I am in Las Vegas today speaking to the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA), 1,500 professional martial arts school owners and instructors.

My topic is “Taking Care of the Master”, and I am offering four suggestions for overcoming professional burnout.

So often, a professional martial arts teacher spends so much time and energy encouraging his or her students, that personal advancement and personal passion take a seat way in the back behind all the focus on others. Can you identify with that reality statement at all? If so, what can you do to regain your original passion? What important encouragement can you tap into from “the master within?”

After my presentation, I will come back and post here 4 suggestions based on my study of the Japanese and Tibetan mystical warrior inner development traditions. I promise it will be worth reading, so be sure to bookmark this site for quick and reliable return.

The Dalai Lama teaching on the Heart Sutra was live-stream broadcast on the internet and taped for later viewing. You can find all 3 teaching sections – each one well over 2 hours – on-line at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6858067

Session 1 has a no-sound glitch for the first 12 minutes. You get to “watch me talk” as I introduce the Dalai Lama and the program. (Test out your ninja lip-reading skills!)

In Session 1 at around the 20 minute mark, my voice comes on and I introduce the Dalai Lama after the Michael Fitzpatrick musical piece.

There are links on that web page to watch Session 2 and then Session 3 as well. They let me speak with full voice in those broadcasts, too.

Want to see how the Heart Sutra and its “all appearances are empty of intrinsic existence” (or “every thing, situation, or person is formed and defined by interdependent relationships”) looks as advanced martial arts technique?

Here’s a hint. Less grind and struggle, and more recognizing and using the energy. The bad ending of “He’s got me in a headlock!” becomes the powerful beginning of “He’s set himself up for unconsciousness from my body drop choke-out” – if you are good enough and have studied with the right teachers. That’s the magic of wisdom. That’s the magic of our To-Shin Do.

Find the Heart of Wisdom DVD at our SKH Quest on-line store.

“Shi-kin Hara-mitsu Dai-ko-myo” is our training hall motto. Inherited from my martial arts teacher in Japan and his teacher before him, it is an inspirational phrase we shout in front of the kamiza to start and close SKH Quest To-Shin Do Level 3 and Level 4 classes.

I have translated the phrase as, “Everything I encounter could serve as the perfection of wisdom that leads to enlightenment,” or, “Every experience contains the potential for taking me to the awakening I seek.”

The SHI of the phrase translates literally as “word(s)”.

The KIN translates as “sound(s)”.

Together, the two kanji for Shi-kin mean literally “The sounds of words,” or “Sounds and words”. The combination means “an encounter” or “something that occurs to me”.

HA-RA-MITSU is the Japanese pronunciation of paramita, a Sanskrit term that translates as “perfection of wisdom,” or “having gone over the river to the far shore”, a Buddhist metaphor for going beyond normal limits of thought and perception to reach highest or broadest understanding. I know the 3 kanji characters loosely translate as ” secrets of going over the waves” – a well done translating coincidence – but the word really is an attempt to use Chinese letters and Japanese pronunciation to get the Sanskrit “paramita”.

DAI KO MYO means “great bright light” – illumination “dawns on us.”

My wife An-shu Rumiko offers another interesting interpretation. We can see SHIKIN at one end and DAIKOMYO at the other, both leading inwards to the center of HARAMITSU. “All that we hear and all that we see can lead to the perfection of wisdom.” Multidirectional reading is possible in Chinese and Japanese, though difficult to imagine in Western languages.

My good friend Chris Penn of Boston Martial Arts has suggested that a contemporary parallel might be an expression like, “This could be it!” as you dig for treasure, or study something important, or interview for a dream job. You might recite over and over, “This could be it!” as a way of staying on your toes to make sure you get the most you can out of the opportunity.

Living in a way that keeps you ever aware of the preciousness of each moment and fullness of potential held in each encounter is called being mindful. Developing such a habit is a part of the To-Shin Do 8-Step Personal Perfection Plan for personal transformation from the inside out

7. IDEAL MINDFULNESS – “Perfect way to be aware”
“I use every moment as an opportunity to grow. Everything matters!”

So many people move through life in a way best described as semi-focused and partially distracted. They creep from moment to moment waiting for whatever might come along. Whatever pops up, they deal with it or duck it, and then go back to dull ease. It becomes a habit.

They certainly do not keep their eye on any prize they have committed to win. They move through meetings, take or make phone calls, talk to coworkers on the job, share space with family members, maybe go to a party or event with friends, all the while taking things as they come. Life is a pattern of winging it, docilely and mildly comatose.

Such people are not clear about the specific outcome they want from each interaction. They certainly have no sense of looking for and expecting the potential magic of every encounter. Life is perceived as “not too bad” but never soars or roars. Unguided and undefined, life eases along and becomes whatever it it becomes.

