Essay: On the Path
Dojo Kun #3
“Cultivate perseverance or a will for striving.” This is the Dojo Kun number three. This principle points to the importance of nintai. Nintai is perhaps best translated as “perseverance” or “endurance”. Have you ever felt like not going to the dojo or to your training session, but then afterwards felt glad that you did? Perhaps you’ve felt satisfied or positive, being pleased that you put in the effort and went to the dojo for training, even if you didn’t initially feel like going. This is perhaps a somewhat common phenomenon in the martial arts. “I really don’t feel like going to class today,” you might hear yourself thinking. But then later, you feel glad that you went to the dojo or training.
What’s the difference between a white belt and an advanced belt? The key to understanding this may be Dojo Kun #3 and its principle: Nintai. This principle carries over into daily life as well. Perhaps you have obligations or meetings that you’d prefer to skip. Nintai teaches us to follow through and to seek the good and to set goals and achieve.
Sometimes martial arts training can feel demanding or challenging. You have to put in effort in order to achieve skill. As Nakamura Shigeru Sensei’s Guiding Principles state, a student ought to train more and more as they progress and advance. There is a lot more content that must be practiced by an advanced practitioner, as opposed to a novice or beginner. A white belt may learn one kata. But an advanced belt may have dozens of kata to practice (especially if you’re including weapons). So to remember everything you’ve learned, you must practice. And the more you know, the more practice is required. And as you improve, you will gain more confidence. And the better you get, the more you will enjoy the training. Sometimes being a beginner is not easy. It seems like the mountain before you is too high to climb. The map is too difficult to follow.
There’s a reason that most dojo have more white belts than black belts. People start training, but then they quit. Sometimes, of course, there are legitimate reasons for this. But often, I suspect, people stop training because they “give up” in their mind. That’s where nintai ought to kick in. Sometimes it may require some amount of discipline to achieve your goals. Of course, there are examples of people taking an extended break from training, and then later returning to it, and I think that’s wonderful. Self-mastery is a process, and in the case of martial arts, it’s a lifelong process. Perhaps the third dojo kun could be rendered simply, “Don’t give up!”
