I am working with long-time friend Leo Dokutoshi Pimentel to re-establish a dojo in NYC.

Interested in helping start a place for To-Shin Do in Manhattan?

Kick-off was a workshop 2-4 pm Sunday Aug 8 at a friend’s aikido dojo in Chelsea, covering secrets for ninja “unperceived action” in unarmed defense, and a mind & spirit focus “meditation on the move” exercise.

My whole family was there for the workshop – Reina & Matt, Marissa, An-shu Rumiko, and me. We look forward to being available to students more often as this new dojo grows and expands.

Write to info@nyc-quest.com or check the NYC-Quest web site for training information and directions.

• Caring teacher who loves seeing learners advance, knowledgeable and tuned in to the importance of providing a good example and presenting a meaningful lesson
• Significant material content to the lesson – things and skills to be learned that really matter and really work in the world
• Enthusiastic student who is open, disciplined, and ready to learn and advance

That third aspect might actually be the most important element for determining the value of any lesson. When a student is loaded with questions and hungry for knowledge leading to skill and wisdom, even a poor teacher and a mediocre lesson cannot hold such a learner back.

Maybe this was how it was for me back in the 1960s in my first formal martial arts training sessions. Truth told, my initial martial art’s technology was pretty primitive and did not really relate well to the way real fights, muggings, kidnaps, rapes, and hostage-takings took place, and my teachers were of the old school of militaristic hazing as instructional method and appeared to be quite aloof when it came to inspiring student advancement. But I was determined to get the most I could from those lessons, and I believe that my determination was the most important key to my becoming the martial artist I am today 40-plus years later.

Such determination to learn is one of the 37 Parts of the Path of Awakening – the San-ju-shichi Do-Bon – that is in the foundational teachings of the spiritual system I explored with Japanese and Tibetan teachers. Within the 37 Parts of the Path is a section called the Shi Nyo-I Soku – the “Four Miraculous Legs” – four ways of pursuing personal advancement so radical as to be beyond rational comprehension or logical description. Miracles happen. In one of these four astonishing possibilities, we can study so hard that literally miraculous learning occurs. Beyond rational explanation, we are so determined that we end up learning far more than what the lesson itself ostensibly offers or the teacher is capable of delivering.

How about you? Can you identify at all with the possibility of miraculous learning? Have you ever had an experience where strong and insistent wanting to know something led you beyond what would have been reasonable learning under the circumstances? Write your experience on here below as a comment, or even better, add your story to the discussion on the SKHQuest.com On-Line Community Forum where you can read even more details from me on this Shi Nyo-I Soku miracle super learning.

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.

In any dojo you have:

• “A students” – the most capable and motivated members (20% of student base?)
• “B students” – the worthy and admirable, dedicated to learning (65% of the dojo?)
• “C students” – the “skill and motivation challenged” who train despite lack of perceived improvement (15%?)
• Some dojos even have “D students” – dark-hearted ones who perversely delight in staying around just to cause difficulties. This is a form of mental illness based on resentment of those who work harder and contribute more. Seems weird but is surprisingly pervasive.

When the teacher treats B students like A students, it makes B students think they are A students. B students then quickly grow an entitlement mentality. They forget they are indeed Bs and not As. They start to make opinion statements they have no right to make. They judge others they have no right to judge. As a result, A students then rightly feel disgusted and either 1. lose their motivation to strive for higher mastery, or 2. leave the dojo.

When the teacher treats C students like Bs by giving Cs all the same belts as A and B students – despite their lack of advancement in skill and leadership – A and B students will be demoralized.

When the teacher tolerates D students, As and Bs perceive the teacher as weak or foolish, and Cs are often seduced by Ds into degenerated D-supporting behavior.

When I was a young teacher, I was guilty of not understanding the truth of A, B, C, and D perceptions and preferences. I optimistically maintained a “Golden Rule” approach where I treated all students as I wanted to be treated myself – as determined to strive to become the top A student.