As long as life never falls into states that challenge survival, few people seem to consider it a problem to live in an aimless and random manner. Even fewer think to look for a solution. Only a very few know how to implement the solution.

If you did realize that an unfocused life just using up days is a problem, and if you did want a solution, one simple change is extremely effective. Create a new habit of asking yourself before you start any activity, “What do I want to get out of this? What is the outcome I want to generate?” Pay attention to paying attention. Even the smallest thing – a cup of coffee, a casual conversation, a walk to your car on a hot sunny day – becomes an opportunity to live with depth and purpose. Do not waste time or opportunities.

To make asking this question a habit, put visual reminder icons where you cannot miss them. One friend uses an exaggerated exclamation point as a talisman. One uses a bug-eyed smiley face. One uses a grinning Tibetan skull caricature to remind him of the swiftness and shortness of life. Pencil your reminder in your daily schedule, on a card in your briefcase, or post-it note on the bottom of your computer monitor.

Constantly seeing these reminders makes it easy to develop a new way of thinking. That leads to a new way of operating. Whatever you do repetitively and consistently can develop into a habit, so make sure you pick the most ideal habits to invite into blossom in your life.

Shikin Haramitsu Dai-Ko-Myo! Every moment has its lesson, if only we are alert enough to be ready for it. Stay mindful of all the possibilities. What is the higher value of what you are experiencing right now? What is there to enjoy and build from right here?

Back in the 1980s, I encouraged my friends and students to take our ninja historical martial arts into new areas where our knowledge could help others. How about military applications, police work, health restoration, corporate leadership training, running a local community dojo, and yes of course movie, TV, or novel entertainment? Take this art and do things with it.

Do things that I would not be the best one to do, I urged them. I was the guy who wrote books and conducted seminars and published the newsletter (that was how we communicated way back before the internet) and generally proved the art to the greater martial arts world. I was very good at that apparently, based on the resulting reputation of the ninja martial arts up to the end of the 1980s, and the massive river of American and European students who poured into my teacher’s dojos in Japan.

Yes but… It used to surprise me how many students did not take my suggestion. Instead, many tried to do just what I did. They started to publish newsletters and write books and conduct seminars – all the things that I was already doing. Whoa! Don’t compete with my work, I urged them. That just forces too many similar opportunities on too few consumers, I warned. Do something new and different from what I am doing. That way, instead of us all having to settle for increasingly smaller pieces of a shrinking pie, we could create a massive ever-growing-in-size pie.

By the end of the 1980s, the once-impressive image of the ninja had fragmented with so many voices competing against one another for authority in the art. With all that confusion, much of the world concluded we must not be for real, and the ninja boom faded.

But then a wonderful thing happened. Now out of intense public scrutiny, many students began to look for new ways to bring our gift to more lives. 5th Degree Black Belt Richard Sears is one of those special students who started with me as a teen back in the barn dojo days, went through years of personal growth and exploration, and is now doing what I had encouraged so many to do those decades ago.

I asked Rick to reflect and write on why he stuck with our training all these years, and where he has taken his passion for the art as his own personal contribution to a better world. Give it to me straight, I urged him. What are you doing now with all you have studied, and where are you headed, and why was this so important to you?

Here is Dr. Richard Sears reply:
 
I first began studying with An-shu Hayes as a teenager in 1986. For many years, I delved deeply into the art of the ninja, and even ran my own school for about seven years as one of the very first SKH Quest Centers. I also began studying the mikkyo esoteric mind tradition with one of An-shu’s teachers, and was ordained at age 21.
 
As I grew older, I realized that there was so much more to learn than what would be taught in the training hall. In the dojo, I learned principles that were timeless, and through the example of An-Shu, I came to appreciate the importance of translating the principles to a broader audience.
 
Because of my interest in the mind, I began to study Western psychology, and eventually earned a doctorate degree and board certification. I also obtained a master’s degree in business administration, helping me to understand how to effect change at the organizational and systems levels.
 
Today I am a professor, and I teach others who study to become psychologists. It is fascinating how psychology is now doing empirical research on the forms of meditation that I had first learned from An-shu, techniques that have been passed down for thousands of years.
 
Putting together all of my training and experiences, I have worked with Union University to start the Center for Clinical Mindfulness & Meditation. Already I have been asked to conduct several professional training sessions, and to contribute regularly to a local magazine. I hope to create a forum where scientists, clinicians, and practitioners can work together to share knowledge and experience and develop new ways to improve the well-being of the general public. An-shu has agreed to join as one of the first members of our advisory board.
 
