Kame Sennin and Kume Sennin – The Perverted Hermits
Every Dragon Ball fan is familiar with Kame Sennin, the perverted martial arts master. But how many of you have heard of Kume Sennin, the original perverted hermit?
Many of the characters seen in Dragon Ball were inspired by traditional or pop culture. It’s well known that Goku was inspired by the Monkey King from Journey to the West, as well as martial arts actor Jackie Chan.
But not all of the characters’ points of origin are as easy to see.
Today I will reveal for the first time the original inspiration for Kame Sennin.
You’ll learn who Kume Sennin is, hear his legend, and see how his transformation into a Japanese pop cultural figure was later emulated in cinema and then once again by Akira Toriyama in Dragon Ball.
You’ll also learn why this legend is so essential to the Dragon Ball story, and how it’s so well integrated that you may never have realized it.
continue …
Work In Progress
2011 has been a year of changes.
In spiritual cultivation communities, the master’s teach that understanding and improvement comes through conflict, either with ourselves, with others, or with our environments. This year I’ve experienced all three, continuously.
At the end of 2010 and start of 2011 I had a high paying job at an internet startup. I thought it would be great, but unfortunately I wasn’t happy and the job consumed every aspect of my life. I decided that I wasn’t happy there, and chose to quit.
This decision had a lot of ramifications. A few negative, but mostly positive, such as figuring out what I really want to be doing with my life.
Also, I started dating, and on May 1 I proposed to Deborah Yun.
Deborah’s a really great person who is always striving to be better in life. She has taught me a lot, and helped fill in the gaps and missing pieces on the road to fulfilling my potential. Plus she’s cute and funny.
You can see her photography at www.deborahyun.com.
But very quickly we both found out that living the freelance life (me a website developer and her a photographer) in Los Angeles can be very difficult and tiring.
We decided to move in together for a lot of reasons, including saving money and being closer to one another.
The Kaio Ken Explained
The following article will reveal the origin, history and inner mechanics of the Kaio Ken martial arts technique.
What is the Kaio Ken?
The Kaio Ken is a heavenly martial arts technique taught to Goku by North Kaio.
It is one of Goku’s signature techniques used during the first few sagas of Dragon Ball Z.
The Kaio Ken amplifies Goku’s speed, power, mental acuity and physical prowess for short bursts of high intensity.
In the early episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Goku was killed by his brother Raditz, passed into the afterlife, ran 1,000,000 kilometers (10,000 miles in the English dub) across Snake Way, and then trained with North Kaio on his planet.
Not even North Kaio could fully perfect the Kaio Ken, as it is a very advanced mind-body technique.
Goku eventually surpassed his master.
Anger and Focus in Dragon Ball
Pain sharpens focus. Comfort dulls it.
Anger and pain narrow the mind. Compassion and tolerance broaden the mind.
Pain and anger drive one to take immediate actions. Comfort and pleasure pacify the mind to linger in non-action.
In Dragon Ball, villainous forces run amok. Different beings vie for power and control of planets.
Both the Guardian named Kami and North Kaio are passive deities, wrapped in idyllic comfort. They are supposed to protect the people within their domain, but most of the time they don’t do anything.
Placed above the living world in stations of authority, they look out with a broad view at the sentient beings below. Yet they are more dedicated to watching events unfold then changing them. They pass time with voyeurism.
They do not use their vast powers and supernormal abilities. Laws are in place that state how they can interact with the lesser beings. Thus, with restraint in their heart and a broad long term perspective that things will work out on their own, they do not act. They only lament the current state of affairs. The beings below are left to fend for themselves.
Goku’s life is uncomfortable. Whether under attack or in training, Goku is forced to become angry in order to ascend. Goku is a genuinely nice person, but when he is pushed to the limit he becomes filled with rage. He is a true spiritual warrior who directs short term anger in explosive waves.
There were only a couple cases in Dragon Ball when Kami became angry enough to act.
Goku’s Simple Life
Goku lives a simple life.
Like a wandering pilgrim, Goku’s only possessions are a martial arts uniform and occasionally the nyoi bo staff.
Goku is almost single mindedly focused on his martial arts cultivation.
Chi-Chi handles all of the domestic affairs, including the caring of their house, the monetary concerns, and the raising of children.
This reminded me of my own life and how it is a bit too complicated.
By an average person’s standard my life may seem rather simple: An average guy with an apartment and some stuff. There are also career, family, social relationships, time, personal projects, and trying to achieve many things simultaneously. Perhaps too many.
In regard to physical stuff in particular, at times all of the external content can feel a little heavy, because each one of those items is connected to my emotions. Each material item, when picked up, transports my memory back 5, 10, in some cases even 15 years. They all carry emotional weight. An outsider cannot see or feel this.
I recently read a book called The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta, and it emphasized the importance of simplifying our lives.
I also read a blog post on Man vs. Debt that presented the idea of taking inventory of all the items in your possession, one by one, and the benefit of the process.
So that’s what I did.
Suffering Succotash
Ignorance is suffering.
To remedy ignorance one desires knowledge.
One suffers to achieve knowledge.
Yet knowledge is complex and burdensome.
Truth without attachment is ease.
One lets go of the attachment to knowledge.
Free of suffering.
Filled with emptiness.
Divine Combat – Zenkai Power
Super Saiyan Goku
In this excerpt from The Dao of Dragon Ball we will learn more about the martial arts as depicted in Dragon Ball.
There are many concepts that are disclosed in this chapter, such as Qi (Ki), Gong, Divine Powers, and how the popular conception of Qi in the martial arts were employed by Akira Toriyama and mixed with traditional Buddhist and Daoist spiritual views.
This particular section of the Divine Combat chapter explains the concept of Zenkai Power, and what it means both within Dragon Ball and traditional cultivation practices of East Asia.
Zenkai Power
Goku Fires the Kamehameha
Zenkai is a term used by fans to refer to the sudden power up that occurs to a Saiyan after they recover from a near death experience. Saiyans are the only ones with the genetic potential for Zenkai, but anyone with Saiyan cells in their body is able to experience a Zenkai.
The Dragon World is one in which fighting and martial arts are the primary form of cultivation recognized and supported by the gods.
The Saiyans are primed for development in the Closed Fist style of cultivation. They learn by fighting and mature through physical conflict. They do not study a set of teachings, nor do they specifically try to improve their character through looking inward and letting go of attachments. They increase their power as they train with intensity and fight against increasingly difficult external opponents. Yet they sometimes experience mortal blows; the type that would kill a normal man. Upon recovering from these grievous wounds the Saiyan is instilled with even more power, so that they can then defeat their opponent the next time they do battle. It is an accelerated form of evolutionary adaptation, and a large part of what makes them such formidable opponents.
Dragon Ball fans translated Zenkai as “Complete Recovery.” But this translation is incorrect, and there are further meanings to this term within Asian culture, Buddhism and the martial arts.
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