Good Karma VS Evil

M

munk

Joined
Mar 22, 2002
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I've a good friend, a martial artist, who will not accept a Khukuri as a gift because of what he will become if he uses it in practise.

There are consequences to what we do, words and actions have meanings that are not easily overcome or shed. He's worked with the Katana before. He does not want to aquire more of the consciousness of brutality or destruction an edged weapon can represent. He knows this is something he must work out for himself.

Understanding him has clarified why I like my khukuris so much. For me, it's part of "can do". I'm in the woods a lot, and while I don't need to carve an emergency shelter because of a freak winter storm everyday, it's nice to know I could. When I have a Khuk on hand, I don't have to carry a sidearm. This is a tool that does so much. I can make things, remove things, lever and cut. If I had to, I could defend my kids.

That's a Karma I can handle. How do you all see your Khukuris?

munk
 
I used to think the same way as your friend. However, I have to do work now and can't expand on that theory. :(
 
hmmm.....your friend has a strange outlook.

the object is meaningless. it's the heart and mind holding it that defines it.

or so i was taught (about guns, knives, etc.).

yes, my khukuri would make an excellent weapon, but to me it's a tool first and foremost.

Metis
 
I look at my khukuris as wonderful multi-purpose tools as well as finely crafted works of art. I'm sure that a khukuri would cause terrible damage if used on a human being, but then again, virtually any knife could be used to inflict horrible wounds. Let's face it, even paper cuts suck. I guess for me the fact that a khukuri could be put to such purposes is only part of the overall equation of khukuri as multifunctional blade. After seeing my khukuris, a coworker asked me how I kept my desire to use them to chop people up under control:rolleyes:. I guess if I had thought that was going to be an issue I wouldn't have purchased them in the first place.
--Josh
 
I don't visualize my revolvers as killing someone. I think my friend is concerned about what he will visualize with a Khukuri. Most often, I see my tools as "Stop Threat" or "Save Life". That's what I see inside.

It is too bad. My friend really likes the khukuris he's handled. He smiles and his eyes are alive. His whole body goes into martial form, like a ballet. I was going to get that 18" sirupati for him and build a box to hold it.

munk
 
Hey, munk, have you talked to your friend about the non-martial applications of the khukuri? Maybe he would be better off with a chopper/utility style blade like an AK instead of a thinner martial arts oriented blade?
--Josh
 
Good observation, Josh, about a chopper for my friend.

I especially liked this about people's image and trust in themselves:

After seeing my khukuris, a coworker asked me how I kept my desire to use them to chop people up under control.>> Josh


Made in jest or whatever, this shows just how far down we've come in wisdom. It's pretty bad, isn't it Josh?



munk
 
Like a human being, or most any object you can think of, a khukuri contains the seeds of good and evil.

Lawyers will tell you that a crime is made up of two parts; the act, and the intention. The act is neutral. For example, the act of picking up a piece of wood is neither guilty nor innocent; it's when it's associated with a guilty intention that it becomes a crime. A man takes a piece of wood from his woodpile and puts it on the fire, or fixes it in a vise and starts to make something of it. Innocent. a man picks up a piece of wood from someone else's woodpile with the intention of stealing it; theft. He picks it up with the intention of striking a blow - assault; unless he does so in self-defence, in which case (except in the UK, of course...), he's innocent.

There's a crazy, counterproductive, destructive tendency theswe days to try and transfer the guilt from the intention to the action, or even the object. We can't handle the fact that society is breaking down all round us, and that our fellow human beings can no longer be trusted to act like civilised people; the implications of that truth are too depressing for us to cope with. Instead, we blame things for what people do with them. This is medieval thinking; in the Middle Ages, animals, sometimes even inanimate objects, were "tried" in courts of law and "found guilty" of causing death or damage; whereupon they were "executed" with all due pomp and ceremony. This bizarre behavior reached a peak in the disastrous 14th century, when the well-ordered society of medieval Europe was crashing apart in ruins, thanks to such causes as the Black Death, widespread famine, disenchantment with religious corruption, &c. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the wheel has come full circle, as society "tries" and "convicts" objects and activities rather than face up to its problems.

Europe's problems were ultimately only "solved" by the loss of a fifth of its population - through disease, famine, war - which smashed the feudal system and corrupt religion and created a new social and economic order. Let's hope we can get over our current problems without loss of life on such a scale.
 
