In the path of martial arts, it is important to know which virtues a warrior must cultivate in his or her heart. For we know that the greatest enemy that we will ever encounter in our path in life is our self.

Like a skillful gardener, we have to know which plants to nurture and which weeds to pull out. We must know when to use water and soil, and when to plant. We must do our part and do it with discipline, for what good is it to have a garden today just to ignore it tomorrow?

Of what good is it to plant good seeds if we are not going to remove the weeds from their path?

Of what good is it to have a good soil if we forget to water the plants?

Therefore, if we are going to follow the path of the warrior, let me share with you some recommendations that have been handed down, generation after generation, for the past 2,500 years.

These words are taken from the “Dhammapada”, a small book of wisdom of ancient India.

“Cross the river bravely; conquer all of your passions. Go beyond the world of fragments, and know the deathless ground of life.”

Life is like a river. What makes us different from each other is the way in which we face the challenges of life. Our teachers have told us to be brave, to face the challenges with “courage”. They also tell us that the way to face life with courage is by conquering all of our passions.

There are three main passions that we are to conquer:

Hate, Ignorance and craving.

We conquer hate with love, ignorance with knowledge and craving with balance.

“Go beyond your likes and dislikes and all fetters will fall away.”

Our challenge is not only to do the things we like, but also to do the good things we don’t like to do.

One of the everlasting principles of Martial Arts is:

To do good, abstain from wrongdoing, and to purify one’s own heart.

It is not easy to overcome our mood. A true warrior cultivates his will, and it is through his will that he overcomes the inclemency’s of his mood.

Our mood is the equivalent of a horse. We do not blame him for what he does. Our will is the equivalent of the rider. It is the rider who is responsible for what the horse does. It is the will that we held responsible for the behavior of a warrior. If the behavior of the warrior is inappropriate, we don’t blame his mood. We tell him that it is his lack of character, his lack of will, who’s responsible for the inappropriate behavior. Thus, his task is to correct his will, to set his will in charge of his likes and dislikes. For, what good is a will that surrenders to moods?

What good is a will that surrenders to likes and dislikes? What good is a rider that has no command over his horse?

“Him I call a warrior who has neither likes nor dislikes, and is free from the chains of fear.”

The key addition to this sentence is “free from the chains of fear”. For, psychologically speaking, fear is nothing else but a chain of responses. We perceive something in the world or in our mind and then we have a physiological response. The adrenal glands release adrenaline and nor-adrenaline into our blood stream. Then our system is in alarm. Our fight or flight mechanism gets activated. The teachers of the past represented fear and anger as lions. They placed them at the entrance of special buildings. The best way to overcome their force was to pass right by the center of them. Neither to much to the left, nor to the right. Otherwise we will be giving ourselves to anger or to fear. That is the chain of fear that the master mentioned in his dissertation.

“Him I call a warrior who has trained his mind to be still and reached the supreme goal in life.”

The training of a warrior goes beyond the body. It has to do with the training of the mind as well. And those who venture into controlling the mind before they control the body are like a baby who wants to run before he learns how to walk. In order to have mastery over the mind, we must first have mastery over our bodies.

Our untrained mind tends to have a life of its own. The nature of the mind is to be active. Even while we sleep the mind continues its train of thoughts. But, are we our mind?

This question can be answered by observing our thoughts.

If we can observe our thoughts, then there is someone observing the thoughts. If there is someone observing the thoughts then it follows that we are something more than our thoughts. We are the observer of the thoughts, and, as such, we can develop mastery over our thoughts. We can eventually calm our mind to the point of perfect stillness. Silent the mind. Quiet the mind.

In martial arts, the best of all movements are done when our mind is non-existent. Literally speaking, there is no-mind when we consummate a perfect move. If there is no-mind, then what is it?

Reach the point of doing a movement with your entire being, and the answer will come to you.

“The sun shines in the day; the moon shines in the night. The warrior shines in battle, the monk in meditation. But day and night the enlightened one shines in radiance of love for all.”

A warrior is someone who cultivates his inner light. Haven’t you heard about the “solar plexus”?

It is located in our mid-section, right above the navel. We do have our inner-sun.

Some people get to shine in their work, others in sports, other in special acts of heroism, others at war, and others at peace. But there are some great warriors, the ones who have defeated their ego, who no longer have a heart of their own. They live in the heart of every other being. Because they are selfless they get to be everywhere and love everyone. They have managed to become one with the Universe. They have achieved perfect unity with life, and in so doing; they have defeated death, for they have placed their ego to death. If they no longer have an ego, when death comes for them, whom is it going to take?

