Body & Mind Training Center

Dear Ostad Jalilzadeh and Hamrahan,
I love so much the stories told by Yaromeh, too bad I know only two of them and the more I think about them more things and ideas come to my mind, ideas that I wish to share with you all hoping it may be useful to someone.

I was thinking about the story of Pertoa. The attention is caught by the beautiful girl of To'a city, Pertoa, also because of the name of the story that is entitled to her, with the risk of missing all the surrounding. I thought, what if I look at the story cutting all the words and details? what would remain?

-A girl dressed in red (Pertoa)
-A girl dressed in black (Mehrtoma)
-Shada, the oldest of the Temple
-7 guardians dressed in black with green sash
-The wall of the City
-The wall of the Temple

Maybe Yaromeh was comunicating at different levels, because if I look at it like this what comes to my mind is a scheme of Kung Fu To'a itself.

-The girl in red (Pertoa) as we said previously in post #4464 and #4466, should represent the Master, the red jacket. But I thought that maybe she could also represent the Rahbar, the leader or the red sash, because in the story she leads the people and help them to access the city to reach the Temple.

-The girl dressed in black (Mehrtoma) that is looking in the darkness, could maybe symbolize the Jahanban the protector of the universe, and is the back sash.

-Shada is the oldest of the Temple, maybe he could represent the Rahban

-The 7 guardians dressed in black with the green sash may represent the Rahdan, that "knows the path", and maybe they are 7 because 7 are the steps and maybe they represent each one of the steps.

-The wall of the City of Kung Fu To'a could represent Kung Fu To'a itself.

-The wall of the "Temple", may represent the gym because at the time the term "Temple" was used at the time to call the place where the Hamrahan had their trainings.

Maybe Yaromeh was at the same time trying to pass some concept and knowledge and also creating a symbolic scheme of the path itself

Dear Ostad Jalilzadeh and dear friends, today I woke up with the story of Mehrmatora in the head and I was enlighted by a thought.
The good thing coming from a story that has no guidelines to be interpreted, is that we can think about all the possible meanings that we can find in it, and I found another one that I simply “sketched” in my last writing.
I tried to read the story from the point of view of the single person, letting out the “social aspect” of it.

All individuals have an identity, a “Self”, a structure made by the multipilicity of different identities we have inside us and that all togerther forms the image of ourself. We are at the same times member of a family (father, mother, son etc), we are workers, we are martial artist, we have friends, and on, we have as many “self” as the number of field that make our life.
Sometimes in our daily life we may have moments of doubt, fear, weakness, life is not so easy, and sometimes an aspect of ourself can come in conflict with another. For example, when someone choose the carrer may conflict with another part of himself or herself that would ask for more time. More sportive activity, or more time with the family....
I thought that we could read the story also in this terms.
We must learn to love all aspect of ourself, to find an inner harmony and understand and accept all the request coming from each part of us. If we learn to accept every aspect of ourself and we learn to live in harmony with all of them, to give a priority to those that really are important for us and let go of those that we don't really want (the samurai that make harakiri) this will have a positive effect in all our life and we will enter in the land of beauty that is our own life and our mind itself.
It is only a simple and little thought but I wished to share it with you all.

Dear Master Jalilzadeh and Hamrahan, I wish to share and write about the logo used by our dear Master Jalilzadeh at Body & Mind training Institute.
As we know so many people are not aware of the meanings in Kung Fu To'A, so I think it would be helpful to talk about it.

The logo consists of some elements, each of them has a precise meaning and a history

The fist: :

The fist's meaning is "protection of the peace through the power." The meaning may seem ambiguous, but actually refers to the fact that peace is an asset that must be protected and that often happens to be made jeopardized.

The fist indicates that in order to protect the peace you need to have the strength to do so, to protect it and assure it.
Yaromeh Mirzaii in his logo was using the right fist, while the fist in the logo of Master's Jalilzadeh at Body & Mind Training Institute is the left one.
The left hand has been choosen instead of the right hand to emphasize that Master Jalilzadeh is not Yaromeh Mirzaii, he is saying that he is not the Grand Master and he shows his respect to him by using the left hand, and he underline too that Kung Fu To'A is not a religion or a goal to be achieved.

Kung Fu To'A is a means at the service of the people for the achievement of their aims and the realization of their dreams in a more easy and fast way. Through the teachings, the person develops, grows and evolves in personality and character, and what is taught is left to the same person who learns to make his own decisions and make choices independently.

The choice of the left hand is also due to the fact that the majority of the people is right handed. By choosing the left hand, the right hand is left free to move freely. It means that Kung Fu To'A is not everything in life, but a means to be used in life, and it is Iike saying, "I'll teach you and I will give you the means, then it's up to you to choose how to use them in your life. "

The colors :

The background of the logo is black, while the fist is red. It means that the red fist emerges from the darkness to show me the way out of the darkness itself.

Please note that the color red is a very special one (it is also found in the history of Perto'a). The Master put a red jacket on, meaning that he is the guide, he teaches the "way" and Kung Fu To'A, and who is putting a red jacket on has a duty to help anyone who asks for help in Kung Fu To'A.
Red is also the color of blood, and it means that the Master would be willing if necessary to give even his life to protect the path.

