Deep Thoughts 
| Deep Thoughts |
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A list of deep thoughts... "The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants." "Daniel-san! Daniel-san! It okay lose to opponent, must not lose to fear!" "To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill." "The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard, The strongest way to block, is never to provoke a blow, And the cleanest cut is the one withheld." On the strength and skill in the martial arts: "Does not the sage say: "What is more yielding than water? Yet, back it comes again, wearing down the ridged strength, which cannot stand to its strength. What is more forceful than quite water?" "What is it Grasshopper?" "As quickly as you can...snatch the pebble from my hand... When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave." "Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end. " "A punch should stay like a treasure in the sleeve. It should not be used indiscrimately." "Karate is not about winning. It's about not losing." "There is no first strike in Karate." "Karate-Do is a lifetime study." "Slow and steady wins the race." "He who chases around after many rabbits ends hungry." "Those things in life that we find the hardest to do, are the things "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." "Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." "Truth is that which is true - whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not." "Boards # don't hit back." "By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to The Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character and man is their maker and master.” "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." "It is good to have an end to journey toward; but, it is the journey that matters in the end." "Don't fear death. Fear the unlived life." "Karate is for life, not points." "Karate begins and ends with respect." "No matter how you may excel in the art of Karate, and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and your humanity as observed in daily life." "If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence. If children live with approval, "You aren't rich until you have something money can't buy." "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." "Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world." "There are two rules for being successful in Martial Arts. "A one sided martial artist is a blind martial artist" "Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class." "He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position" "A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude." "It is not the accumulation of extraneous knowledge, but the realization of the self within, that constitutes true progress." "The art of the sword consists of never being concerned with victory or defeat, with strength or weakness, of not moving one step forward, nor one step backward, or the enemy not seeing me and my not seeing the enemy. Penetrating to that which is fundamental before the separation of heaven and earth where even yin and yang cannot reach, one instantly attains proficiency in the art." "A Man Who Has Attained Mastery of An Art Reveals It in His Every Action." "Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu. Move quickly. Sound, calm mind. Be light in body. Have a clever mind. Master the basics." "Even though surrounded by several enemies set to attack, fight with the thought that they are but one." "The sword has to be more than a simple weapon; it has to be an answer to life's questions." "The way of the sword and the Way of Zen are identical, for they have the same purpose; that of killing the ego." "Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit alone is not enough." "Traditionalists often study what is taught, not what there is to create." "If you don't realize you can kill someone with a bokken, I don't want you using one in MY dojo..." "The Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) were conquered and united into one kingdom. To insure his rule, the king confiscated and banned possession of weapons by people other than his troops. A second ban on weapons was instituted by Japanese conquerors approximately 200 years later. These two incidents are generally credited as the cause for the intense development of the empty handed fighting techniques..." # "My instructor once told me that the first five dan ranks come for what you've gotten out of the system, the next ranks come for what you've given back." "You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do." "Hoping to see karate included in the universal physical education taught in our public schools, I set about revising the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change too. The karate that high school students practice today is not the same karate that was practiced even as recently as ten years ago [this book was written in 1956], and it is a long way indeed from the karate I learned when I was a child in Okinawa." "The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder in the world, because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything." "The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many; that which has been learned well by one generation can be passed on to a hundred." "Follow not in the footsteps of the masters, but rather seek what they sought" "'Ow' is not a Kempo word" "Truth is universal. Perception of truth is not." "No one nation or people has a monopoly on the sun and no one art or |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 July 2006 ) |