Monday, August 31, 2009

Sensei

Sensei

Zen Buddhism began the idea of understanding life. It suggests that when one understands life, one feels as if one is newly born. Sen means before and Sei means to be born. So Sensei literally means a person who is born before. This birth is a spiritual, not physical birth. The original meaning of Sensei is one who is spiritually born before others.

This state of spiritual newness can also be referred to as the beginners mind. The Sensei retains the beginners mind to always be learning and evolving in the same way a new student does. This way he keeps getting better at what he does not only as a teacher but also as a student of martial arts. As students we must learn from his example of open mindedness if we are to gain knowledge and experience.

Through the study of karate we are taught not only to protect ourselves, we should be kind gentle and good to others. We show respect to one another through acts of courtesy, kindness and generosity. It is imperative that we not loose focus or become disrespectful, as we not only damage the connection that benefits our lives but to all other persons around us.

One respects life because each life is related to other lives and these millions and billions of relationships create and maintain life on Earth. Respect creates better relationships between lives and that is why respect is one of the most important things in life.

When we enter the dojo the Japanese tradition is to greet your teacher, this is why we say, “good evening Sensei,” when we enter the dojo. This practice shows that you not only respect him but also the dojo as it is the place of the way of karate. We do not refer to him as “Mr. Kushner” or even “Frank” as this is an informal greeting which does not show his role in our lives as a person of importance or someone we highly respect.

He is given the title of Sensei as he is the keeper of knowledge and experience. He is the one who knows the “path” or is “born before”. We need to show him that we not only respect him but we respect ourselves and value the knowledge that we are to receive. We should listen when he speaks and try our best when we are asked to practice Karate techniques. Karate students should set an example on how others should act and behave. This is how we as karate students can make the world a better place.

Our Sensei shows kindness and courtesy for his students at all times and we should not forget this. Sensei constantly strives to improve himself as a martial artist and works very hard to make studying at our school a positive experience for his students. He is our Sensei and should always be referred to as such with respect and honor.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home