Founded in 1970
Welcome to Budokan
MEDITATION STOOLS
Individually hand-made and to a professional standard, visually attractive and the practical answer to comfortable meditation or a simple seating solution for improved posture.
Come in an meet some of the people past and present in Budokan.
with Passmore Sensei are available by arrangement.
Click here to contact him by email for further information.
PRIVATE CLASSES
Budokan is a member of the Nine Circles Giri discount scheme on mpst of their clothing and equipment.
If yoiu are a member of Budokan and wish to benefit from discounts on offer - just email us and we will send yiou our username and passward.
You can then buy direct.
ZEN AND JAPANESE BUSHIDO
THE MORALITY OF BUSHIDO
ALWAYS
REMEMBERED
Budokan has many Teachers Maaters and Students to whom we owe so much.
We have now created a permanent presence on the site, so that we can all remember who they were and be eternally grateful for the contribution they have made in the practice, promotion and dissemination of Japanese Budo.
Modern day practitioners of Japanese Budo do not include the essence of the spirit of Budo, because of the absence of the spirit of Zen. Shinto and Zen Buddhism and a better understanding of Bushido.
Doshu
Founder of Budokan
WORKSHOPS
SUNDAY
14 April 2019
Lymington Dojo
at
2pm
Budokan People
...and what they are, or have been getting up to....
Budokan is made up of a load of interesting people.
And they are all doing something - it seems - most of the time - outside of the martial arts, that is.
So we want to record those times here on the Budokan website for all of us to share on a page dedicated to them.
Getting married
New ddition to the family
Moving House
Doing something for the first time.
Family get togethers.
Birthday celebrations
And so on.
Send your pics, videos and stories in when you can.
New Year Message
read
Buddhism from the view of current evolutionary psychology, biology and philosophy
A very brief snapshot...
1 The only reality is genetic propagation
2 The human body was optimised for an environment that no longer exists.
3 Long term happiness is an illusion and is a source of human suffering
4 Human consciousness is governed by feelings - not logic
We think we are thinking creatures that feel - biologically we are feeling creatures that think.
5 Autonomous selfhood does not exist
There is no CEO of the mind
6 Individuals are tribal, self centred and biased and suffer from wishful thinking
We are naturally tribal, selfish and limited by bias and suffer from illusions.
7 Human beings fail to see the world clearly - which leads to them suffering and to make
others suffer.
BUDDHIST TEACHINGS
A Snapshot of the Four Noble Truths
"I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. That's all I teach", declared the Buddha 2500 years ago.
The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings.
It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the Bodhi tree.
1 To be alive and to be aware, is to suffer - Dukkha he called it.
2 All sufferings are the effects of identifiable causes
3 By removing these, we can rid ourselves of the suffering
4 By moving our conscious mind into a state of contentment and ease through meditation.
The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end of suffering.
The Eightfold Path
The eight stages are not to be taken in order, but rather support and reinforce each other:
1. Right Understanding - Accepting Buddhist teachings. (The Buddha never intended his followers to believe his teachings blindly, but to practise them and judge for themselves whether they were true.)
2. Right Intention - A commitment to cultivate the right attitudes.
3. Right Speech - Speaking truthfully.
4. Right Action - Behaving peacefully and harmoniously.
5. Right Livelihood - Avoiding making a living in ways that cause harm.
6. Right Effort - Cultivating positive states of mind;.
7. Right Mindfulness - Developing awareness of feelings and states of mind.
8. Right Concentration - Developing the mental focus necessary for this awareness.
The eight stages can be grouped into Wisdom (right understanding and intention), Ethical Conduct right speech, action and livelihood) and Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration).
The Buddha described the Eightfold Path as a means to enlightenment, like a raft for crossing a river.
Once one has reached the opposite shore, one no longer needs the raft and can leave it behind.
Regular Meditation and Conscious Breathing = calm and high levels of concentration and clarity
of thought.
Observations of the mind and training the mind all lead to a constant awareness and comparison of what is happening in your head - “in here” and what is happening in your world -“out there”.
If you can do this every day and succeed then you will feel regularly contented and at ease, with both yourself and with the world you are in
THE 5 AGGREGATES
This was based on his theory that nothing is permanent - that everything is changing all the time.
It began with the Buddha's Discourse on the Not Self with 5 of his disciple monks.
1 Our physical body is changing all the time
90% of our cells will have changed each year.
2 Our feelings come and go
One minute you may be angry - the next minute you’re not.
3 Perception
Becoming aware of something via your senses and understanding
4 Thoughts
Certainly come and go
70% of our thoughts are negative
5 Awareness of all these aggregates
Developing an awareness of them all through meditation.
First workshop of the year - seated meditation or Zazen and its historical links to Japanese Bushido and Budo
We begin each year with a workshop on the various aspects of seated meditation or Zazen and its relationship with Japanese Bushido and Budo, in an attempt to reinforce the importance of its daily - or at least regular - practice that will have a positive impact on the bahaviour of all students and how they perceive the world and themselves in it.
Many students have picked up books on Buddhist thought and hace never been able to make head not tail of their content.
Between each Meditation zesshin with conscious breathing, students were divided into 3 discussion groups and were introduced to a laymans snapshot of the main principles of Buddhist teaching. This was followed by a look at the 5 Aggregares in the Discourse of the Not Self and then a scientific view of Buddhism usiing evolutionary psychology, biology and philosophy.
All produced very lively discussion, which continued on into the pub afterwards, in front of a welcome warm fire!
It is with great sadness that we hear of the passing of Minoru Kanetsuka Shihan on Friday 8 March 2019.