It is an exciting time to be alive. For the first time in history, we now have access to thousands of years of historical knowledge, cutting edge science, and access to amazing teachers.
 
While there is a need to preserve tradition, how can you take what you learn and put it to use in the world? How can you positively affect your own community? What unique skills and interests can you leverage? How can you be of help in a sometimes confusing world? Finding your own way to share and encourage strength is the true ninja legacy that An-shu brought to us from Japan those decades ago.

(Read an interview with Dr. Sears in Natural Awakenings on pages 8-9)
 

I was a die-hard fan of the early 1970s TV series Kung-Fu, starring David Carradine. Back then I was a low ranked karate black belt in an America that barely recognized – let alone understood – the Asian martial arts.

Shaolin Temple monk Kwai Chang Caine, wandering in exile from China in the rough American West, living his Buddhist wisdom as best he could in a violent and spiritually primitive land, was surprisingly emotionally motivating to me. He did his best to remain unobtrusive, aiding others in trouble when needed, sharing his spiritual insights  in a gentle way, but nonetheless drawing a clear martial line of boundary when the crude, stupid, and brutal mistook his compassion for weakness.

I was at that time in my early 20s, working sadly out of character in a corporate job ill-fitting for my spirit. The Kung-Fu show and its Kwai Chang Caine hero forced me into recognition of what I should have been doing in my life. David Carradine’s nuanced portrayal of the Buddhist monk martial artist nailed me right where I lived. What was I doing with my life? I needed a radical revision. I needed to become someone I respected. I needed to find and be spiritual wisdom. I needed to serve and build spirits full of potential in a sometimes cruel, stupid, and discouraging world. In 1972, I knew what I needed to become, but how would I do it?

Long after Kung-Fu the series disappeared, I got to know David Carradine the person and actor. Gently put, I’ll just say I did not experience much of Kwai Chang in the persona of David, who sometimes left people feeling awkwardly ill at ease meeting him (at least those times when I was around). I cannot advise patterning in how to be the best celebrity possible from David Carradine. Nonetheless, the impact of his roles on so many of us of my generation is of undeniable importance.

Thank you, David Carradine, for your inspiring role in my life, and in the lives of all who subsequently found my books, DVDs, schools, and seminars. May you now find the inner peace and illumination that your beautiful Kwai Chang demonstrated so movingly for all the rest of us.

I just got home from a meditation retreat hosted by a senior Tibetan teacher.

While there, we participants spent hours each day tucked in side by side on Asian style meditation cushion seats on the floor.

At one point I looked around at my fellow American participants and noticed an odd unstated discomfort. People did their best to wiggle around and find needed space.

Check this out the next time you have an opportunity:

Look at the size of the standard Japanese or Tibetan meditation cushion seat.

Look at the size of the typical older generation Asian person’s bottom and leg length.

Look at the size of the typical American person’s bottom and leg length.

Ask yourself, “What is wrong with this picture?”

Ask yourself, “Which should we adjust? Should we adjust the program to where the cushions fit the Americans here in America, or should we adjust the Americans to where they fit on Asian floor cushion seats?”

Next, think about how and what you are studying in your martial arts school and ask yourself a similar question. ”Which should we adjust? Should we adjust the program to where the lessons fit the Americans here in America, or should we adjust the Americans to where they fit into Asian training situations?”

One of my friends at the Sakya Pema Ts’al Monastic Institute, just outside Pokhara, Nepal, sent me some photos of senior students of the shedra (monk college) in their computer training class.

As from a description of meditation for beginners, they sit in perfect upright posture, focused in unswerving meditative concentration, letting go of the previous moment’s self and becoming yet a new and expanded version of themselves. Right there in front of the tiny screen.

These are my monk friends who live south of the forbidden Tibet border at the foot of the Himalayas. They and their head abbot Lama Kunga Dhondup are my coaches, trainers, and teachers in my study of the Vajrakilaya tantra practices, a set of powerful mind transformation methods in which the image of a sacred 3-edged dagger is a symbol of the power of awakening depth consciousness as to how human weaknesses can become enlightened powers.

These highest yoga tantra methods are said to be invisible to those not ready to grasp them. They dwell secretly in plain sight in a way that those unprepared will not even think of seeking their insights into power. These practices seem so out of the ordinary, so unfathomable, so ungraspable by conventional Western thought processes, that few of my friends and students have ever even asked me what they entail and what I am getting out of it.

Odd how many martial arts professionals my age feel the same way about computer technology. “It’s all superstition and voodoo to me,” replied one friend when I gently probed the rationale behind the design of his school’s ugly and discouraging web site.

