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.

“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?

I received a note in which a sentence contained the word string, “…are supposably caring sensi their in the dojo…” What the writer actually meant to write was, “…our supposedly caring sensei there in the dojo…”

He was writing to ask about how to become an affiliate instructor in our SKH Quest network of schools and clubs. Our office team was stumped as to the best reply.

One member pointed out that we were dealing with someone who was uneducated, lazily careless, or dull. None of those three qualities are positives when considering taking on the role of teaching our technologies for how to be a powerful presence in the world.

Certainly there are plenty of ignorant, sloppy, or stupid people teaching martial arts in the world. Sure, such a person might teach a little self-defense, or maybe even some pretty effective martial violence. But our program only starts with not getting beaten in fights; real power over assailants and enemies who would shut down your life requires knowledge, initiative, and intelligence.

Another friend suggested that maybe I was being too uptight about what he called “the tiny details”. He asked if I understood what the writer meant. Obviously, since I could successfully translate and correct his sentence, I understood. “Well there you go,” my friend chided. The writer was doing OK because he got his message across to me, and the message was more important than the mere words that carried the message.

No. The words communicated a message way bigger than the desires of the writer. The words told me that I was dealing with an uneducated, careless, or dull person, and as such a person, he would have a very difficult time qualifying as a teacher in our network. Not to mention that he told me he had not even taken lesson one in our martial art. There was little encouragement I could give him.

“Yes but what if he were a truly good person, and with the right coaching, he might be a great martial arts instructor?” my friend continued.

Indeed possible. In that case I would urge him to:

• Study a remedial writing course, or at least read a lot of clear writing and notice its form; overcome lack of education
• Pay attention to and engage actively in the details; learn to overcome laziness
• Spend lots of time with people more accomplished than him; it is possible to be inspired into performing above our latent capacities
• And yes, at least get a few DVDs to see why our martial art is so different from what he was practicing.

Effective speech is one of eight qualities we need to pursue for self-perfection. In short form, when it comes to using communication to get the most out of life when dealing with others, the guiding question becomes, “What is the perfect thing to say here; what would be the ideal way to say it?” Learn to communicate in a way that produces the results you want.

I can’t decide whether to see the movie “Men Who Stare at Goats”

It purports to be a story about a spooky special program of psychic warriors in the US Army, trained like Jedi warriors for combat in Vietnam and reinstated for Iraq duty.

From the trailer and information from friends in the movie business, the program and its people are portrayed as lunatic. The whole concept is ridiculed, and all is bunched up and passed off as “satire”.

So what is being satirized? The possibility of mind powers actually working to defeat enemies? Army personnel being trained in such? The Army itself? The government itself?

I know from personal work experience that the US government did indeed mount a program of psychic remote viewing and intervention some years ago. We got into it on the heels of USSR and China research back when I was a teen.

I also know that the US government did an awful lot to camouflage and conceal the program, though the Russians and the Chinese did not seem to be as clandestine about their programs. Seems that as Communist and officially atheist, the USSR and China governments did not have to deal with any backlash from religious sensitivities. It was all approached as science, and no superstition or religious biases had any place in the consideration. If it worked, then it was scientific. If it failed to work, then it was discarded. Had nothing to do with gods or prophets.

The USA on the other hand has a large population block that fears so-called “paranormal” human capabilities as somehow demonic or ungodly. I was told that much of our official secrecy stemmed from wanting to avoid having Senators and Congresspersons around the country being required to spend lots of time assuaging the anger of riled up religiously fearful constituents from all over the USA.

When people asked me about religious considerations, I always replied that if they truly believed they were created in the image of God, and God was a pretty awesome creator, why would they turn down any gift that came along with the full package of potential?

I sometimes got an odd counter-logic reply that humans shouldn’t presume to be godly. OK, but then why would a God give them powers that the God would want them to turn down? The people should know better than their God?

Anyway, back to the movie. I can’t decide whether to see it or not. Some things like the fully activated capacities of an actualized human being are still so un-mainstream and so popularly disdained by weak and fearful people that such things are not appropriate to be used as bait for ridicule or so-called satire.

