This is for Martial concept:
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"True way is the way of goodness, the way of tolerance, the understanding of life and death. The practicing of martial arts is for the attainment of the true way, for the cultivation of the true way. This is the highest echelon of martial arts learning."
In Vietnamese: |
This is for Life in general:
| "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -Thomas Edison. |
Martial Arts thought:
| "The greatest enemy of learning is knowing, and the goal of all learning is action, not knowledge." |
Many people with past experience in martial arts always think that they have known enough or close to enough. However, when it comes to learning, we want to separate between learning and knowing.
The famous quote:
| "How can you taste my cup of tea when you haven't empty yours" |
This proves that we are human and we like to show others what we know. However, once we accept to learn, we should put that knowledge aside and apply action. Teachers and students always need to work together. If we don't share the same vision, we won't succeed. Believe in what you learn intelligently !
Here goes the Life thought:
Good thinkers are always in demand. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.
Since we are all martial artists, friends, family, and thinkers, please let me say that "none of us is smarter than all of us.
Having said, here goes the quote:
| "The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare". |
We all want to be the top, but have we put the effort to prepare us to succeed? Everyone wants to be blackbelt or what ever in their professions, but you need to spend time on the deck as much as you need to invest many long hours going through a learning stage.
Here goes my finding through experiences with people. This may sound corny, but it's really true:
| "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" |
Again some day we all will be instructors, fathers, mothers, leaders, professors, managers, etc…but never to forget that those who want to follow us is just as important as ourselves. As leaders, we are held responsible to the things we teach to our followers. Prior to teaching anyone, we need to establish a trust between the teacher/mentor and the student. Remember one of my quote,
"Before I teach someone, I must ask myself three things:
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| "A winner knows how much he still needs to learn, even when he is considered an expert by others. A loser wants to be considered an expert by others, before he has learned enough to know how little he knows." -Sydney J. Harris |
A very interesting concept. It doesn't matter how many level blackbelts we achieved or how many educational degrees we possessed, most importantly we need to keep an open mind and learn new things. Teaching is also part of learning. The world is vast, and we are so limited. There is much for us to learn as long as we remain teachable. Sensei Shinzato at the age of 70 is considered himself as a student and not a teacher. The majority of us are half his age, then there is no reason we stop learning, unless we can produce fireballs while punching.
Thought #6 July 7th, 2008
| "When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one, and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible" - Anonymous |
We are all familiar with our dieting plan, exercising routine, and scheduling our tasks. However, day 1, day 2, then comes day 7, something happens. Our family members got sick and we got off track; our work schedule got busy and we miss another routine exercise; we forgot to eat right because we feel that cheating a bit won't hurt; and the lists goes on. Commitment isn't as simple as being able to check off what we have accomplished toward our goal. It is a choice, an ATTITUDE. It is believing what we are doing is important enough to stay the course.
People who are successful are passionate about being successful and are willing to pay the price to achieve that goal. I believe that when someone is passionate and make the commitment choice, they understand their mission, know the costs, and will do whatever necessary to accomplish that mission.
Everytime when I reflect back when sensei Antonson drove to Virginia and trains with us during both stormy and rainy days, then heading home right afterward, it shows how much passion he has for elevating his martial skills. Either martial arts or life in general, do not set a limit. That bar needs to be raised often.
I would like to end with this quote:
| "Do not seek praise, but seek criticism" |
Thought #7 August 27th, 2008
How many of you can build a HOME ?
A house will get old and damaged, but a home will get rich and resourceful. Many of us use a house, a gym, an office, or a dojo just so we can have a roof above our heads. However, do we ever think why we always go back to our houses, get to the gym, work at an office, or attending our class at the dojo ? If we do for a reason to keep ourselves warm, make our muscle grow, get paid biweekly, or getting a black belt, then we have yet to look deep into ourselves or our main purpose in life. As I have matured in life and growing every day, I have realized we are living in a society with such incredible pace that we are sometimes forgetting those around us. I am not just talking about family members, but all of those who have made some kind of impact in our lives, such as our friends, colleagues, or those who we met once or twice and have forgotten their name. The population have been increasing by the days and what does that mean ? We need to learn how to live with each other. We all have a main purpose and that is to be happy by the day. It doesn't matter if you are at your house, that place should be a home. Being at the gym, that is a home where you should totally enjoy your workout. Working at the office, should be your home where your colleagues are the ones keeping you happy during that 8 hours. Finally coming to the dojo, karate bring us all together in a meditation state of pureness and happiness. If we can think these places are our home, then we should enjoy every moment of it. Those who share the home with us, together we are helping each other grow.
