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

My dear friends Lama Pema Wangdak of New York Palden Sakya Centers, and Lama Kunga Dhondup, ritual master of Pema Ts’al School in Pokhara, Nepal, joined us in Dayton for an initiation and teaching in the spiritual practice of White Tara longevity meditation. SKH Quest Center instructors travelled from as far away as Florida, Colorado, and North Carolina to be a part of the illumination in Dayton.

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.“

Today is my 57th birthday, and I am living at the Sakya Centre monastery in the wooded stretch between Dehradun and Rajpur, northern India, not far from the forbidden Tibet border. I came here to study a powerful mind transformation method for channeling what most of us would call typical human weaknesses into warrior powers for conquering obstructive forces that block individuals and communities from attaining inner and outer peace.

As a symbol of this kind of purifying power that immobilizes evil, these Tibetan practitioners use a black 3-edged dagger spike – sort of a 1,400 year old version of what many know as a WWII commando dagger. The imagery, language, and music (13-hour days of thunderous battle music – drums, horns, and cymbals to stimulate conqueror energy) are all stronger than strong as part of the “spiritual therapy” of building focused power for good.

An-shu and young Tibetan monk friends visit the 41st Headmaster of the Sakya lineage Khon family

This is primarily a mind and spirit training, as opposed to mechanical blade technique. I was not looking for mechanics – our To-Shin curriculums have knife fighting handled extremely well already. What I came here for was intensive training in how to help my friends develop more of the “heart like a blade” for which To-Shin Do was named.

Have you ever allowed inner conflict to keep you from getting what you need? I know some highly skilled martial artists who are masters on the mat, but who lead pretty pitiful and shattered lives outside the dojo. This failure in the lives of masters most often shows up as inner indecision, lack of discipline when it comes to doing what has to be done as opposed to what you like to do, temptation to blame others for your failings, rigid attachments to beliefs that really do not serve you or reflect the real truth, and a general disconnect from living up to all the possibilities of your potential in a kind of fear of success.

This kind of challenge has its manifestations in the reality of combat training as well as in the reality of creating a secure and fulfilling life for yourself and loved ones. If you have ever balked when you should have batted, even when you knew better, this kind of spirit training may be for you.

After beginning martial arts training in the 1960s, my motivation in the 1970s was to learn the most advanced and revolutionary approach to martial training possible, and I found and became part of the Togakure ninja tradition. In the 1980s, my motivation was to test out what I had learned, and I did my testing by taking the ninja art to the public. In the 1990s, I was motivated to adapt the ancient to the pressures of the modern in order to have the most honest combat system possible, and that is where To-Shin Do came from. Now in the 2000s, I am more committed than ever to finding and delivering the secrets of full invincibility I have been searching for since childhood. Stay with me on this as we move through the next few years ahead. I guarantee you a mind-bending ride if you are up for full warrior training. Let me be as pointed as possible here. In this current age of terror and confusion, I cannot understand at all why every martial master is not on a quest for such a blade as this.