By going to the heart of our blockages we drop through the body and mind reconnecting with our true enlightened nature beyond all these things...

I have just found a wonderful book called ‘The Path to Bodhidharma’ in which I found this story that illustrates this so well.

In the old days in China there was a priest named Master Tozan. A monk asked him “How can we escape from this severe heat and cold?”.

This is not just a question about severe heat and cold. It is a question about the very reality we are facing - a melancholy and difficult reality, a reality full of suffering. People are sick and in pain; people have lost their homes in disasters and wars and have nothing in which to believe any longer and are suffering in their despair. For those whose belongings have been destroyed, their refuge in the material world has been shown to be empty and meaningless. This kind of pain is always occurring around us.

Master Tozan answered the monk, “You have to go where there is no hot and cold!”

The monk continued, “Where is that place where there is no hot or cold? Where is that true place of refuge for the mind?”

The priest answered, “When it is hot, become that heat completely! When it is cold, become at one with that cold - completely and totally! When it is painful, become that misery totally and completely! In the very midst of that, go beyond all the thoughts you hold in your mind, let go of all ideas of good or bad or gain or loss - let go of these thoughts - and from that place grasp that place of your very own vivid life energy! That which directly experiences that ‘ouch’ - feel that life energy directly, grasp the life energy that feels that pain and sorrow.” More important than finding a way out of pain and suffering, or trying to find a place where there is no pain or suffering, is to go directly to that place where pain and suffering are being experienced, to go where you feel that pain and sadness directly and totally. Touch that life energy directly and with your own experience. Use that actual direct experience which you have grasped as your base, and stand up strong and firm. This is how the master answered the monk.

An excerpt from ‘The path to Bodhidharma’ the teachings of Shodo harada Roshin
(translated by Priscilla Daichi Storandt)

What an awesome post Trin - thanks so much for reminding me of Bodidharma. The early formulative years of Openhand were greatly inspired by the sage. As you may know, he took yogic breathing techniques from India in 500 AD to the Shaolin priests in South China where he combined breathing with movement - from that Kung Fu was founded which eventually found its way across Asia all the way to a little island off Japan called Okinawa.

It was on Okinawa that the Japanese combined the "kara" or emptiness with their "te" forming karate - the way of the empty hand. Its fascinating for me that I'd practiced karate for many years without ever knowing its true roots.

After my own awakening, I too was inspired to learn yogic breathing techniques and was pulled to experiment with the karate warm up movements that I knew. By combining the two, I discovered a powerful moving meditation which helped relax me and most importantly tune me into my soul, strengthening its presence in my life.

After some while of practicing it by myself, a good friend asked me what it was called - the word "Openhand" just popped out. A few days later I was stood at my bookshelf when an old book I'd had for many years just fell off the shelf. It was called "The Way of the Warrior" and it fell open at the page detailing the history of Bodhidharma. It was then that I saw the parallels between what he'd done and what I felt I'd been guided to do.

It seems history has become full circle. The way of the empty hand has become the way of the Openhand!

For anyone wishing to know more about the practice, you can read about it here...Openhand Practice Of course we teach it during all of our courses and we're hoping to produce a video in the very near future.

Until then, stay open!

Chris

that's exactly what Openhand practice is and how it came about.

This wonderful post also reminds me about an experience recently whilst on holiday.

I was camping on the cliffs overlooking the sea just below the ancient mountain village of Deia. It was sheer paradise - except that is after dusk when my wooded copse became overran with blood thirsty mossies!

To make matters worse, I had no tent, only a bivi bag enclosing me completely except for a small gap in the top. It was so hot that the first night I slept with the Bivi bag unzipped - a big mistake! The mossies had a delightful feast!

So the second night I was forced to sleep with the bivi bag fully zipped up despite the heat. It felt a bit like being enclosed in a bodybag inside a sauna! And all the bites from the previous night were now itching like crazy.

I knew that to scratch was counter-productive so I was left only with one real choice....relax deeply, let go and become deeply present with the experience. I couldn't sleep and so lay from dusk to dawn inside this hot, uncomfortable enclosed space.

But I learned greatly from the experience - I discovered an even deeper level of physical surrender. As I did so, I felt myself expanding and transcending the physical.

It was at some point that the following quote came to me which I felt to share here...

"Whenever we are uncomfortable with something,
whenever we're getting frustrated, tight, worried or even angry,
we're provided with an awesome opportunity to grow.
Anyone can be at peace when things are going our way,
but it is the sign of a true master to find stillness in the midst of discomfort.
So if you are to be truly surrendered to your evolutionary path,
be sure to make the most of the times of most discomfort,
for they will help you expand most of all."
Openhand

Hence it resonates deeply with the Bodhidharma approach - how synchronistic - perhaps it was he who was with me that night!

I am in deep gratitude!

Much love

Chris