Bujinkan Ninjutsu Cousergue Arnaud - Power Does Not Exist

Power does not exist Friday 17th September 2004 by Arnaud Cousergue

Students are often attracted to Ninjutsu because they are looking for power. In their understanding, power is the ultimate goal in life. These students when they get their black belt begin to think about creating a Dôjô to “teach” other students. This is a big mistake to think that you can teach a technique to anyone. Hatsumi Sensei often says that he is not teaching techniques. He adds that he is teaching his students to teach themselves. And this is why the Bujinkan martial arts are so difficult to understand. In the West we are admiring the Omote side of things. We like the “uniforms”, the “rites”, the “Ninja paraphernalia”; we like the things that make the others think that we are somebody important. But the Bujinkan is not a school of Omote, the Bujinkan is a school of Ura. To understand it you have to accept that you are nothing. Whatever your Dan grade is, you are merely a human being doing his best not to fail. But at the same time you know that failing is the key to future success. The only power you can get through repetitive training is the power of knowledge (Shiki?). Sir Francis Bacon said that “Knowledge is power”. But what is the knowledge we have to grasp through Ninjutsu training? This is the power over you!  “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power” said Seneca long time ago at the beginning of our civilization. Training has only one goal; and this goal is selfish. Train for yourself to know who you are. Those doing their best to have “power” over their worshipping students are not moving toward the Ura understanding of Ninjutsu they are only keeping their students in a state of adoration and intolerance. Being a Shihan is nothing if you do not use this title for bettering you. These days, I am reading a book by a famous Finnish officer, Lauri Törni, who fought during WWII and after. There it says that officers being leaders: “they were expected to set the example and to ask their soldiers to perform only what they themselves were capable of performing. (...) That (as an officer) you had to lead from the front, and that the phrase of “follow me”  was more of a reality than a slogan”. How many instructors do you know that can be really considered as “leaders”? Not many I guess. Being a leader is the key element of power and only he who is recognized as a leader by his students is a real instructor. You have to ask your students what you can actually do yourself. And many instructors in the martial arts community, in and out of the Bujinkan, are not that kind of leader. If I am using an example from the military it is because you have to understand that our Bujinkan system is of military essence. These techniques we are studying in the Dôjô were techniques developed for actual combat in the past centuries. This does not mean that your classes have to be transformed into a military camp! It simply means that when training you have to keep in mind that survival is the basis of  our arts.

There is nothing you can teach your students. You have to show them what you can do and explain how you achieve these results. As a consequence, some of your students, by copying your movements, will succeed. But do not expect the majority of them to succeed. There is no power. Success is built by failure. The more you fail, the more likely you will gain success. Power does not exist in itself, it exists only in you. Be an example for the others. Develop high technical skills and one day people will follow your example. Your students do not belong to you. Students are individuals doing their best to find themselves. As a teacher, your responsibility is to find the power you have inside of you and not to impose your vision of the world to the others. As we said before, you cannot teach anything to your students. Your students have their own vision and try to cope with your technical requirements to find their own understanding of the movement. I use to say that every student in the Bujinkan has to find his own Taijutsu. Teachers are only there to guide by showing their students on their own personal path. One day, people will think you have power, but this power will remain Omote to you. For you, it is every day a question on how to better your Taijutsu. At some point, you might be seen as a leader by others. They will give you power. But this is not a “power” you can grab by yourself. Once again power is Omote, it does not belong to you. Don’t be concerned about it! For you, power does not exist. Become a leader in the other’s eyes. Personally my motto is “primus inter pares”. In Latin it means “to be first amongst his peers”. This is something that is decided by the others not by you. Being the first is not having power over the others; it is having the others give away their vision of the world and to replace it by the example you are showing. The path is long and endless. Power does not exist, there is no end. Good luck! Arnaud Cousergue Bujinkan Shihan