What is the biggest change a human being faces? It is death, when the body ceases human activities and changes beyond recognition, and the mind moves from the human experience to whatever awaits it next.

Almost all people know this, but few operate in life with an awareness of death. Even fewer can transcend a grim, nihilistic view of death. For the ninja, death is a perfectly natural outcome to the process of ceaseless change featured in all things. There is nothing wrong with it.

The first consequence of a continual awareness of death is something even the nihilist can understand – that there is no point in getting overly attached to any certain object or outcome, because the observer, the object, and the outcome will all fade into history.

For the ninja, however, this is not de-motivating. Rather, it is a reminder that all results will lose their current form and become a part of the momentum of other, unknown things in the future. The momentum of our efforts goes on, even though the actual immediate results dissolve.

Therefore, the ninja realizes that what matter most are those qualities and characteristics which will be passed on. It’s worth considering – what characteristics of my actions and efforts will create momentum that persists even after the fruit of my work has disappeared?

And more to the point, am I creating the long-term momentum that I want to create? Or am I getting things accomplished here-and-now but leaving a residue of unpleasant characteristics that will outlast my immediate work?

Keitoshi

Does objective truth exist? Or do all things exist only as an interpretation? More to the point, from what truth should the ninja seek to operate?

The objective truth of objective truth is that it is really simple – too simple for us to enjoy or derive any human meaning. An event in its most objective form is reduced to a collection of mechanical transactions. Those mechanical transactions are true, measurable, and relatively non-negotiable. Naturally, a ninja must stay in touch with this level of reality.

However, this level of reality tells us nothing about motivation, decision-making, ethics, inspiration, or purpose. It also tells us almost nothing about the human experience, since the human experience of events is heavily filtered through the senses as well as our capacities for attention and memory, even before being passed off to a cognitive system that is prone to interpretations based on mental and emotional factors.

To whatever degree the ninja is interested in outcomes affecting and involving human beings, the most important features of an event lie in the possible interpretations of the event. At a minimum, understanding the variety of possible interpretations will be critical to predicting future outcomes and behaviors. Moreover, selecting the most useful interpretation sets the ninja’s mind naturally toward proper perception in the future.

Conversely, selecting an interpretation of reality at random, based solely on personal history and the suggestions of the subconscious, is likely to cause inner turbulence that leads to outer turbulence.

Worse, selecting an interpretation and labeling it "objective" truth causes rigidity of perspective, a mind that is required to filter all future events to align with the chosen perspective. This is the exact opposite of the clarity and flexibility of perception which the ninja seeks.

Therefore, objective truth exists, but the ninja understands it as a minor factor in human truth. Interpretations of truth dictate human experience, meaning, and memories, and therefore all that a ninja might work to achieve hinges on interpretation.

Keitoshi

Just a few days ago, a massive earthquake struck Tibet and killed 1700 people, injuring perhaps 10,000 more and leaving them homeless in freezing temperatures.

Many of us are overwhelmed by the news, as we are frequently overwhelmed by disasters that happen all over the globe.

In this case, however, there is a bit more of a connection to the dojo. The Tibetan culture is one of the few cultures that safeguards ancient lore developed in India. This wisdom, recognized over 2000 years ago, was lost even to India itself, but it persevered in Tibet and Japan. We recognize it in To-Shin Do as the 5 elements. Although the idea of 5 elements in nature is culturally widespread, the psychological and spiritual depth of the understanding that allows us to live so freely and powerfully in the ninja lineage is very unusual.

On top of that, Tibetan people, and in particular His Holiness the Dalai Lama, have been very helpful in mentoring us. His Holiness has been a friend and mentor to our To-Shin Do founder Stephen K. Hayes for many years. He also delivered to me personally the single most powerful lesson on compassion I have ever encountered.

