Goku Stands in the Shadows

A visitor to the site wrote to me recently asking, “By charging people money for this information aren’t you undermining everything it stands for?”

That’s a forthright and important question.  It’s also one I’ve struggled with for years.

Truth be told, he meant no disrespect by the question, as he was coming at it from a Buddhist perspective of compassion which I completely agree with.

I’ve practiced Shaolin Gong Fu for 10 years, and have taught it for free ever since I was capable enough to do so. My family and friends have sometimes said I’m a fool to give it away for free, but for me, Shaolin Gong Fu is sacred.

Shaolin Gong Fu originates in Buddhism and is (or at least used to be) a martial art that can enable someone to attain the level of Arhat, as taught by Bhodidharma. To charge for that just seems disrespectful. Of course I can understand if it’s your business and livelihood. That’s a different situation.

It’s my understanding that the lower the level, the more complicated and expensive. A great way is simple and free. The only thing you lose is karma, and what you gain is priceless… how could someone put a price on eternal enlightenment?

Buddha Shakyamuni didn’t charge money. He asked you to let go of your attachment to money altogether. Charging money for salvation is the complete opposite of the teachings being promulgated, and is a great hypocrisy.

So that’s the battle I faced when I decided to charge for the book. I rationalize it by saying that I’m not offering salvation to people or trying to start a practice. Just, possibly, lead people to an upright practice that can truly improve their lives or even save them from a downward spiral toward somewhere they don’t want to go. But that’s up to the reader, and it isn’t the main focus of the book.

There’s still a part of me that contests, and I can see both sides of the equation. I kind of feel like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, so, as the Buddha Law suggests, I try to walk the Middle Road.

Free to Perceive

Super Saiya-jin Goku

Regarding the ‘getting stuff for free’ thing. Sometimes people don’t value the lessons because they are free.

I taught a Shaolin Gong Fu class at University a few years ago. Sometimes I’d get students and sometimes I wouldn’t, even though they liked the class. They wouldn’t come because they didn’t lose anything by not coming. I imagine that if there were already a financial investment that they’d feel more obligated to show up.

On the other hand, in my senior year I had one faithful student that showed up every time. He was thin and weak in breath but loved Shaolin and wanted to become strong. He valued our time together more than anything and he reciprocally motivated me to work harder.

It essentially comes down to perceived value. What you receive might be the greatest in the universe, but if you don’t value it like the rarest diamond then you might disrespect it or even throw it away like garbage. You might figure that if you lose it, so what? But if you paid for it, even if it was a pet rock, well, by golly you’re going to value it. And the more your money means to you the more you’ll value it.

I would think that a true sage could pick a rock up off the ground and peer into its inner dimensions, the microcosmic matter and life that lay within, and truly value what’s inside, while a normal person thinks that rocks are useless and walks right by.

So it’s this little game we play here on planet Earth, giving people something they value in a way that they will perceive it as valuable. If you don’t do it like that then it’s completely up to the other person whether or not they want to value it, and it takes a lot of patience and compassion to continually wait for the person to come around. Of course, that’s what all great masters have.

The Eye of Ones’ Heart

A Blind Boy Offers a Coin to Majin Buu

I’m reminded of a scene in the Majin Buu arc of Dragon Ball Z where the Fat Majin Buu, an evil being who had a spirit of a holy and high level deity inside him (a Kaio-shin), comes across a young blind boy.

He asks if the boy is afraid of him, as everyone else in the world was terrified of his very image.  The blind boy says no, because he can’t see like other people can.

After Majin Buu realizes what’s wrong with his eyes, he places his hand on the boys face and projects energy into his head.  You think that he’s going to kill him like he does everyone else.  But he doesn’t.

After removing his hand the boy opens his eyes and can see!

The young boy receives the gift of light.  More grateful than anyone he had ever met, the boy reaches into his pocket and pulls out his only item of value, a small coin, and offers it to Majin Buu with all his heart.

Majin Buu doesn’t value money at all, but he loves food.  So he picks up the coin, bites it, and spits it out.  “Tastes yucky,” he says.  He then tells the boy to wait there and flies away.

Majin Buu travels to a nearby town where the villagers are afraid of him as usual.  He blasts one of the villagers with his energy beam and transforms into a carton of milk!  He then flies off and returns to the boy.

Majin Buu Gives the Boy Some Milk

He offers the boy the milk and and the boy is grateful for the food.  He sits with Majin Buu on the cliff for a while and they chat.  He is genuinely unafraid and enjoys the time with his new friend.

Now granted, what the boy was drinking was “made of people,” but that’s beside the point!  I chalk that up to the evil that controlled Buu’s actions and the wacky humor of Akira Toriyama.

It’s a notable moment because this was the first compassionate act that Majin Buu ever performed.  And it happened because of the boy’s perception.  His perception was different than all others, and it was the first step toward driving out the evil inside Majin Buu’s mind.  The subsequent reaction of events led to a climactic battle between good and evil that changed the world.

The Awareness of Value

A Victorious Goku Gives the Thumbs Up

In Goku’s case, he understands how to value something right from the start!

Not a single one of his masters ever charged him a penny, and what he received was priceless.  He cherished and valued every moment of it and took full advantage of their time together to learn and improve as much as possible.

Goku himself is essentially penniless and cares not for money.  He occasionally wins cash prizes from the martial arts tournaments but he doesn’t enter the tournaments for the money, he enters because he loves to fight.  Chi-Chi handles the money after he’s earned it.