“It’s only a movie, a fiction,” a friend chides me. “Don’t take it so seriously.” Well then, maybe I’d better watch a movie that is more in line with what I have dedicated my entire adult life to seeking and sharing. I take fully actualized human capacity very seriously, especially when it is often in the cross-hair aim of all those who use threat and ridicule to hold our culture enslaved to a very small and helpless experience of life.

Just some thoughts from a man whose ninja training years ago had him “staring at goats”.

Kuij literally translates as “nine letter-words”. The reference comes from a nine-word sentence of Chinese language origin that summons up the ninja’s powers to deal with obstacles and opposition. I describe it in my book Ninja Vol 3, Warrior Path of Togakure.This term is often used as a catch-all for the ninja’s warrior protector spirit practice, though there is a lot more to the practice than just those nine words themselves.

Part of the bigger teaching is an imaginary symbolic 4-sided, 4-walled- 4-doored fortress palace and geographical layout known as a mandala. What if your life in operation were like that fortress palace? What if you had different types of response strategies for handling different kinds of situations that could rise up to challenge you?

The four parts or wings or doors of the fortress can be interpreted as four specific roles you might take in accomplishing what you need. Think of this as four roles to play, four types of identity you might take in order to be sure that all the angles are handled most effectively.

Here’s an example of how this can work. When I counsel my friends who run professional martial arts schools, I often refer to this mandala idea, and urge friends to see all the roles that need to be taken to drive a professional school to success in serving the community. Most successful businesses need four key players to get four types of job done. The four kinds of roles to be carried out – in a “4 W” format – include:

1. Whip-cracker – is the person who oversees daily operation and makes sure that everything gets done and done quickly and effectively, with an emphasis on urgency and accuracy. In a professional martial arts school we call this the office manager or the administrator.

2. Warrior – is the person who does the production work to provide the service or build the product or deliver the goods. In a professional martial arts school we call this the instructor

3. Wonderer – is the person who comes up with the idea and application and designs the product or service in a fashion that will serve the client’s needs in the best possible way. In a professional martial arts school we call this the conceptualizer or designer, or maybe the research and development role.

4. Welcomer – is the person who attracts and draws in the clients with effective communication of the benefits of the product or service. In a professional martial arts school we call this the marketer or the salesperson.

Sure, you can do it without one of the four, but that takes a lot of hard lopsided work and a lot of luck. Do you want to base your success on a program of over-working and counting on luck? No, me neither.

In a brand new school, these four roles may be handled by two people or even a single individual. A new business is a lot of work in the beginning. Gather allies and become a fortress, and you have a better chance of being the victor in that campaign.

In a personal conversation earlier this week, I asked the Dalai Lama about the public publishing of what for generations up to now were secret teachings for depth inner transformation. Books about once-secret Tibetan and Japanese tantric meditation inner work are available for sale all over the world; some of the books are good and authentic, some are accidentally off-base and wrong, and some seem deliberately designed to deceive and distract.

Blunt quick surprise reply from His Holiness was that we now need to publish this kind of information in its authentic form because there is so much bad stuff out there. Without access to the true, people will be tripped by the tricksters.

OK; king speaks, I listen.

In chapter 5 of my book Ninja Vol. 2; Warrior Ways of Enlightenment I wrote that I would never provide more than an overview of the ninja kuji-in work. In Chapter 5 of my 1983 Ninja Vol. 3; Warrior Path of Togakure I wrote a similar statement about ninja kuji-kiri. I felt strongly that way then.

But now I feel differently. I have decided to change my stance as to the public dissemination of information about ninja spirit-focussing intention energy work. I wrote my original teacher stance on not publicly teaching ninja power channeling back in 1981, way before the internet and self-published e-books and YouTube were even dreams in the public mind. It was way before an onslaught of embarrassing junk being purveyed on those future 21st century sources by “kuji masters” lacking legitimate authority and power. It is really awful what some people are hawking out there now.

OK, it’s 2009 not 1981, so here goes.
Read the Ninja Vol. 2 book.
Watch the kuji-in DVD.
Read the Ninja Vol 3 book.
Watch and study the ninja kuji-kiri DVD.
Read and watch again and again. Walk through your days looking for opportunities to “storehouse” amassed power from continuous awareness of your effect in the world (the books and DVDs tell you how) and watch out for temptations to let your power leak away.

