What do you think about this letter?

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Everything he said in that article I have witnessed. My first martial arts school was the World Oyama Kyokushin foundation. I was seven, and didn't have a clue about martial arts. I studied there for a very short time, but looking back, that was how martial arts were supposed to be. A place of growth and trust. Little did I know the hard path ahead of me.


Some years later I took up martial arts again, in a new town, with a new passion. I found a school near me. Again, I was clueless about martial arts. I met two nice students, lets call them Jake and Sapphire. We had classes the same night. On those classes, we would stand in a line, and carefully heed every word spoken by our instructor Dan lets call him. As time went on, I started noticing things. Bad things.

The environment in the school was one of strict instructor reverence. The students seemed to blindly follow every last thing the instructor said, and taught. They no doubt had a high level of respect for him, as did I, but something was just not right.

As the lessons unfolded, the students seemed to enjoy the classes more and more with nary a peep. But as for me, I was already looking into other schools.

Along with the poor instruction, what the guy wrote in that article was what was happening. I was in a school that had a group of instructors not teaching their students to be better people, rather, selling them a story that if you use our system, you can be like us. Fast forward. (I'm not even going to mention ATA.)

I stumble on T'ai Chi. I find a school, and began training. To quote the teacher, "We get offended if you leave us, we are a family, and we vacation together. You cant just sign up and then decide you're going to leave us!! I am the head father of this organization) Ran screaming.

Long story short, and a really good Taekwondo instructor later, (that relationship unfortunately came to an abrupt end as well.) I stumbled upon another T'ai Chi teacher. While although they we're not a cult, the teacher simply did not stay true to his art, and tried to repackage it to what he thought was better, all the while I was yet again disheartened by being let down by someone who I thought could be what they are supposed to be to me. A Shifu, a teacher father. Let down yet again, I now realize far too many people in martial arts blindly follow their instructor as if he is the end all be all human. That article raised some really good points. I am hoping that my journey will be one of triumph, and I can find a teacher who I can grow with as a human being, not idolize and be a slave too. I have nothing wrong with following the instruction of my teacher, that is needed, I have a problem when people idolize their instructors. You listen to his instruction, because he is wiser than you. But he is like stated in the article, just a human being, who has gone before you. That is why it is called Sensei That is all.


EDIT: Maybe some thought you were asking about his writing skills, but I got more of a philosophical message from the letter. The point is, too many people blindly idolize their instructors, and they are either let down like I was, or led down the wrong path....Show more

Several thoughts on this. First I'll say what I was told by Ron Cherry Soke in 1983. He said, "Religion and the martial arts are tow areas where someone can build a dynasty." He was referring to them being able to gather a large following and make tons of money.

As for the letter, I read only the table of contents. The use of the word coach got my attention. I don't know of any instructor that I know and think of as being legitimate that ever uses or has others describe him as a coach.


I have witnessed martial arts groups on several occasions that could not be described as anything other than a cult. At this time I will not name any of them, but they sure got my attention with the way the students were oblivious to anything other than what came out of the head instructors mouth. Many would do anything their instructor asked them to do. now if that is not a cult, what is.

And I guess we could debate if the ATA is a cult. It may or may not be, but their business practices and the fact that most of the ATA students I've met don't seem to want to know anything about any style that is not ATA.


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Well first just let me say that yes I have seen a few times cult like behavior in martial arts in my 45 years of being around martial and fighting arts. Usually this is associated with mostly good things but sometimes is not. There have been instructors who have misused their influence and hold over students in bad ways and manipulated or taken advantage of those students and that totally crosses the line a number of different ways not just morally but sometimes also legally as well.

As for the rest of what he is saying I don't disagree with much of it and being older than most in this forum I was raised and grew up during times that are much different than most of you have been raised and grown up in. Back when I was raised and grew up when your word and reputation as well as your actions spoke and stood for who and what you were. That has been watered down I think today and things like "being politically correct" instead of doing what is right sometimes now dominate things when it shouldn't at all. Having served thirty-four years in the military I was lucky in that my reputation, rank, ability, and record was enough to allow me to stand up at times and do the right thing even if it was not politically correct or the popular thing. However being able to do that did not come easily or without work and sacrifice on my part in establishing myself as the person and airman that I was.

Today I don't think young people do that and so they are not prepared or maybe strong enough to stand up when they should or there is a need to and instead decide to not become involved or maybe even ignore things that I would choose not to ignore. Many also only do the right thing when someone is watching and it expected of them and then quickly dis-guard that when there is nobody watching. How can you honestly rely on and trust anyone like that to always do the right thing then is beyond me is what I have to say about that and how I feel about it.

In closing I realize that it is much harder for young people to be raised now and grow up in this world. I also believe that I was probably born and raised at a time when things were better in a lot of ways than they are now and most that are my age probably feel somewhat the same I think. I have already lived 3/4 of my life probably and I have enough left in me to live that last 1/4 the same. I have no doubt that it is and will be much harder for those after me to do the same and wonder what the future holds for them, given the way things and people are now....Show more

As a writer, my opinion is that he writes a less than convincing argumentive essay, admitting right off the bat that he is not qualified to say what he's about to write, and ignoring the basic rules and structure to presenting an argument, which is you present the argument up front, then list the credentials. Four paragraphs in, and I still didn't know what argument he wanted to make or why I should care. No does he cite any specific examples of what sort of injustice he is particularly complaining about, making his argument very easy to ignore. I finally figured it out about half way through.

But he is right 100%....Show more

Absolutely. I left a school because the instructor was trying to turn it into a cult with him as the head. This type of "master" is dangerous. They will talk about not having any ego and demand that you prove it by being willing to act as his slave. They will talk about being humble while wearing a special flashy gi or belt that makes them stand out and call themselves fancy titles like Great Grand Master. This type will usually have their art's lineage shown prominently on a dojo wall and will be able to trace it all the way back to Bodindharma himself. The school I was in, the "master" was also preacher and he liked to talk about God. He threw around many hints that he was a modern day messiah but he wanted someone else to call him that as if it was their idea. He'd get frustrated and angry when no one would. He claimed to have visions. In the mean time he cheated on his wife with a student and was divorced. Then he cheated on that woman with another student and lost her. He was a hopeless womanizer. He would not ask for donations (because of the religious component he managed to get tax free status) but he would hint heavily that if you were really dedicated you would (cough, cough) support the school. When he finally hooked up with and married yet another student (who was really bad at the art, btw) he promoted her through the ranks at an alarming rate and gave her a special title that he made up in Japanese that translated to "The Master's Wife" which he said gave her rank over all other students but him. So we had this basically green belt ordering black belts around. Any woman he wanted to sleep with mysteriously got 6th and 7th degree black belts for being so spiritually advanced. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when he told me to lie to cover for him to a friend of mine in the school. The guy was an egomaniac with narcissistic personality disorder....Show more