What a year.
In a week, I will hopefully be attending the private black belt promotion ceremony which will bring me to the final phase of my quest for black belt. If all goes well, I will finish up the Year of the Ox having acheived what I set out to achieve. I have been studying kung fu for ten years, and I chose this year to train, prepare and test for black belt because I was born in the year of the ox. I wasn't actually sure that I was ready to test, but I told myself that if there would be one year that I would focus my efforts on achieving a black belt, it surely must be in the year of my chinese sign.
It is truly meaninful to me that the ox is represented in an ancient set of drawings and prose called the Ten Ox Diagrams. According to Zen philosophers, the ten drawings represent the various stages in our search for our own true nature. The journey involves accomplishing the mastery of self. There are only two figures in the ten diagrams. The ox is our true self. The little buddha figure is ourselves as the seeker of truth or seeker of our true nature. The diagrams depict the little buddha looking here and there for the ox, finding it, trying to tame the ox with whip and rope, mounting the ox, and then becoming one with the ox, abandoning the whip and the rope after realizing that the unity of one's nature and oneself is effortless in the end. The message is that discovering enlightenment occurs within oneself; all has been one since the beginning; the ox was only a means to the rediscovery of our true self and thus enlightenment regarding all things in the universe.
It is safe to say that my black belt journey has been one of self discovery for me also. I think I spent a lot of time in struggle and turmoil with myself and the ox. Kung fu is the means by which I can discover the truth about myself, come to terms with and correct my flaws, practice humility and trust, remove limits, strive for effortless effort, walk in peace and harmony. It doesn't matter whether I earn the black belt or not; the journey has been worthwhile, and its not complete yet.
Claire Finnamore
Silent River Kung Fu - Student Member
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