Before Zen crossed the shores into Japan, the students of the Tendai school would study meditation, as part of their daily practice. Four of them, close friends all, promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day, no words were spoken, and the students took pleasure in their auspicious beginning. When night came however, the oil lamps grew dim, and the room slowly darkened.
One student, named Hoshin, called out to a servant: "Servant! Attend to the lamps, so that I might better observe our accomplishment!"
The second student was surprised to hear Hoshin speak. "We are supposed to keep quiet," he chided.
"But you also spoke!" declared the third. "You are an idiot!"
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth, as he settled into seiza.
Editors Note: This is the first in a three part series regarding our Fall 2011 seminar with Peter Bernath Sensei. You can find all three posts under the video tag. Enjoy!
This first video features kokyunage, shihonage, and iriminage. I’ll follow up in a later post about that shihonage, from my perspective as uke.
What a wonderful day.
Our deepest thanks to all our friends who supported us. And of course, our thanks and gratitude to Bernath Sensei, who taught an exhilarating seminar.
We appreciate it more than you know.
I know you hate big to-dos, so I’ll keep it brief. We think you’re awesome. Heck, we even think your dog is awesome, even if no one else does.
And if you give me enough of those awful blueberry lagers Ryan keeps leaving at the house, I’d say this: You’re a good friend, a great martial artist, and a positive force in the universe.
So here’s our sendoff to you. We think it fits.
Good luck at SCAD.
Wonderful friends, great class. Our thanks to Steve and Sue from Palm Beach Aikikai, Ted and Leo from the Aiki O-Kami Society, and of course Lane Sensei and his students.
Also our congratulations to Jason (and Tatiana, Dustin, and Daniel) for passing their kyu tests.
We have more pictures and video, which we hope to post soon.
