Martial Musing: The Wisdom Not To FIght

Martial Musing : The Courage & Wisdom Not To Fight

For years have taught my students at the public park in a predominantly blue collar town with its fair share of trouble seekers. That evening as I was working with a group of my brown belts, a drunk man walked through the class. He then went on the be less than respectful, and challenging my right to be in the park.

Two of my senior students got ready to jump in, I noticed deep anger on their faces as their neck muscles tightening. I signalled them to stay put. The drunk then wanted me to apologize for being in his way, and I took a deep breath. At first felt a little anger creep in, then I took a step towards him. Held my hand out and said “am sorry for having caused you trouble, be well my friend. I am now going to go continue my training.”

I stepped right past him firmly and respectfully, showing him am not afraid as I started teaching again. He looked at me in sheer silence for what seemed a minute and then walked away. I could still sense the anger on my most senior students face, who is respectful and feels very protective of me. “Sensei, we could have taught him a lesson. Why did you let him walk away disrespecting you like this?”

“You remember the parking lot incident? The 5’4 guy who was rude and came in to fight over a little parking spot. And he ignored the fact that his 6 year old daughter was watching , and she was terrified out of her wits? Well I walked away from that fight too. Even though I had already run more than a few scenarios in my head of how the fight would end – quickly.” They all nodded remembering another incident not to long ago. So I continued ” whats common between those two scenarios?”

“You did not fight Sensei, and let those disrespectful guys get away without teaching them a lesson.” said F.

“Well, the purpose of a fight is to win. And in both cases I won, because I kept my freedom of choice and right to be a freeman. Besides what would the two fights have achieved? What would anyone have gained? A parking spot? Respect from a drunk guy? What after that…. how would I justify the use of “trained force” .. and what would the impact of that action be on my loved ones, and their loved ones.. esp the 6 year old.”

The students now looked relaxed and surprised. And deep inside I was happy that in someways was able to demonstrate a key lesson on the warrior path. Sometimes walking away in peace, is perhaps the greatest victory. It may seem cowardly, but IMO it takes great presence of mind and courage to walk away from a meaningless confrontation.

Another student who does like to fight a bit asked “so when is it ok to fight?” And without missing a beat I answered “if I had my way Never. The only time I would be compelled to fight would be to protect a life or to stop an assualt. Thats my take, and you need to find yours. Though I want you to remember that there are serious consequences of actions. Not thinking of consequences leads to disaster all around. So the highest form of fighting is fighting your own inner urges to prove a point. That is the ultimate goal – to be in peace no matter what is happening around. And should it come down to drawing the sword, then make it quick and effective.”

As conclusion I will summarize with

1. Walk away from every fight as much as you can, this requires a lot more courage than you think. 
2. Apology does not make you smaller or wrong. You dont need to prove anything. Sometimes giving the other person a way to save face is all thats needed.
3. If it does come down to an alteration then apply only “justifiable force” and think “systemic consequences.” War tactics are not needed for a simple argument and a simple hold will not suffice in a urban war scenario. Work those option out in your mind over and over again (more on this process in another post). This is the beginning of wisdom on the martial path.
4. All the years of training in the end is for learning to be at peace with violence and move towards harmony

This to me the courage and wisdom to NOT FIGHT.

As always I remain open to your thoughts and constructive criticism. Until next time Train Hard!

Mahipal Lunia
www.MountainViewAiki.com
www.TheRenaissancePath.com

#230 Gratitude - part 4, systemic approach

We are continuing our series on Gratitude. Today, our topics are:

• Entitlement – flow towards you
• Gratitude – flow from you
• Energetic model: need both inflow and outflow

#229 Gratitude - part 3, gratitude and entitlement

We are continuing our series on Gratitude. Today, our topics are:

• Polarity of gratitude and entitlement
• Define two pieces
• Modeling somatic structure
• Positives & negatives of each by themselves
• Is there a better way than polarity?

A good sunday morning restart of our RCG Podcasts

Arman, Sergey and I spent this am recording 2 more recordings of the Gratitude series.

