When talking of the Chinese zodiac it is often easy to think of the various animals as inspirational characters giving us power, I myself was born a fire dragon and so for years I quite liked the idea of this. I am reminded though of lessons from my teacher, and his teacher, about the limitations of animals. It is said that when Hatsumi Sensei once visited America in the early days he was asked what “animal style” he preferred, referring of course to kung fu and other animal based arts. His answer was that he liked “human style”.
This is genius on so many levels, but mostly because humans are indeed the pinnacle of evolution. We have devised specialized tools and concepts to kill and control even the most dangerous animals. Ever see a tiger at the zoo? Takamatsu Sensei reputedly remarked that it is not good to be like a powerful and dangerous animal because human societies tend to control and eradicate them. So what then are we to make of the year of the Tiger?
Well before getting into that let me bring up the topic of Ikigai! This is a wonderful term that represents finding a meaningful purpose to ones life, one which balances out various internal and external needs and sources of joy. To me this concept although not articulated as such is on the minds of many, especially in the Bujinkan. Many of us are getting older, the grandmaster and source of drive and inspiration has retired, the societies we live in are divided and many things we took for granted in this world are now restricted or eradicated. It is definitely a time for soul searching, new ideas, reconciliations, and personal development.
Of course one of the most wonderful things about being a human is the ability to be compassionate, benevolent, and possessing a strong desire to protect all life, even our perceived enemies.
So back to the Tiger, you see in martial arts there is often this energy between the dragon and the tiger. The tiger being very physical, emotional, and territorial. The dragon is calculating, mythical and detached. When I think about the world right now I see millions of people being controlled just like the tiger in the cage. Except instead of bars the tiger is addicted to dopamine, its senses are misled, and it no longer knows it is a tiger.
Is this all possible with humans too? Well perhaps if one was to pervert that intrinsic protector mindset, subvert the consciousness enough, and exploit corruptible weaknesses it would be possible. We know it is.
How can we ever find Ikigai if this is the state of modern human existence? We can’t. And so we can’t be tigers, we can’t be animals, we can’t run on desires and hormones, and we can’t trust our conscious senses either. These allow us to be controlled. We must instead tame the tigers inside ourselves and tap into our subconscious abilities. This is the godan test, every second of every day, connecting with our higher potential and mutating into new strains of ourselves.
It is only through developing this immunity and experiencing evolution that we can cause these cages to fall apart and open up new avenues of progress and prosperity for our societies and our world. So in 2022, instead of being a Tiger, and risk being caged, perhaps cage the Tiger within, and be freed.
