Sanctuary

"A dojo (道場 dōjō) is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way".[sic]" (Wikipedia)

As many martial arts practitioners have discovered, the dojo is a place of sanctuary. It is a place where we can escape the world and its troubles for a couple hours, and just train. As far as I know, all my fellow students (including the teachers), would say without hesitation that there have been nights when the dojo was a true place of sanctuary from whatever hardships they were going through at the time.

The other night, I thought about the term "dojo" and recalled its meaning. "Place of the way." The origins for that are Buddhist, but my upbringing connects it to the Way. Before the term "Christian" came about, Christ-followers were called followers of the Way. Thinking of it in that sense led me to associate "dojo" with the sanctuary of a church, where the doctrines of the Way are taught.

Once my train of thought arrived there, I discovered there are actually a lot of similarities between the two.

Both serve as dedicated spaces for deepening our understanding of the respective "ways" (which are connected on a deep level I won't get into now). Both are led by teachers who are still students. Both emphasize that this is a place of training/learning, and the practice comes outside, on your own. A sense of family grows in both "congregations." Ritual and mindfulness/prayerfulness permeate both settings. Those are just the obvious points - I'm not even getting into the specific correlations between the budo philosophy and Christian faith.

One more similarity: Both these sanctuaries are very important to me. They are places where I can connect to something bigger than myself. Places where I can be challenged, and grow better for it. Places where, for a time, the focus is not on me or my stressors. The details are different, yes, but the outline is the same.

Thank you, Lord, for sanctuary.