Soon coming to your itunes 🙂

Let us know what you think and we are open to suggestions on newer topics when we get done with the gratitude series

Regeneration and Mastery - Martial Musings with Mahipal Lunia

Try to change your roots and you die, to flourish the roots are even more established to support the tree over time. Not honoring those roots is inviting your own peril. The roots are your base, your foundation art.

The leaves change with season and age, this is your personal expression of the foundation art. With time leaves/expression change, adapting to the new seasons/environment. This is a sign of growth and renewal. It serves a generative purpose. Even though the leaves change, they keep the core essence of the tree. The expressions and opinions change, but they retain the key principles of the core art.

As the seeds of the mother tree spread, new environments force local adaption of the leaves. Yet the essence and roots remain the same. Some go deeper, some spread wider. The leaves/expressions change with time and the environment as well. Yet the tree species remain the same. This is essential for regeneration. For nature to be in harmony. And this to me also embodies the pursuits on the path of mastery.

Mastery is not about flawless execution of a technique in the narrowly defined mechanical sense. It is not about perfection. That is too limiting. Infact it is death. 

To embrace Mastery, we have to take a process view and understand it as a journey. Its about staying on the journey day after day, year after year, decade after decade. One has to be willing to try, to fail, and keep trying yet again. This journey, always is the journey of an individual. 

To us here at Mountain View Aiki Kai the foundation art is KAR, the roots/principles are Aiki In Yo Ho. The leaves are our personal expressions, changing with the season(time) and environment(space). 

And my question to myself always is is “how are you moving along the path of regeneration? How do you plan to be Evergreen until the very end?” 

Aikijujutsu Shugyo - Martial Arts on High Peaks & Forgotten Lands With Mahipal Lunia Sensei

This is the personal expression of Mahipal Lunia Sensei & an important teaching method of Mountain View Aiki Kai (MVAK) Dojos in the arts of Kaze Arashi Ryu 

Quaterly Shugyos (Astute Training usually in Nature) are an integral part of our syllabus and in learning the arts of Kaze Arashi Ryu at our dojo. This form of expression is in the spirit of the Samurai Warriors of the old days and Mahipal Lunia Sensei’s ideal of finding a life of balance,as best expressed in his litany for the dojo

“Living A Life that embraces
Civilization and the wild
Present and infinite
Warrior and Scholar
Strength and compassion
Tradition and Self Expression”

This is a video montage created from about a dozen (quarterly) shugyos the dojo has conducted since late 2009 for its serious students. It is meant to share the goal, ideal, and attitude (High Intensity, Tenacity, and the Ferocious Resolve) of this form of training. In our opinion this form of training is very unique to us in the martial arts community. It’s high adventure, deep discipline, a personal quest, search for beauty and meaning all rolled into one while using the body proper to experience the arts we study.

I would like to express my gratitude to my teachers who opened the doors of the art to me and guided me through. Srini Sastri Sensei (Menkyo Kaiden) for being my first teacher in the tradition, guiding me through the ranks as a wonderful Sensei, a cherished mentor, a reliable confidant, and above all, as family. Henri Robert Vilaire Sensei ( Menkyo Kaiden, Shinan) for being a martial arts genius and for generously teaching me what what is possible in the Martial Arts at the highest levels. To both my teachers, I have nothing but deep respect and gratitude!

I also want to thank all of the students of MVAK, esp. the advanced students for having the faith in me and my methods, and for constantly challenging me to newer levels of growth. 

For more information on Mountain View Aiki Kai go to

www.mountainviewaiki.com
www.facebook.com/mountainviewaikikai
Twitter/Instagram @aikiarts #aikiarts

www.TheRenaissancePath.com
www.RadicalChangeGroup.com

#228 Gratitude - part 2, evolution of gratitude

We are continuing our series on Gratitude. Today, our topics are:

• Progression from co-dependence to independence to interdependence
• How this maps to obligation, thankfulness, and gratitude.