Zen in the Martial Arts

What first led me to Zen was a study of the martial arts. Remember the martial arts originally was a way of life. There was a philosophy that was a part of any real martial arts training. In today’s world that seems to be lost entirely.

Old movies like the Karate Kid showed a struggle between good versus evil. Most of the early Bruce Lee movies showed him fighting the bad guys who were smuggling heroin. Bruce Lee was not fighting to promote drug smuggling and greed.

The UN gang tries to take some of the traditional Asian values and twist them into supporting something bad. Honor and loyalty are good but there is no honor in selling crack and loyalty to a criminal enterprise is very misguided. Especially when that criminal organization sells date rape drug.

Zen is very much in the moment. It doesn’t just apply to Buddhism. I can apply to anything. It’s simply thinking outside the box. Looking at the bigger picture and seeing how our actions affect others and the world we live in. No doubt true Zen has a social conscience (Dali Lama) and a passion to protect the environment. Indeed, we are one (Bob Marley).

The purpose of martial arts training was to preserve and protect. It was not to control and abuse. That is the dark side which leads not just to anger and hate but to selfishness, greed , oppression, dishonesty and unfulfillment. It is not only wrong but it is empty and incomplete.

Allan Watts studied Zen. He wrote an interesting booklet that talked about Christianity. In it, he claimed the translation of the Greek word sin literally meant to miss the mark. If our ultimate goal in life is to find peace, happiness and fulfillment, to sin would be to miss the mark like an archer misses his target. To sin then would be to do things that would take away true happiness and real fulfillment.

Martin Luther King taught anyone can be great because anyone can serve. Clearly the dilemma arises when we realize that true happiness comes through service to others. Not slavery, but service. Indeed whosoever shall lose his life shall in so doing find it.
I remember hearing about a Chinese painting of Heaven and Hell. The artist’s image of hell was a dinner table filled with food. Seated at the table the guests had chopsticks longer than their arms. They were too long to get the food into their mouths and were the only way they could eat the feast before them.

As a result everyone was in torment because they were starving sitting in front of a huge feast and unable to eat it. They were miserable. Conversely, the artist’s image of heaven contained the same dinner table with the same eating utensils. Only this scene was very different than the other. In this scene everyone was happy and fulfilled. The only difference was they were feeding each other.

I don’t believe Hell is a place where God spanks us for eternity and repeatedly tells us I told you so. I think Hell is simply having lived a selfish live and being then grouped with people just like us. Living in a society where people rob, rape and murder would be somewhat less fulfilling then living in a society where people aspire to something higher and work together for a common goal. It really is that simple. Is this the real life or is it just a fantasy? You tell me. Perhaps it’s just a Bohemian Rhapsody

Bad Month in Surrey

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, front page of the Surrey Leader reads: “ Bad Month in Surrey 31 days, 8 shootings, 4 gun fatalities.” Then the absurd heading beside it What’s going on? Are more liberal drug laws needed?” No, that’s part of the problem. Look at the difference between the Australian judicial system and the Canadian judicial system. You don’t oput out the forest fire of drug addiction by pouring gasoline on it. The New York model was one of enforcement. You stop letting the crack dealers sell crack in public. Making the fire burn underground is the only way to contain it.

Harper Destroys Canada’s Pension Plan based on a Lie

Well here it is. The devil revealed. This is why we shouldn’t have given Stephen Harper a majority. He is a liar. “They’re all liars, it’s better to have a Conservative liar than a Marxist liar “ you say? Stephen Harper is NOT a Conservative. He is a liar. He is what the master would have described as a liar and hypocrite who has pimped the church for his own personal gain. OK maybe the master wouldn’t say pimped the church but that is what he would have meant. He would have just found a more politically correct term. John’s revelation referred to the great whore of all the earth. Stephen Harpers’ agenda is the same as that great whore John referred to.

Here’s the news: Stephen Harper just announced he’s going to take his majority government and after dropping expensive bombs in Libya and spending a huge amount of money on jets from one of his own lobbyists, he is now going to destroy Canada’s Pension Plan once and for all. Oh the cunning plan of the evil one.

The neo cons have been preparing us for this. They keep telling us money is short, times are tough. Yet the real lie is about the bank bailout that Canada never did but did in secret. The one that took us from a surplus in the millions to a deficit in the billions with one sweep of the devil’s pen.

England had a similar problem. After creating a huge deficit from spending a huge amount of money on the unlawful invasion of Iraq based on a lie, and after spending a huge amount of money dropping missiles in Libya, the neo con government announced massive cuts to education, policing, medical and you guessed it, pensions.

Stealing pensions is the new corporate golden egg that consumes their greed. At first they wanted to tap into the interest of employee pensions seeing the huge amount of money just sitting there waiting to be stolen. The people didn’t like that idea. Pensions are sacred. So instead they stopped giving employees pensions. That was they could have the principle and the interest too. Oh the cunning plan of the evil one.