“Him I call warrior who has shed all evil. I call him a recluse whose mind is serene; a wanderer him whose heart is pure.”

Evil is the manure in which our virtues grow. Our task is to keep evil in its place. Our task is to cultivate virtues without denying the evil that lives in us. Many crimes have been committed by people who pretend to have no evil in them. Many crimes have been committed in the name of goodness and purity. It is healthier to begin by acknowledging our evil, our limitations. Arrogance is one of the most dangerous evils. We overcome evil by acknowledging it, and by transforming it. Even evil can be put to good use when there is light in the mind and courage in the heart.

“Him I call a warrior who is never angry, never causes harm to others even when he is harmed by them.”

Martial Arts teaches us that, it is us who are ultimately responsible for our anger. It is up to us to get angry or the keep our anger under control. Anger can be disciplined. Just like a wild beast, it is up to us to become a good trainer. It is up to us not to give in to the growls of anger or to its attacks. It is up to us to be in charge of the beast and to take action when we notice the beast beginning to grow within us. We can stop it. We are in charge. Regardless of what we do in this world, at the end it is with us that we have to work with, it is with us that we have to deal with. We are ultimately responsible for what we do, what we feel, what we think and what we perceive. A good warrior is someone who has developed within himself, the choice to be or not to be angry at whatever goes on with the world or within himself.

A warrior is someone who has made the bow, that all hatred, all anger, all destructiveness, ends with him. This is why he doesn’t respond to hatred with hatred, or anger with anger, or destructiveness with destructiveness. He doesn’t return evil with evil, or wrong for wrong. The warrior gives:

love for hatred;

peace for anger,

creativity for destructiveness,

good for evil, and

right for wrong.

These are the skills that he uses in the battlefield of the world, for a true warrior is a force for good.

“Him I call a warrior who clings not to pleasure. Do not cause sorrow to others; no more sorrow will come to you.”

Pleasure is a dangerous enemy. Pleasure can end up controlling us if we don’t develop within ourselves, the ability to release ourselves from it. Just like with the air that we breathe, no matter how much we like it, we must develop the ability to let go of it if we want to live. As a matter of fact the air becomes more and more polluted the more we cling to it. Just because we let go of it, it doesn’t mean that we are not going to have it again. The same principle applies to pleasure. We must learn to have preferences but get rid of our attachments.

It requires discipline to do good for goods sake.

“Him I call a warrior who does not hurt others with unkind acts, words, or thoughts. His body and mind obey him.”

The key is not to hurt. We can hurt others with actions, words and even thoughts. Do not kid yourselves, thoughts can cause harm. Thoughts also can bring goodness to this world. As a matter of fact, our thoughts tend to lead our lives. As a man thinks, that is how he tends to be.

When actions, words and thoughts are united all in goodness, then we are consistent, integrated, and whole. When there is a rupture between our actions, our words and our thoughts, then we are inconsistent, disintegrated, out of balance. The abstention of doing harm is something that the warrior has to practice with his body, his heart and his mind. If he is set on doing good and abstaining from harming others, then his body and his mind follow his command.

“Him I call a warrior who walks in the footsteps of the teacher. Light your torch in the fire of his sacrifice.”

The teacher of martial arts has given us a living treasure. While being advanced, he waits for us, he guide us, he is patient and kind to us. This we receive from his kindness, like a good father guiding his son through life.

When we begin in the path of martial arts, we don’t know what we are doing. We make numerous mistakes. Our teacher does not judge us. He helps us correct our mistakes; he helps us work with ourselves.

It is from our teacher that we light our torch or martial arts knowledge. Let us remember the goodness and patience of our teacher as we too get to share these teachings with others.

If others don’t follow the path of goodness, it is up to us to follow it. We have been fortunate to have a teacher in our path through life, and this places a great responsibility on our shoulders. Because we have received goodness, then we know how to be good to others. This is our responsibility. Because we have been taught, then we know how to teach others. This is also our responsibility. We must live up to the fortune that our teacher has shared with us, for such is the path of the warrior.

“ It is not matted hair nor birth that makes a warrior, but truth and the love for all of life with which one’s heart is full.”

It is not looks, birth, color, class, language, gender, or age that makes us a warrior. It is truth that makes us a warrior; it is the love of our hearts that gives us the ingredients to be a warrior.

Our heart was not meant to be empty. Our heart was not meant to be filled with hatred, greed or envy. Our heart was meant to be filled with love. Without love in his heart there is no true warrior.

