[ glossary · topic map · methodology · references ]
Details on research methods and conventions for the Inner Dharma writing project.
Inner Dharma is a writing project concerned with traditional martial arts and culture, especially my practice of classical kenjutsu and its relationship to internal martial arts training and Sino-Japanese philosophy and religion. I hope these notes are of interest to the broader community, independent of my more personal essays and reflections.
Some details on methods:
- As automated tools have matured (e.g., Gemini, Claude, etc.), I have been able to access more primarily language sources and historical documents associated to older martial traditions and explore both the arts and their historical practitioners in some detail.
- Terms are defined with kanji at first use. Please consult the glossary, which we do our best to update.
- Words in common usage may have their kanji elided.
- Mandarin is written using Pinyin conventions.
- We standardize on using Jikishinkage as the romanization of 直心影流 but several variants exist.
Links to content organized by high-level theme are available on the front page.