The road up the mountain (mastery of the art) is long, but if you get part way up before stopping in our system, at least you have a by product of self defense. There are many ways up the mountain: yoga, zen, martial arts, Sufism, etc. Control of your breath is the quickest, pure concentration the longest and hardest with karate (performing the kata) in the middle level of difficulty.

The top of the mountain is satori (enlightenment, kensho), an awareness of reality, of knowing yourself. Ordinary reality is seen through the filter of the intellect which parts an interpretation on it, shades it so to speak. An example of this is language.

A man thinks according to his language. If you speak in a different language from somebody, you therefore think in a different way. The phrase “red like a rose” may mean something different to people of different language backgrounds. An American may think one shade or hue, an Oriental another, etc. (a man who speaks more than one language has an advantage). Because the word for an object is different in each language; they also have a different meaning (although not necessarily radically different), therefore each man sees and thinks in a different way. The more languages you now (as good as your primary one), the more ways you see things and the more true your reality is. However as long as you have an intellect, you can never see true reality because of the filter effect – unless of course you reach satori.

Satori (kensho or enlightenment) is the absence of intellect. Therefore to reach if you must do away with it a zen death. The intellect will fight you all the way because intellectualizing is a well learned and very ingrained process.

The dividing line between the finite world and the infinite world represents the breaking down of the intellect - death. It is a breaking point at which will become stuck before crossing. An analogy is running: when you get tired, if you continue running without stopping, you will reach a second wind and you will then feel as if you could run all day. When you cross the dividing line, you will see logic in what was before illogical (everything will make sense, for instance the zen koans) and your body and mind will become one.

The Oriental believes that everything that has composition decomposes except the soul. They believe that the soul is always there. When you believe this, you realize that the soul is immortal and therefore you are not afraid of death (mushin is the term). This is the first level.

They also believe that life is suffering because man fears three things: death, disease, and desire. Desire is the worst to suffer and it is the block of the intellect. Suffering can be overcome by reaching enlightenment, then you won’t suffer the three Ds.

The Oriental believes that everything that has composition, that has physical attributes decomposes, except the soul.

In Oriental philosophy life is breath. From the first breath you take as a newborn baby to your last gasp before you die. They measure time by the passing of your breaths. To prolong your life you must breathe right (control your breath). By controlling your breath you can still your intellect and eventually draw on the energy of the cosmos.

The following breath control exercises aide in breaking down the intellect:

Inhale four counts, hold for 1, then exhale 8, repeat. Each count is one heartbeat. The best position to do this exercise is the lotus or half-lotus. Be sure to use stomach breathing only and not chest breathing (is the best breathing for these exercises the so called yoga complete breath?) Repeat the exercise 10 times.

Make a fist with your right hand but straighten our your thumb and little finger. Block off your left nostril with your little finger and inhale through your right nostril 8 counts. Pinch off both nostrils with your thumb and little finger and hold your breath 12 counts. Swallow on the first count that you hold in order to lock your glottis. Release your left nostril and exhale through it 12 counts. Then inhale through your left nostril while still blocking off your right nostril with your thumb for 8 counts. Pinch together your two nostrils as you swallow and hold for 2 counts. Release your thumb from your right nostril and exhale 12 counts. Repeat at least 10 times. Each count is one heartbeat. All breathing is done through the nostrils.

The easy way to meditate is by use of the breath. A device in meditation to help concentrate is to use the count in the breathing exercises or you can inhale 7, hold one (swallow), exhale 7, then hold one before inhaling 7 again, etc.

The Orientals believe that the solar plexus is a storage battery for the ki. Breathing correctly charges it up with ki from the air. Beginners should do the breathing exercises at least 20 times – advanced persons should practice more.

Breathing through your nostrils regulates body heat. One nostril (the right) absorbs heat and the other (the left) radiates heat.

When doing breathing exercises, imagine vividly (and feel strongly) that you’re sucking the energy (ki) out of the air when inhaling and that when exhaling, you’re sending it through out your body.

When you can control your breath well and can get your body to vibrate, you will be able to cure headaches.
If you can spend a lot of time in meditation, you need not do the breathing. However, breathing can shorten the time needed to break down the intellect and a valuable by-product of it is good health.

One road to kensho is to use the kata Patsai-dai with correct breathing (there are 22 counts – moves made to breaths). Because the Patsai-dai is an internal kata (literally meaning breaking through), you can break down the intellect with it.