Wu

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Wu in Mandarin means "nothing," and it is the heart of Buddho-Taoism- the very spirit of AWAKENING.

The Dao De Jing states clearly, "The one becomes two; the two become three; the three become the ten thousand things." Here the one represents the taiji (the totality of being); the two represents yin and yang (the dichotomy of the taiji); the three represents jing, qi, and shen (the three-fold manifestation of yin and yang); the ten thousand things represent fully manifest reality itself- the entire realm of samsara. However, before the one- that is, before the taiji- there is wu- "nothingness," or more correctly, that nothingness which represents the un-manifest potentiality of the Buddha-dhatu, the matrix of AWAKENING. But what does all this have to do with the Zenshida'i?

From wu comes the taiji- and so on through the ten thousand things. And the true work of religion is the return of the xin (citta- that is, mind/soul) from the realm of the ten thousand things back to wu- to the very wellspring of reality. However, this is the case not only with religion; this is the case with the martial arts as well. Because it is by wu that wisdom is realized, that forms are rendered irrelevant, that conceptual boundaries are first broken and then finally forgotten.

Mastery can be achieved through a state of wu- and only through a state of wu.

Zenshida'i Silat-Serak is a quasi-religious martial arts tradition, deeply rooted in Mahayana Buddho-Taoism. We take the Mahayana very seriously; we apply its principles wherever possible: taiji; yin and yang; jing, qi, and shen; and of course the source of it all- wu. And so when we train, we train in order to return to wu through the ten thousand things (particular forms, for instance); jing, qi, and shen; yin and yang; taiji...and finally back to wu. Because in that nothingness- and only in that nothingness-, we may find the wisdom necessary to break whatever bonds may yet be preventing us from reaching our fullest potential.

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~ Joshua van Asakinda

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