Meaning: Budo Shin Dojo

Budō (German: "Militärweg, Kriegsweg") is the generic term for all martial arts which - in contrast to the other traditional martial arts - contain an "inner" Dō-teaching or philosophy in addition to the fighting technique. Dō-teaching or even -philosophy contained.

SHIN  = mind/heart

Dōjō place of the waydenotes a training room for various martial arts. In a figurative sense, the term also stands for the community of those practicing there.

Honbu Dōjō refers to the headquarters or central practice hall of a martial art or combat sport. In Zen Buddhism, Zazen (meditation) practiced. Such a Dōjō is also called Zendō Outside Japan, in addition to the actual practice hall or practice room, "Dōjō" is often also used to refer to the association or club

Shin - the "heart spirit   What Shin, the "heart spirit," is.

According to the traditions, in the martial arts, training the "heart" is of equal importance to the development of a mature technique. Funakoshi Gichin valued heart training even higher than technical and physical skills.

“Gi-jutsu yori shin-jutsu" meaning "the technique of the heart is more significant than the technique of physical skill." Hearing or reading this, one wonders what this "heart" is, which is so highly valued in martial arts. How, and above all with what aim, can it be "trained"?

These questions lead deep into the philosophy of man and his nature. In many cultures of the world - in the Far Eastern as well as in the Occidental - the heart stands for the powers of the spirit, the soul and the mind. The term "heart" - in Japanese it is shin or kokoro - therefore does not refer to the physicality of the organ beating tirelessly in the chest, but rather establishes a symbol for the psychic powers of man. Shin denotes the stirrings of the inner, spiritual man in all their inscrutability and mysteriousness: understanding and clarity, enlightenment and peace, love, goodness and wisdom, but also lies, baseness, fear and cowardice, confusion, fear and uncertainty. An exhaustive enumeration of what constitutes the "heart" or the spirit of man is certainly not possible, since it encompasses all the heavens and hells, all the lowlands and heights of the soul's life, everything that spans the human condition between the noble and the wicked.

ShinShin, the heart, is therefore a comprehensive expression of all powers and impulses of our most hidden being. If this secret of the soul itself can hardly be put into words, how much more is it the process of heart formation, which Funakoshi calls shin-jutsu, i.e. "technique of the heart", in the context of the martial art. shin-jutsu, i.e., "technique of the heart".

Therefore it becomes understandable why the various sources handed down to us by the great martial arts masters, philosophers and sages of East Asia speak so ambiguously and indistinctly of training, forming, shaping, forging or calming the heart. Under how many points of view and premises can heart education be practiced! All questions of ethics are touched in its context. Man's self-image of himself in the world, his relationship to his fellow men, to society and the state, and not least to religion play a decisive role. Under no circumstances can it be assumed that the formation of the heart is a matter which a teacher or master tries to stimulate in the pupil detached from all world views and social conditions.

What Shin, the "heart mind," is focused on.

The attention does not stop at any detail of the inner or outer world, not even at the face, posture or weapon of the opponent. Forgotten is the thought of one's own technique with which to meet an attack. No plan is cherished in the heart for one's own offensive; the next moment has become as unimportant as the one just past. Not during the smallest fraction of time is there a focus on anything, nothing paralyzes one's readiness, nothing weighs on the heart, and nothing hinders one's spontaneity of movement, nothing hinders one's physical capacity for free action. No resolution, no prejudice finds a place in the heart. This all-embracing state of supreme tension and simultaneous serenity is what the ancient masters called the "non-heart" or "empty heart.

Although this empty heart is directed toward nothing, it completely permeates the body; thus, its emptiness is not to be confused with hollowness or absent-mindedness. Rather, the heart is filled with an "emptiness" that manifests itself in the fact that the otherwise perpetual, constantly weighing and evaluating self-talk of the mind has come to rest. "Non-thinking" " has taken the place of this otherwise never-ending inner dialogue that normally seems so necessary and important to our rational consciousness. But when consciousness comes to rest in the heart, an open awareness appears in its place.

In the state of awareness, the mind is filled with effortless attention, with perception without judgment, without an urge to consciously plan or act. Awareness is a state of heart, an act of mind that can be described as         "Do nothing" yet is the opposite of passivity. The heart in this perceptive state is at once still and yet full of dynamic alertness. Equanimous and attentive, alert and agile, it listens for sensations, feelings, and rushing impressions without worrying.

It floats in a natural state that seems to know nothing of struggle; it has assumed the posture called an ordinary, everyday heart in Zen and the martial arts. "Non-thinking" and intuition has taken the place of consciousness.

Whoever can attain and maintain this condition even in the face of life and death has advanced to the core, to the heart of the martial arts. To achieve this requires intense mental and physical practice. The traditional means of practice that the ancient masters have handed down for its realization are zazen and ritsuzen, the exercises of motionless movement. Zazen and Ritsuzen, the exercises of motionless movement in sitting or standing -and Kata, the exercise of moving motionlessness.