The Belt

[Burke McCrory]

This was posted to the West Kingdom list.  I must agree with the poster
there is a lot of truth here if only you look for it.


Sir Burke Kyriell MacDonald
Kingdom of Ansteorra
burkemc at ionet.net



>I was web suffing one day and found this paper. If you replace Black Belt
with 
>White Belt and look read from that perspective. I found it held alot of
what I 
>think...
>Just food for thought, anyone hungry?
>
>						Braun
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>----------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>What Does a Black Belt Really Mean?
>
>By Reverend Kensho Furuya
>
>
>
>
>Through the popularity of this column, I get correspondence from all over
the 
>country. And the most commonly asked question
>is, "How long does it take to get a black belt?"I don't know how this
question 
>is answered in other schools, but my students
>know that asking such a question in my dojo would set them back several
years 
>in their training. It would be a disaster. 
>
>Most people would be overjoyed if I would say it takes just a couple of
years 
>to get a black belt, but unfortunately it does not.
>And though I am afraid most people would not be happy with my answer, I
think 
>the general misconceptions about "what is a
>black belt?" should be clarified as much as possible. This is not a popular 
>subject to discuss in the way I am going to. Indeed, I
>warn my students not to ask the question in the first place. The answer is
not 
>what they want to hear. 
>
>How do you get a black belt? You find a competent teacher and a good school, 
>begin training and work hard. Someday, who
>knows when, it will come. It is not easy, but it's worth it. It may take one 
>year; it may take ten years. You may never achieve
>it. When you come to realize that the black belt is not as important as the 
>practice itself, you are probably approaching black
>belt level. When you realize that no matter how long or how hard you train, 
>there is a lifetime of study and practice ahead of
>you until you die, you are probably getting close to a black belt. 
>
>At whatever level you achieve, if you think you "deserve" a black belt, or
if 
>you think you are now "good enough" to be a black
>belt, you are way off the mark, and, indeed a very long way from reaching
your 
>black belt. Train hard, be humble, don't show
>off in front of your teacher or other students, don't complain about any
task 
>and do your best in everything in your life. This is
>what it means to be a black belt. To be overconfident, to show off your
skill, 
>to be competitive, to look down on others, to
>show a lack of respect, and to pick and chose what you do and don't do 
>(believing that some jobs are beneath your dignity)
>characterize the student who will never achieve black belt. What they wear 
>around their waist is simply a piece of merchandise
>brought for a few dollars in a martial arts supply store. The real black
belt, 
>worn by a real black belt holder, is the white belt of
>a beginner, turned black by the colour of his blood and sweat. 
>
>
>
>Training Pattern
>
>The first level of black belt in Japanese is called shodan. It literally
means 
>"first level". Sho (first) is an interesting ideograph. It is
>comprised of two radicals meaning "cloth" and "knife". To make a piece of 
>clothing, one first cuts out the pattern on the cloth.
>The pattern determines the style and look of the final product. If the
pattern 
>is out of proportion or in error, the clothes will
>look bad and not fit properly. In the same way, your initial training to
reach 
>black belt is very important; it determines how you
>will eventually turn out as a black belt. 
>
>In my many years of teaching, I have noticed that the students who are
solely 
>concerned with getting their black belt
>discourage easily, as soon as they realize it is harder than they expected. 
>Students who come in just for practice, without
>concern for rank and promotion, always do well. They are not crushed by 
>shallow or unrealistic goals. 
>
>There is a famous story about Yagyu Matajuro, who was a son of the famous 
>Yagyu family of swordsmen in 17th century
>feudal Japan. He was kicked out of the house for lack of talent and
potential, 
>and sought out instruction of the swordmaster
>Tsukahara Bokuden, with the hope of achieving mastery of the sword and 
>regaining his family position. On their initial
>interview, Matajuro asked Tsukahara Bokuden, "How long will it take me to 
>master the sword?" Bokuden replied, "Oh, about
>five years if you train very hard." "If I train twice as hard, how long will 
>it take?" inquired Matajuro. "In that case, ten years",
>retorted Bokuden. 
>
>
>
>Finding a Focus
>
>What do you focus on if you don't focus on attaining your black belt? It is 
>easier said than done, but you must focus your
>energy on practice. However, to think, "I will concentrate on my training to 
>get a black belt", is simply playing mind games with
>yourself and will ultimately lead to your own disappointment. 
>
>Can you simply think "I will forget about rank completely"? Can you simply
say 
>to yourself that you will never achieve it? Will
>you always be attached to your black belt, allowing the idea to linger in
the 