He was an influential figure in the early days of Passmore Sensei's Aikido training in London from 1974.
Read more from a number of different sources on the Memorial page we have set up for him - more to come.
If you have any memories or know of anyone who does please send them to us - thank you.
KANETSUKA SENSEI
SOME MEMORIES OF MY TIME WITH KANETSUKA SENSEI
DAVID PASSMORE
My first meeting with this amazing and charismatic figure , who was to become most influential in my early Aikido years, was on the mat in the Chiswick Dojo in London - Chiba Sensei presiding.
I had begun my first classes in Aikido with Chiba and was soon being singled out as an Uke for him when reasonably fast punches were needed! Years and years of Karate experiience brought me face to face, with Kanetsuka many times on the mat - who himself acted as a more regular Uke for Chiba - as he wanted to try out his brilliant technical skill - whilst I punched and punched all to no avail. I believe Kanetsuka was a 3 Dan at the time.
A few years later I was encouraged by Chiba to go and train with Kanetsuka in his new dojo in Albany Grove just off the Euston Road, as I was living in North London at the time.
So began a daily ritual of 7.30 am training with him and then heading off to work.
The dojo was freezing in the winter and thankfully cool in the summer.
He was instrumental in helping to form the London Taxi Aikido Club.
I used to regularly go over to his home in Kentish Town/Holloway area where he had a small private dojo and for the privilige of him honing his Aikido skills on me he would then use my tired body to teach me Shiatsu - at that time he used to be treat The Royal Ballet Company.
He used to try to get me to follow his macrobiotic diet for breakfast, especially when I used to go over for some early morning training - which sadly for him did not work for me because at that time I was still an egg and bacon man!
I remember a meeting being held there with Chiba Sensei, Sekiya, Kanetsuka and one other Japanese student, to begin to fromulate the beginnings of what became the British Aikido Federation.
Chiba informed me at that meeting which was entirely conductd in Seiza(!) that I was to become Secretary - which I duly did. BTW - the meeting took 2 hours...in seiza.
My tenure would turn out to be a very short one indeed.
His English was not that good in these early days but he was absolutly adamant that there was only one style of Aikido - and that was the one practised and taught by the Aikikai - it was he said Aikido in its purest form.
He reluctantly attended the inaugural meeting and a couple of others - but always came away grumbling to Kanetsuka in Japanese - and later translated to me - that he was not happy.
I think it was our 3rd of 4th meeting with a number of other interested parties, all of which Chiba did not recognise. that everything went pear shaped. Chiba suddenly stood up in the meeting - said something in Japanese about pure Aikido and stormed out of the room - quickly followed by Kanetsuka and just as quickly followed by me.
It took a long time for things to settle down but they did and the BAF became a reality and Kanetsuka played his role making it so.
In addition to the London dojo in Northlot, I had an established karate dojo down in Sussex and when my London sojourn ended, I invited him down for a weekend course, as I had begun to teach Aikido to the Budokan students, about a year earlier.
I picked him up at Wadhurst station on the Saturday morning, dropped his luggage off at our home and took him to the dojo for a 2pm start. He was impressed with the atitude of all the students there - not quite sure about their Aikido skills though - early days yet for them!
In the early evening - as was the custom after training - we all piled into the local pub. I knew he drank Guiness and I have seen him drink quite a lote of it in the past - but I had never seen him do so in a full lotus on a bar stool!
I took him back home pretty much the worse for wear for something to eat and then to bed. It was customary for the host to try and keep up with the Sensei whilst drinking together. Needless to say I couldn't keep up with him and the last thing he said to me on going to bed, around midnight - was "Passmore - wake me up at 7 - we must do Zazen together".
Well, he was as bright as a button and already to go when I woke him up and I have to admit my body appeared to be doing zazen - but my head was definitely somewhere else.
Aboout six months later in late Summer, we had moved our dojo into an old army barracks in the middle of a pine forest near Crowborough in East Sussex. The canvas covered area was laid on thick carpet underlay directly onto the concrete floor. There was ample room for students to camp overnight and many came for the treat of an all day Aikido session with the great man.
There was just one snag.......
Kanetsuka and his wife had prepared a macrobiotic breakfast for everybody.
I had booked him and his family into a local hotel for the night.
I met them there and then took him down to say hello to all the happy campers, dropped off the neatly packaged breakfast parcels and took him back to his hotel.
Very early the next morning - the nearest telephone box was about a mile away - I received a call from one of the students. Nobody wanted the macrobiotic breakfast! So it was down to the bakery for the baguettes and then the local shop for the bacon and raced over to the dojo.
Everybody happy and we all settle down to wait for the arrival of the Sensei.
He duly arrived soon thereafter and you know how the smell of bacon tends to hang around?
Well, needless to say the ukemi and the training was demanding and guess what we all had for lunch?
Over the years I was lucky enouogh to attend Summer Schools and Workshops with Chiba (when he was in the UK) Kanetsuka (who by this time had moved to Oxford) in Sterlling (Scotland) Canterbury, Liverpool, Birmingham, Warminster and London and of course Oxford - where visiting Sensei ranged from Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Saito, Yamaguchi, Asano, Yamada and Sekiya.
Kanetsuka always expected me to carry his bags at these courses - which I always used to do - and which I considered a great honour.
And I am eternally gratefu to him for his patience in teaching a stiff, awkward and tense Karateka the art of relaxed coordination performed by a much much more flexible body than I ever imagined possible, along with the discipline of the daily practice of Zazen, which I do to this day.
Thank you Kanetsuka Sensei.
You will never be forgotten.
SENSEI PASSMORE PERFORMING TEACHING VIDEO OF TENSHO
