unreasonable.org

Ugh. The Chinese government agency that handles tourism at the Shaolin temple, is going to take the Shaolin "brand" into the stock market.

I say again: ugh.

Shaolin is not just the setting for kung-fu dramas. It is -- or rather, was, prior to the murderous reign of Mao -- a real temple, regarded as the birthplace of Ch'an/Zen Buddhism. Legend has it that 1,500 years ago, Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Zen, came from India (or maybe Persia) and ended up at Shaolin, where he spent several years in seated meditation, staring at the wall of a cave. He supposedly found the monks at Shaolin too weak to endure the rigors of his style of meditation, so introduced a set of exercises (presumably with some origin from yoga) that became the basis of kung fu/wushu and, later, karate, and also of qi gong and Asian bodywork therapies. (It's a good myth, but any connection to actual historical events is probably coincidental.)

Modern "Shaolin kung fu" is an impressive array of acrobatics that has fsck-all to do with Zen, wushu, or everyone's favorite red-bearded barbarian.

Pity the poor temple, ravaged decades ago by Maoism, and now by capitalism.

I say once more time: ugh.

A study of the benefits of exercise for octogenarians, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that active 85-year-olds had a three-year survival rate three times higher than those who were inactive.

Even those who started exercise late saw benefit -- previously sedentary 85-year-olds who got a move on had three-year survival rates double that of elder couch potatoes.

Nor did it take intense training to qualify as active. It seems that walking four hours a week had as much benefit (in terms of survival, at least) as more vigorous activity.

So keep moving! Me, I intend to still be continuing my karate training into my 80s. And 90s. And 100s.

Posted in response to the comments on a comments on a Baltimore Sun editorial about the recent "samurai sword killing" in Baltimore. (Links have been added to this version.)

Wow. The bloodlust displayed by many comments on this incident makes me sad.

We don't have all the details, but it seems Mr. Pontolillo was probably acting in justified self-defense. I'm a martial arts instructor and a gun owner, and I stand solidly behind his right to do so.

But one of the few teachings that has stuck with me from my abandoned Catholic upbringing is that every single human being has the potential for redemption, regardless of their past mistakes. Mr. Rice has lost his chance at redemption, and that should sadden us.

If the very best thing that we, as a society, could do with Mr. Rice's human potential was let it bleed out onto the ground, then we are in sorry shape indeed.

Thanks to right-wing "tough on crime" policies, along with the economics of the prison-industrial complex, prisons have abandoned any attempt at reforming inmates. And so we see the sort of "revolving door" system that did nothing for Mr. Rice. A recent NPR story about Folsom prison notes that four decades ago, when it was a model institution where almost every prisoner got education and job training, most never returned to prison. Now, only 10% get job training -- and the recidivism rate is 75%.

So here's the end result of the "tough on crime" attitude spouted by those cheering Mr. Rice's death: more crime, more violence, lives wasted, and ordinary citizens with blood on their hands.

Thanks to Victor Markland for passing this along: Sunday, September 20th, 10am-4pm,
Western martial arts classes and demos at the "Manly Arts Day", at the Hampton National Historic Site (in Towson, MD -- directions here).

Ongoing demonstrations of swordsmanship, fencing, boxing, stick fighting, and more will show skills used by men to defend their honor, homes and country in Colonial times to those used by men and women in the Victorian era. (Although historically viewed as “manly” arts, all are welcome to participate in the exercises and demonstrations.) New this year will be a class on Bartitsu the “Gentlemanly Art of Self Defense” as practiced by Sherlock Holmes, and featured in the upcoming film due for release this fall.

Visitors will be able to view an array of historical weapons and practice their own technique using a variety of safe, wooden swords . Guest instructors include two internationally recognized martial artists and authorities Steven Huff and Mark P. Donnelley. They will be assisted by Park Ranger Victor Markland and members of the Mid-Atlantic Society for Historical Swordsmanship.

Two interesting karate links:

• Interview with Hanshi Steve Arniel, Kyokushin-kai big-wig and one of the most senior British karateka, and
• a story about Hanshi Charles Martin, the most senior student in Seido karate. The manga pictures are a hoot -- when they make you into a comic-book hero, then you know you've arrived.

I didn't watch much of the Olympics, partly because the events I want to see never get covered, partly because I'm still uneasy about the whole Beijing hosting thing. But two bits worth noting:

• During the opening ceremonies, the Microsoft Windows "Blue Screen of Death" made an appearance. Ha, ha. "Perhaps this is simply Microsoft's idea of 'product placement', as the BSOD is one of the more recognizable features of Windows, and perhaps transcends all language barriers," quips macenstein.com.
  

Put drafts of three more chapters of Why Buddha Touched the Earth on-line: The Mystical Sense, So You Think You Can Tell Heaven From Hell?, and What Would Buddha Eat?.

With my workshop at the Well this Friday, May 16, I'll be launching a new venture: Warrior Poet Consulting. Under that brand I plan to provide workshops and other training and coaching to help people develop their creativity and cultivate personal excellence.

We'll see how it goes. Still trying to figure out step 2 of the business plan:

1. Relentless self-promotion.
2. ?
3. Profit!

On the train up to New York - Kyoshi and Sensei Sandy taking their promotions tonight, I plan to be there in the morning, offer congratulations, help out with the kumite portion for lower dan tests.

Today was a balanced day - taught karate in the morning, shiatsu in the afternoon. Here's how to kill people; here's how to heal people.

From the "things I didn't know existed" file: Pink Pistols, whose motto is, "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed". Outstanding.

They've submitted a brief in the Surpreme Court case of the D.C. gun ban, which states in part:

Laws that prevent the use of firearms for self-defense in one's own home disproportionately impact those individuals who are targets of hate violence due to their minority status, whether defined by race, religion, sexual orientation, or other characteristic. Even in their homes, LGBT individuals are at risk of murder, aggravated assault and other forms of hate violence because of their sexual orientation. In fact, the home is the most common site of anti-gay violence. Thus, for certain [lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered] individuals, the possession of firearms in the home is essential for a sense of personal security -- a fact generally lost in the majoritarian debate about restricting individual's access to, and use of, firearms. . . . [N]ot only do members of the LGBT community have a heightened need to possess firearms for self-protection in their homes, the Second Amendment clearly guarantees this most basic right. . . .