This is where Stephen Harper has taken us. He wants to steal our pensions because he spent billions of tax dollars on the banks. That is so wrong words cannot express how wrong it is. We need to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to open our eyes and see what the enemy within is doing to our country. It is treason and we need to resist it.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I’ve fallen behind. Yes I will write about Stephen Harpers new announcement to destroy Canadian pensions based on a lie because that is a National Emergency. Before that however, I want to pause for a moment and go retro.

When I was a kid I used to have a book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I liked it because I rode a motorcycle at the time and I was introduced to zen through my study of the martial arts. Back in the day, the martial arts was a way of life with a profound philosophy. It wasn’t about taking steroids and just ground and pound. That’s for people who never understood what the Gracie’s showed us in Brazilian Ju Jitsu.

Back in the day, riding a motorcycle was about living the dream. It was about freedom. Mobility rights – the freedom to move. The freedom to go where you want when you want. Yet it was more than that. It was about the American Dream. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not the new dream which simply covets greed.

Likewise the MC dream has become tainted. Selling crack and crystal meth has nothing to do with living the dream. Neither does pimping crack hoes or selling date rape drug. Living the dream isn’t about old men on Viagra spending all their time at the strip bar. Somewhere along the line most of those idiots forgot to grow up. Why are “good family men” so obsessed with spending all their time at the strip bar?

Sexual intimacy is a normal part of a healthy marriage. I am most certainly not saying that wives are supposed to be sexual slaves. I’m just saying that if the intimacy has been lost in your marriage, perhaps she’s just not into you any more. Perhaps she has good reason. Perhaps those old men just need to grow up or as we said back in the day, go back to living the real dream and remembering that enlightenment we all once knew when we were young.

I just bought an new copy of the book reprinted in 1999 on the 15th anniversary of the original printing. It came out in 1974 That makes the book 38 years old. Where on earth did the time go? The Book is titled Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance An Inquiry into Values. You don’t need a religion to have values.

Right before the introduction there is a quote that reads: “And what is good, Phaedrus, And what is not good – Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?” That pretty much sums it up. We don’t need a paid preacher or a corrupt politician to tell us what is good and what is evil. We can see and know that for ourselves. What we need is simply to open our eyes. Once we see the big picture, our lives will never be the same.

So while we talk about the gang war, while we talk about corruption in politics that enables the gang war, I’m going to run a several pary series on the side about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance because ultimately, that’s what I’m talking about.

Kendo - Onegai shimasu

Onegai shimasu is a Kendo term that's hard to translate. It is said when one squares off with an opponent. Some translate it to mean please train with me but that is incomplete. My Kendo instructor told me it meant "Please Show me the way." [to enlightenment] This makes much more sense when you put it in the context of Zen.

Enlightenment is the quest of Zen. When you square off against an oponenet they show you your weaknesses. By overcoming your weaknesses you progress towards enlightenment. I like the term. Kendo Kaponi on the other hand is a Latino rapper that cut a song with Daddy Yankee called Danger. The Latino brothers understand war, hell, resurrection and danger. Indeed the drug dealers life is a dangerous business. Buyer beware.

All Blacks Haka - Ka Mate

The New Zealand All Blacks are an awesome rugby team. Before a match they do the ceremonial Haka taken from Maori tradition. There are different forms of the Haka but one form and one translation that I saw on the All Blacks web site related to a historic battle. A Maori chief and a small band of warriors were greatly out numbered. The chief shouted out we're gonna die. The warriors responded we will live. This is repeated twice. Then the unified conclusion was live or die we will fight. It is a very moving a motivational chant. Ka Mate.

Vancouver drugs seized in Australia

Five Australian men have been arrested after trying to smuggle $8 million worth of drugs Down Under from Vancouver International Airport.

On Dec. 30, 2011, Canadian border officers found the drugs - six kilograms of cocaine, 12 kg of MDMA (ecstasy) and nearly two kilograms of meth – after they examined a commercial oven and range destined for Australia Service Agency.

The shipment was tracked to Sydney airport on Jan. 7, and on Thursday to locations in two suburbs north of Sydney, where eight search warrants were issued and the five men arrested.

Dare I say it? We know who would be in charge of that much cocaine and crystal meth in Vancouver. Perhaps the fake ecstasy would start causing more fatalities in Australia just like they have here in greater Vancouver and Calgary. The same drug ring going international.

We know a little bit about the Hells angels invasion of the Australian drug market including Sydney. The hells angels bribed and patched over Chris Hudson. They told the local MC called the Finks to work for them or leave town. They told the Hells Angels to F off. We know that Chris Hudson was caught on video grabbing a girl by the hair and dragging her outside a nightclub. He was seen throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the head. Later that day he was seen assaulting his girlfriend in public. When a local lawyer and a Dutch backpacker came to his girlfriend's aid he pulled out a gun and shot all three emptying the clip into the lawyer who was a father of three while he lay on the ground wounded. That father died.

