Essays From The Master

If properly used there should be no need to ever apologize for using any martial art; life is like but more complex than combat and mistakes will be made. It is common for those that feel sorry for a mistake to apologize and it is a sign of good manners, but a more effective means after a mistake is right action. Right action is the application of the wisdom gained from pondering the mistake; the aim is to do better and the goal is to restore the harmony disturbed by the mistake or if need be, if possible, to create a new harmony. It is hard to restore an original harmony because one must rejoin the harmony in the same place one left it and that requires trust; right action is a better way to rebuild trust than making a verbal apology. Right action will prove that one is worthy of trust which leaves the renewal of harmony with the wronged person up to that person. Some will claim that starting with right action will insure that trust is never lost but this assumes that mistakes will never be made. Mistakes will be made by you and you will be or will feel wronged in life so that when you make mistakes the greatest of answers is right action which makes what could be a fall into a stumble. Right action does not point to some morality or philosophy outside of one’s own but rather it means adhering to it as a prism for one’s will as an expression of one’s spirit. This take on the meaning of right action is evocative of the four keys to the title of Shidoshi, i.e., understanding, benevolence, courage, and wisdom; this view on right action points back to the eight-fold path as defined by such as the Buddha.

Right action may include attempts to make amends but it does not require it, to make amends it must be accepted. Right action does not require the acceptance of anyone else; it is simply proper action aligned with one’s code as an expression of one’s will reflecting one’s spirit. If one is aware of a mistake and others are not aware of it then the disharmony is only in one’s self and right action is a way to correct it and build one’s bonds so that no harm is done by the mistake. In the case of a mistake others are not aware of, a part of the right action is to carry the knowledge of it and not inform the others involved and thus cause harm; carrying that knowledge is a part of right action. Right action is the answer to guilt because if a mistake is made and one learns from it then there is no reason to feel guilt which also defangs the use of guilt as a weapon. If one commits the same mistake more than once then a part of right action is finding out why that is and deciding how to move past it via overcoming the weakness it points to. Right action in response to a mistake begins and ends with the one that made the mistake and not so much whether or not the action is accepted by anyone because if the action is right the issue will be addressed, accepted or not. There are those that will always hold to mistakes and some will find ways to justify them or on the other hand cast themselves as victims of others or of circumstance; in such cases the right action can be to accept them as is or to move on.

If one proceeds from right action from the start then mistakes, when they arise, can be answered at a much more effective and faster rate. Due to the nature of people no matter what one does one will offend or hurt someone and those types of offenses are rarely open to right action beyond finding an understanding with the offended party. Matters of feelings and taste are usually too subjective to correct beyond finding a way to create an understanding between those involved. If one holds to right action then one robs others of the tool of using names and labels the same way some use guilt to control others. Life is like combat but life is not only conflict; when stones fall into the path one need not stop moving; one can move around what hinders or one can remove them from the path.