>back of your mind? In other words, can you simply
>concentrate on your training without regards for anything else? Can you 
>finally realize that your black belt is nothing more than
>"something to hold up your pants"? 
>
>You should also realise that although you master all the requirements, the 
>correct number of techniques, all the required forms
>and put in the appropriate amount of hours of training, you may still not 
>qualify for black belt. To achieve black belt is not a
>quantitative entity which can be measured or weighed like buying string
beans 
>in the market. Your black belt has to do with
>you as a person. How you conduct yourself in and out of the dojo, your 
>attitude to your teacher and fellow students, your
>goals in life, how you handle the obstacles in your life, and how you 
>persevere in your training are all important conditions of
>your black belt. At the same time, you become a model to other students and 
>eventually reach the status of teacher or assistant
>instructor. In the dojo, your responsibilities are greater than the regular 
>students and you are held accountable to much, much
>more than those junior to yourself. Your responsibilities are great as a
black 
>belt holder. 
>
>
>
>Achieving Training Focus
>
>How do we focus on our training? Successful training means, to a great
degree, 
>that we look at what we do from a reasonable
>and realistic viewpoint. More often than not, we are not looking at
realistic 
>goals but dreams and delusions. Do you want to
>excel in martial arts as a way to improve yourself and your life, or are you 
>motivated by the latest cops and robbers movie? Is
>your practice motivated by a strong desire to enlighten yourself, or do you 
>simply want to imitate the latest martial arts movie
>stars? Although experienced martial artists may snicker, it is amazing how 
>many inquire about martial arts saying they want to
>be just like Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal. But those people are
themselves by 
>their own efforts. You are yourself. We all
>have our hero, role models, and our dreams, but we have to separate out 
>fantasies from reality if our training is to be
>meaningful and successful. 
>
>
>
>Reality
>
>Training has nothing to do with rank or black belts, trophies or badges. 
>Martial arts is not simply playing out our fantasies. It
>has to do with your own life and death. It is not only how we protect 
>ourselves in a critical, lethal situation, but how we protect
>the lives of others as well. You cannot be another person, whether he is a 
>movie star, great teacher or multi-millionaire. You
>must become yourself - your true self. As much as John Doe dreams about 
>becoming James Dean, Bruce Lee, or Donald
>Trump, he can only be John Doe. When John Doe becomes John Doe 100
percent, he 
>has become enlightened to his true self.
>An average person only lives 50 percent, or maybe 80 percent of his life and 
>never knows who he is. A martial artist lives 100
>percent of his life and becomes impeccable. This is what the true black belt 
>holder must come to realize within himself. He is no
>other than himself, and his practice leads to enlightenment into nature of
his 
>true self, his real self. This is the essence of out
>training in martial arts. 
>
>
>
>Achieving your Black Belt
>
>Think of losing your black belt, not gaining it. Sawaki Kodo, a Zen Master, 
>often said, "To gain is suffering; loss is
>enlightenment." If someone were to ask the difference between martial
artists 
>of previous generations and martial artists today,
>I would sum it up like this. Martial artists of previous generations looked 
>upon training as "loss". They gave up everything for
>their art and their practice. They gave up their families, jobs, security, 
>fame, money, everything, to accomplish
>themselves.Today, we only think of gain. "I want this, I want that." We want 
>to practice martial arts but we also want money, a
>nice car, fame, portable telephones and everything that everyone else has. 
>
>Shakyamuni Buddha gave up his kingdom, his palaces, a beautiful wife, and 
>everything else to finally seek out enlightenment.
>The first student of Boddhidharma, considered the founder of Shoalin Kung
Fu, 
>cut off his left arm to study with his teacher.
>Now we don't have to take such drastic measures to learn martial arts today, 
>but we should not forget the spirit and
>determination of the great masters of the past. We must realize that we have 
>to make sacrifices in our own lives in order to
>pursue our training. 
>
>When the student looks at his training from the standpoint of loss instead
of 
>gain, he comes close to the spirit of mastery, and
>truly becomes worthy of a black belt. Only when you finally give up all 
>thought of rank, belts, trophies, fame, money and
>mastery itself, will you achieve what is really important in your
training. Be 
>humble, be gentle. Care for others and put everyone
>before yourself. To study martial arts is to study yourself - your true
self. 
>It has nothing to do with rank. 
>
>A great Zen master once said: "To study the self is to forget the self. To 
>forget the self is to understand all things." 
>
>
>
>Edited by K.W.Pang from "Martial Arts Training" (July 1991)
>HTLMized by Stacy John Behrens 
>
>