We also know all about the Senior Hells Angels and his pack of rats that were accused of gang raping and torturing a stripper from Melbourne on another pig farm. The woman was awarded a token compensation for her injuries but the assailants walked. We also know about the Sergeant at Arms for that chapter that was accused of gang raping and torturing that girl. The police seized some of his property under proceeds of crime legislation. He sued them and won. Now that's a rat king for ya. The president of the chapter had drug charges as well. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to do the math. The Hells Angels tried to extort almost $1 million from one of Australia's biggest construction companies during a dispute featuring Melbourne underworld bosses.

Interesting to see the huge difference between the Canadian and the Australian judicial system. The paper claimed that the mules who were caught bringing the drugs into Australia, could face life imprisonment. No house arrest from an idiot like Peter Leask down under.

Another Hells Angel rival ends up dead

There was another shooting in Surrey last night. 139 street and 56th avenue - that's awfully close to the courthouse and police station. Sean Beaver who was shot dead last night was the half brother of a Dhak associate named Stephen Leone that was shot dead last October. Is that a Tim Horton's coffee cup being used as an official marker?

Newt Gingrich and the American Infidelity Dream

I realize with all the bullets flying and bodies dropping in the gang war revisited, no one really cares about American politics right now but since it’s in the news I’ll throw it out there and the rest of you can just scroll past it.

Turns out that Mitt Romney didn’t win Iowa after all, Newt Gingrich did. But wait a minute. They announced that Mitt Romney won Iowa. Now they claim the Newt won Iowa? That sounds an awful lot like Florida discrepancies to me.

I find Newt Gingrich’s popularity to be very disturbing. New developments came out about his past infidelities. A reporter asked him about it and he yelled at the reporter and said he was outraged they would even ask the question while his clone soldier groupies cheered and rose to give him a standing ovation. That was just plain cult like. Jim Jones here we come.

It’s a sad day when the “religious right” chooses infidelity over common sense. Gingrich’s infidelity is relevant. So is his ties to insider trading. Catherine Austin Fitts talked about the Shadow Government. An intelligent credible person talking about very real concerns. Ron Paul isn’t part of the shadow government. The Shadow government would rather elect two idiots (Sarah Palin or Donald Trump) instead of electing him.

Yet even the public can’t stomach that much stupidity so they found a healthy compromise in Mitt Romney. But no, the dirty traders and insider greed rather someone dirty enough to do whatever they want so they have to push someone else. So they pick the rageaholic with a history of infidelity and insider trading that would serve them well.

It’s a sad day when Americans cheer those kinds of dirty deeds. Sure part of the American dream is a rags to riches quest but it’s much more than that. The real American dream was Braveheart’s quest for freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom of association. Freedom from unnecessary searches and seizures. The right to a fair trial and due process. The right to legal representation. The Bill of Rights is the real American dream.

So many sheep have lost sight of that because they covet greed and idolize infidelity. When Desperate Housewives become the national role model, something has seriously gone astray. Muslims aren’t the only ones who have the term infidel. The New Testament claims that anyone who doesn’t provide for his own is worse than an infidel. It’s sad to see the American dream become twisted to the Infidel’s Dream to the cheers of the cult like crowd.

Another Canadian drug dealer murdered in Mexico

Without diving too much into the details of each case, I just want to cite the drug related murders of four Canadians in Mexico which I feel are very much related. Most recently we have a senior UN member murdered in Mexico named Salih Abdulaziz Sahbaz. He was 37 and returned regularly to Surrey.

He took over after UN member Elliott Castenada was murdered in Mexico. In between those two murders, Gordon Kendall and Jeffry Ivans, Hells Angels associates from Kamloops were also brutally murdered in Mexico.

Gord and Jeff didn't look like Hells Angel associates. They looked like two fun loving Canadians who got in over their head. They were making drug connections for the Hells angels in Mexico and were dealing with the Mexican cartels. The local news ran photos of their dead bodies in the paper. It was horrible.

We all know when someone gets shot, they bleed. We see people get shot on TV all the time. Seeing the recent photo of Salih's dead body reminded me of the photos of Gord and Jeff's. There was a huge amount of blood. I'm not the type of guy to print those kinds of pictures.

I didn't post pictures of Larry Amero lying on the ground bleeding after he was shot in Kelowna. I didn't post pictures of the Montreal mafioso that was shot and swam across the freezing river only to be found dead on the other side of the river lying in the snow. I didn't even post pictures of the Risottos at his son's funeral. We need to have a little more respect than that.

Some would argue that showing these pictures of the brutally murdered gang members is a good poster for kids so they don't get involved in that lifestyle. I understand the argument. I'm just not going to participate in it. I prefer to remember Gord and Jeff as the fun loving Bob and Doug Mackenzie types who were obviously fun, kind and friendly. To me that is just as significant because it shows how easily anyone can get tempted by the quick cash that comes at far too great a price. That is a real tragedy.