The essence of Karate is energy and action

Dec 4, 2009, 12.00am IST
Tadashi Nakamura.

Zen master Taisen Deshimaru said, “Only two things matter, energy and action.” The practice of zazen, seated meditation, can free you from your limitations and help you realise your original natures. In a tangible way, it energises you, by helping to regulate the nervous system, increasing your vital capacity and the efficiency of oxygen exchange.


However, if you were to withdraw from the frenetic chaos of life to one of monastic life is this not delusion also? It would be, if there were no action.
Zazen creates energy. It connects you to your inner energy. Karate trains you in applying that energy to action. Action and movement is part of life but in karate, you experience them with the energy of Zen.
When you leave the dojo and go back into the marketplace of life, you take your practice and give it to others. Karate means “empty hand”. An empty hand clings to nothing. It does not hold on to preconceptions, prejudice, or the status quo. An empty hand can be of service to others. As you move about in your daily life, you are practising moving Zen, total involvement and absorption in the present moment.


When you watch a karate master do a kata, you are riveted by the beauty and power of the movements. They do not have to be explained, and they do not appear to be learned, but seem to come from within. If this experience were possible only in the dojo, then karate would be of limited value.
However, it is possible for students to have the same experience in their everyday lives, as a teacher giving a lecture; a stockbroker working in the chaos of the trading floor; a nurse in the charged atmosphere of a hospital. Karate Zen helps you to get in touch with your “original self” and to take that “big self” and put it to work to alleviate the suffering of others.
A true karate-ka takes the physical skills; discipline and power of concentration developed at the dojo and applies them to work, family and social life. In this way, karate is integrated into the fabric of our lives; it is not something separate. The way of karate is the way of everyday life.


Karate is an efficient form of physical conditioning that can be practised by any one. It develops aerobic fitness by raising the heart rate into the training zone and keeping it there for significant intervals. Strength is developed progressively through exercises using the body’s own weight.
Emphasis is also placed on developing and maintaining flexibility through progressive stretching of major muscle groups. In the Seido system, every student is asked to give 100 per cent to training, recognising the individual’s own capacities and limitations.


Training is done only under the supervision of certified black belt instructors.


Karate is an efficient form of self-defence. Students learn basic kicks, punches and blocks that develop self-confidence. Beyond that they learn specific combinations of techniques that are applied in specific situations. Seido students are also taught to develop an inner awareness for avoiding potentially threatening situations.

Finally, the study of karate develops discipline and concentration, skills that are useful for people in all walks of life. Students usually notice subtle changes in the way they do their work or in the way they study. In time and with practice, these benefits flow almost automatically, without conscious effort.

The writer, a grandmaster, is founder, Seido style of karate.