The earthquake struck the region of Tibet where His Holiness was born. Due to politics, he cannot even visit the site to assist the dying and grieving. However, he can ask for help from those able to give it, and he has done so. You can read his statement, and An-Shu Hayes' statement, here.

As it happens, Mary Aitoshi and I, along with a few Boulder Quest students, will be visiting His Holiness for teachings in Indiana in just a few weeks. An-Shu Hayes will also be there and will present His Holiness with a contribution for our collective To-Shin Do community. Mary and I will make a personal financial contribution to that fund, and we'd like to encourage anyone who is able to do so, in celebration of the great contributions of His Holiness and the Tibetan culture in general to our path today.

Whether or not you can contribute financially, come and hear the story of how Tibet has helped us and what I got from meeting His Holiness in 2007. I would like for you to be connected to this, by hearing it, asking questions, and contemplating the vast forces that bring you To-Shin Do today. And, if you can, enjoy the power of putting some of your resources into our dojo contribution, which will merge with the overall To-Shin Do contribution, which will be delivered directly to His Holiness by An-Shu Hayes in a few weeks.

Thank you.

Keitoshi

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Keitoshi will speak on how To-Shin Do is connected to the Tibetan culture, and how His Holiness the Dalai Lama has had a personal role in creating and sustaining the compassion energies that lead senior teachers to teach. Please come and hear this important information, whether or not you can contribute.

Talk starts at 6:30 pm, Friday May 23rd. Q&A afterward, followed by group social time and discussion.

The ninja were also known for unusual abilities that could be called magic or superpowers. Cartoon versions of the ninja give them the ability to fly, walk on water, or throw fireballs. Historically, the ninja encouraged such exaggerations of their abilities, because it gave them power in a superstitious society.

However, the ninja studied with shamans, diviners, and astrologers of their time to develop an unusual sensitivity to the rhythms of nature. They also studied psychology and culture to understand the rhythms of the human heart and mind. Studying these things well leads to a penetrating insight into some subtle truths of reality, and such insight can allow the ninja to take actions that appear magical.

The magical actions might include knowing just what an opponent is about to say or do, knowing just when and where to be for “lucky” circumstances, or being able to draw or avoid attention when desired. They might also include exceptional healing abilities, feats of endurance or strength, or phenomenal precision under difficult circumstances. None of these violate the laws of physics, but they may allow the ninja to operate effectively in situations beyond the average person.

Many people today would love to develop such powers, but there are certain subtle obstacles preventing that development. Developing the Ninja Mind is all about overcoming those obstacles.

Learning to actually manifest and recognize these powers in your life is the fourth and last stage of the training. Before that comes the third stage, the study of how to make desired results of any kind come to life.

The study of bringing desired results to life can be done at any time, but it will be very frustrating, or even destructive, unless grounded in a firm understanding of cause and effect. Otherwise, we might be trying to bring to life a result that is impossible, or has unintended consequences. Thus studying cause and effect is the second stage.

Studying cause and effect puts us in touch with the real nature of things and opens the gateway of possibility. In order to study cause and effect, we have to observe life very carefully. Somehow, we have to get around our speed, fear, and hopes enough to observe things as they are. This will take time and be difficult, but it is critical. If we do not take the time to break through our assumptions about life before we begin analyzing cause and effect, then even though our analysis might be logically valid, it will be based on an illusory starting point. Valid analysis based on illusory data leads to incorrect results. Therefore, clear observation of life is the first stage of training.

Masters of clear observation know that it requires a calm mind. For that reason, you cannot develop it while panicking and struggling for control. You also cannot develop it while bouncing wildly from one event to the next. Further, it is almost impossible to develop if constantly threatened.

Therefore, to gain the calm mind that can develop clear observation, you need space and time in your life. You need a measure of success and security – not necessarily total success and security, but enough that you can pause to reflect. In other words, you need an effective life.

An effective life starts with ethical behavior. Ethics are therefore the first key to the discovery of Ninja Mind and all of the powers and insights that might follow from there. We begin our success with ethics.

