Had to share this: Just had a conversation with a friend who was genuinely surprised to learn there is more than just black belt. When told there are 10 degrees, she replied with 'wow, it's just like scientology!' Weirdest MA related comment I have ever heard. Ever.
Is Karate a Cult? Yes..... No wait..... No! Hmmmmm..... Definately maybe! ARGH.....! Let me Ask Sensei who I should respond!
Of course Karate is a cult! That's why there's Christian Karate clubs! Actually, I've never seriously heard anyone compare karate to a cult, however, I have heard some extremaly conservative christians talk about internal martial arts being cult like because they originated from taoist monks, or something stupid like that. So...apparently, Taoism and Buddhism = Evil?...Funny, last I checked Buddhist and Taoists have killed less people then Christians throughout the course of history... But let's not turn this into a religious argument, if we want that, we'll go to the religion thread in the off topic area
I do know of one shorinji kempo club that could definitely be described as a club - the students pretty much worship their instructor (though I have doubts that he could fight his way out of a wet paper bag). The reason seems to me that their ettiquette is so strict that whatever their teacher says instantly becomes gospel, whilst any doubts are not taken seriously but as evidence of the incompetence of the student. And there are karate clubs that exist that insist on that insane rigid ettiquette also...
Erm...I think you just did Christians = Bad, Non Christians = Good I think you've stated your argument pretty clearly from your post
To me, it's not a proper cult or even a proper religion unless you believe in things that aren't real, which karateka don't really go in for. You have the occasional chi true-believer, but they're not really all that prevalent.
I've met plenty of cults (is that the right spelling) in karate but wouldn't consider it to be a cult itself! There was that 'paper' that went arond certain churches in the late 80s describing karate and other MAs as demonic!!!! Many a MA lost access to their church halls after that did the rounds!
I think it had to be taken into context of the authors ultra conservative/charismatic brand of Christianity. He used the ideas of "training people to fight" and the "moving zen" references to say that karate was working against the holy spirit and therefore driven by a demonic force. Of course - loads of similar christians believed this clap trap and labelled all karate as such. A 'rebuff' to it was written in Fighting Arts years ago. The original was really quite laughable!
I don't know about Karate being occult, but it does have all the ear marks. Just so you know I do belong to a occult and it ain't the three internals martial arts either, Otis Redding is what I call it. If it was not already, I here by name it one, Otis Redding. All you have to do is listen to Otis Redding. I double dog dare you to find a bad song that is song by Otis Redding. He is more legend than anything else I mean have you seen Otis Redding, that is because he does not live no more. He is on probably all the current musician list of top 100 most influential of R&B and rock and roll.
The basis of the nutjobs arguement was that meditation left you open to attacks from demons. Bowing to the kamiza was worshiping false gods. What amused me the most was that it was HIM that spouted all the "information" about demons and evil etc. Also he saw people who would not bow down to his beliefs who were" using the house of god" (church halls) for their "worship of strange religions." regards koyo
LMAO!!! Okay.. that's INSANE! Karate, or ANY martial art, being a cult... Oi! Okay, I have seen some people who turn it into one, but that's their choice. It's the artists, not the art. And come on, meditation and demonic attacks. *makes gestures of insanity* And people Believe this guy.... Who exactly is the cult again?
The Christian martial arts can be the most cult like I’m afraid. I have seen some tell you who your friends can be and what political beliefs you can post.
This has been a thing since the 1940's, when fundamentalists and evangelists began labeling basically any devotional practice not WASP-y enough as essentially cult activity. Keep in mind though, these are the same people who decades later would crusade against Dungeons and Dragons, because even pretending in your mind to be a mage or druid or monk or whatever was essentially Satan worship. Christian countercult movement - Wikipedia However I definitely agree plenty of Karate dojos are probably operated as cults because of the excessive personalities that run then. George Dillman runs a cult that happens to be a Karate dojo. NXIVM turned out to be a secret sex cult operated by someone claiming falsely to be a Judo master. On the other hand, my old Shotokan dojo certainly wasn't a cult, because my sensei was all business (read: no nonsense allowed) and the only real "devotional" moment was bowing to a little picture of Funikoshi, which isn't really even a religious action (Christian countercultists would say it was), it's a just a commonplace show of respect for one's friend, business acquiescence, or ancestor in the East. So any religion that would demonify such a mundane social practice has some serious cult issues of its own, for sure. In movieland, Cobra Kai (original and new series) start out as cults, although the original was run by a bully, the new one is run by someone trying to break out of that cult mentality. If anybody really wants a good and funny look into the cult mentality that sometimes invades Karate, watch this. Best show on TV right now, because of the heartstrings it's pulling but also rad soundtrack which has somehow taken over my iPod. Bring tissues for whenever Miyagi-san shows up in a flashback...
