This introduction should be short, and as to the point as I can make it. For those who know me, this is no easy task, as I am a "flow" speaker and writer, because I am a "flow" thinker. 

The objective of this treatise is to act as an introduction and a resource to Niō Zen, and to lay down the foundation on which further works will be produced. The way I aim to do this is by trying to keep the process as uniformed and universal as possible. 

First to be stated, is that Niō Zen is not Niō Zen Buddhism. 

Here is why. 

Buddhism is a world religion with near to 520 million professed and recorded followers, and many more admirers. 

It has a character to it. A part of that character is this Buddha that has been shaped to be "all mother", with compassion, kindness, and passivity as its primary nature. 

"All mother Buddha" is the result of the masses of followers of Buddhism being an emotional and immature lot that needs a savior. 

I have no desire to redefine or correct them in their projection of their own inadequacies and mediocrity upon one claimed to be "awakened" to his own nature, and the nature of reality. 

Therefore, Buddhism is this system that is not the product of a Buddha, but is the product of the mediocre masses who have come to take it hostage. 

As such, Niō Zen will not be rolled into this state of depravity. It is a standalone system of thought that is exact, specific, defined, and analytical, no matter the difference this is to that of Buddhism, because Buddhism does not define Niō Zen. And even then, Niō Zen is designed to liberate Bodhi from Buddhism, as such a monopoly on an idea must come to an end, and another shot at its embodiment, or a system aiming towards such be made.

Therefore, a reader looking to find self-affirming Buddhism and mommy Buddha will not find it here in Niō Zen. 

Niō Zen is a Warrior's Buddhistic path, in the sense that Bodhi is defined as being awakened to one's own nature, and then discovering the nature of reality, and coming into great Accord with it. The Tao, then, in this sense, is the great Accord, and the discovery of it is the discovery of its primary characteristic, which is Ratiocination, or in Buddhistic aesthetics, that of Dharma. 

This means, Buddhistic thought is going to receive an update in Niō Zen.

Why would it not? So much has been discovered in the last 2,500 years, so to remain under the conditions of the historical Buddha, limited to what he was limited to, can not make any sense, especially if the whole thing of Bodhi is to be seen as a universal truth, and not a mere belief, fairy tale, or wishful thinking. If the Buddha was speaking on and instigating a path to "awakening" that is grounded in reality, then there is no way he would reject an update based upon a condition in time that is far more suited to address these matters.

Buddhism is often seen as a system of ethics, whereas admirers and followers often treat it like a system of emotions and emotional burden transference. 

Both have received greater thought since the Buddha's time, and frankly, better thinkers have tackled these issues better than Buddhism has, while Buddhism became stagnant, stuck in cosmology and savior-esque proclamations. Buddhism should have changed with the conditions that became further "aware". Emotions are now understood today far more than they ever have been, as well as that of life and the attributes and characteristics of it, with far greater classification and taxonomy.

If anything, with 520 million Buddhists, it has not produced a single Buddha. I am not talking about a human raised from boyhood and called a Dalai Llama. I'm talking real deal and dynamic Buddha, who would most certainly reject just about all Buddhism says about Bodhi, just as Christos returned would reject Christians as being representations of "the Way". 

Niō Zen, as a standalone, is going to develop in a sense liken to a dialectical format, and that of securing the route and/or argument. 


This has been said at times to be the nature of the Quran to be called "Thee Proposition", or "Thee Argument", or "Thee Case". So then is the self-declared nature of Niō Zen works, because the objective is to develop a system that knows itself, and is not confused and all over the place with contradiction. 

Buddhism, for example, has the Buddha being declared to have three virtues : that of the "All Power", that of "Wisdom", and then the horribly translated karuna, or that of "Compassion". Yet Buddhists think first and many times only "compassion mommy Buddha".

Begging the question : is Vajrapani not the manifestation of the Buddha's power? Is it not said, all of his power, including awakened wrath and the destruction of illusions and demons, even by the use of physical force, justified by the Dharma and its protection? 

Nope, no Vajrapani. Just mommy Buddha, for the emotionally suffering and whimpering tits that need a shoulder to cry on, with the ever so decree, "offer me not solutions, for I seek only to be  heard, felt, and aligned with". Buddhism does not know itself is my point. So Vajrapani, who is the Buddha, sits around with his sword and lasso, wondering how in the world did he get left out, when he was the "All Power" of the Buddha manifested. 

When Buddhism does not know itself, here is the biggest problem. 

Buddhism is not the product of a Buddha. It is the product of whimpering imbeciles looking for a refuge from themselves, and the Buddha has been taken hostage by their subversive natures. 


I can not set the Buddha free and call him Buddha. But I can set free Bodhi and call its personification, Vajrapani, the Sovereign, and his two princes, the Niō. 

Niō Zen, as a standalone system, is not mommy Buddhism. It is Buddhistic in aesthetics and symbols alone. Bodhi is a universal concept, and the prime interest of Niō Zen. Vajrapani is the awakened wrath symbol of Buddhism that represents the All Power of the Buddha. It is symbolism that is Warrior-Philosopher grounded. 

