Martial Arts For Life Mastery - Becoming the Master

March 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Since beginning my study of the martial arts over thirty years ago, one of the concepts that has always intrigued me was that of the 'Master'. I have encountered many people with varying definitions of the title, as well as many so-called and self-proclaimed 'masters'.

The term used in the ninja arts, as well as a few other traditional, Japanese martial arts, to represent this level of skill and achievement, as taught through the Bujinkan Dojo "Divine Warrior Spirit Training Halls" of Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi, is shihan. The Japanese kanji characters used to make up the word shihan, go together to mean "role model," or "one who sets an example worthy of following."

Based on this title and its definition in the traditional sense, I have come to see that a 'master'...

... is one who has transcended the mere physical tricks of the martial arts as practiced by most conventional systems.

The term includes not only the practitioner's abilities with his or her particular art's techniques, but he or she also has gone beyond the need for preset techniques at all.

The master is one who 'lives' the principles and philosophy - in other words, he or she "walks-the-talk" - and is truly an inspirational model for not only defending oneself, but also for living one's life powerfully. The student who would be a master of him or herself, as-well-as their martial art, can look to progress through the following roughly defined levels. Progress will be seen at different intensities for each quality depending on the natural inclinations and general disposition of the individual as they come into the training.

Initiate level -

Students new to the art are laden with their own 'natural' (read: "habitual") ways of movement, personality quirks, and methods of responding to stress and conflict. At this stage, the student will be experimenting with the strategies and new ways of moving their bodies to carry out the performance of the techniques. Generally, new students come with a widely varied set of motivations, desires, needs and expectations from what they want to get out of their martial arts training. Many have aspirations of becoming masters at this point, some only want to learn a few neat tricks in the shortest time possible, and still others have delusions-of-grandeur of 'being' THE master after just a few classes or belt promotions!

Generally though, students new to the art strive to learn their techniques and see their teacher as the focal point of what they want to be like on a physical level.

The initiate levels are like the growth of the child as they look toward their parents for the basic lessons that will allow them to function in their new world.

Intermediate level -

These students have made the dual commitment to themselves; to

   * 1) learn the art at least to the point of their own personally-set goal, which is usually a belt level, and...
   * 2) to their teacher; that they will do the study and practice necessary to meet the standards expected by the teacher.

Intermediate students begin to understand the 'essence' of the techniques and begin relating them to each specific attack and attacker. They begin to see beyond the physical aspects of their art, to the use of the strategies and principles as guides for overcoming nonphysical conflict and confrontations as well. The questions sought often begin to take on a philosophical nature as the student begins to understand karma - to see his or her own role in setting up the conflicts and problems in their own life. The concept of "Master" begins to deepen and broaden as the student sees that mastery is more than the mere 'performance' of kata - preset technique models.

Again, the trap of seeing one's self as having 'made it' is present as many enter this 'adolescent' stage of progression. This same 'teenage' rebellion or "know-it-all" attitude can warp the student's judgment and perception of where they are on the Path and, if not carefully guarded against, can cause the student to resent his or her teacher's standards as "holding them back." Often this attitude will cause the less experienced practitioner to resort to the unscrupulous act of self-promoting themselves to black belt in order to live out the fantasy.

Advanced level -

At the advanced level, the student's ability with the techniques is increasing to ever-more subtle levels where less and less work is needed to generate results. The student is concentrating more on what causes a fight and the increased sensitivity needed to recognize the prompters and cues that are present to signal a possibly hostile situation. These students extend their awareness of their teacher to his or her life-habits and ability to deal with nonphysical problems and opportunities. Here, the roles are reversed to the point where the students are critiquing the teacher to see if he or she truly does "walk-the-walk" that they have been preaching. It is usually at this level where lesser teachers are spotted and exposed by intuitive students, and the veil-of-illusion and delusion is seen through. The maturing student realizes that there are only so many techniques and ways of doing something with and to the human body. The trap of seeing this move into the subtle realms of development as the signal of mastery is of-course present and even more tempting. At this level though, the advanced student is already seen as a role model by the lower students and so strives, as a means of self-improvement, to develop ways of explaining and teaching the art to others.

Mastery level -

The masters, still seeing themselves as students, continue to climb the ladders of progress. Satisfied to the greater degree about their understanding and ability with their art and their ability to create techniques at-will and spontaneously from the fundamentals; their movement is effortless and almost 'magical' as they appear to break the rules of rationality and logic. Where those who "play" at being a master walk and speak with arrogance and tend toward bragging, the true masters appear extremely human in their operation and conduct, despite the feeling of awe and power that they seem to radiate.

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