This post is part of a collaboration with Colin Lee at Joong Do Kwan and handful of other bloggers taking part in a blog carnival to help do our part in preventing bullying. This is an important topic to many of us and we all have our own angle to offer on the subject. Take a few minutes and check out some of the other posts. If you want to help us in this effort, do your part and share it around Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Together we can make a dent in bullying, especially within the martial arts community.

Teaching Kids

To preface my section on philosophy, I want to talk about teaching kids in general. This is something I have always dreaded doing. It has also been a point of great humor in my old dojo. My instructor would routinely pick out the smallest, cutest, five year old girl from the group and send her to me for one on one instruction. Why? Because I told him I don’t like teaching kids and he knows I can’t send her away. It is very different than teaching adults. Their attention span is significantly shorter, they attention to detail is almost non-existent, and their feelings are hurt very easily. For someone like me who tends to be a bit blunt when teaching Karate, this is a nightmare.

This however has been an area of great personal development in my learning experience. What I have found that works great is: Stories, Games, and Focusing on Concepts Instead of Techniques. Below I will explain the stories aspect of this.

Telling Stories

I have always enjoyed incorporating stories into my Karate classes. There are so many great ones to explain things like awareness (zanshin), dedication, and morality. For kids, these tend to hit the mark, especially if they are short and involve animals, magic, or samurai. In keeping with the anti-bullying theme, I am going to highlight two short stories to teach kids the importance of not getting into the wrong crowd and about not being a bully. I am not a children’s author and the best stories come from the heart, so always feel free to deviate when telling the stories.

The Crane and His Flock

Once upon a time, there was a plain white crane who was in search of a flock. This white crane had always had trouble finding other cranes to be around because he did not fit in being a plain white crane, but he was determined to find himself a flock to eat and fly with.

One day he came upon a very popular group of red headed cranes who were catching fish in the river. He landed next to some of them and asked them if he could be part of their flock. The leader of the flock agreed to let him join despite being a plain crane, but only if he would go take some of the fish the black necked flock of cranes had caught down river.

At first the white crane refused. He said he would not steal fish. The red necked cranes said he could not be part of the flock unless he did. Every crane had to steal fish before he was accepted into the flock. The white crane worried this would be his only chance to be part of a flock, so he finally said he would go steal the fish.

He flew down the river to where the black necked flock was. He soon spotted the fish they had caught and he moved closer to take some. The black necked cranes were talking and did not seem to notice him, so he grabbed some of the fish in his beak and began to fly away when suddenly one of the black necked cranes caught him.

“Why are you taking our fish?” the crane asked. The white crane told him he did not want to, but it was his only way to be part of a flock. “That is not true. There is no reason to steal fish. If you would have asked, we would have let you be part of our flock.” Realizing how wrong he had been, the white crane put the fish down and apologized for stealing. The black necked cranes forgave him and let him be part of their flock from then on. They accepted him for who he was, a plain white crane, not because he could steal fish for them.

After you tell the story, you ask the children what the moral is. If they are having trouble putting it into words, you explain that your friends should like you for who you are, not because of what you can give them. Anyone telling you to do things like stealing to be part of the group is not really a friend and should be avoided.

The Crane and the Tiger

In a distant land there once was a plain white crane. Every day this crane would fly down to the river and make a game of snatching the fish. The fish would regularly complain and tell the crane that it was not fair to pick on them just because they were smaller. The crane would always reply with, “I am bigger, this is just how life is.”

One day while having his fun with the fish, the crane felt a tug on his feathers and was suddenly upside down looking down at the river. He looked up to see a big tiger holding onto his feet. He shouted up to the tiger, “Let me go!” To this the tiger replied, “I am bigger, this is just how life is.” The tiger tormented the crane for the rest of the day before finally letting him go. The crane never picked on the fish again.

Once finished, it is again good to explain it to the kids. A simple story about not bullying other people around and how there is always someone who is bigger, so it is important for the bigger kids to make sure other people aren’t getting picked on too. (Probably smart to emphasize that hitting isn’t the answer).

Other Stories

You can find many other stories for kids by searching Aesop’s Fables on Google. Adapt them and make them your own, it comes across as more genuine.

Read More on Anti-Bullying

I have often talked about the influence of Buddhist philosophy on Karate-do’s beliefs on ethics. Someone recently made the point that philosophy is an ever ending and ever changing idea that moves between cultures. To say that Buddhism influenced Karate-do is to only mention part of the story. Buddhism was developed in India and influenced by its culture. It spread to China inheriting Taoist ideas, then to Japan where it mixed with local Shinto ideas. Sokon Matsumura brought this mix of ideas to Okinawa and most of them became integral to “the way”.

