Be Creative

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited by Soke to attend his writer’s guild monthly party. At this event, I was surrounded by several artists, writers and various other creative types. It was an admirable experience to socialize with Soke outside of the typical Bujinkan event and learn more about this environment and how Soke interacts. Soke is truly revered by the creative crowd as an accomplished artist.

Soke mentioned several times that is it is important to surround yourself with creativity and to learn from this, allowing it to influence your study of Budo and ultimately your life. Without creativity, there is no life.

If you look at the history of the Bugeisha you will see a constant connection to the arts. In fact, the warrior class in Japan were as equally adept at Budo as they were with the other non military arts, such as tea, Ikebana, calligraphy, sumie, etc. There are tremendous parallels in Budo and the creative arts, both paths equally seek and accomplish to polish the heart and allow for egoless inward reflection of self. Creative expression of the Bugeisha is critical, and fortunately the majority of that expression is peaceful.

For the Budoka, the creative means are the ability to innately control the space in a time of conflict. This is no different from a painter who fills the blank canvas with the colors of the pallet, or a writer who fills the pages with a story, or a musician who fills the hall with a beautiful melody. The aspect of space is equally important in all cases.

We cannot forget that in all things the process of internalization takes a lifetime, and the most accomplished artist will be the first to admit that what is truly achieved is nothing and just a start of a new path that leads to another level of discovery. The only way to stay true to the path is to constantly and diligently maintain a focus on training and practice.

Truly, human kind is at its best in a time of creation, and expression is critical to experiencing the fullness of life.

Be creative in your Budo, but be true to yourself as well. Nothing cannot come from nothing, it must come from something.

Bufu Ikkan

Training Opportunities

For those that are interested, I will be training with a few Buyu in the US in the first week of Aug.

v  Aug 2^nd Training with my old Buyu in Sacramento CA  Details here: http://www.winjutsu.com/seminars/buyuwest-wilson.htm

v  Aug 4, 5 or 6^th in San Diego CA  Please contact Mike MaCarron for details mccmike1212-at-hotmail.com

v  Aug 9^th in CO details please contact Nathan Paris, Bujinkan Ukibane Dojo  www.ukibanedojo.com

Ninja in the News

The Bujinkan has been popular with the media these days.

Recently CBS news visited the Hombu for an interview with Soke and to film the training.

The best part was that I got to toss Lucy Craft onto the mat!

Check it out

http://www.cbsnews. com/sections/ i_video/main5002 51.shtml? id=4242971n

Ireland Seminar DVD Availble

I’m not one for Bujinkan commercialism and I don’t think my good friend Alex Meehan is either, but when in Ireland he had one of his students filmed the training. In result, Alex has put together a very nice DVD of the training from those 2 days in Ireland, including the first night of training at Alex’s Dojo.

I think that the production of this video is one of the best I have seen.

If you are interested in having the chance to see what went on, then by all means contact Alex for the DVD. www.happobiken.com

The Perfectionist

When I was younger, I was basically a perfectionist. I wanted all things to be perfect. I can remember times that I expended tremendous energy attempting to keep things in perfect order.

Then naturally, as I matured and developed in life an in Budo, I was able to see that actually imperfection dominates and therefore should be welcomed.

In a recent conversation with Hatsumi Sensei , we discussed and how this concept relates to Budo, to life and to all the arts. There is no perfect person, therefore there is no perfect Budo and ultimately there is no perfect Gokui.

I like to think of it this way; perfection is something that does not have a long life span. It is perfect for an instant and then is gone again, falling back into imperfection. Perfection is therefore not stable nor reliable and can give a false sense of confidence. If you see perfect technique then most likely it is false and unreliable and will most likely fail to imperfection. If imperfection is not welcome then you will not be stable when perfection fails.

A flower blooms into perfection for only an instant and then will begin to wilt back to imperfection. What is hidden is what is beautiful and that instant it is gone. -Hisureba Hana. -Perfection comes at times when you least expect it and flows in and out depending on luck and-never via control.

Therefore in training, if you strive to allow for imperfection and are mature and realistic enough to accept that nothing will go the way it is expected, then you will have a strong foundation in execution with a solid foundation of Fudoshin. Fudoshin is clearly more critical than technique.

Simply appreciate it for the instant it is there, but know that it will be gone again and cannot be relied upon or controlled.

This is also connected to incompleteness and can be seen as basically the same thing. Incomplete technique allows for imperfection and therefore fudoshin. Complete technique can be seen as fixation, and this mind is dangerous and limiting.

Imperfection is everywhere and CAN be relied upon. Consistency and satisfaction in imperfection will develop a state of fudonshin and calmness of heart.

Bufu Ikkan