--- product_id: 12783075 title: "Zen in the Martial Arts" price: "₱1610" currency: PHP in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.ph/products/12783075-zen-in-the-martial-arts store_origin: PH region: Philippines --- # Zen in the Martial Arts **Price:** ₱1610 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Zen in the Martial Arts - **How much does it cost?** ₱1610 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ph](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/12783075-zen-in-the-martial-arts) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description "A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action."-- Samurai Maximum . Under the guidance of such celebrated masters as Ed Parker and the immortal Bruce Lee, Joe Hyams vividly recounts his more than 25 years of experience in the martial arts. In his illuminating story, Hyams reveals to you how the daily application of Zen principles not only developed his physical expertise but gave him the mental discipline to control his personal problems-self-image, work pressure, competition. Indeed, mastering the spiritual goals in martial arts can dramatically alter the quality of your life-enriching your relationships with people, as well as helping you make use of all your abilities. Review: A lesson in life and Martial Arts - I have been studying and practicing Martial Arts for the past 11 years, the book contains not only lessons for the martial artists, but also lessons for, ultimately, our lives. The book is an easy read, with each chapter even though short, but they are powerful and direct. Here are my notes from each chapter which everyone should try to apply in the lives: 1. Empty Your Cup: Like a cup of coffee being overflowed, we are all overflowed with opinions and habits. In order to take on new knowledge and experiences, we first need to empty our cups, and consider what's hold to be true. 2. Process Not Product: This was a very interesting chapter, we set goals or deadlines for ourselves which is fine, but ultimately we need to focus on the process of something, not the completion. You can still "Begin with the end in mind" (See Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), but it's a process we must focus on, which helps eliminate stress. 3. Seize The Moment: Live in the present, not the past or predicting some unwanted future. Complete concentration and discipline must be in the present moment, don't worry about what's going to happen in even 5 minutes time, just focus your mind on now. 4. Conquer Haste: Be patient in the trivial things in life, have some self control, and one will you will have the same mastery in great and important things. 5. Know Your Limits: Study and improve the strong points of yourself that outweigh your weaknesses. Capabilities exceed limitations. Use what you are already capable of and master it, such as martial arts; kicks do not have to be head high, great kicks at waist level and below cause as much damage. Use what your capable of to your advantage. 6. Even The Masters Have Masters: Everyone has a master, to learn from, to grow. The other lesson here is that we need to accept that learning goes by plateau; we make a big jump up, then we go down again, we have the inspiration, then we go down again, and we don't see any change for a while - but this is a normal part of learning, and fighting through plateau times will result in ultimate awards. 7. Lengthen Your Line: In Sparring, don't try to cut off people with tricky and fancy moves, focus on improving your own kill and knowledge you already have acquired. 9. Do Not Disturb: Time is the most precious commodity we have, we either spend it or waste it. Look at how your using you're 168 hours in a week. 10. Active Inactivity: Doing nothing can sometimes be more important than doing something, we need to pause in our lives and have time out to just THINK. 11. Inactive Activity: Don't try to fight with or deny problems, accept and acknowledge then. Be patient and controlled, then find the best visible solution you can. 12. Extend Your Ki: This is the invisible force or energy which cannot be seen. We all have a inner strength, where the mind and the body can be coordinated as one - This involves having a superior state of mind. Such as under extreme and emergency circumstances: The man who lifts a car off the wife's legs, the man who breaks down a door in a burning building with loved ones trapped inside - this inner strength comes in. 13. Zen Breathing: This is controlled breathing, it restores: calmness, confidence and strength, and reduces anxiety and stress. Breathing in through your nose, with your stomach expanding, and out through your mouth, with your stomach going down naturally, is the process to be followed. 4 Seconds inhale, 4 Seconds exhale. In addition, This breathing pattern can also strengthen your intercostal muscles. 14. Go With The Current: Don't try to go against one's strength, such as in sparring, redirect it, and this will also cause your opponents mind to not be angry. Control things by going along with them. 15. Anger Without Action: How can you expect to control some one else, if you cannot even control yourself? When you lose your anger, you lose yourself - on the mat, as well as real life. 16. Recognize A True threat: To avoid being initiated, think more and react less. If you extend your leg right out in front of you, and if some one is more than your extended leg length away, i'ts the "safety zone" - punches and kicks cannot make contact. You just remain calm and composed, you don't have to react unless they come in your punches or kicks zone (even here, you just be prepared). 17. Kime: This means tightening your mind. In life and on the mat, an unfocused or loose mind wastes energy. Focus on ONE thing in the present. 18. MUSHIN: Let your mind flow, things do become automatic, with both mental and physical practice. 19. Instinctive Action: Always trust your instinct - utilize your sixth sense. 20. Un-thinking Pain: This is mind over matter, if your in pain, focus on something else, then you will realize your frontal lobe (The CEO of your brain), cools of unimportant things, and that pain doesn't seem so bad... and even does not exist. 21. Effortless Effort: Relaxation and concentration go hand in hand. Don't strain your muscles, such as in sparring, just relax and let things go. Train moves to be unconscious action. 