As it was stated by a wise man: “We must become tough without losing our tenderness.”

“Robes and outward show do not make a warrior, but training of the mind and senses through practice of meditation.”

Uniforms, belts, weapons, don’t make a warrior. It is the command of body and mind that makes warriors. Not the outside but the inside, not the world but the self who determines the warriorship of a human being. Practice of the senses is only one part of the training of the warrior. The other one is the training of the mind. When mind and body work together, then the warrior is on the right path.

“Free yourself from selfish desires and you will become a warrior.”

There are invisible chains that keep people captive. These chains have to do with selfish desires. For if the desires are in charge of a man, then the man is not a warrior. Every person has to conquer his or her desires. Those who have overcome their selfish desires are indeed warriors.

“He has thrown off his chains; he trembles not in fear. No selfish bonds can ensnare him, no impure thoughts pollute his mind.”

Before we can ever get rid of our chains, we first have to acknowledge them. Just because we fail to see them it doesn’t mean that they are not there. Martial arts are designed to put us in touch with the invisible chains of body and mind. By training the senses, we come across the chains of the body. By meditating we come across the chains of the mind. By being perfectly balanced, we are not intimidated neither by anger or fear. By being in command of our mind the world does not intimidate us.

“ Him I call a warrior who fears neither prison nor death. He has the power of love no army can defeat.”

A warrior is someone willing to go to the ultimate consequences. That includes, among other things, prison or death. We have been told, also, that the first responsibility of a warrior is not to allow himself (or herself) to be destroyed.

A warrior is someone who stands for something. More than being willing to die for something, the true warrior is someone willing to LIVE for something. In order to die for something you don’t need to love. But in order to stand for something, to live for something, then love is essential. And it is precisely this love that makes the warrior indestructible, for love has the quality of going beyond one’s self, and it is through this love that a warrior transcends himself and in so doing, overcomes his death, for we live in what we love.

“Him I call a warrior who is never angry, never goes astray from the path.”

Anger defeats those who don’t have mastery over themselves. In one single moment of anger, we can destroy a lifetime of work; therefore, anger is to be overcome before it reaches the levels of destructiveness.

Anger is something for which we are responsible for.

A teacher once asked his student what he should do if he was getting his feet cut by walking the world. Shall he cover the entire world with leather, or shall he just cover his feet with leather?

The student said “teacher, there is not enough leather to cover the entire world. You shall use two small pieces of leather and cover your feet.”

The teacher then explained that the same principle applies to the way we deal with anger. We shall first address anger within ourselves.

“Him I call a warrior who clings not to pleasure, no more than water to a lotus leaf.”

Our teachers have told us there is nothing wrong with being in touch with the world. As a matter of fact, being in touch with life is a primordial skill for a warrior. By the same token, our teachers tell us that we shall guard ourselves against being “attached”. For being attached will preclude us from being in touch and able to let go of the transitory nature of life.

“Him I call a warrior whose wisdom is profound and whose understanding deep, who by following the right path and avoiding the wrong has reached the highest goal.”

Knowledge is the correct understanding of the phenomenal world. Wisdom is our communion with Truth. Knowledge has to do with our minds. Wisdom has to do with our entire being. Knowledge is a matter of appreciation. Wisdom has to do with character and will. It has to do not only with knowing good, but also with rooting our action in goodness. The will to behave in the right way.

“Him I call a warrior whose wants are few.”

Notice that the master says “wants” and not “needs.” We are to satisfy our needs. By the same token, we have to defend ourselves against the inner-enemies of greed and want. A warrior is someone in command of himself. If he is trapped by wants then it is his wants that rule him.

A warrior works with himself to bring his wants to a minimum. He has few of them. He keeps himself in line knowing that naked he came into this world, and that he will take nothing material when he dies.

A warrior is a traveler in life. Like an efficient traveler, he carries few possessions for his journey.

“Him I call a warrior who has put aside weapons and renounced violence toward all creatures. He neither kills nor helps others to kill.”

A warrior fights evil with good, and lies with truth. A warrior is someone who masters weapons but still has renounced violence. Knowing how to kill he abstains from killing. He does it by choice and not out of ignorance or lack of ability. He knows what he can do and therefore he abstains from causing harm to other beings. A warrior has realized that he is one with all creatures, therefore he is kind to himself, he is good to all, and when entering conflict, he aims for the lowest amount of suffering and for the highest level of awareness and transformation.

