Slice and Dice

Funakoshi Principle #15: Think of your hands and feet as swords.

For most martial artists, the meaning of this precept should be pretty clear. Your hands and feet, which do all the punching and kicking, are seamlessly integrated with you, obviously. They do all the work in a fight.

On a deeper level, this talks about awareness of your own body. When you use a weapon, it becomes an extension of yourself. Similarly, when you are using your bare hands, they are at one with your thoughts and feelings. There is no thinking "ok, here I go. I'm throwing a punch. Now, here comes a kick." When you have been doing martial arts for a while, this all happens with "mu shin", no mind. So, to be aware of your own body while moving is to be at one with it.

Much like some of the last precepts which talking about merging yourself with others, this one focuses on the individual, but says the same thing. Be aware. Be conscious. Be One.

How do you get there? Practice! Learning to move seems like the most obvious thing. Anyone with an intact spine and a limb or four can move. However, moving with intention and awareness is not immediately evident.

Try this. Look at your hand. As you look at it feel the inside of your hand. Try to sense the blood flowing through it, if you can As you do this, you might start to feel it tingle and get lighter, or even heavier depending. You've just got a glimpse of what it is like to put awareness into a body part. Over time, by doing that and learning to move that part with awareness, you can eventually do it without thinking.