Being "good" at budo

I have always said that in order to learn, you first have to have a reason. Without a context that directly relates to the person on a life-application level, the lesson is nothing more than mental masterbation. When I first started MA, I was in high school. I took up arts that meant the most to me to survive the typical high school fights. When I started BBT, I was moving into a career in law enforcement. I pursued my study of jujutsu and weapons as they related to what I would do or experience on the job. When I was in the military, I learned arts/skill sets that had to do with the brutal "kill or be killed" environment of being a soldier. Now, I train for personal peace, protection of family/friends, etc. During all those stages, being "good" meant being able to apply those skills in a manner that brought the results I wanted to attain. So, I never lost a school fight, I took down suspects, defended myself and others against a variety of real danger, used my skills to help train cops and soldiers and, now that those parts of my life are over, finding the physical benefits of my training help to bring a kind of inner peace and confidence that I can protect my loved ones if I needed to.


Thankfully, I've never had to experience war firsthand (only in training) and never had to take a life, ever. But, I knew I had the training to do so if I had to and accepted the reality that my occupations could put me in situations that required me to take a life. So, I trained for it with the mindset that it was for real.

I believe most people live sedentary, relatively safe lives - which is a great blessing. It also can be a danger as people can be numb to danger and prone to ambush. You can be "good" in the dojo, but when you leave you go back to your life of routines, schedules, obligations, etc. Without a direct application to something outside the dojo, I feel as if most of what we train on stays in the dojo. Think about it. Do you ever find yourself moving better only when you put on your keiko gi and walk onto the mat? Do you feel you are more in your element, as far as budo training goes, when you wear the funny, black PJ's and get among your budo buddies? Is that when you would say you are "good"?

I think this is where the clash of practical vs fantasy comes into play. Let's face it, we are all nerds on some level. Most of us got into BBT because of the silly ninja stuff, especially those of us who started back in the 80's when that fantasy dominated the martial arts world. But, it really is a clash of two worlds. People laugh at silly ninjas playing in the park. So, at some point, we have to grow up about martial arts. But, even with that, we have to find practical application to our day to day reality or we are continuing the fantasy.

So, when you look at qualifiers like being "good", you should also consider how it affects your day to day life and measure the positive with the negative, or no effect at all. What "good" is budo training when you simply leave it in the dojo?

Train hard, train smart, live happy!