Nungali

A monk who chose to perform self-mummification, or sokushinbutsu, began by abstaining from grains and cereals, eating only fruits and nuts for one thousand days. He spent this nearly three years meditating and continuing to perform service to the temple and community. Then for the next thousand days the monk ate only pine needles and bark. By the end of the two thousand days of fasting, the monk’s body had wasted away through starvation and dehydration. While this satisfied the requirement for suffering, it also started the process of mummification by removing excess fat and water, which would otherwise attract bacteria and insects after death. Some of the monks drank tea made from the bark of the urushi tree during their fast. Also known as the Japanese Varnish Tree, its sap is normally used to make a lacquer varnish, and it contains the same abrasive chemical that makes poison ivy so unpleasant. Urushi is so toxic that even its vapor can cause a rash, and it remains in the body after death. Drinking urushi tea served to hasten the monk towards death as well as make his body even less hospitable to insects. Finally, the monk would enter a cramped, specially built tomb and sit in meditation as his acolytes sealed him in, leaving a small tube to allow air to enter. He spent his last days in sitting in meditation, ringing a bell occasionally to signal to those outside that he was still alive. When the bell stopped, the acolytes removed the breathing tube and sealed the tomb completely. After a thousand days, his followers opened the tomb and examined the body. If there was no sign of decay, the monk had achieved sokushinbutsu and was placed in a temple and worshipped as a Living Buddha. If not, he was reburied with great honor for the attempt. http://www.damninteresting.com/sokushinbutsu-the-ancient-buddhist-mummies-of-japan/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTxPlUnDQ1U at 4.0

I love these animal parks .... you can take the kids and for a small fee get some food to hand feed the animals there , I especially like the pigeons .... funny little guys they are !

Then... there is Tex Grebner ...... 'Tex'

I love this .... but then .... I am wicked

I thought Blavatsky originally got coached by Max Theon ( maximum godlike ) That is ; Louis-Maximilian Bimstein ? Who is this 'Fibetan' character ? I assume he was after Blavatsky left The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor ... after Peter Davidson accused her of ' falling under the influence of " a greatly inferior Order, belonging to the Buddhist Cult " ) ?

Well , after the good move a few months back, of me and one of the guys ( who trains with me away from instructor ) just dropping what we have been doing into the middle of the class and in front of instructor .... and him going " Where have you been training ? .... Where did you learn that ? ? ? " ( aside from the fact we have been doing bits of that for a while now and he happens to miss it, look away, or 'correct us ' - sometimes into a crazy dangerous move ! or waved a dismissive hand ) he finally actually watched and took it in ... all good. and said "We will use these moves in what we teach now . But where did they come from . " ( , they are mostly extensions and combinations of what he teaches anyway ... with an addition of 'nous' ) NOW he comes up with " Let's make a curriculum , a book, and standardise everything , starting with the basic ones I taught you and working the way up to more complex and number each one and you (me - Nungali ) write it all down, describe it and number it . " Great ... what me ! ? Now there is a challenge, how the hell do I do that. ??? Especially when in training he goes, "Attack me " and I say how or anything ? Head ! What ... kiratsuki ... diajodan ... ? I dont know what those mean, just attack my head . I do .. with Kiratsuki , deflect his thrust and slide my blade (wooden) up his face . Him ... no , do it this way ( ie. the way he can easily counter and kill me ! ) Instructors ! I mean, he is great at what he does , empty hand , but does not a great teacher make. So how do I even write number 1 (attack daijordan) and the counter .... " No. 2 - do a ' shuffle to offside while raising the sword handle first and make the blade extend out to an angle of .... " I even said ; Well ...... you give it a name then . he said .... "that thing that we do that we are going to call No 2. Okay, I will say, do a number 2 Him: "But they won't know what it is ...." Aye i aye i yii ! I have to work on it later today . I gave up the idea of using 'correct japanese terms' as even then different people have different interpretations of what that means , and it varies over different sword schools. My logic is, if we are going to make an adaption of a term .... number 1 ... seems to make sense . They use a similar system in Filipino Arnis , body targets are numbered, techniques are numbered, defenses and positions moved to are numbered (on the floor around you ) .... so instructor can say; " You attack with a 2 ... and you move to position 5 and counter with a 7. " Once the basics are learned its soooo much easier than a string of Japanese ( often to be followed by an English correction of , " No but on this side with an upward motion and .... " ) All I can come up with is something like ; 1. Attack with DaiJodan * (and for the more complex ones, add a line of description ) 15. Kiratsuki + ( surge forward with sword in on-guard position to cut the face ) then at the bottom of the first 10 add the notes * stepping forward cut down and into the top of the head as showed how by the instructor . + 'send' the sword first, follow it, deflect any thrusts while entering, strike and slice up the face to the forehead ... as showed how by the instructor . (that is just use the description as a memory trigger .... and put the rest back on him ) ... oh yeah, he wanted to make one of them, this silly one we dont like, ( but he gets away with doing it due to 'instructor syndrome' ) I had enough of that, so when he demonstrated it for one move for me to add today , we did it 5 times .... and I cut him across the belly 5 times (harder each time ) ... and he said "I think we will drop that one " yes ! I saw these little illustrations Bruce Lee used to add to his written descriptions, he was great at them ... just a few quick lines to make up the figures but expressive able to be understood and simple - pretty good at it he was. stuff like this : but I cant draw. I considered little pics, but I dont have the technology ( bad phone and laptop full o bugs ) I guess I need 2 others, a demonstrator and a photographer, who can stick them in a form I can use, and then word process it. cant think of any other solutions