From Master Roshi, to Kami, North Kaio, Kaio-Shin, Dai Kaio-Shin, all the way from bottom to top, never once do any of these teachers ask for money.

What do they ask for?  Goku’s heart.

They want him to perceive their training as valuable.  And when he does, incredible things happen.

Goku becomes their greatest student of all time.  Each teacher, in sequence, one after the other, is amazed at Goku’s progress and ability to rise up, to break down his own internal barriers and defeat himself.  That’s what makes Goku #1.

In all truth, Goku perceives everything as valuable, not just his martial arts training.  He even perceives his opponents as valuable, which is why he tries not to take away their lives.  He gives them chance after chance to redeem their wicked ways and turn around.  Whether or not they choose to do that, again, comes down to perceived value.

Could you imagine a Goku that didn’t perceive everything and everyone as valuable?  He’d either be fat and lazy like Oolong or vicious and selfish like his brother Raditz.

And Goku had been this way throughout his entire life, not just when he matured and had his own family.  Goku could see the inner beauty in even the ugliest of creatures.

Perhaps that is what made Goku the greatest master of all.

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Perceived Value and True Masters

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.

3.  Pilgrimage

The Z Warriors, with Goku in particular, travel around the world (and even other star systems) in search of the dragonballs.  They embark on a pilgrimage to find holy relics that contain the power to alter the known world, reverse life and death, grant immortality, provide untold fortune, wealth, or fulfill almost any human desire.

While on this quest they meet many new people, face and overcome countless difficulties and improve themselves with every step.  But after they achieve their goal and summon the dragon, for the most part they do completely unselfish things with them.  The underlying message is that the quest is not about finding the relics… it’s about finding your true self.

4.  Shugyo and Spiritual Ascension

Shugyo is the Japanese word for ‘training,’ but its original usage refers to ‘spiritual training,’ most notably by monks or martial artists on a path of enlightenment.

The concept found in battle manga like Dragon Ball of fight-lose-train-fight-win is endemic to the spiritual path itself, with innumerable failures experienced before success.

The act of shugyo is to physically and spiritually train oneself to overcome an external or internal demon.  You’ve only completed the training when you’ve reached a high enough level to do so, and often times the true battle comes from within, in an ever constant attempt to defeat the self, revealing the true self deeper within.

5.  Good Vs. Evil

Good and evil play an important role in many Shonen battle manga, and Dragon Ball is a perfect example.  Demon’s and the warriors to fight them always seem to spring up out of nowhere, and the dichotomy of good and evil will invariably result with good as the victor; Perhaps not in the short term, but always in the long term.

But these are not absolute values, as previously demonic characters can learn to shed their wicked notions, attachments and behaviors to become a force of good, with plenty of gray area in-between.  Lessons such as right and wrong and that it is wiser to follow a path of righteousness are as clear as day.

6.  Redemption

Redemption is a key principle in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.  Goku’s opponents are sometimes (though not always) able to find the error of their ways, correct their behavior and go on to lead a better life.

Piccolo is an excellent example.  By interacting with Goku and his family across a period of decades his previously demonic heart becomes soft and compassionate.  The breadth of his compassion expands so far that he ends up saving the earth and is forgiven for his crimes and allowed to ascend into Heaven.

7.  Immortals

Immortals and the quest for immortality are seen a couple of different times in Dragon Ball.  Spiritually enhanced long life has often been a sign of divine beings on earth.

Goku’s first master, Muten Roshi, is an immortal who is already over 300 years old the first time we meet him.  His life force never diminishes even though he becomes outclassed by all of his students.  His spirit, like his love of the ladies, stays ever potent.

8.  Spiritual Warriors

Almost the entire warrior cast of Dragon Ball is a spiritual warrior.  As practitioners of the martial arts, the hero’s such as Goku, Krillin, and Gohan, as well as the villains such as Vegeta, Piccolo, and Frieza employ some type of higher power in achieving their goals.  Whether that’s virtue, karma, sin, or what have you, they use a force that goes beyond normal, and by combining their mind and body with their supernormal factors they become spiritual warriors.  How far they progress on this path is limited only by their own determination and spiritual potential.

9.   God / Kami

God is the guy’s name!  Kami (the Japanese word for God, or Divine) is the title of the guardian of earth, and he watches over the planet and makes sure things stay balanced.

Much like the clockmaker analogy of the Judeo-Christian God, he doesn’t really do too much active work, sort of just keeping an eye on things, but he is always willing to lend a celestial hand when necessary, or call out to higher powers when things escalate beyond his control.

Bonus!:  Supernormal Powers

Supernormal powers are so commonplace in DBZ that the term almost loses all meaning.  Flying through the air, shooting energy beams out of the body and having enough power to destroy entire planets… All par for the course when it comes to the DBZ universe.

The Spirit Bomb (Japanese: Genki Dama) is a great example that comes to mind, where Goku summons a bit of spiritual life force from all beings within his realm of influence and combines it into a gigantic ball of virtue.  He then throws the ball at his intended target and the pure white energy works its magic.

It’s only when the everyday people of society catch witness to these powers that we are reminded that they are anything but normal.

There are several more examples that come to mind.

Have you noticed any other divine aspects that weren’t listed here?  Leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions!

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

9 Divine Aspects of Dragon Ball Z