Are Buddhism and Competitive Athletics Compatible?

Buddhism fascinates me. I’m learning a lot about it and have developed a fledgling meditation practice. I also discovered tennis a few years ago, and watch a lot of pro matches. I’ve also taken some lessons and started playing a bit myself. Which leads me to a dilemma. Are Buddhism and competition incompatible?

 While watching the men’s final of the Australian Open between Roger Federer and Andy Murray last Sunday, this question came to a head. A lot of Buddhist teachings focus on avoiding dualistic thinking, not falling into a trap of things being this or that. Which is difficult, given our human propensity to categorize everything we encounter. So how does this jibe with competitive athletics, where you are always winning or losing?

I can’t even watch tennis without taking sides (sorry, Roger, but I was hoping for an upset this time), much less play without hoping for a certain outcome. I find it very hard to simply focus on the point or even the stroke that is happening right now, without thinking ahead to how it will affect the rest of the game. So how do the pros stay in the moment when they obviously want to win the next point, game, match and tournament?

Some seem to do it better than others; I love watching how they handle themselves on the court. Sunday’s match was a case in point. Federer—what can I say, the man is a rock of stability. No matter what is going on in the match, he shows very little emotion on any point, whether the shot was good or bad. Very occasionally you’ll see a little fist pump on a good shot, but for a bad shot the most the replay usually shows is a slow closing of both eyes, like he is closing it out of his mind. Which came first, I wonder, the Zen-like on-court serenity or his flawless playing? All bets are off after the final point, however, when Roger is famous for tears of emotion, as in last year's final.

Murray, on the other hand, had so much riding on this match, and his body language showed it. He bellowed on good points and slumped and turned away on bad shots, visibly disappointed in his playing overall.

To be fair, any player matched up against Federer is liable to be nervous, but I’ve noticed similar behavior on the ladies’ side, where things are more up in the air. One of the things I admire most about Maria Sharapova is what I heard a commentator say about her once—no matter what happened in the last point, she approaches every point fresh, as if it is the first point in the game. Even when she’s playing badly, I’ve never seen her melt down. Dinara Safina, however, disintegrates so badly when she’s losing that it’s actually painful to watch.

 In thinking on this topic I remembered Tim Gallwey’s classic book, “The Inner Game of Tennis,” which I read a couple of years ago, and pulled it off the shelf. Gallwey has some interesting thoughts on competition, which I won’t go into in depth here, but I was struck by a quote at the beginning of the book attributed only to Maharaji, who the book is also dedicated to and I assume is his spiritual teacher: “What is the real game? It is a game in which the heart is entertained, the game in which you are entertained. It is the game you will win.” What do you think, athletes? How does competition fit in with your spiritual life?

Roger Federer photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/toughlove/ / CC BY 2.0

Comments

[JoAnna]

Maybe you just have to separate the two. Be competitive on the field and hold the beliefs of Buddhism off of it.

Nonetheless, good athletes have to be able to place themselves in a state of zen if they can truly be competitive. Being in the moment, completely focused on what they are doing, is vital if they are to hold a stake in the competitive environment.

[Jenni]

I can't site the specifics, but this reminds me of a study I heard about years ago. Researchers put a small receiver in the ears of successful athletes and piped successive beeping sounds to them as they were competing/practicing. They asked the athletes to acknowledge when they heard the beeps. They found that as athletes got closer to moments of action (a rifleman about to pull the trigger, for example) they failed to respond. Asked why, I think I remember correctly that many replied that they didn't hear them. It seems to me that zen and athletics could go very well together--to be successful in an intense situation, athletes need the ability to focus to the exclusion of all else.

[Louise]

Thanks for your comments, Jenni. I can definitely believe those results - I think the truly great athletes get in the zone, or the flow or whatever you want to call it, and are so focused on what they are doing that everything else fades into the background. Something I aspire to! That Inner Game of Tennis book talks somewhat about this. It's a really good book for people interested in mindfulness, whether or not you play tennis.

[Whyaxye]

American buddhism is compatible with anything, as it is essentially a form of cultural appropriation. If you want to be competitive, you can find a quote to support it in the Pali Canon. Sporting Buddhas, Fighting Buddhas, Sexual Buddhas, Drunk Buddhas.

[Renee']

Thank you Whyaxye - I like your answer

[Matt]

It sounds agreeable to "separate the two", but even that creates a dualistic way of thinking. Buddhism is all. Furthermore, buddhism involved SEEING, not THINKING. In essence, just be conscious, which doesn't involve the conditioned mind we've been placed with.

[ruben]

"If I'm better than you I'd like to teach you. If you are better than me I'd like to learn. Either way, we both win"
Don't know who said it but I love it.

[Louise]

Well put, Matt. Getting beyond dualistic thinking is not something I really comprehend, but that is at the crux of Buddhism.

[Louise]

I like it!

[Matt]

Louise,

The mind is not supposed to be able to comprehend non-dualistic styles of thinking. That's why the mind is fixed. And in order to break free of the mind's restrictions, we must live by the freedom of the innocent heart.
We grow up believing (by thinking) that we are separate from our surroundings, whether it's people, objects, etc. False! ", this creates dualistic thinking in itself. If we grew up understanding that there is actually no "I" or "Them" this would solve much confusion and actually eradicate dualistic thinking.. Also, the fact that we judge everything as "good" or "bad" creates dualism in itself.

The mind, in it's most natural form, is structured to think "good or bad", "high or low" etc. It doesn't want to see the middle point in any situation. That's how it finds comfort, by being FIXED..which is in major connection with the ego. Ego loves to "know", or atleast "think" that it knows, in order to feel secure.

Hence the reason why players want to know what their opponents strengths and weaknesses are. If any athlete is actually comfortable in his abilities, he/she wouldn't need to study their competitor.
Also, Studying opponents actually takes away from true knowledge, which is found in the present moment. That's why it's imperative to be in the PRESENT MOMENT, as well as to not be fixed by the MIND (which depletes us of truly being here now)

This is all just opinion based, as I apologize for writing a novel back to your short yet sweet response. But please don't believe my answer to be the ultimate truth. Find answers that resonate with you, and reject what doesn't!