or 'The Nungali Bullshiti ' ( the Hndbook of Dodgy-Ryu ) He taught different to each person and encouraged them to take what suited them best. basic principles seem to be ; (strike first if you can) , evade while deflecting attacks with a 'sting' , and moving to a better position, deliver a or some 'distracting' techniques (like an arm break or an eye gouge) , take down and finish with a strong technique . Besides, I am now physically incapable of most of it .... some of master's techniques include; fighting from a low squat position, rising from a low squat with a roundhouse kick to ribs then turning out and escaping - all in one move, double flying roundhouse, one a feint to one side, the other coming in as he lands, to the knee ( that one put a guy in hospital ! ) .... mid roll, taking off his wooden clog and 'frisbeeing ' it into opponent's face ( I can use that .... with a rubber crock, launching it with a kick ) .

I found this the other day , it might help some to understand the type of Shorin-ryu and other styles of Okinawan 'karate' ... developed from 'Okinawan wrestling' (basically, anything goes ) and 'Chinese hand' combined. (They tend not to spar .... 'rules' ? ! ? ! and do not 'fight' nowadays - I asked why and was told " people get hurt bad, or you get hurt, then you can get into trouble of police and court ... also, if its a friend and you hurt him, you feel bad, then you have to pay his housekeeping and rent and things until he recovers." Me; " You do that ? " "Of course ! if its a friend, and you were responsible ! " ) Here are some techniques formally displayed in kata ... with their application in modern day MMA (but some are missing as MMA has rules too and many of the techniques are banned .... thus changing the whole way of fighting, but this is a pretty good comparison ;