22. Make A Friend Of Fear: Face fears until your no longer afraid. Visualize yourself doing it. 23. Confident Seeing: Visualization is VERY powerful, and thus the mind is also. Athletes visualize, you can heal yourself with visualization, and also visualize success. 24. The Power Of Focus: Relax your self such as in sparring, gather all your strength, then make a move. 25. Multiple Options: Have the state of mind of tranquility - a mind as still as water. Consider the third alternative before you take action. 26. Martial Arts Without Zen: You can learn zen without karate, and martial arts with out zen. But Zen and martial together frees one from: concern, tension, anxiety, and winning and loosing. 27. Karate Without Weapons: You don't have to fight at all, which leads to the last point... 28. Winning by Loosing: Defuse a compromising situation by cooperation. If some one starts a road rage, surrender immediately. The true martial artists will allow the other person a way out. I hope these points help at least someone reading this review. Review: A long-term guide book - I have read and re-read this book a dozen times over the last 20 years, during periods when my martial arts training was active, dormant, and now active again. This is the only book about which I can say that. My only regret is that I have yet to find a collector-grade hardback edition for my library. This book can be a fast read - so much so that I often find myself apologizing to friends when I recommend it to them. It is at first difficult to explain how a book can be so influential and yet simple at the same time. The chapters are short - a few pages each - but most of them contain what I consider to be profound and thought provoking life lessons. These lessons have had meaning for me, albeit different ones, from my days as a college student to my present life as a husband, a father, and a professional. I now sometimes just pick up the book and open it to a random chapter for a quick, but meaningful, review. This book is not a tome or treatise about the way of Zen. It is a collection of short stories about the author's experiences with martial arts, and the lessons he derived from those experiences. Personally, I don't care whether the author was a renowned martial artist or not. I readily admit that I am not some master-level practitioner, but that parallel makes the author's experiences resonate even more. In other words, I can relate to many of the challenges he describes. I am writing this review as I purchase my 5th or 6th copy - this one to send to a friend with whom I was discussing the book last night. At a reasonable cost, and a quick read, I can comfortably say that this is worth the effort. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #69,476 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #62 in Tai Chi & Qi Gong #76 in Stretching Exercise & Fitness #100 in Martial Arts (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,132 Reviews | ## Images ![Zen in the Martial Arts - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51J+64zsOBL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A lesson in life and Martial Arts *by J***E on March 2, 2012* I have been studying and practicing Martial Arts for the past 11 years, the book contains not only lessons for the martial artists, but also lessons for, ultimately, our lives. The book is an easy read, with each chapter even though short, but they are powerful and direct. Here are my notes from each chapter which everyone should try to apply in the lives: 1. Empty Your Cup: Like a cup of coffee being overflowed, we are all overflowed with opinions and habits. In order to take on new knowledge and experiences, we first need to empty our cups, and consider what's hold to be true. 2. Process Not Product: This was a very interesting chapter, we set goals or deadlines for ourselves which is fine, but ultimately we need to focus on the process of something, not the completion. You can still "Begin with the end in mind" (See Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), but it's a process we must focus on, which helps eliminate stress. 3. Seize The Moment: Live in the present, not the past or predicting some unwanted future. Complete concentration and discipline must be in the present moment, don't worry about what's going to happen in even 5 minutes time, just focus your mind on now. 4. Conquer Haste: Be patient in the trivial things in life, have some self control, and one will you will have the same mastery in great and important things. 5. Know Your Limits: Study and improve the strong points of yourself that outweigh your weaknesses. Capabilities exceed limitations. Use what you are already capable of and master it, such as martial arts; kicks do not have to be head high, great kicks at waist level and below cause as much damage. Use what your capable of to your advantage. 6. Even The Masters Have Masters: Everyone has a master, to learn from, to grow. The other lesson here is that we need to accept that learning goes by plateau; we make a big jump up, then we go down again, we have the inspiration, then we go down again, and we don't see any change for a while - but this is a normal part of learning, and fighting through plateau times will result in ultimate awards. 7. Lengthen Your Line: In Sparring, don't try to cut off people with tricky and fancy moves, focus on improving your own kill and knowledge you already have acquired. 9. Do Not Disturb: Time is the most precious commodity we have, we either spend it or waste it. Look at how your using you're 168 hours in a week. 10. Active Inactivity: Doing nothing can sometimes be more important than doing something, we need to pause in our lives and have time out to just THINK. 11. Inactive Activity: Don't try to fight with or deny problems, accept and acknowledge then. Be patient and controlled, then find the best visible solution you can. 12. Extend Your Ki: This is the invisible force or energy which cannot be seen. We all have a inner strength, where the mind and the body can be coordinated as one - This involves having a superior state of mind. Such as under extreme and emergency circumstances: The man who lifts a car off the wife's legs, the man who breaks down a door in a burning building with loved ones trapped inside - this inner strength comes in. 13. Zen Breathing: This is controlled breathing, it restores: calmness, confidence and strength, and reduces anxiety and stress. Breathing in through your nose, with your stomach expanding, and out through your mouth, with your stomach going down naturally, is the process to be followed. 