My own teacher teased me as being majimesugiru – “too sincere” or too serious. He felt the way to build a big dojo was to reward each student with exactly what he or she wanted. Some wanted knowledge. Some wanted skill. Some wanted belt rank. Some wanted an identity. Some wanted a father figure. Some wanted to feel more important than those better than them. Some wanted techniques for navigating daily reality, and some wanted escape from reality. Like the magical little man behind the curtain in the Great Oz throne room, my teacher happily gave out whatever his student came to him to find. It was just that easy for him.

I suppose I differ from my teacher on that point, even as I acknowledge his warning of my being too serious about maintaining quality in the belt ranks. I do agree with him though on finding the familiar Golden Rule as usually inappropriate for the dojo. You cannot ascribe to all students an assumed similarity of motivations and willingness to commit. Not everybody truly aims at full martial mastery.

Therefore, as a best practice, a teacher needs to maintain a genuinely fair and transparent program for training advancement, and reliably reward and recognize people legitimately based on their performance in:

• Skill – “How good are you, compared with all others?”
• Advancement – “How much have you grown beyond where you started?”
• “Nobility” – “How much benefit have you brought to others above you and below you?”

(Watch for a future blog wherein I pose an opposite argument. There is of course no contradiction, just a bigger view of the fullness of reality.)

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.

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.

Did you get a copy of the “Ninja Assassin” movie on Blu-Ray? Be sure you check the “Additional Features” section on the menu. Blu-Ray only; not the standard DVD.

Before the film hit theaters, the producers flew me to Los Angeles to tape some commentary on the historical background of Japan’s real ninja. Also in the interview is actor Sho Kosugi from the movie, commenting on cultural perceptions of the ninja, and a local California martial artist showing some commercially available imitations of ninja weapons.

I was impressed with the producers.

Clearly, they were making a movie to entertain large audiences. They were not making a movie to please a tiny group of ninja historians. They did not write the script to fit the notions of a small group of traditional ninjutsu practitioners.

Think about the honesty and integrity of the “Ninja Assassin” producers. They did not have to acknowledge an alternate reality at odds with their story. They did not have to hire me to talk about training with the actual ninja of Japan in the 1970s. They could have just let history go and focused on promoting their entertaining film.

How about that? “The Godfather” DVD did not interview an actual mafia don. “The Da Vinci Code” DVD did not include an actual Vatican bishop. “Star Wars” DVDs did not interview an actual astrophysicist.

The “Ninja Assassin” DVD did nonetheless recruit and interview an actual practitioner of historical Japanese ninja martial arts with a view and story quite different from what they portrayed on the screen.

For Hollywood, that is pretty brave, pretty high integrity, I think.

April 14 was Rumiko’s and my 30th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with joy and then were dismayed to hear about the Tibetan earthquake tragedy that day. More than 1,700 people have died and an estimated 10,000 mostly ethnic Tibetans were injured and left homeless in near-freezing temperatures after an earthquake struck a region of Kham, Tibet. More than 85 percent of the houses in Kyigudo, a town of 100,000 people nearest the epicenter, were destroyed along with a major monastery.

I encourage friends to donate relief funds, either directly to an appropriate organization like The Tibet Fund Emergency Earthquake Relief, or by sending a donation to Rumiko’s and my charity Blue Lotus Assembly to form a collection we will donate as a group.

May 13 update: I made a presentation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on stage in front of the audience when he visited us, and requested that he add ours to his contribution to relief work. We collected over $3,000 in donations. That goes a long way in Tibet!

Please join us in keeping the victims of this earthquake in our thoughts and prayers and assisting financially if you are able. So far, the following friends have contributed:
Curtis Adkins
Jacob Bassham
Boulder Quest Center
Brent deMoville
Maison Dhondt
Daniel L. Dunn
Tori Eldrige
Michael Erwin
Tony Griffin family
Richard Harrington
Jackie Haviland
Marissa Hayes
Reina Hayes
Stephen & Rumiko Hayes
Rick Jurvis
Christos Karatsalos
Jesper Ljungquist
Joel Minton
Eamonn Mullaly
Neal Nemhauser
Russell Nemhauser
Newbury Park Martial Arts
Steve Pavlovic
Michael Piper
Robain Polly
Kyle Smith
Marco Tillmann
Richard Titcombe
Jerry C. Townsend
Gail Whipple

From His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

“As I mentioned briefly soon after I heard the news, I was deeply saddened by the effects of the devastating earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Tibetan:Kyigudo) of Qinghai Province which resulted in the tragic loss of many lives, a great number of injured and severe loss of property. Because of the physical distance between us, at present I am unable to comfort those directly affected,but I would like them to know I am praying for them.