Throughout the history of Buddhism, there were Warrior Buddhists. One of the well-known ones was Bodhidharma, who traveled out of Iran and made his way to China. 

Bodhidharma was called ''The White'' and ''The Blue-Eyed Barbarian'' by the Chinese, as he was a Caucasian Iranian, belonging to a minority people in Iran. He is called Indian and this is an error of history well-known, now. 

He was a wandering monk, and he followed the individual path of looking into his own nature, and seeking solitude while he did this. When he encountered the lazy monks of Shaolin, he taught them martial exercises and the value of vitality, or the martial chi, or Ki, as is present as well in Taoism, which would become mixed into the Chan Buddhism of Bodhidharma. Chan would eventually become called Zen in Japan.

Some would say, his connection to Shaolin is a myth and later fabrication, but what it shows, is at least culturally, there was a desire to wish to see him connected. 

Bodhidharma did not teach the public. And what few practitioners he trusted, he gave an esoteric Buddhism to, similar to that of the Vajrayana path of Buddhism, but differing in many ways. A secret society was born from this small group, and their ways are not for me to reveal.

However, I tell this tale so as to point out that Niō Zen, though innovative and quite unique—so much, it will be called heretic—is not, in a sense, new. 

Japanese warriors would adopt Buddhistic thought that served their martial lives. An individual in Japan, named Suzuki Shigemitsu, would be born to an esoteric Buddhist family in Kii province, themselves experts in the "gun", but rebellious against the common order, and therefore, crushed by the tyrants of nobility. After his family was crushed, Shigemitsu was given up to the Imagawa and set to serve in a horse troop of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu would eventually become the shogun of Japan, and Shigemitsu was no longer to be a Suzuki

Instead, he was now Kudayu Shigemitsu, on the account that Kudayu was a title for a "listener of rumors", or that is, a spy—but not a combat spy. Too did Shigemitsu serve as a "sniper", in the sense that he was a kusa, as he was also named Kusamon, or grass shooter of the gate.

Because of these roles, his samurai history is not well-recorded. These were roles that were unconventional, and though he was Tokugawa's hatamoto knowingly, that is, a part of his elite and primary guards, he is not as well-known to have served in these roles, to which he did. His expertise and upbringing in the "gun", or the arquebus, and that of his family's ties to Iga made him a welltrained and expert kusa, or sniper. His primary role was disruption on the battlefield, as was common for men of Iga, Kii, and Kouga. 

While he was Kudayu, he began to travel around as a samurai interested in Buddhism and the debate therein. He began to develop his own ''unique to Japan attitude'' of the Niō mind and the vital death energy of Buddhistic thought. His common advice was to find Buddha nature, study the statues, as they are the personification of Buddha nature, and the Niō are the most important to start with. 

He later became known as Shosan, and as I have said before, he was no longer a Suzuki. So when historians write about him, they call him Shosan Suzuki, which is foolish. He was no longer Suzuki, he was simply Shosan, him natured to wander with a pack, liken to that of a Yamabushi to which he was as well. 

Late in his years, he would do the very dangerous act of becoming a monk and choosing in his own Sovereignty to no longer be Bushi, or that is, samurai. This would normally be punished by the order to commit suicide. Samurai culture was a death cult culture, and suicide was the common way of bringing one's family name back to grace. Shosan knew this risk, and gladly said this is to be his path, and if ordered to slice open his belly, because he must go this way, then he will gladly do so. Instead of receiving the order to kill himself, the shogun had his messengers change the narrative : "Do not say Shosan has shaved his head and became a monk. Just say he has retired." And so then Shosan, who was known to be a maverick, was left to dedicate his life to being a wandering monk who would seek to see the Dharma become the nature of the state, but he did not succeed. 

He was a great blend of the Warrior mind and vitality with the Japanese framework of Buddhistic thought. He was a Niō Sovereign. However, he did not make a system that was able to be analyzed, followed, practiced, and considered. 

Niō Zen, as two terms combined, are accredited to his attitude, and rightfully so. But it was no more than an attitude and not an actual system. 

He was wishing to reform Buddhism, and was seeking to do so all the way to his death bed. Around him, his take on Zen was referred to as Niō Zen. But he did not develop a system. Till now, there was no system to be learnt or to become developed in called Niō Zen Buddhism. To say Niō Zen was to learn of Shosan. 

As a young boy, Shosan's voice was like that of being my cranky, yet funny grandfather of Zen, who would remind me, stay vigilant, stay focused, and let no ghost steal away your vitality, as if I needed the reminder.

Shosan is this to me. I love him as if he was kin, as if him and I are of the same journey, under different forms and conditions. And so I honor him in my naming of this system I seek to innovate. Niō Zen, after the publication of this treatise, will now be a system made public.

I have chosen the aesthetics of Shosan's condition, versus the ones of mine. My condition is super Ratiocinative. I do not have cultural markers, traditions, and conditional symbols carried over from my time, other than the use of modern weapons of war, of battle, of the warrior. So I needed an aesthetics that had a connection already to Buddhism.

