„Trees have a secret life that is only revealed to those willing to climb them.”
– Reinaldo Arenas„It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. It is the same for anything else that is called a Way. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all Ways and be more and more in accord with his own.”
– Jamamoto Cunetomo
In one of the Buddha’s last teachings, he said that each practitioner must attain enlightenment on his own; each is his own island.
At the same time, the Sangha, the community of practitioners, was of great importance to him. After his enlightenment, he had no intention of teaching because he thought people would not understand what he was saying, the Teaching or Dharma. However, the gods asked him to teach the Dharma for the sake of the few whose ‘eyes were covered with but little dust’.
So what is Sangha? It is a Sanskrit word for “association”, “company”, or “community”. In Buddhism the term was used for the monks, who lived and practiced together, according to a set of rules.
When we are practicing martial arts together, we try to help each other. We try to understand something together, and at the best moments we do it consciously, with compassion.
It is also possible to see all living creatures as a Sangha which exists, suffers and is trying to find the way out, in this very moment, together.