You have to be ready to learn and advance.  Without the proper motivation such growth can be seen as a chore or a bore, and the power of the technology to bring you needed benefits – either Eastern inner technology or Western outer technology – remains a mystery.

Pema Ts’al Monastery senior students study arcane Western technological mind to mind knowledge transfer technique

Years ago my daughters were somewhat confused by school friends carefully questioning how my daughters could feel motivated to “pray to that laughing fat guy.”

My young daughters were perplexed by their friends’ question for two reasons. One, the Buddha was a teacher, not a deity, so those who follow the Buddhist path to enlightened understanding do not “pray to the Buddha.” And two, he certainly was not a fat guy, and he certainly did not carry a reputation of being a guffawing jokester. Where did people get those odd impressions?

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, or “the awakened one” became Buddhism’s founder over 2,500 years ago when he began to teach others techniques for approaching the direct experience of the true nature of reality and the true nature of the self in that reality. Born a prince, he renounced his inheritance and lived for years in the woods of India as a starving ascetic grappling with the questions of what life really is and why there is so much suffering in life and what could be done to eliminate that suffering. Eventually he found the answers he sought, and then devised a means to teach others a way to begin to break through to those answers.

I reminded my girls of the big statue in our favorite Chinese restaurant, the round laughing guy with the big bag of gifts.

They were still confused. Having spent half their years growing up in Japan, they pointed out to me, “Dad, that’s Hotei, not the Buddha”.

Well, yes, but most Americans do not know that Hotei (or Hotai in Chinese), famous in Asian culture, is “a buddha” but not “the Buddha” who was the ascetic spiritual seeker.

Is it possible that a glimpse of what is deepest truth in life can turn one into a jolly laughing philanthropist, bringing joy and gifts to all just for the fun of it? Hotei says so. So does Santa Claus.

So as we approach the holiday gift giving season, think of Hotei in Buddhist culture as filling a role like Santa Claus in the Christmas culture of Christianity. Help your friends be of good cheer, especially in this challenging economy. Spread some laughs. Give some gifts. Brighten spirits.

And happy holidays to you from An-shu Rumiko and me.

I just heard the sad news that my friend Thubten Jigme Norbu left this life a few hours ago. He was born in 1922 in the village of Taktser in Amdo eastern Tibet. His younger brother, born in 1935, was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama and is now the Nobel Peace Prize laureate recognized around the world.  

Taktser Rinpoche was a tireless fighter for Tibetan independence from China. He was abbot of Kumbum Monastery in the Amdo region of Tibet at the time the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army invaded and occupied Tibet in 1950. After Rinpoche left Tibet for exile, China tightened the occupation to absolute control following an uprising by the Tibetan people against the Chinese military presence in 1959.

A walk together at HH Dalai Lama’s 1999 Kalachakra initiation in Indiana

After escaping from China-dominated Tibet in 1951, Taktser Rinpoche lived for a while in Japan as a guest of the Honganji Temple in Tokyo. He eventually made his way to the USA, living in New York City and Seattle on the way to his long-term home of more than 40 years in Bloomington, Indiana. He left monastic life when he left his homeland, and married the youngest daughter of the 40th Sakya Trizin, in exile from occupied Tibet herself. He and his wife Kunyang raised 3 sons, and had 3 grandchildren. He was 86 at the time of his passing from our lives. In the photo above, we are celebrating Tibetan New Year with friends at his home in Indiana.

A loyal supporter of the Dalai Lama, Taktser Rinpoche did nonetheless take a stand for complete independence of Tibet, as opposed to the autonomy sought by his brother. Each year he participated in long walks and cycle rides to raise awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people. Rinpoche dedicated his life to serving the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, and served in the early 1990s as the Dalai Lama’s representative in Japan. He wrote academic papers and books on Tibet, including his autobiography Tibet Is My Country.

An-shu Stephen at 38, Prof. Norbu just retired at 65 years old

I first met Taktser Rinpoche in 1987. I had just returned from a journey to Tibet and my first meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India in late 1986. The Dalai Lama told me he had a brother who was a university professor a short drive from my house. Amazing! I later went on to serve as part of Rinpoche’s Tibetan Cultural Center board of directors in the 1990s, and I assisted him and his family with events, programs, and presentations at the TCC. HH Dalai Lama visited the TCC five times, and I was honored to aid Taktser Rinpoche and his wife Kunyang with hosting tasks during each of his famous brother’s visits.

What a wonderful friend he was. From the first day I met him, he was ever the perfect role model for how to be the epitome of graciousness, generosity, thoughtfulness, and the most amazing humility. That is not just complimentary fluff talk to salute a departed friend; I really mean that. I will so much miss him and his influence as a role model in my life .