There’s an aspect of Esoteric Kata that while I experienced it, has defied definition. That experience is one that I now call, “Blood Kata.” Read more or watch the video at the end of this article.
Blood Kata can be experienced either during Katannabis Ritual Meditation or Kata-Rx For Wellness. It seems that Blood Kata must be a specific goal of the session. So-far in my experience, I have not experienced Blood Kata as a by-product of a general session.
What is the Blood Kata experience? Blood Kata is the act of using Kata as a form of prayer and sacrifice. Through Kata the release of life force is used to augment the prayer offering. It is analogous to the ancient physical blood sacrifices of our ancestors. Regardless of religious or spiritual boundaries, many of our ancient, indigenous ancestors practiced blood rituals. These blood rituals were a prayerful sacrifice to the powers and gods that are either greater than us or that are believed to have created us.
Our modern understanding of these rituals puts emphasis on the spillage of blood as the sacrifice. This is a limited understanding. We are based in a physical reality governed by three dimensional, laws of physics. Given this limitation, our minds conclude that it is the physical blood, and spillage, that are of import. This is not so.
A deeper understanding of the blood ritual is that its import lies not in the physical, but, the non-physical. Think about the following observation. By definition, these gods and creators were non-physical beings of pure energy. Thus, they would not be nourished by physical blood. They would; however, be nourished by the energy resulting from the spillage of the blood.
This observation shifts the import to the release of the energetic life force. This life force has many names in many circles. These include, Chi or Ki in the martial arts, Prana, Kundalini, Chakra, Chayim, in Kabbalah and the like. The name is not important. The importance is in the recognition of the internal (and external) life forces. For a martial artist this should be second nature.
The expression of those non-physical life forces is through physical reality. For the martial artist this is encapsulated in Kata. It is expressed by the “Kime” (or physical and non-physical “focus”) utilized during the Kata performance. You may recall that the three battles of Kata are united and harmonized through Kata. (You may read more on the three battles with this convenient link: https://senseijohn.me/2023/11/06/sanchin-kata-the-esoteric-three-battles/ . (See endnote # 1)
By way of additional background to the concept of Blood Kata, you may also wish to familiarize yourself with the Internal Factors affecting Kata, https://senseijohn.me/2022/08/08/internal-factors-involved-in-katannabis-part-1-of-2/ and the External Factors affecting Kata, https://senseijohn.me/2022/09/12/external-factors-involved-in-katannabis-part-2-of-2/. .
You may learn more on Blood Kata as a meditative and prayerful ritual with this short video class:
For now, practice your Esoteric Kata with these principles in mind. See if your practice leads you to an identification, understanding and acknowledgement of the concept of Blood Kata. I will have more on this topic for your consideration.
Cum superiorum privilegio veniaque *
Sensei John Szmitkowski
*. (with the privilege and permission of the superiors)
Endnotes:
1. An analogy may help to understand Blood Kata as a means to express life force for the nourishment of the non-physical energetic forces. Think of your Kata as analogous to the blood letting ritual of some of the African Tribes. In order to nourish and sustain themselves, some tribes blood-let their cattle. That is they, pierce a vein in the cattle’s neck, and drink the blood. By doing so, they have an unlimited source of nourishment and sustenance. The cattle lives to provide for them another day. If they simply killed that cattle and ate the meat, then the nourishment ends when the last bit of meat is consumed. Similarly, Kata acts as the nourishing letting of life energy without the need to actually spill blood. Kata, therefore, is an infinite source of life energy. Remember, “Life is a Kata.” ™
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