I will post more suggestions on this blog as the year moves on. No, you cannot “master ninja kuji” from a blog – or a book or DVD for that matter. But you sure can get a head start on learning, and you sure can learn to tell the difference between instruction from a qualified teacher and something silly on YouTube.

The To-Shin Do self development 8-Step Personal Perfection Plan is all about personal transformation from the inside out. Pay attention every moment of your day and seek the most ideal way to experience, embody, and express who you are. Focus on the 8 guidelines to determine and achieve your own definition of an ideal life elevated and actualized with purpose and fulfillment.

1. IDEAL PERSPECTIVE – “Perfect way to see things”
“Ultimate truth is ultimate – see life as it really is and stay tuned in!”

Pursue developing the ideal perspective. That ideal view or ideal attitude or ideal mindset is the most important asset you bring to your personal quest for fulfillment in life.

Each of us has a view as to how the universe works and how we all fit into that operation. We hold beliefs about what it means to be a human being, why we’re here, how best to navigate through life, how to grasp what it all means.

We tend to assume that our current perspective is accurate, and that ours is not A way to see things but THE way to see things. We hold to that current perspective as long as it works to make sense of what can confuse us in life. Only when our old perspective no longer helps us successfully cope are we forced to develop a new bigger broader perspective.

An ideal view includes the idea of mutual interdependence of all things, the perspective that every thing is related to everything else and every thing depends upon everything else. Everything is really one big multi-dimensional infinitely huge event, no thing exists in and of itself with independent nature, and you cannot describe any piece of the universe without also acknowledging its relationship to other pieces. Sure, it’s useful to piece reality into “things” and “events” conceptually, but in truth all supposedly separate things exist in relation to all other things, and all supposedly separate events emerge from previous events and generate future events.

An ideal view also includes the idea of lack of concrete existence of a self independent from all of the experiences that self has encountered, the perspective that every person is affected by unimaginably countless influences, and every person develops an inner and outer identity based upon everything else at work in the universe. Everyone is really a product of causes and effects, no person exists in and of him or herself with independent nature, and you cannot describe who you are without also acknowledging your relationship to culture, family, or genetics. Sure, it’s useful to refer to yourself as an independent agent conceptually, but in truth all of us as individuals exist in relation to all other selves and things; we are a part of all we have met.

An ideal view as well includes the idea of nature operating with a predisposition towards everything falling down and falling apart, the perspective that without active intervention, the way of the material world is to unravel and disintegrate. Our bodies, our buildings, our forests, our farms, our families, our culture, our economy – only with attentive care do the things of our world remain upright and intact. The way of the world is that everything is on its way back to neutral formless energy, so why do we plunge into distress and anger when things follow their nature and fall apart and fail to sustain themselves? Sure, it’s useful to think positively, but in truth everything that we know is bound to give up its form and function.

Ideal view means knowing that everything – including you – is bound to change, sooner or later, so you might want to be part of guiding that change, as opposed to resisting what is impossible to resist.

Be ready to change your mind about the way you believe things are or ought to be. Thoroughly investigate your beliefs and experiences as to how you operate in the grander universe we all share. Seek out whatever brings you closer to the truth of how life, the mind, and your interaction with all others works to generate the significance of your experience in all areas of life. That is what we mean by the concept of ideal view in life. From this ideal perspective or ideal paradigm, everything we encounter moves us closer to the experience of wholeness and Big Truth.

The ultimate secret is that nothing really is the way we think it looks. Seek out everything that can expand your perspective on the true significance of the experience of life. Let all you encounter serve to guide you towards advancing wholeness.

Are you ready for that?

A friend who owns and operates one of our SKH Quest Center Martial Arts affiliate schools suggested that we might prune some of the words out of our 14 Point Code of Mindful Action warrior protector ethics to make it easier and quicker for young students to remember and recite. Might help adults, too. To-Shin Do students explore these codes one at a time, one with each belt grade from White Belt to Black Belt.