Enso

One of these ideas is enso. Enso is a symbol in Zen Buddhism to represent enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void. These ideas have all been transplanted into Karate-do.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment, is something frequently thought after by karateka. We practice to get better, to learn, to find the subtle thoughts hidden in the forms, we strive to find enlightenment. To this end, many of us succeed on some level. I remember the moment I felt competent to teach other people, it was five years after I received my black belt. I finally felt enlightened. Then a year later I sat reading only to once again recognize how little I really knew and how committed I was to learn more and find true enlightenment. This never ending quest is the essence of the circle. As we get closer to enlightenment, we find it, only to realize we are at the beginning of our next journey.

Strength

This is both physical and mental in Karate, more mental though. We learn to overcome our fears and insecurities. We recognize the futility of fighting.

Elegance

All karateka can look back and remember an elegant kata. The perfect footsteps, precise hand techniques, and perfect focus. For me, this was watching Sensei Snyder of Yamashita Shorin-ryu. Sensei Snyder performed once in the weapons kata division at a tournament I was in. A man in his late 50′s at the time, he moved like a warrior with deadly precision. While many were doing flashy katas with kama, swords, and nunchaku, Sensei Snyder performed a relatively simple bo kata. In all my years of studying kobudo, there are only three people I truly look up to in the world of weapons: Sensei Matayoshi, Sensei Yamashita, and Sensei Snyder. The first two created their own weapons systems. Sensei Snyder just performed with true elegance.

Universe and The Void

As Miyamoto Musashi said, think little of yourself and greatly of the world. Enso is a reminder of how complicated the world is, yet how beautiful its simplicity is. Try to draw two enso that look the same. You can’t. Yet they are all just simple circles. We have to look carefully to spot the subtle beauty of the world. Things like a good rain storm. The void on the other hand is an idea like mushin. While drawing enso it is easy to relax and forget everything else. We can find peace in letting our brain forget everything in front of us and focus on “nothing”.

The Circle

Mushin, Enso, Nirvana. It is all a blending of culture, philosophy, and life. Life. A never ending circle, just like the way.

All too often karate students let the art go to their head. They can’t have a good laugh and accept that much of what we do could be perceived as amusing to non-karate students. My roomate was more than willing to provide some questions he has always had about karate that he wanted answered. I have sorted through some of his ridiculous ones (may still answer those) and wanted to respond to the ones that I have heard before and think others will likely hear themselves

“It’s about fighting people right?”

If you have read this site before, you know that I regularly talk about the philosophy behind karate-do. In Matsumura’s 1882 Letter he discusses the different levels of understanding of “budo”. It is easy to teach people to do the techniques of karate. It takes time and practice, but the philosophy behind is much harder to get them to ingrain into their lives.

Karate is not about fighting people. It is about being able to stop a fight. It is training to be able to quickly stop a fight if you should find yourself in one. The many philosophies behind karate touch on things such as walking away from a fight, learning to be mindful of your environment, knowing that a fight is always a last resort, etc. While the techniques of karate can be used to fight someone, the art of karate focuses on ending a fight as quickly as possible, rather than “fighting”.

Recently I saw an article on Exploring Karate asking what the meaning of karate was. My simple response is a quote by Funakoshi, “The ultimate aim of the art of Karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” KarateByJesse had a post that included a similar thought, “No matter how you may excel in the art of fighting [te], and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and your humanity as observed in daily life,” by Teijunsoku, an Okinawan scholar born in 1663.

“Once you are a black belt, you can kick anyone’s ass?”

The simple answer to this is yes. Just kidding. Let’s take this question in two parts:

First, a black belt is the point when you normally know the curriculum, but it is just the beginning of really learning. Once you know the patterns and some application you can start analyzing and picking your curriculum apart. Compare it to someone who has completed a course in Algebra. They skimmed the book and passed the tests. To say they are a “master” you would want them to know every facet of the book and probably be able to write their own. Having a black belt has little to do with kicking someone’s ass.

Now, as for kicking someone’s ass. The usual response is that it doesn’t matter. Most people can’t accept that answer, it comes across like we don’t know how to win a fight. A better response is that there is a lot of factors that go into winning a fight. Are there rules? How good of condition are you in? How big is your opponent? Does he know how to fight? Karate students train to defend themselves, we might not train to “win” a fight, but we always train to “not lose”.

