Standing before the morning sun as it slowly rises over the horizon of the ocean I bring both palms to meet in front of my tanden. Left hand over right I blend go and ju, sealing the movement with the breath. As I do this the void of the wu-ji suddenly gives way to life and movement in the form of light and dark, hard and soft, the ever changing duality from which all matter is born.
With my tanden engaged, I feel the whole universe revolving around one point. My eyes widen with the unification of the mind, body and breath, taking in as much of the horizon as possible. Focusing on nothing but seeing everything.
As my weight lowers and transfers into my toes I inhale, drawing on the natural energy of my surroundings, nourishing my internal organs and powering my limbs, extending and growing into sanchin kamae.
With my head suspended from the heavens as though by a length of string I sink my breath and feel my weight being drawn down into the sand as I exhale, sending my breath toward the horizon.
Grasping the first wave with the empty hands, I am the person standing between heaven and earth..
Combining breath with movement, blending hard with soft, and observing the natural laws of duality, I perform a ritual which has been passed on from generation to generation.
The ritual belongs to nobody, it is transient and elusive in its very nature. It exists for a brief moment in time before quietly fading away, back into the void. Like an ocean wave it has no discernable beginning, nor an end. It emerges silently from nothingness, exists momentarily and then returns to where it originated.
In this case the only evidence that the moment ever existed at all lies in the form of crescent shaped footprints carved into the sand, although these too will soon fade back into the void with the changing of the tide.
As the sun slowly continues to rise from the east I wonder how many others had stood in front of it on this morning and performed the very same ritual, and as the dawn continues toward the west I think about how many more practitioners might also use this opportunity to allow the kata to live through them for a fleeting moment?
I can only hope my training will one day bring this kind of unity. Your blog is very informative and insightful, thank you for it.