No way could I document 'masters style' ... no way ! Mr Nishihira never trained weapons ... his teacher did, and had well known teachers himself . Mr Nishihira said he was barely up to Mr Sokken's knee, in MA knowledge, and MSSR is a family stype ( the master is a family descendent going back to ' Bushi Matsamura (Sokken) ' Mr Nishihira had no descendent to teach - all gone now. No more 'Seito' Shorin Ryu ... but all other sorts are around. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohan_S%C5%8Dken Ted Lange learnt weaponry from Mr Soken ( a Matsumura descendant ) , my instructor learnt weaponry from Ted ( especially Soken sai and Soken kama Katas 1, 2 and 3, and the Chichen Bo katas ) and an aikido swordsman he used to train with. Then after Mr Soken passed on both Ted and my instructor accepted Mr Nishihira as Sokens appointed heir, and continued studying 'empty hand' ( originally 'Chinese hand' ) with Mr Nishihira. I learnt weaponry from ; Sikiran , Aki-kai and my instructor. They 2 guys I train with outside of class have back grounds in Tai chi ( and tai chi sword) and Krav Magra ( from being in Israeli Army ... but their weapons were hand gun and 'rifle'/bayonet. ) So its a mix of all that ..... I call it 'Dodgy-ryu'. My view is the same as Lee's ... keep what is useful, discard what does not work to your advantage. What 'works' can be judged by trial ..... Any after that, I have to start on the Jo ... same formular Then I can start getting down the Jo Vs Bokken ones. ( I 'borrowed' some from Aiki-kai )

Dude says he cant take a pic and insert it into MS doc Other dude suggests he make a video and stick it on youtube ! As I said, it wont be a 'manual' as such, more a reference guide and 'mnemonic' to personal instruction. Yep. My old MA books with pics are often undecipherable .... years later (many) with the practical experience, now I look at those pics and finally get them, I am able to undersatand the transition from one photo to the next . A giff of each technique would be better ..... I found some of them, but when I printed them out with the manual ,,,, they were not moving anymore ? ( I told you I was hopeless at IT ) Ummmmm .... errrrr ..... I am a white belt . I have managed to avoid a grading in over 20 years ! (Must be a record ) ... except in Aikido when they sprung one on me , that was the worst example of 'grading dynamic' I ever witnessed ! Over the last years with MSSR (not Aikido ) , originally, with Mr Nishihira , he didnt work like that. he had no 'club', no sign out the front, rolled up his slacks, took of his shirt and trained like that. The only full, ghee and belt dressing I saw was for group photos and special occasions. people would say "Should I put my gi on?" and he would say "if you want to." Any gradings ( no colours just wait until black, or any subsequent dan, would be 'awarded' by , one day he would say to a person , after observing them " Now you are a black belt." ... Also no charge, for lessons or a belt ( but you would get roped into helping in the kitchen, he ran a catering business ; train, make sushi , train , make sushi, train .... ) He may not have had a school as such ... but many heads of schools sought him out and came for instruction . Nah ... its not a manual, more a curriculum and will only be issued to people getting personal instruction ... however, if you ever want to fly over here .... ( train , make sushi, train, mow Nungali's lawn, train, clean the gutters, train, dig out the road drains .... ) Thanks !

ha ha ha haarrrr ! Some kid; " Hey Mister , I want to learn THAT ! Oooo ...sword fighting ! ( or , Father: " I want you to teach my boy ." ) Me; " Okay, first of all .... " Some Kid; " Nah .... I 'll just watch it on youtube and pretend thats me . " ( Also - Some guy ( who is ready for it, maybe a black belt with enough background knowledge) ; " I'd love to train... but I have my own classes to attend, and if I go somewhere else .... " Senior instructor from another style (whispers) " Come around at 11 am ... park around the back and come in the back door, show me some of those moves and I will slip you $50 ... ummm, dont tell anyone, ok ? " ('strue, happened once ! ) ..................... sneak in the back way ......

Well, after more thought, what is required is a collation of techniques that are being taught personally. Its not something to learn out of a book, so no pictures are really necessary ( I ducked that one ) . At least not a this stage. Maybe 1 or 2 as 'memory triggers'. But another issue has arisen; Its crazy just to list these complex (relatively, for the beginner) moves, there is a whole intro I need to work on in a similar way ; BASICS .... Footwork, Stance, Stepping, Distance, Draw and sheath, Etiquette, Cuts, Blocks and deflections, Control and focus .....

