I shave my head

harris June 23, 2014

I was always intrigued why all the great masters said that this world is an illusion. What are they talking about, how could all the objects, all my feelings, my thoughts, my body, how can I be an illusion. They must be crazy! And then I started practicing the Kyokushin way. And the words of the masters became so real!

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Starting more than 15 years ago, I shave my head. In the beginning people asked me why I did this, because I really had nice hair, and I always replied that it is more convenient for me because of the training. My real motive was something else. The moment I realized, mostly through Kyokushin, through meditation and reading, how superficial, how asleep and lost almost everybody around me was, I decided that I must do something, like a reminder to go on the middle way, to walk between this material, instinct dominated and petty world and the spiritual world, actually the only real one. I refuse to go to a monastery, I refuse to hide myself, but in the same time, I refuse to become this world of agony and ecstasy. So I choose to meditate in the middle of the market, I want to continue to live among all the people, enjoying every moment, every blessing, because when you start to understand the illusion, everything becomes a bliss, even the things that you considered “bad” in the past.
The beginning of understanding for me was the moment when I realized that I can perceive the same situation in different ways just by a simple decision. After experimenting some time with this technique I discovered a new one, the most important of all, for me. When you start meditating, one of the things the master is asking you to do is to try to contemplate, to observe your mind, the way how thoughts come and go, how they grow if you feed them, how they fade when you change your focus. Funny thing is that thoughts and emotions, feelings, wishes, they start to become so much less vital for yourself just by observing them, just by becoming a witness. This is the most important technique that I know, and I use it lately all the time.
Have you noticed how, after one good Kyokushin training, all the problems that you prior thought you have, become smaller? I am absolutely sure that all who train in Kyokushin have experienced this. How come? Because, during training, during kihon, kata, kumite, the mind becomes still, it must become so, if not, you are not doing it correctly, and because of this, problems shrink. So a question appears: if a problem can become smaller just by not paying attention to it for a while, how real can it be? It makes me smile even now, after so much time.
Things have not stopped here. Not only did I discovered that the mind is “guilty” for all my misery, but by trying to contemplate my thoughts, my emotions, my cravings, my fears, by deciding not to get identified with them, I stopped judging situations and I started discovering perfection in all things, even in those considered really bad by most of the people. And seeing perfection has never left me since. Contemplation helps you not to get identified with situations, with emotions, with clothes, wishes, with who you “think” you are. This is so great! It is such a feeling of relief! After understanding, after becoming conscious, you become light like a feather even if you are sick, poor or in pain. There are so much more things to say, but shortly: observe, contemplate, meditate, do not get identified, laugh all the time, stop in the middle of the day to watch a child playing, a bird singing, do your duty, but do not forget who you are and what this world is made of. This is the middle way. This is why I shave my head. This is why I train Kyokushin. Osu!