Martial Arts and combat sports can teach you self-defense, grow your self-confidence and provide you with friends for life. Yet there is something more to be gained which will be today's topic. There is something that happens in the midst of battle, in the midst of chaos that can hardly be recreated in any other circumstances. It is the moment in which you have to trim your sails to the thunderous winds that try to tear you apart. In the midst of battle you lose yourself, because there is no time to think about what you're doing, as there often is not even enough time to act properly. Hence, often times you are left simply reacting.
In Zen Buddhism 'simply reacting' is an important concept. Of course this does not mean to just do anything, it is rather rooted in the belief that there is a form of intelligent mindlessness to be accessed. Often times, when Zen students would ask their masters heavy questions the answers would seemingly be completely out of context and leave the students confused. Not knowing how to deal with such a response they would often leave again in order to reconsider. Just about to be out of sight, the master would shout their name and in an instant they would answer "Yes?", to which the master would say "That's it!". Not concerned with coming up with the correct response, not rambling on about the best way to frame something, their mind was at peace and therefore instantly reacted appropriately. If you are in a race and you anticipate the next turn to be a left turn and it turns out to be a right, you have to first let go of getting ready for the right turn and then consider the left. If, however you do not expect anything and just react when the turn is actually happening, you can react faster and more adequately.*