I commend the monastic community, young people and many other individuals from nearby areas for their good neighbourly support and assistance to the families of those who have lost everything. May your exemplary compassion continue to grow. This kind of voluntary work in the service of others really puts the bodhisattva aspiration into practice.

I also applaud the Chinese authorities for visiting the affected areas, especially Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who has not only personally offered comfort to the affected communities, but has also overseen the relief work. I am very appreciative too that the media have been free to report on the tragedy and its aftermath.

In 2008, when a similar earthquake struck Sichuan, Chinese central and local government leaders and auxiliary authorities took great pains to provide relief, allow free access to the media, as well as clearing the way for international relief agencies to provide assistance as required. I applauded these positive moves then and appeal for such ease of access on this occasion too.

The Tibetan community in exile would like to offer whatever support and assistance it can towards the relief work. We hope to be able to do this through the proper and appropriate channels as soon as possible.

When Sichuan was rocked by an earthquake two years ago, I wished to visit the affected areas to pray and comfort the people there, but I was unable to do so. However, when Taiwan was struck by a typhoon last year, I was able to visit the affected families and pray with them for those who had perished in that disaster. In providing some solace to the people concerned, I was happy to be able to do something useful.

This time the location of the earthquake, Kyigudo (Chinese: Yushu), lies in Qinghai Province,which happens to be where both the late Panchen Lama and I were born. To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer them comfort.

In conclusion, I appeal to governments, international aid organisations and other agencies to extend whatever assistance they can to enable the families of those devastated by this tragedy to rebuild their lives. At the same time, I also call on the survivors of this catastrophe to recognise what has happened as the workings of karma and to transform this adversity into something positive, keeping their hopes up and meeting setbacks with courage as they struggle to restore what they have lost. Once again, I pray for those who have lost their lives as well as for the well being of those who have survived.”

17 April 2010

Contacts: Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, Secretary
Tenzin Taklha, Joint Secretary

That was back in the mid-1960s. I was a teenager. I trained harder and more diligently than most every other member of the class. I was good, maybe very good.

To qualify for my second belt (what would be Yellow & Black Belt in what I teach now), I had learned a set of 3 sequences of power punching and kicking techniques. I had drilled those sets over and over. I knew 1-2-3 so well I did not even have to think about them.

I stepped in front of the belt testing board of judges. They called out, “Set One” in an Asian language. I performed what had to be a perfect Yellow & Black Belt Set One. The audience exploded in applause and cheers.

I repositioned in front of the belt testing board of judges. They called out, “Set Three” in an Asian language. I performed what had to be a perfect Yellow & Black Belt Set Two. The audience froze in pained silence.
“Sit down,” said the judges. “Try again at the next testing.”

Huh? I was good, maybe very good. What had happened?

“You did Set Two. They asked for Set Three,” said a friend sympathetically.

That’s how I failed my second belt test. I was not paying attention. I went from habit. 1-2-3. As skilled as any of my techniques may have been, it did not matter because I had failed to be in touch with the situation and what was called for.

I did not like failing a belt test when I was a teenager. I was embarrassed, a little angry, and maybe I felt a little cheated. But I had nonetheless failed because I was not – it turns out – good enough. My habitual mind and perhaps ego defeated me. I did it myself.

What an important lesson to learn. Good thing my teachers cared for me enough to be blunt and uncompromising. My becoming stronger was more important to them than my feeling happy at that moment.

Forty-five years later, I am pledged to helping others learn. My latest lesson offering deals directly with that tendency for the mind to be in the wrong place at a crucial time. I call it the “Here and Now Focus Meditation”. Try it out at http://www.skhquest.com/meditation/ where it says, “Here. Now” .

I want to see you pass all your belt tests right on time. Don’t do it the way I did.