Bujinkan Santa Monica

when it rains in HK, photo by rocksee I read a curious poem this morning in a story from Saigyō. The Japanese poet Saigyō (1118-1190) was a Buddhist monk and lived most of his life as a traveling mendicant and hermit. His poems often relate the tension he felt between renunciatory Buddhist ideals and his love of natural beauty. In the story I read this morning, he was caught in a rainstorm during his travels through Osaka. He tried to take shelter at a brothel. Yet he was turned away by a prostitute. But this was no ordinary prostitute. In the legend, she was an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Fugen who symbolizes meditation and practice. Knowing this, Saigyō was frustrated that someone so enlightened would  force him back out into the rain. He wrote: How difficult I suppose,     to reject This world of ours.     And yet you begrudge me         a temporary stay. In his frustration, Saigyō could get angry at t...

I refused to teach someone today.  He made one of the fatal errors that I discuss below.  This happens infrequently, but often enough that it makes me wonder about people.  It also gets me thinking about my own standards as a student and teacher in the Bujinkan. Hatsumi Sensei made a remark once about how students deserve their bad teachers.  This sounds odd at first, until you've met these students or teachers.  How do students achieve this? Not knowing why they want to learn a martial art. It starts here.  This informs all your choices going forward.  If you lack this answer or the answer is one you are not willing to share in public, then time to reconsider your hobby. Not researching the style. They e-mail after reading my website "Can I ask you what style you teach?" Not only does my website describe our style with a brief history, it takes all of two seconds to type Bujinkan into google or wikipedia.  How can you determine if I am ...