As this treatise is about a Warrior's Buddhism, I chose Shosan because there is no better example of a Man, and a time and place of the past connected to Buddhism. Vajrapani is the primary name of the system, as a symbolic representation of one element of Buddha nature, but Shosan is the Man of flesh that the aesthetics comes from.

Shosan is to me as I am to myself, only if having been faced with trapping conditions liken to a time and place like Sengoku Jidai, Japan. His conditions were oppressive, as the martial state of Japan was, and he was not free to be him, but did quite well, as a maverick, given his circumstances.

I too entered into martial servitude to the state, at the age of seventeen, 1997, as an infantryman, but was quickly plucked from the ordinary ranks and found suited for more unorthodox placement. I would go on to be a Bushi, in this sense, for the nation/state, serving their interest in peculiar ways, till 2005, and then be moved strategically into the private sector, being freed up to engage my role in a more chosen light. 

In 2008, I would collapse into my nature and become unwilling to engage in the interest of others any longer, especially in that their interests were not "awakened" interests, and I set out to become a wandering monk, living out of a pack, and looking deep into my nature. This would go on for four years, in the forest, across the continent, and ending up in that of Santa Cruz, California, where I taught Kenshō, martial arts, and outdoor primal skills, combined with escape and evasion.

When I had come to conclude on my nature, I accidentally came back into society as a behavioral consultant, and was set upon a course of investigating and experimenting with human behavior, and my secret intentions of connecting such things to the Bodhi notion, though I was no longer Buddhistic in my terminology. 

I would spend the next six years trying to deliver the benefits of my maverick brand of behavioral philosophy and its insight to others, only to find that the chronological aspect, in regard to developmental ideas and insight were far too complex and elaborate, and that more so, most lacked any self-power, any sense of worth, and therefore, low in vitality, valour, veracity, and virtue. In essence, I needed a primal solution and one day, I simply started falling back to Buddhistic metaphor, and began to find that I had come to an odd use of it, and it was working. 

I came full circle to a childhood interest of mine, and a system that has, in essence, been buried, because the masses could never match it to their nature. 

I could have called it anything, in regard to being Buddhistic. I could have called it Bukido Buddhism, or any other notion of connection. But my connection became stronger with Shosan, and his Ki came through and loud, and I heard it, and chose to build off of it. And therefore, I became affixed on that of Niō Zen and its road to become a system of thought and consideration. 

This here treatise, then, is only an introduction to this path, and later to come will be works that should make it usable in form and practice, but I can not know the outcome, as all systems of thought are reliant upon a compatibility in like nature of its adopters. Unlike Buddhism, I will make this very clear, so that those not of the Niō Zen nature can not hijack it and alter it to meet their nature's needs. They have Buddhism for that, they will not have Niō Zen for that. 

When the seeker arrives here, if they believe they already understand, then their arrogance will often have them going nowhere. The place to go is to the Niō who stand guard at the gate : stand before them and study their identity. If one can match their identity, they can make their way to the stairs, and pass through the "temple gates", and on to the "chambers". 

Rarely have I met others with the Niō set of characteristics, if ever. Though I embody them, and more. This is the cause for my contribution to this path, because I do not see it presented by and for others elsewhere, and for the few it pertains to, it is needed. 

Sticking with the metaphor, the reader should see themselves in need of a "light". This light is the means to illuminate and/or see. The light that needs to be acquired is through friction and gathering the right materials. 

The Niō stand in the darkness to the reader, to the seeker. A glimpse of the statues exists, and its general direction is known, because its general direction is this treatise.

The reader/seeker can not pass the Niō without being of their stock and their nature. This must be attained. The process of attainment here is that of studying, characterizing, categorizing, analyzing, and then adopting to habit this very nature of Niō. 

The Quest, in essence, can not begin till this has occurred. So rather than speak of the entirety of the Quest to those without Niō essence, I have chosen to focus the entirety of time and energy to investigate and experiment with seeing about getting others to prove up this much.

This treatise and the works that will follow it are the base and foundation of illumination, and ought to be developed and then utilized. If one does not command their own "light", then they will only see what others direct their own light towards, and therefore, be subjects to others. Niō Zen is about Sovereignty. Buddhism is supposed to be about Sovereignty, though effeminate and soft subjects swell its ranks and call its physical abodes their homes. 

None of this nature, the effeminate and the soft, shall pass the Niō. It is not wrong to be effeminate and soft. This is a matter of nature and predisposition. But nature has also made so that what is found beyond the Niō can not pertain to the effeminate and the soft. They have what they need in this world and it is base. Beyond the Niō is something else to be discovered by those with the vitality and valor to explore.

Buddha has passed into the Quest beyond the Niō and discovered the Dharma, then sought to tell others of it, though they have never traveled its ways. Those others then adopted it, malcontent of their previous fathers and mothers, simply trading them out for the Buddha, as many of you do today.