Why has no one started a year of monkey thread ? I must have missed it. All the happy new year wishes ... all the complaints about the new site header ???? Okay, I will start you guys off .... 1. Now that the year of my fav animal is ended may this new one bring health and prosperity to all Daobums .... but particularly me . 2. Great ! Now, every time I come to this site, I am going to have to look at 2 monkeys playing with their enlarged and distorted pink genitals !

Thanks ... I feel fine teaching physically, in person ... and teacher allows me to, even with him at times , so he is great in that regard . Its this getting it down in a written form ... when they dont want to use technical terms (nor understand them ) . Anyway ... after 5 or 6 years of it , a period away in frustration, a return, it's a breakthrough ! Oh no ..... I just realised what it is I have to learn .... how to take pics and get them onto my MS word docs - and then be able to reopen them without the computer stalling or .... < slump >

I found this better when I did the Aikido exercise. besides .... forcing ? It did take a little longer ... but not really as the other way was mostly fails, end up as you described, gasping or getting out of rhythm later . If I took even 2 more breaths extra and worked at extending the length of each one, and the length of the still points (on exhale and inhale ) I found after then, I was able to go a lot slower each one and get my rates down quicker overall. But I wasnt doing pushups without breathing . I think the idea was , you maintain that still consciousness, low breath and heart rate, while doing the exercises, throwing rolling being dynamic .... so the experienced were not that gasping at the start of the exercise anyway.

I did variations of this with a finishing Aikido (Aki-kai) breath exercise - at the end, after a vigorous, exercise. The aim is to decrease breath rate of , draw in, pause, breathe out, pause ... as soon as possible. The good guys could go from a gasping pant to near still breath in 4 - 5 breaths. At the same time, of course, their heart rate rapidly dropped. The breaths were done in sitting 'za-zen' ( legs tucked under ) and learning full forwards, breath out, full upright- breath in ; posture and movement should coincide, as breath is all out full body bent down and forward .... hold .... for ? .... body moves up (slower than last cycle) as breath starts to come in, body full upright as lungs fill to max - hold for x ( but longer each cycle ) I suppose some of you aikido practitioners have done it ? Different exercise than Wim's , but all part of gaining control of the autonomous system.

Doh ! Thread about Wim here already .

... and so on

I seem to remember a doco recently where they froze these guys in a room , one 'cold resistor' and two normals. They did all sorts of tests with infra red photography etc. One thing immediately noticed was , on emergence from chamber, 'cold resistor guy' was bright red ... the others nearly blue ... half a mo' ... This isnt the doco I saw, but I am pretty sure this is the dude ... no, he isnt 'mystical' ( "no hocus-pocus " ) he just concentrates on this ability ;

You want specifics ? Well, to be specific, you first ; who are you asking ? And why have you decided any solution must be 'avant-garde' before you have heard it ? I assume you are not addressing me as previously, when I was specific you ; ... and dropped out of the dialogue .... waited and returned with 'here come da judge ' . aside from what is in other's posts here .... here is a hint for you : if you cant do good works or show compassion to those suffering, and/or help alleviate it ... just for the sake of it itself, or that you simply perceive a course of action 'needs doing' , and you do need hope/fear of heaven/hell or good/bad karma results ( not much big diff IMO ) to stimulate you to do good... then stick with heaven and hell and karma. Its better than not helping at all. If thats too 'avant-garde' or 'non-sequiter' for you, perhaps one of the others could explain ?

So what about 'self-centeredness ? Thats the whole point ! - Jeeze ! Judge is massaging away the Christian rigidity, with another type of rigidity . It may have been needed back then for those types. We have gone a long since then and such baby steps are far behind and outdated. Unless one still finds oneself in a Xtian post-Victorian mind set that one has to break out of slowly and securely

I might be .... I have a life of peace and ecstasy .... dont see why my death would be so radically different . ( Well , aside from the physical pain )