Read an Excerpt
From the Introduction
The
real secret to becoming an expert in martial arts is realizing that
training is a process of self-discovery. Further, it is a means of
modifying your personality to make yourself healthier, more well
balanced, and more efficient. Outside of Japan,
this idea has for the most part been lost and the budo forms are
typically taught as nothing more than specialized fighting methods.
This approach is wasteful, however, for in the short term, there are
much more efficient ways to teach fighting than the highly ritualized
practice of traditional martial arts. Only when an art is considered
as a whole system, including its “internal” aspects, can all the
cultural content be justified. Ironically, taking this larger view, the
“excess baggage” of ritual and spiritual components in these arts makes
them better, more efficient tools for personal cultivation even while
complicating the process of learning how to fight.
This
apparent contradiction is not as troublesome a problem for serious
students of budo as it would seem, since there is not much real need
for most of us to learn how to fight. The study of budo forms, which
were codified during a time in Japan’s
history when there was an emphasis on martial arts study for
self-cultivation, is ideally suited for people wanting to develop a
deep inner calm and confidence. Certainly in contemporary society, we
have a much greater need for calm wisdom than for efficient killing
skills. This doesn’t mean that everybody who reads this book and tries
to follow all the advice found in it is going to become a great master
or guru. To become really great at something requires luck and talent,
as well as the same long years of practice that everybody must put in
to become merely good. Following my suggestions for learning a martial
art should help you become better at it. You will become more efficient
at your chosen art, and hopefully get more enjoyment out of it. If you
keep at it long enough, you should find that other areas of your life
are improving, too.
If
you want to go further, however, if the spiritual and philosophical
accomplishments of the people I have described appeal to you, then you
will have to give serious thought to the deeper issues that are raised
here, and probably do a lot of other research as well. As I advise in
later chapters, students who want to become great martial artists must
read everything they can get their hands on, train fanatically for an
extended period of time, and reflect deeply on the relationship between
budo training and their lives.
