Martial arts should be a way of life and not a class at 4 o’clock p.m.
Martial arts should be a way of life and not a class at 4 o’clock p.m. today. So many people who study martial arts today believe that it’s a class, it’s a bunch of techniques! However it should have of morality or ethos contained within your Martial Arts style.
Martial arts, at least reality-based martial arts, is based on Warrior Hood. Warrior hood is clearly a way of life that embraces everything you do and everything the other practioners do. If for example you are a martial arts instructor, you understand the responsibility of teaching your students correctly and if you don’t, the end result will be they are killed on the street.
You also remember that as a warrior or a teacher of warriors that you must be responsible for their lives. And that means everything in their life. However it doesn’t mean that you dictate how your students are going to live; but rather you instruct them as to what waters they are traveling so that they can make a good decision. Those decisions have consequences. And it is your responsibility to make sure they understand if they choose one path, then here are the consequences. You and they will live with the consequences of their decisions, as we all do.
Now this means that martial arts is a way of life for you and your students. You must never lose sight of the fact that we’re building warriors and not martial arts technicians. If your art is devoid of morals, ethics and values; then you truly are teaching just martial arts technicians. Is it correct to teach people how to kill or maim without a morality base or an ethical base martial art system?
I think not.
That is why martial arts isn’t a class at 4 p.m. today. But rather a way of life that we live in and as such we are responsible for our student’s lives. If you approach your art and your teaching with such ferocity and commitment, you will understand what it means to be a legendary sensei.
Master Peter Brusso
http://www.awarriorsway.com
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I think you have stated a very important distinction Peter. Yes, we do teach people how to effectively kill or maim, so without the ethics on WHEN those are appropriate we only create horrors ready to be unleashed on society. There must be an understanding of the worth in other people and their value to our whole society. Having a different opinion on an issue in never an issue. Acting on that opinion when it is destructive to others in the society IS the issue, hence the need for ethics being part, an important part, of our instruction.