First
a disclaimer: Do not mistake me for an expert on the Bubishi, I am but an
amatuer who perhaps has seen to much. And for that I am probably no more
correct than anyone who howls at the moon. But my latest foray into the
Bubishi, and perhaps also reading a bit about the reality of the pain of
extended sitting while in true Zen meditation, I feel like howling at that
moon.
There are many
books on the Bubishi, in Japan, in America, in France and many other places.
You know a book, it is tactile, has substance, makes you feel you have gained
something. Of course the original Bubishi was none of those things.
What feel right
to me is that it was a bunch of personal notes from a adept in a Chinese
martial practice. It originally was just a loose leaf bunch of notes, ordered
whatever was last of interest to look at. I am going to ramble around on this
theme, no particular order but whatever follows.
However it
really ended on Okinawa probably will remain a mystery. But as time passed it
was passed along, between instructors and also passed to trusted senior
students. It was not a published work, rather hand copied each passage, And
that act likely changed some thing in the age old process of other hands
retelling everything. At times personal copies, at times likely professional
copyists. Likely no attempt to reconcile differences between different copies.
So you ended up with copies of something you did
not exactly know who wrote the original and had no idea how faithful the copy
you possess matched the original source.
Yet when it
moved into printed books there was a new implied structure. Perhaps different
for each work, each with an authors ideas overlaying the copy of a copy of a copy of the original notes. So
just perhaps, we can understand the confusions around it if we change the work
Bubishi to whatever karate system you follow and try to explain changes that
have occurred.
What we can
agree on was the adept of the Bubishi art, was as much into the medical side of
their art as they were into the physical side. About one half the work is
on the medical side of training. Where
to attack the body, how to heal the body after it has been attacked. How to
heal various infirmities you or your friends must endure. Less frequently
translated simply because less is known of that era’s practices perhaps.
Not that it
always makes sense. On one hand it shows instant death follows if you strike
XYZ, then in another section it describes how to treat someone who has been
struck in that same place. Incongruous at best. Reminds me of the saying “the
Lord give-ith, the Lord take-ith away.”
Of course I have
no interest in trying to learn how to treat something from notes that are
copies of copies of original notes, especially when I do not know if the
translator was qualified to prepare those notes in the first place.
I can understand
why they were included. It clearly suggests an art that cared about treating
their members as well as understanding how to attack an attacker.
Partially
because my physician, a surgeon, was a member of my adult program for many
years. His own knowledge many times led to understanding what was happening
when we were doing 123. Of course we grew when that occurred. I can readily
imagine the Bubishi author undergoing similar experiences.
Then again, in
this modern age, understanding the process is seen as a benefit. Even when the
understanding cannot be shown as part of the original.
Let me explain.
In the original Bubishi notes there were no Meridian Charts. But in most of the
modern Bubishi versions, Japanese, English, French and other versions, the
meridian charts and accompanying notes are present. They are not in the
original.
I understand why
they have been added. There is a logical gap or jump being made that shows the Bubishi within a wider Chinese
medical tradition. On the idea the meridians can be employed to heal, or that
they can be places to attack in extremis. Sounds most logical.
But perhaps just
wishful thinking. China is a big place, and has thousands of martial
traditions, as well as many other practices. One of those traditions, a very
old one, which uses vital point grasping and striking, does not include
meridian theory in their practice. Actually more like the Bubishi than you
might think. They only use one simple chart showing vital points, all the rest
came from extensive training.
While it may
seem logical, it is not necessarily the original tradition. And I prefer to see
that tradition in the raw not through other filters, no matter how well
meaning.
So just a loose
leaf collection of notes. A plausible explanation why there are different
Bubishi published structures to the chapters. Each translation coming from
collected notes in different orders. None right, none wrong.
The more you
think you grasp of the Bubishi, the more you find you have but grasped a
reflection of the moon in the water.
As we are
martial artists (an assumption on my part) the sections about martial practices
is more interesting. How it might be used by us, how some of the movements
shown may be reflected within our kata.
Of course that
might also just be wish fulfillment.