Keitoshi

Over the years, I have taught a lot about how martial arts training reduces fear in your daily life. From the ability to practice dealing with problems to re-defining experiences that have already happened, the journey to a To-Shin Do Black Belt helps you discover who you want to be.

Sometimes I come across an article I wish I'd written because it so captures what I mean. I highly recommend reading this post from "The Positivity Blog" and then coming to the next available class at the dojo.

Unleash Your Potential!

PS: Don't forget our Grand Opening "Night of the Ninja" with student demonstrations, special teachings, and cool prizes. Invite your friends. April 9, 5:30-8pm.

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Where do ethics come from?

As small children, our initial ethics are developed by instinct. Instincts guide us second-by-second, sometimes directing us toward a sense of connection by playing with and helping others, and sometimes toward a sense of control and autonomy by taking what we want or influencing others. As we navigate our world according to our inner needs of the moment, we come into conflict with other humans who have different inner needs.

Those conflicts help us develop rules for behavior based on how other humans are likely to react. Our experience leads us to a set of guidelines that include other people and their opinions. It’s not so much compassionate as it is predictive, but it’s an early stage of ethics in that it involves the first tempering of momentary inner instinct for the good of a longer-term purpose.

Once we include predictions of other people in our ethics, we have a lifetime of learning about other people. People are complex, and have a lot of influences we can’t see, so they can appear quite crazy to us. The first step in coping with this is usually to develop experimentally some basic rules that seem to work in current circumstances. We might call these “coping mechanisms” or “survival strategies”.

If we will live a life without a lot of change or travel, this might be enough to stay out of trouble. The downside to stopping there is that we must stay in our current situation. We’re not very free.

The historical ancestors of the ninja were forced out of familiar circumstances. Originally aristocracy, they had ways of being that had persisted for generations. When their world underwent radical change as a result of war, it became clear that their existing rules for life would now lead only to death.

This kind of crisis stimulates the desire to develop a larger understanding.

When the time comes to develop ethics that might transcend limited local circumstances, we have to use our intelligence and our experience to try to understand what went wrong, and how we might avoid it in the future.

We realize that certain truths persist across individuals. For example, no one likes to have real violence directed at them, and they are likely to respond unfavorably now or in the future. No one likes to be manipulated with lies, and anyone who discovers that they have been is likely to respond unfavorably.

These things are intellectually easy to understand, but they are hard to remember and implement under pressure. Because they are easy to understand, they might seem somewhat obvious during moment of calm reflection, and we might not give them much thought.

The whole purpose of ethics is to use our moments of calm reflection to develop guidelines for when things are crazy, threatening, and out of control.

If we do not do this, then we will act incorrectly in the moment of threat and stress. Once we calm down, we will easily understand the mistake we made, but it will be too late. The damage is done.

Thus, well-developed ethics protect us from ourselves. As little children, the rules of behavior seemed like limitations because they were imposed from the outside, or seemed related to the bizarre whims and attitudes of others. It’s quite possible to get to adulthood and still feel that way.

It is critical that we redefine ethics as personal protection guidelines based on intelligence and experience. It is imperative that we develop ethics by ourselves and for ourselves.

Of course, we can and should take the advice of our elders into consideration. We should not throw away every guideline we received from parents or institutions. Neither should we keep following them blindly, constrained by the inner voices and judgments of childhood. Instead, we should consider each one. From what threat was that guideline protecting us? Is that threat still valid in my life now? If so, does that guideline still apply in that same form, or should it be re-interpreted for more relevance in my life now?

In this process, some advice from childhood endures and remains true today. You will have an even deeper appreciation for and understanding of that advice. Other advice will need modification in form if not in spirit, and you will feel great relief in releasing the tension of trying to fulfill an inner obligation that doesn’t fit your life. You may also discover delightful new truths that the people of your childhood could not predict.

You will find yourself both ethical and free.