Thought #8 October 29th, 2008
I have been scrutinizing with the concept of feng shui, I-Ching, or Ying (soft) and Yang (hard), or whatever you call it. It is pretty much similar in concept as to the understanding the balance of nature. What exists in Ying, there will be some Yang and vice versa. Therefore the more thought I put into this, the more I appreciate my surroundings. We all know the sun rises and it goes down. Countless lives appear in the world. Countless lives disappear. All lives come and go ceaselessly, like in a circle. Why we have to live in the world ? You know why ? I have no clue. But it is said that the world is wondrous. Knowing it is not as good as loving it. Loving it is not as good as delighting in it. Like this road, you think you have reached the end, but it is the beginning of another.
Thought #9 December 25th, 2008
Koshi training has been our main objective throughout our training regimen. Whether we kick or punch, only through koshi that would allow us a speedy execution and a deadly impact upon contact with the opponent. However, Koshi in itself is not the ultimate. A car with the greatest engine can not be driven by a novice. Therefore, understanding koshi is 80% to reaching our goal and the other 20% is how to use koshi in our favor. This is where leveraging, centerline comprehension, swiftness in the foundation (legs and arms), and reaction will need to coincide with our koshi practice. A good driver knows how to steer his car out of danger, stops without being unbalanced, and makes a decision in split seconds. Therefore, when we do katas training, we don't necessarily do one move at a time, but ultimately in a continuous sequence. We can pretty much break down the katas to as many sequences as we wish, but we must perform with a purpose, using koshi to leverage each execution, understanding the centerline to neutralize opponent, swiftness in the foundation to be ready for next move, and reaction time to clearly know our intention of the moves.
Remember when I said, to be ready for each moves and not be tensed. When we are standing in a stance for a fight, too many practioners are solidly grounding themselves with tension in their body. Koshi training eliminates all of this so we can be ready and to react to anything coming towards us. Keep in mind the differences of being "tense" and being "ready". Two practioner may stand in a fighting stance similarly, but one may feel tense while the other feel ready.
A few months ago, I joked with sensei Antonson and told him Koshi is all around us. A week ago, sensei Antonson had discovered Koshi is also in the mind. In his own words, sensei Antonson describes, "I find that it's like I have to have my mind in like a koshi-like stance; relaxed, open to whatever, but ready to fly forward aggressively in a split second. When my mind gets lazy, lax or dull I can get easily beaten up by them at work. To do well I need to be sharp, relaxed but ready - alert at all times mentally." Training a koshi mind, inherently sensei Antonson is training one of the five components I mentioned earlier, which is "reaction".
Thought #10 January 15th, 2009
I would like have this thought dedicating to all of you. I am thanking every single one of you in class and those outside of class for giving me the opportunity and trusting me with your body. Special thanks to Felix for helping me run this dojo ever since we were back in the Chinquapin Rec Center. Those were the good old days training on carpet. Luckily or not, we found Jungle's gym and more members have joined. There were some ups and down with management, but we maintain to have regular classes and now it has been almost 3 years. As the class grew, we got even more closer to each other. Part of training karate, is not just how fast you punch, how many times you win, how big or strong you are, or are you the best fighter in class, but it is how much do you want to be in class. We are all different in sizes and strength. Therefore, our training varies from one another. But, we don't need those who can knock down walls or break our skull; we only need those who are excited to be in an environment where we share common knowledge, assist one another, excel together, promote thinking, and mainly practice unselfishness. I have never been around a group like you all.
