There are three stages that martial artists go through on their road towards perfection. These are shu, ha, and ri. What are they, and why should you care?
Shu
Shu means to protect. The first stage is all about making your form as close as possible to your teacher’s. You are taking the teachings and protecting them so that you in turn may pass them on to the next generation.
In practice, this means you copy. A lot.
You watch your teacher and try to be like them. You try to understand why you are doing it, but mainly you focus on doing it right.
This is hard work.
You need to focus on what you are doing, all the time. Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent, so practice in the way that you want to apply your skill – committed, and as close to perfect as you can.
The Buddha says, “If you monks exert meticulous effort, nothing will be difficult to accomplish. Therefore, you should make an effort to practice carefully, for when water flows constantly against a big rock, even a small amount of water will eventually dig out a large hole.
But if one who practices becomes lax, it will be impossible to accomplish anything. It is like trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together; if you stop rubbing before the wood gets hot, you can’t start a fire.
This is what is meant by ‘meticulous effort.’ ”’
Of course, this is not unique to Shorinji Kempo, or even to martial arts – in any skill that needs to be learned the first stage is to find a good teacher and learn from them.
Ha
Ha means to shatter. In this stage you no longer need to concentrate so hard on the exact form. You know, so deep in your mind/body that you don’t need to think about it, that when you do this punch you turn your foot like that, relax these muscles and tense those.
Instead your mind is busy breaking apart all of the things you have learnt and understanding them, before putting them back together again.
It’s like learning to fix a radio by taking it apart and looking at all the pieces. It doesn’t work unless you have some basics to start with – you just create a mess – but if done right it can teach you a lot.
This is the time when you take a technique that you thought you knew, play around with it, and figure out why it works sometimes but not others. You’ll spend a lot of time thinking “but this worked yesterday, what is different today?”.
It’s not a comfortable mental place to be, and most of us will spend most of our martial arts careers here. Don’t despair – it can also be very rewarding.
Ri
Ri means to break free. It’s the same ri that is in rikon (divorce) and bunri (separation). I view this stage as similar to enlightenment. At this point you understand the techniques and principles so deeply that they are a fundamental part of your being. Even if you can’t put it into words, you know.
It’s not a mini-enlightenment, a simple moment of clarity – there for a moment and then gone. That would be ri-light, or baby-ri.
For full ri, it needs to be sustained. This is the point that you are making up your own techniques, developing a new martial art, or becoming a world-renowned specialist in something.
In all honesty, most martial artists never reach this stage. But of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be striving for it! The effort you put in along the way is at least half of the point of learning a martial art in the first place.
Putting it all together
These three stages – shu, ha, and ri, are your path forwards. Have a think for a moment. Which stage are you in? (Hint: if your belt is not black, you’re probably still in shu, at least for most things, unless you have previous martial arts experience).
Now that you know where you are, you have a better idea of what to focus on.
Are you shu? Concentrate on trying to mimic what you’re being shown as closely as possible. Don’t worry too much about why, at least at first – just get it right. Make sure you pay attention to the names of things as well as the movements, though – it’ll help you ask questions and understand the answers.
Are you ha? Think about the why of everything. Why is your elbow down? Why is your foot turned? Why does it work on Average-Sized-Bob, but not on Really-Tall-Paul? Why is your weight shifted backwards? Take those insights and apply them in other situations, and see what happens.
Are you ri? Why are you reading this article? You probably already know more about this than I do! Go practice, you clearly know what you’re doing.
In fact, everyone – shu, ha, and ri alike – stop reading this article and go practice. It’s the only way to improve.