“You can kill someone with one touch, like that movie?”

No. There are tons of articles on this. There are no records of this ever happening.

“Why do you wear pajamas to practice karate?”

The modern karate uniform was taken from Judo’s uniform, created by Jigoro Kano at the end of the nineteenth century. Gichin Funakoshi used them as a way to make karate feel more Japanese. Personally, I teach plenty of classes in gym gear and some in our military uniforms. The biggest benefit of having a separate uniform is that they are thicker and more durable. If you think the uniform is silly, don’t wear it. This might not be an option at a lot of schools, but I am never offended when students prefer their gym gear.

“How many boards can you break?”

I have no idea. I like using my makiwara. I use it to build bone density and make my hands stronger for punching. The goal behind breaking boards is to reinforce training and allow students to prove how strong they are. The problem is that most people use weak boards, held in a particular way, and stacked to allow multiple boards to break easier. In the end, it is just a show and proves very little. If you enjoy it, have fun. If you think it is silly, don’t do that either.

Karate training can be very much like a pine tree in many ways–it starts as a seed and develops roots that form a solid foundation for it to grow from, and as it grows it branches out, far and wide at first and narrower as it continues to grow, and it can also be swayed or, in the blink of an eye, destroyed.  The similarities may seem obscure, but forcing a somewhat abstract concept (such as karate training)

The Seed

No one who commits to martial arts training does so without having some spark of desire to do so.  The spark is the seed of our karate tree.  Without it, the tree never begins to grow, and if it is neglected then it will wither and rot.  Many martial artists began their training for self defense, having had the seed planted by bullies or news stories of normal people being victimized.  Others began their training for fitness, having seen celebrities, fighters and friends who have benefited in that way.  Still more began to be like their idols–people like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris or, more recently, people like Royce Gracie or Georges St. Pierre. Once the seed is planted, it must be fed and watered to make it grow. Knowledge is the food that it needs, and sweat is the water.

The Roots

When someone starts training karate, they first begin to develop a basic set of skills upon which all of the techniques that they will later learn are built.  Those skills are the roots of our karate tree.  Those roots are constantly pulling knowledge from the soil that is the dojo, and will impact the karate tree for the rest of its existence.  Even if that tree is transplanted from one dojo to another, or from one style to another, the roots are the same and all of the knowledge that they pull from the soil of that new dojo or style will be translated by the roots as the tree grows. This aspect of the tree is the simplest, but one of the most important. It is the part that is rarely seen, although we know it exists.  Without developing roots the tree will fall, if it is able to grow at all.

The Trunk

As a karateka continues to train, the techniques that make up their roots become stronger and other techniques are built up on top of them. This process forms the trunk of our karate tree.  It is a solid extension of the basics that a karateka learned while growing the roots of the karate tree, but this upward-reaching growth of the karate tree is also beginning to develop its own distinguishing characteristics–a twist in the grain, or a prominent root.  As they develop their skills they begin to understand that they can utilize them in different ways and there may be more methods and techniques that could be useful to them, if only they could reach them.  It as at this key point that the trunk slows its upward growth and begins reaching outward.

The Boughs

At a certain point, a karate practitioner may desire to learn from places outside of their dojo or their style. These explorations form the boughs of our karate tree.  Even as they continue to grow upward toward perfection of our art they reach out to other sources of knowledge. As they begin to attend seminars, camps and classes they branch out far and wide and draw as much knowledge as they can back into the trunk that is made of their core art. The more a martial artist does this over time, however, they tend to branch out less and less as they develop their own focus–much like a pine tree that tapers from its wide lower branches to the top.

The Cycle

When a karateka has nurtured strong roots, grown a tall trunk with its own character and branched out far and wide, the karate tree matures.  A tree never stops growing–it merely grows more and more slowly with the passage of time–and so, too, must our karate tree keep growing.  It continues to grow taller to reach the sun that is perfection of self, while also continuing to grow outward to acquire new nutrients that are sources of knowledge.  At some point during this process of growth a karateka has the opportunity to spread their art.  We, as martial artists, can be both a part of a karate tree as well as the people who plant the seeds of new karate trees.  Just as trees that stop dropping seeds will be the last of their kinds, so will we be the last of our kind if we do not seek to instill the desire to learn in others. The similarities may seem obscure, but forcing a somewhat abstract concept (such as karate training) to fit a more tangible object (such as a tree) makes us look at both from a different perspective and think deeply about how the things we do can reflect the things around us.