teppoudo
Teppoudo is a Japanese word meaning – The Way of the Gun.“do” is a suffix having numerous meanings including “road”, “path”, “route” and in this case “way”. It is commonly used to indicate that the discipline is not just a system of techniques, but has a spiritual element as well. The goal is to explore the discipline of shooting as more than a collection of techniques.
An element of Zen teaching is to use various “arts” as a vehicle to attain enlightenment – that is, to better understand yourself and ultimately “Universal truth”.
While the Zen arts are many and quite diverse, they all share that same common goal – to confront our true nature. Because of that, the Zen arts have been called “fractional expressions of Zen in limited fields”.
Mere technical mastery of any of these arts is not true mastery. Mastering a Zen art is not based on cognitive or intellectual understanding – it is based on an intuitive awareness of the underlying principles of the Universe as they apply to that particular art.
The philosophy of learning a Zen art is to learn its underlying principles through the repetitive practice of techniques. In that respect, in becomes appropriate for more modern activities to be practiced in the method of the Zen art, provided they are studied and mastered with this philosophy in mind.
The Enso (circle) in the logo for this site is often used in Japanese culture. Enso is a Japanese word meaning “circle” and a concept strongly associated with Zen. An Enso typically symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void; it is also an “expression of the moment”.
Since the “Way of the Gun” is a mental as well as spiritual journey, I found this to be an appropriate symbol.
The comments on Zen have been extracted from an article by John Dryer at the Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol.