Karate is a weaponless martial art that originated in China around 500 AD. Chinese monks, who were not allowed to carry weapons, developed over time a special martial art for self-defence from gymnastic exercises (source: The Berlin Karate Association).
Observation at the World Karate Championships: The vice world champion was given a board about 4 cm thick, concentrated for a second on this material and then chopped it up with an edge strike from his right hand. He immediately added a second experiment. Three bricks measuring 7 x 12 x 24 were placed on top of each other on a solid stool. A single blow with the edge of the hand and all three bricks broke apart. An amazing performance by the human body. The arms and legs of karate fighters are murderous weapons. A flat edge strike to the root of an opponent’s nose and he is dead.
Karate took a metaphysical turn in the first century through its fusion with Zen Buddhism. The fusion between the physical training of karate and the mystical background of Zen was so intense that descriptions of karate include the equation: karate is Zen, Zen is karate.
What ideas has Karate adopted from Zen Buddhism? First of all, the basic principle of the unity of mind and body, even with the superiority of the mind over the material. This echoes concepts found in modern medicine in psychosomatics. The total union and fusion of mind and body is achieved through meditation. For this reason, meditation exercises play an important role in karate training centres. The training programme begins each day with a full hour of Zen meditation.
In karate, for example, there are 1,000 points on the human body where a little pressure can cause painful or even serious reactions. A perfect knowledge of the anatomy of the body is by no means the end of the lesson. The essential and uncanny thing about karate is the fighter’s contact with the metaphysical. Zen Buddhism teaches that human consciousness is one with the universal world consciousness. The human mind is a part of the great cosmic mind. The main part of karate training is to strengthen contact with the supersensible world. A Zen textbook states: “Zen also creates the conditions in which one can transcend the limitations of the flesh and enter a realm that is closer to the divine. In other words, Zen creates a condition in which man can transcend the limitations of the flesh and enter a realm that is more nearly divine. Here we are at the heart of karate training. The fighter must develop psychic, metaphysical and mediumistic powers during his many years of training, which can last 20 years or more.
Almost all Asian martial arts, apart from the physical training, have a medial side. For example, Chinese Kung Fu or Kempo, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu or Aikido (source: “Okkultes ABC”; Dr Kurt E. Koch).
“Today, karate is often taught in conjunction with transcendental meditation and yoga in order to develop psychic, mediumistic powers in the student. Meditation is the essence and places these exercises in the group of occult religions. In ways that we do not fully understand, the training opens the way for the penetration of demonic spirits, which then burden the trainee”. … “Because karate is heavily mixed with the occult, practitioners come under a curse that can affect them into the third and fourth generations.” (Source: “Battling the Hosts of Hell”, Win Worley)
