Shidoshi's Greeting

Greetings,

I pray this finds you in good health.

We do not know the most important thing about other people's actions: their motives. So don't let us judge others. Let us judge ourselves. We do know the motives of our own actions and judging is very necessary and useful.

It is difficult to see realities through the illusion of appearance and how light and shade are interwoven. An action may have exactly the same aspect- love, non-indulgence, kindness, etc.- and yet the most important thing, the motive, may be different. Very often brutal and saintly acts have precisely the same physical aspect: yet, so many people who call themselves "spiritual" do not hesitate to judge others.

A person's example is more important than his teaching. We must live our own teachings. Your whole life is a prayer and your actions are your request. This is "Karma."

Nothing is high and nothing is low, for the insect is just as important as a small man or a so-called great man. There is just as much turmoil in a kettle of water, which is boiling up as in the creation and downfall of an empire or the creation and destruction of the universe.

All is relative. There is merely the passing and the eternal. What will be left of the bones of the greatest men in six thousand years? Not even their memory may survive. All is relative. I am not greater than the bird in the sky or the worm in the ground once life has gone on. The past is immaterial.

I was once asked about the life of past times. I responded: "Can life spring from something that is not life? If the soul of man is created out of nothing, it is likely to go back to nothing. If we will live in the future, we must have always lived in the past." Therefore, what you do now will affect you forever. Likewise, what you allow to happen, good or bad, to you will leave its mark forever on you, the Ryu, and people who care.

We have those in life who think so highly of them, the idealists, who have occasional fits of idealism and tread the worm while looking for the stars.

What about love? After all it is very simple. Love. Love more and more intensely, and if your love is free from the poison of ego-centricism, you will not feel superior because you have a deeper understanding. If real love begets understanding, this understanding will be free from the dreadful pitfalls of spiritual arrogance. Is life worth living? Yes, life is great, glorious; there is always that alternative between vertiginous summits and dreadful chasms. All is relative and there is no certainty. To realize this you may live and make life worth living. You will know many things and yet, not feel superior, for in whole you know little.

What can we do to assist the world? We can be signposts, showing the way to those groping in darkness without understanding. But woe to those who chose to be a hindrance as some have done, for Karma will take interest. Goodness will be your wake of aftermath.

Don't let other's slandering way stop your enthusiastic loving and caring, for to stay young you must remain. Live in such a way that I shall never regret having known you. Be a signpost. A man is known by his battle but remembered by his deeds.

In battle remember there are only two kinds of soldiers on the battlefield: the quick and the dead. We are the quick.

Heed the words of Sun Tzu: "One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in hundred engagements. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes be victorious, sometimes meet defeat. One who knows neither the enemy nor himself will invariably be defeated in every engagement." Think long and examine longer.

As Mao Tse-Tung said: "To defend in order to attack, to retreat in order to advance, to take a flanking position in order to take a frontal position and to zigzag in order to go straight." We will choose our position on each matter and stand firm and through our standing firm, will be able to attack and counter attack those who attack our integrity.

Sun Tzu stated battle methods to defeat those who came to destroy. War is based on deception, move when it is advantageous and create changes in the situation by desperation and concentration of forces. To be certain to take what you attack is to attack a place the enemy does not protect. To be certain to hold what you defend is to defend a place the enemy has not attacked. Therefore, against those skilled in attack, the enemy does not know where to defend. Against the experts in defense, the enemy will not be likely to attack and war cannot be won with defense only.

Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no traces; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is the master of his enemy's fate, and therefore the master of his own fate by influence.

Shape our ways to bring us strength to each change. We will liken ourselves to the Sun Tzu teachings, as quoted: "Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids any heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids any strengths and weaknesses. Water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy."

As water has no constant form, there are no constant conditions in war. Thus, one able to gain the victory by modifying his tactics in accordance with the enemy's situation may be said to be divine. Of the five elements (of nature), none is always predominant; of the four seasons, none last forever; of the days, some are long and some are short; the moon waxes and wanes. Konigun Ninjutsu is the belief of everything in moderation.

Frederick the Great said: "God is always with the strongest battalion." It is best to be strong willed, but not fool hearted or blind to the facts.

Heart by surprise on the headquarters of the enemy, for thus, he is easily defeated and his nerve center destroyed. It is better to be paranoid, than to wish you were.

General Ferdinand Fock stated: "My center gives way, my right is pushed back, the situation is excellent, I am attacking." The best opportunities can come from dysfunction for those calm masters of fate.

In the Bible in the book of Job, Chapter 23:10, it is said: "He knoweth the way and that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Martial arts is a way to reach out and touch people and help them better themselves in spirit, mind, and body, as well as learn how to protect themselves. We can reach out to the young and help them not to make the mistakes of old.

One can only pray that when your friends need you the most, you will unite and not just think of yourself. Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way, and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another way. To constitute a great man, both are necessary. However, all brave men must have love, for he only is brave who has affections to fight for.

Sun Tzu said: "Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuver. What is difficult about maneuver is to make the devious route, the most direct; and to turn misfortune to advantage. Thus, march by an indirect route and divert the enemy by enticing him with a bait. In so doing, you may set out after he does and arrive before him. One able to do this understands the strategy of the direct and of the indirect."

Therefore, bait your enemy with a false security of believing you to be defeated. While they boast about your defeat, they do not prepare their defenses. Do not waste time in voicing anger, but use the time to plan.

All people make mistakes, but review your mistakes first. According to General Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Nothing is easy in war. Mistakes are always paid for in casualties and troops are quick to sense any blunder made by their commanders." Yes, I have made blunders, and yes, they were felt by others. I apologize, but now I refuse to quit and have set out to make things right. Do you judge or give assistance?

General Che Guevara stated: "Attack the enemy from all sides, firing and drawing the enemy out, requiring each flank of the enemy to participate in the dance, with the result that the enemy columns are rendered immobile." This can be reversed on you and all life's little problems can choke you down to where you become immobile and lose sight of the goal.

Abraham Lincoln said it best: "To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men." To remain silent when you know wrong is transpiring is to agree.

To sum up your existence, better yourself through training and fellowship. Your personal awareness is increased when both physical and mental meet.

To quote Sun Tzu: "The enemy must not know where I intend to give battle. For if he does not know where I intend to give battle, he must prepare in a great many places." Keep your composure at all times.

The enemy prepares in a great many places, defies in only one place. For if he prepares to the front, his rear will be weak; and if to the rear, his front will be fragile. If he prepares to the left, his right will be vulnerable; and if to the right, there will be few to his left. And when he prepares everywhere, he will be weak everywhere. Therefore, there is no need to be negative for it will only attract more negative. Negative is rude. Rudeness is a sign of weakness. A show of weakness will invoke human nature to attack.

I want you to know that I did not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be an uncommon man, if I can. I seek opportunity, not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen by having the government control my thoughts. I want to take the calculated risk: to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to a guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stayed calm of utopia. I will not trade dignity for a handout. All I ask is to enjoy the benefits of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, "This I have done." Well, I leave you to ponder all I have said. I ask that you always carry yourself with the grace of a tiger and pray that your dreams and spirits find flight.

Dr. Bryce Dallas, Ph.D.
Shidoshi of Konigun-Ryu