Friday, December 30, 2011

My teacher disliked sports karate immensely, he told me so. One day we were sitting in the dojo and he pointed to the trophies and said that they were dust collectors. He said the real champions are the ones that conquer their own egos. He went on to say if you can do the best you can in whatever you do then you are a champion.

Kancho

Students come through the ranks and get caught up in this world of winners and losers. There can only be one winner in sports karate. But in karate without competitions everyone is a winner as there are no one to compete with. I have taught karate for many decades and only a few understand this.

Kancho

What is ego? It is the individual self that thinks it is separated from everything and everyone else. When we fully understand that we are all part of the whole then there is no more ego.

Kancho

I did aikido for a while how can I claim to have a lineage to Ueshiba Sensei, I have done Shotokan karate how can I claim to have lineage to Gichin Sensei. Doing the system does not give anyone the right of lineage.

Kancho

Thursday, December 29, 2011

When I lived in Japan and trained with Gogen Sensei we had many karate foreigners passing through for a day or so. They come along to the college and take a few photos with my teacher and today claim to have trained at the college and even claim to be connected to him. What is more surprising is that some students claim to have a lineage with him. One can only claim this if you trained directly on a personal level with someone. I can claim this because my teacher was Gogen Yamaguchi. My students who train with me can claim this. If one of them leaves the lineage is broken. A lineage is like a chain that is connected links.

Kancho

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New year
Bring joy to another and our joy will be tripled.
Plant a few trees and the planet will have more oxygen and less carbon
Don't be attached to differences and make judgements happiness will increase.
Anger, jealously, hate, greed, lust and pride are the six arms of ego. Our arms are love and service.
We are the image of God the awesome power of goodness.
Our duties are first with family, then society, then the Earth.
Think twice or maybe three times before we make a major decision.

Kancho

We often feel unhappy about life challenges we face. If we measure this to those who are worse of than ourselves then ours are a blessing.

Kancho

2012 is at our doorstep, we are about to open the door and let this new year into our lives. If we can forecast our life in the year to come we would all want it to be full of happiness. The amazing part of this life it can be as there is a path we have to travel in to give us happiness.. That path is called Dharma which means Goodness. This is the image of God that we are created in. My teachers formula that worked for me was to " Let 10 percent of your time be spent on helping others in service work, let 70 percent be spent on doing your duty with family and work commitments or study and 20 per cent be spent on yourself."

Kancho

My teacher said, " Joy is Jesus first, Others next and You last."

Kancho

The air is getting polluted, the ground is being poisoned, the water contaminated and man's mind is getting worse. Who is responsible? Those in power that brought change are responsible. Do we have the power to make changes or is it too late? If we all individually do our duties to make a difference we will have enough collective power to change things for the better.

Kancho