Practicing Koshi is one of the hardest thing I have ever encountered. It is not just motions or techniques, but it is a science through feeling and thinking. Therefore, we need to possess a humble mind. If I was to teach kata motions or techniques, you will learn, but you won't know how to adjust during adversity. Part of training koshi is how to use hand to hit something hard (stronger fighter) which is usually the case for real fighting. Part of the reason why I chose to teach karate for free is because I can select those I want to teach. Anyone can learn karate, but to possess the credentials I mentioned, I have only met through you. I hope all of you to remain disciplined and set goals for yourself. Whether it is karate or anything you want to achieve in your life, having a goal makes us live life for a purpose and not just for the sake of surviving. As a class training together, we can do things that we thought we can never do. When I see a group of dedicated people shaking after 1500 punches, crumbling at a 1000 ab works, jittering after 400 knee bends, and wobbly at 50 katas, I am seeing a future for everyone. Only when we work hard in the dojo, then we will see result when faced with adversity. And this can be related to anything. We as a group can accept any challenges, we just need to believe.
Thought #11 April 6th, 2009
In case those of you who have forgotten our class motto, here it is:
| "Though everyone can claim himself as a martial art fighter, a true martial art fighter is the one who grasped the principle among all principles, humility is first and last, the most crucial one." |
This motto is written on our home page.
Whether it is karate or work, the better we improve ourselves through practice or dedication in our ability to become blackbelts or a promotion to a higher position at work, we must not forget how we get there; We were once white belts and we were once making ends meet at an entry level position. Through hard work and tons of perspiration, we achieved our goals. But, the important question here is, are we willing to teach and train others to achieve the same success we accomplished or are we going to demoralized the young ones (white belts, newbies) by telling them how great we once were. Many times, we as human beings, tend to see how great we are, but not appreciate the route we got there. My point is, since we know how tough it is to be successful, we need to share our success to those who wants to follow us and not get caught in our ego, which eventually leads to being conceited. And once we are ready to accept the challenge of teaching and leading, then we must teach with caution, with the understanding that many of the followers or students do not possess the same qualities that we possessed. If we were all the same, then we don't need teachers. A book will be fine.
Do not teach to prove to others what you know, but teach because you want to involve others with what you know. Do not be confound between an instructor and a teacher. An instructor tells you what to do, whereas a teacher asks you why are you doing so ? As all of you will soon be advanced belts in the class and those of you who will get promotions in your job, I would like to remind you to spend a few minutes on self-reflection and see yourself as a teacher or a mentor in the near future.
Thought #12 August 28th, 2009
With the upcoming months, there will be blackbelt tests. As for the brown belts, be ready to perform all of your katas and locks. As for Shodans and Nidan blackbelts, be ready to judge as well as perfecting your katas. Getting a blackbelt in class does not mean you have completed the requirements to become a martial artist, but it is a completion of the test/trial period you have bestowed upon yourself to see whether martial art can be accepted as a way of life. Remember this, I have not forced any of you to train with me. You have chosen the path. I think all of you have been very fortunate to study this art without a cost; sometimes there are people who takes this for granted and there are those who uses this opportunity to learn as much as they can. Opportunity does not come all the time. Having the chance to learn koshi movements is a gift that you should not take lightly. Once you understand the koshi movements, the katas you perform will be conspicuous to others. We don't practice to be rigid or barbarous, but to have nimble feet and mind. Koshi training allows us to do so. Although koshi may not be lucid to everyone yet, but upon comprehension of it, it feels like a lifetime achievement.
It is a luxury to all of us to have dedicated people come to class. Although we call it a class, but in my eyes, it is a center where we meet to discuss and exchange our ideas of techniques and the capabilities of what our bodies can do. We are here to inspire each other, not challenge one another. When we challenge, there is a winner and a looser. When we inspire each other, we all win. This center is developed for the sole purpose of making all of us a winner. Another important element for the blackbelts and soon to be blackbelts is to have your own dojo. My vision is to assist all of you to become senseis yourself. Only when you have students or teach someone is when you are ready for the next stage of becoming a martial artists. When we learn, we are conditioning our body. When we teach, we are conditioning our mind. When it comes to commitment, it is all in your ATTITUDE.