The Dao of Dragonball Blog

SSJ4 Goku Leads the Animals to the Space Ship

Here’s another quick progress update on some interesting dbz blog articles I’m working on.

At my current rate of development and writing it appears I finish one article a month.  Keep in mind that each of these posts is an original creation and not a rehash of already known facts or information that can be found on the internet.  They take a long time and a lot of late nights to research and complete.

Nevertheless, I’d certainly like to do more posts as I love writing about Dragon Ball!

It’s just a matter of balancing all of the other responsibilities in my life.

I’ll be making dbz blog article posts while I make progress on the book, and now I want to reveal some of the articles I’m writing so you have something to look forward to as the book nears its release date.

Here are a few in progress…

Read more…

Goku Waits Patiently

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your support on the site and to those who have pre-ordered the book.  All of you are being very patient and I want to give you a progress update.

Right now I have two chapters left to finish before the rough draft of the book will be complete.

The first chapter is Immortal and Invincible.  It will discuss the history of eastern martial arts and the mind body cultivation practices of Daoism, along with a practitioner’s quest for physical and spiritual immortality.  It will also unveil how a body can, from an eastern paradigm, attain invincibility.

Both immortality and invincibility are themes in Dragon Ball, and I think this will be a very interesting chapter for fans of the series.

The second chapter is Divine Combat.  This chapter will reveal the history of combat and hand to hand battles in the myths and legends of various cultures around the world, and how martial arts has always played a role in our culture, including our modern society, right on up to DBZ, martial arts flicks, anime, the Matrix and beyond.  The connection between legendary battles in heaven, the deliverance of martial arts from gods to man, and the progress of martial arts in our civilization will be made very clear.

I’m sincerely trying to complete these chapters before the end of October, with an e-book release in November or December.

There are so many steps needed to complete a goal like this, and I’m becoming a better writer and person in the process, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to improve.

Of course I want this book out more than anyone and I would like to once again thank all of you for your patience and support.

Vegetto Smashes Majin Buu with a Double Axe Handle

In this Dragon Ball explorative essay we’re going to focus on the martial arts technique known as the double axe handle. This iconic technique is found throughout the Dragon Ball series and has both a rich history and symbolism.

Dragon Ball is a comic book and anime filled with fighting and all kinds of different martial arts styles.  Yet many of them share similar techniques, and the double axe handle is one of the most identifiable.

These are the questions we will answer in this article:

• What is the double axe handle?
• What are its origins and history, and how does it relate to Dragon Ball?
• What are the histories of East Asian martial arts, Buddhism, and the Lightning Bolt Clasped Hands style of combat?
• How do eastern philosophies and this technique fit into the fights of DBZ?
• Why is the double axe handle used so often in Dragon Ball?
• Outside of Dragon Ball, where else can the double axe handle be seen?

Read on to find out! Read more…

Goku with Angel Wings and Halo

Have you noticed divine aspects in Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z or GT?  How about similarities between Goku and a certain spiritual teacher?  Or perhaps the way in which good always triumphs over evil?

If you did notice these it’s because they’re in there!  If you didn’t, then read this to learn more.

Here are 9 specific ways in which the divine shows up in Dragon Ball:

1.   Mythically Buddhist Origin’s

Loosely based on Journey to the West, a Chinese tale of pilgrims on a holy quest for the Buddhist sutra’s of India, Dragon Ball is rife with spiritual references of an East Asian perspective.  Sun Wukong (Japanese: Son Goku), The Handsome Monkey King, is the character that Goku is based on, and Sun Wukong himself is most likely based on Hanuman, the Indian deity and warrior.

King Enma, lord of the afterlife, is based on a Chinese and Japanese deity that weighs the amount of virtue and karma on a person’s soul to determine where they should be sent, Heaven or Hell, and we find that same character in Dragon Ball.

There are a multitude of other examples and references to the Buddhist stories that Japanese children like Akira Toriyama (the creator of Dragon Ball) would have been taught while growing up.

2.  Heaven and the Afterlife

Heaven plays a big part in Dragon Ball Z as Goku spends a lot of his time up there!

After sacrificing himself to save his son’s life (and the planet himself) Goku is sent to the afterlife where his soul is judged by King Enma.  The King determines that he is pure hearted enough to ascend up to Heaven, but Kami requests a special favor of the King and asks for Goku to be trained by North Kaio, Lord of the Northern Galaxy.  King Enma agrees and allows Goku to keep his physical body, now tricked out with a super spiffy halo. Read more…