We sure could tighten it up. “I thoughtfully express the truth; I avoid the confusion of dishonest words” could easily become “I always tell the truth; I never lie”.

Yes but that would negate the oh-so-important point of why this is a code of mindful action and not a list of 14 commandments. There is an important reason our code of ethics is necessarily more wordy than an advertising jingle. This is a personal development program we run, not an expedient substitute for discriminating intelligence.

“I thoughtfully express the truth.” Note that “thoughtfully” in there. I have given thought to the impact of what and how I communicate. I am not a reflexively compulsive truth-teller.

Just because something is the truth is not reason enough to say it out loud all the time. What is the even bigger point that needs to be addressed or promoted in the specific moment? Sheer all-point truth telling for its own sake? Or is there some grander over-riding point or purpose in the moment? Think! Consider! Discern!

I once had a student who just had to put out there whatever she believed. If I ever questioned her critical comments, she would always retort with, “Well, if you can’t handle the truth…”

The awkward thing was that yes she spoke her mind, but she was often just plain wrong as to what was true. She expressed her views of how things and other people should have been, based on her views of how the world should have worked. She fervently believed what she believed, and her beliefs kept her stuck in a world where others were always held responsible for what bothered her. I gently urged her to see that if she more thoughtfully expressed the (OK, “her”) truth, perhaps her husband would still be living with her and her sons and daughters might still be speaking to her.

“I avoid the confusion of dishonest words.” Again the key is the non-reflexive quality of the “I avoid…” as opposed to a flat-out just plain “I never…”. You have to think to make this work.

Sometimes, when up against a monster of a person or group or situation, in order to promote the better good I may choose to avoid blunt mechanical pronouncements of all parts of the whole truth. I do not have to tell all that I know all of the time; I may need to speak tactically. Is this lying? What is the greatest benefit for all in this situation?

The purpose of the SKH Quest Center 14 Point Code is to create the best life possible by encouraging full ethical responsibility for our interactions with others. Take charge of your experience! Use the 14-Point Code of Mindful Action as a guide for making life more enjoyable and meaningful. But remember to think carefully about what you are committing to creating by means of your ethics code.

Today is Losar Tibetan New Year, and I am living at the Sakya Pema Ts’al Monastic Institute at the foot of the wall of mountains that is the Himalayas, just outside Pokhara, Nepal, south of the forbidden Tibet border. I came here with three Black Belt friends from the SKH Quest Center Hombu Dojo in Dayton, Ohio, for further study of the Vajrakila tantra practices, a set of powerful mind transformation methods for transmuting conventional human weaknesses into enlightened powers. Traditions of Tibetan wizard monks and yogis developed these skills as a body of practice from the days of the early 800s.

Kathy Antoshi Joseph, Brian Denton, Lama Kunga Dhondup, Richard Watoshi Sears, Stephen K. Hayes, and Tenzin Dhakpa at the gate to Pema Tsal Monastery

Though Tibetan practitioners use a black 3-edged dagger spike as a symbol of the purifying power that immobilizes evil, this is primarily a mind and spirit training as opposed to mechanical use of a blade as a weapon. Having first begun my study of Vajrakila Dorje Phurba at an event with the Dalai Lama in 1996, I came here seeking ever-advancing training in how to help my friends develop more of the “heart like a blade” for which To-Shin Do was named.

Tenzin Dhakpa, An-shu Stephen K. Hayes, and Lama Tashi Wangyal at the foot of the Himalayas

My friend Tenzin Dhakpa has studied these practices at Pema Ts’al since he was a small child, and recently underwent an intensive 3 month retreat dedicated to spiritually coming face to face with Dorje Phurba as a power for removing obstacles to goodness and sanity in the world. Tenzin Dhakpa speaks excellent English, is highly skilled at translating arcane Tibetan texts into terms I can grasp, and was tireless in his determination to be sure that I got the most I could out of my weeks at the monastery. It was humbling in an amusing way to look over at him one day as we translated texts on the sunny terrace outside my room at the monastery and realize that this knowledgeable teacher in whom I put so much faith and trust was actually one-third my age in years.

Well, why not a young master for an old seeker?

“I believe in my teachers! I show respect to all who help me progress.“