A Seido karate meditation by Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, founder of World Seido Karate Organisation, from the book: Karate ~ Technique and Spirit by Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura. I often use this meditation as it really speaks to me.
Osu!
I want to concentrate on the word omoiyari which means thoughtfulness, sincere thoughtfulness. It means caring: caring for your family, your friends, your fellow workers, your neighbours, your country. Omoiyari is part of good discipline. So many people have the attitude ‘Look, I don’t have time to really care about myself, so how am I supposed to be able to care for everybody else?’ This is a very bad attitude. What if everybody took this attitude? Can you imagine what life would be like?
The first place to start bringing thoughtfulness and care into your way of being is at home, with your family. This is most important.
It is not enough, however, to simply be thoughtful and caring if it is not sincerely motivated. Omoiyari means sincere caring. When we are sincere in showing care for others, we expect nothing in return. We are not fishing for compliments, nor searching for gratitude or reciprocity. Suppose that we do something kind for someone and that person ignores it completely, takes it completely for granted. ‘How dare he do that? At least he could have thanked me!’ If we have this reaction, then we don’t have omoiyari. If we do things for others with the expectation of gratitude, praise or awards, then we are not really doing it for others, we are doing it for ourselves, to build up our egos.
We you do zazen, you hear it said, ‘Expect nothing. Just sit.’ Don’t expect your life to be transformed, and don’t expect to reach anywhere or anything. The same idea underlies omoiyari. True giving and caring for others, sincere thoughtfulness ~ these things are their own rewards.
Osu!
dykiegirl 