4 Seconds inhale, 4 Seconds exhale. In addition, This breathing pattern can also strengthen your intercostal muscles. 14. Go With The Current: Don't try to go against one's strength, such as in sparring, redirect it, and this will also cause your opponents mind to not be angry. Control things by going along with them. 15. Anger Without Action: How can you expect to control some one else, if you cannot even control yourself? When you lose your anger, you lose yourself - on the mat, as well as real life. 16. Recognize A True threat: To avoid being initiated, think more and react less. If you extend your leg right out in front of you, and if some one is more than your extended leg length away, i'ts the "safety zone" - punches and kicks cannot make contact. You just remain calm and composed, you don't have to react unless they come in your punches or kicks zone (even here, you just be prepared). 17. Kime: This means tightening your mind. In life and on the mat, an unfocused or loose mind wastes energy. Focus on ONE thing in the present. 18. MUSHIN: Let your mind flow, things do become automatic, with both mental and physical practice. 19. Instinctive Action: Always trust your instinct - utilize your sixth sense. 20. Un-thinking Pain: This is mind over matter, if your in pain, focus on something else, then you will realize your frontal lobe (The CEO of your brain), cools of unimportant things, and that pain doesn't seem so bad... and even does not exist. 21. Effortless Effort: Relaxation and concentration go hand in hand. Don't strain your muscles, such as in sparring, just relax and let things go. Train moves to be unconscious action. 22. Make A Friend Of Fear: Face fears until your no longer afraid. Visualize yourself doing it. 23. Confident Seeing: Visualization is VERY powerful, and thus the mind is also. Athletes visualize, you can heal yourself with visualization, and also visualize success. 24. The Power Of Focus: Relax your self such as in sparring, gather all your strength, then make a move. 25. Multiple Options: Have the state of mind of tranquility - a mind as still as water. Consider the third alternative before you take action. 26. Martial Arts Without Zen: You can learn zen without karate, and martial arts with out zen. But Zen and martial together frees one from: concern, tension, anxiety, and winning and loosing. 27. Karate Without Weapons: You don't have to fight at all, which leads to the last point... 28. Winning by Loosing: Defuse a compromising situation by cooperation. If some one starts a road rage, surrender immediately. The true martial artists will allow the other person a way out. I hope these points help at least someone reading this review. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A long-term guide book *by R***. on January 11, 2008* I have read and re-read this book a dozen times over the last 20 years, during periods when my martial arts training was active, dormant, and now active again. This is the only book about which I can say that. My only regret is that I have yet to find a collector-grade hardback edition for my library. This book can be a fast read - so much so that I often find myself apologizing to friends when I recommend it to them. It is at first difficult to explain how a book can be so influential and yet simple at the same time. The chapters are short - a few pages each - but most of them contain what I consider to be profound and thought provoking life lessons. These lessons have had meaning for me, albeit different ones, from my days as a college student to my present life as a husband, a father, and a professional. I now sometimes just pick up the book and open it to a random chapter for a quick, but meaningful, review. This book is not a tome or treatise about the way of Zen. It is a collection of short stories about the author's experiences with martial arts, and the lessons he derived from those experiences. Personally, I don't care whether the author was a renowned martial artist or not. I readily admit that I am not some master-level practitioner, but that parallel makes the author's experiences resonate even more. In other words, I can relate to many of the challenges he describes. I am writing this review as I purchase my 5th or 6th copy - this one to send to a friend with whom I was discussing the book last night. At a reasonable cost, and a quick read, I can comfortably say that this is worth the effort. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good book, wish I would have read it sooner! *by D***S on July 7, 2013* There are a lot of good thoughts in this book that I've struggled with in the past, and continue to struggle with. Especially good is the passage about a young, aspiring martial arts student asking how long it will take him to become a master/black belt. The instructor tells him 10 years, to which the student naturally responds by asking if he trained 8 hours/day, and the response from the instructor was 20 years. He asked if he trained 24 hours/day, 7 days/week and the answer was 30 years (or forever, I forget). Regardless, the point is that trying 'too hard' reduces your ability to focus on the skills and techniques you are trying to learn. By relaxing, and giving yourself time to learn you become a better student, faster! The same point is made throughout the book, where extra effort is often a downfall. Extra effort in martial arts means being tight, often times, which translates to slowing yourself down and wearing yourself out. This is the same reason lower belts are wiped out by doing kata, whereas the higher belts (usually) seem to be almost unphased, yet they demonstrate more power during the kata. I will be glad to go through the book and paraphrase the lessons, they will be useful for decades to come. It is also great to hear what Bruce Lee's lessons to the author and others were, some of them surprising! One of them being that your limitations can exceed your capabilities, so accept them and basically work around them rather than becoming demotivated. ## Frequently Bought Together - Zen in the Martial Arts - Living the Martial Way: A Manual for the Way a Modern Warrior Should Think --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ph/products/12783075-zen-in-the-martial-arts](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/12783075-zen-in-the-martial-arts) --- *Product available on Desertcart Philippines* *Store origin: PH* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*