I hope that everything is correct and precise.
All my respect to our dear Master Jalilzadeh.

TO'A

Dear Master Jalilzadeh, friends and Hamrahan, I was thinking about what I have learned about the symbol represented by the Otayme, and I wish to share with you what I got.

Otayme in Kung Fu To'A

The otayme is formed by an external circle containing another major red circle, where in the middle is located another white smaller one, and it was usually located at the center of the temple (in the eastern countries, the place of practice is called "Dojo", in Kung Fu To'A it is called "Temple", indicating an important place for the Kung Fu Ka)
During the trainings, no one was allowed to step in, the Hamrahan could sit or stand outside while the Master was talking, but could not get inside the perimeter. The Hamrahan were allowed to get in only in specific events: during a test, or for fighting.
As with everything else in Kung Fu To'A, Otayme is a symbol full of meanings.

RED CIRCLE: blood and aggression

Human nature has a natural tendency to violence and aggressiveness. The goal of a Kung Fu To'A karan is to deflect and change this trend, to have the upper hand on this aggressiveness to achieve inner peace.
From the point of view of the person, as long as you are not able to recognize inside yourself this natural trend and negative attitute, you are not even able to recognize and understand it in the world, and to find peace, referring to the inner peace of course, but also to peace in relationships with others.

Aggression, however, is a tool that can be put at the service of peace, in order to protect it, but to be able to do so, it is necessary to be able to control it and manage it as a sword is unsheathed if necessary, but it can be put back in peacetime, ready to be used again when needed.

WHITE CIRCLE: peace

The white circle represents peace. The world is formed by the sum of the individuals. Me + You + Other = Us.
Peace is something that must be sought and reached inside yourself, but also in relation to the outside world, at intraindividual and also interindividual level, as individuals, but also within organizations that are formed by the union of individuals.

White: peace, love, harmony, happiness, beauty
Black: Darkness, enmity, hatred, jealousy, anger, and every negative human disposition.

Dear Master Jalilzadeh, friends and Hamrahan,
I wish to share with you a thought about the philosophy we find in Suto, the third mumay, and in the sash.

I found a strong connection in the message carried by the Faravahar, and I think that the main concept is almost the same, this is why I wish to put their meanings side by side and to do a comparison and see what happens.

What we know about Suto, is that at this point the Kung Fu To'a Ka knows himself better, has gained experience, and now can stand for what he believes and what is right.

Good thoughts, good words, good deeds

As we know the Hamrah has made an oath to commit himself in living following the principles of good thoughts, good words, good deeds, and every times he takes his sash off he looks back if he actually did it in his daily life, not only in the gym.

In the Faravahar, good thoughts, good words and good deeds, are represented by the three layer of feather of the two wings.
In Kung Fu To'A, good thoughts, good words and good deeds, are represented by the three knots that are formed when we close the Sash.

I noticed that the principle are represented by the Sash that the hamrah put on around his waist, while in the Faravahar is represented by the two wings, and the human figure is right in the middle, as if they were around his waist in the same way.

Good and bad

In Suto, in my opinion two Kias are really interesting. Of course, all the Kias are interesting, but I am talking about these two because they are connected in a precise way.
The first one is “Hapkibato”, and the second is “Budem”.

In Hapkibato, the Hamrah take distance from the negative and everything that is bad. In Budem, the meaning is “telling the truth and prove it.”

In the Faravahar, at the bottom we have two rings or loops, which represents Sepanta Minu, and Angra Minu, the first one is directed forward and the other one backward. The message is that we have to proceed toward the good and turn away from bad.

In my opinion, the loop that is directed backward and that means that we should turn away from bad, is very close to the Kia “Hapkibato”, and I find a connection also in the movement.

In the Faravahar, the loop is facing backward, and in Suto what we actually do is turning backward to make the techniques, and then we turn again to the front.
In the same way, in the Faravahar the front loop is facing forward, and the techniques we make while we exhale the Kia Boodem, is also featured by a movement that tends to go forward too.

Stand and struggle

Another concept that I found in common, is represented by the left hand of the Faravahar. The hand is pointing upward, showing that we have to struggle to thrive.
This concept i think is in common with the main meaning of Suto. The Kung Fu Ka stand for what he believes and also fight for it.

Loyalty

Loyalty is the last concept I found in common.
In Suto, we show our love and loyalty to the Grand Master Mirzaii, the creator of the To'a Style when we end the mumay and say “Suto Kung fu Ka, Yaromeh, To'A”.

In the Faravahar we find an analogy in the other hand, the one that holds a ring. For some interpreters the ring is the ring of covenant, and represent the loyalty and faithfulness which is the basis of Zarathustra's philosophy.

One last thought.
As we know, Yaromeh Mirzaii created Kung Fu To'A on the basis of Karate Gojy Ryu, but with Suto he took distance from the eastern culture to get closer to the persian culture.
I see the old persian culture perfectly represented in Suto, in all its beauty and depth.

Fascinating! Much to consider here....