It is a tool. It is a weapon. It is a work of art. It reminds me that there is a simpler way to live. The kind of life where Man works with Nature and is a part of it. Man looks foolish when he tries to set himself apart from Nature and do battle with it. The khukuri is the perfect expression of Man's most basic tool. A blade makes me neither good nor evil. And so long as I don't use the blade to injure Man, animal or plant needlessly I will not be dishonoring the khukuri or the kami who made it. Just my two bits.

Frank
 
I see my khukri as a tool first and foremost. 99% of the time is simply a means to help me "survive" on my weekend camping trips. it splits my firewood, hammers in my tent pegs, clears my campsite of clutter. I use it's karda to bone my meats, open the shells of nuts, and even clean the dirt out from under my fingernails;) The Kamis forged this as a functional work of art. Its true that these knives are crafted with a soul, but this soul is only exhibited once it becomes an extention of the person using it. it's like Mr. Holt said, the blade itself is neither good nor evil, it only follows the will of the individual who wields it. Could I ever imagine driving my tip of my 15" AK into another person? If they were trying to harm my fiance', family, or my furture children you're dang right i would. But understand that in that situation I would combat the individual with whatever the first thing I could grab. an AK, a rotten piece of wood, my old beat up boot;). It is not the intent of the khukri to do the harm, only myself. I believe that my intentions and actions that dirrectly affect my Karma. I love my Khukri too much to blame it for my moral woes:)
 
A khuk is an inanimate object. Neither good nor evil. It is just a thing. The living, breathing human behind it is the good or evil force. To project good or evil to a knife, gun, club, rock, etc. is the type of thinking prevalent in our society today. "It is not MY fault. The gun is the cause, or the khuk is responsible." People don't take responsibility for their own actions. They place the blame elsewhere. All of this is a result of the moral decay of the United States. In the end, we only have ourselves to blame.
 
I have thought about this subject many times in my life time. The powers that be would outlaw Guns, knives, Hatchets, and, Lord only knows what else in the feeble attempt to control what they have no control over.

I have looked around my little shop and found a multitude of uses for most of the tools in there. If I choose to do so I can make a deadly weapon in a few seconds.

I agree that the first use for the khuks is a wonderful tool. I worked one all day today again. It gave me no problems. In defense of family and loved ones, it would be a weapon. Hanging on the wall in the living room it would surely be a work of art.

The uncontrolable element in the whole equation is one of the gifts from God.
He gave man the gift of choice in all that he does, be it good or evil. That is the way I see it.
 
You're not wrong. Some things are worth repeating out loud.

.. ....

this is all in my friend's head. He'll have to get himself in a place where this is not an issue. I've an idea when he trained with the Katana..perhaps there were darker things in his life then.

He turned from some martial arts disciplines into more spiritual avenues, in fact, the translation of one of them is, "the way" .

People have the right to take themselves too seriously, or not seriously enough.

munk
 
My Siru was my baby, used it for everything and saved me or someone else's butt along the way. Now it's a Chiruwa AK that Terry is making a shoulder rig for, this one feels special. I can't wait to get it back.:D
 
Don R, I'm not sure that if I can get another one that the 18" Sirupati would not still be the baby of all my Khuks except for the last two that have come into my possession. I think I would like one by Kumar. He makes blades a little heavier than most of the other Kami's. The one I had wasn't bad but, with a bit more weight it would have been just perfect. The thing never failed to do what ever I wanted it to do for me. The Sirupati is really a good blade.:) :D
 
Originally posted by munk
You're not wrong. Some things are worth repeating out loud.
Click to expand...

Some things are worth typing again. :)

I used to think if I didn't own any weapons there would be little chance of me being violent. I'm not a violent person to begin with. After awhile I figured out that a weapon doesn't make one more violent but perhaps only increases the capacity to do so. If one doesn't have a violent disposition then there would be little chance of someone (me) going out and dismembering fellow humans.

When I was younger I stayed away from sharp implements for the above reasons. Now that I'm older I have seen myself when angry and upset and have conducted myself well. I think I would be responsible if I had a silo in the back yard and a little red button on my nightstand. :D
 
Originally posted by BruiseLeee
.......... I think I would be responsible if I had a silo in the back yard and a little red button on my nightstand. :D
Click to expand...

If I had a silo and a button, no son or daughter would have to die in Iraq.

Semp --
 
munk, I hope your friend can meet a traditional and live MA still left here and there. It will tell that being violent (or releaseng yourself, or getting mad) cannot overcome controlled power to more than a certain degree. Like a car, it can get speed as you stump on the accelarator, but can not run very fast on the road that contains curves, other cars, etc by accelaration.
 
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