

Zenrin Kushu

Zen begins at the point where there is nothing further to seek, nothing to be gained. For all ideas of self-improvement and of becoming or getting something in the future relate solely to our abstract image of ourselves.

The difficulty of Zen is to shift one’s attention from the abstract to the concrete, from the symbolic self to one’s true nature. The illusion of the split comes from the mind’s attempt to be both itself and its idea of itself, from a fatal confusion of fact without a symbol. We have to act on any level whatsoever, physical or psychic, without trying at the same moment to observe and check the action from outside Our decision upon the conventional level must be supported by the conviction that whatever we do, and whatever “happens” to us, is ultimately “right”. In other words, we must enter into it without “second thought”, regret, hesitancy, doubt, or self-recrimination.

We must concentrate on Zen practice without wasting time, thinking that there is only this day and this hour. After that it becomes truly easy. We must forget about the good and bad of our nature, the strength or weakness of our power.

Zen is a liberation from time. For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality. There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we turn round to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.

Essential Books

• Lovret F.J. The Way and the Power: Secrets of Japanese Stategy, Paladin Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1987.
• Westbrook A., Ratti O. Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1999.
• Sugiyama S. 25 Shoto-kan KATA, Published by the author, Chicago, 1989
• Nishiyama H. Karate: The Art of Empty Hand Fighting, Charles E. Turttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1998.
• Funakoshi G. Karate-Do Kyohan – The Master Text, Kodansha, 1973.
• Watts A.W. The Way of Zen, Vintage Books, New York, 1957.