A warrior knows that violence breeds violence. He may follow a non-violent approach to solve conflict, and he does it out of courage. A violent man has the potential to become a non-violent man, thus a warrior. But there is no hope for the coward.

A warrior does not help others to kill, for he assumes full responsibility for his actions. He faces the consequences of his behavior, and while he may have some preferences, he does so without attachments.

“Him I call a warrior who is never hostile to those who are hostile toward him, who is detached among those who are selfish, and at peace among those at war.”

A warrior is good even to those that are not good. We may say that he is especially good to those that are no good, in the same way that the light of the sun touches all creatures, particularly those that experience coldness. A warrior is strong from within; therefore he does not rely on the goodness or the support of those around him. If they are not good to him, he generates goodness from within. If they are harmful to him, he generates peace from within. The selfishness of others doesn’t reach him, nor the war of those around him infect his soul. Being in touch with the essence of life, the warrior unfolds these essential qualities in these and other worlds.

“Him I call a warrior from whom passion and hatred, arrogance and deceit, have fallen away like mustard seed from the point of a needle.”

A warrior is someone who masters the art of letting go. Mastering the art of detachment, the warrior is not driven by emotionality, or by hatred. For what is hatred but the inability to let go of a memory and an emotion? A warrior is not deceived by others even when they become hostile and vindictive, for the warrior knows their nature and acts toward them with this nature in mind. If this is so, how then can a warrior be deceived by others? Aren’t them deceiving themselves?

“Him I call a warrior, who is ever true, ever kind. He never asks what life can give, only what he can give to life.”

A warrior is a giver. He can afford to give goodness because he is in touch with the force of life, the force that sustains all creatures. He has come to realize that his purpose in life is to do the will of the Spirit, and to do so beyond happiness or sadness. A warrior is grounded in love, that is why he becomes indestructible. His strength comes from truth; his strength comes from his inner-balance.

A warrior takes the stand. He affirms that which lives in every man. Standing on this ground he becomes unshakable.

“Him I call a warrior, who has found his heaven, free from selfish desire, free from every impurity.”

A warrior is someone who has realized that he is a Soul while still in the body. He is not a body having a spiritual experience. Rather, he is a Soul having a bodily experience. That is why while still on the Earth, a warrior is someone who has already found his heaven. Since he doesn’t hold on to desires, he can embrace that which has no limit.

“ A warrior wanting nothing at all, doubting nothing at all, master of his body and mind, he has gone beyond time and death.”

Before we can ever master our minds we must first master our bodies. In this regard we have the areas of postures, movement and concentration.

Among the postures, we have the ones of rectitude, balance and flexibility.

Among the movements, we have one that conveys the energy of speed and the one of calmness. The postures of concentration are conducive to observing our body, emotions and mind. The observer is the self, the essence of the warrior that can grow in awareness. This awareness centers the warrior and allows him to cease all wants, to remain focused even in troublesome circumstances, and to be fully alive while facing death.

“ Him I call a warrior who has risen above the duality of this world, free from sorrow and free from sin. He shines like the full moon with no cloud in the sky.”

A warrior does not act based on mood, but on principle. He is in touch with the Spirit of life and acts according to this will. In acting according to this will he fulfills his purpose. That is why the warrior is free from sorrow and sin. This clarity of purpose becomes also his clarity of action. He works for himself and not against himself; therefore there is nothing in himself that his enemies can use against him, for he is whole within himself.

“Him I call a warrior who has crossed the river difficult and dangerous to cross, and safely reached the other shore.”

Why is the river dangerous to cross? Isn’t it the one of the Ego? Isn’t it the one of the rigidity of the “me” and “mine”?

When we begin to ascend in the path of the warrior, we have no mastery over ourselves. Our body, emotions and mind do to us as they please. We ask our body to do something but our body refuses or gives up. We think that we are the masters of our actions, but hidden emotions run us and hidden thoughts govern our moves. It is our shadow that is in command and keeps ourselves prisoners within us. This is the river that is dangerous to cross, for as we attempt to cross it we experience the gradual death of our shadow. Our body refuses, our emotions and mind also refuse to cross. Those fortunate to cross have defeated death, for everything that is perishable dies with the crossing of this river. It is not suicide that happens, but “ego-cide”, the death of the Ego which constitute the essential victory and birth of the warrior.

“Him I call a warrior who has turned his back upon himself. Homeless, he is ever at home; ego less, he is ever full.”

A warrior is not self-centered but life-centered. He is at home wherever he goes, for he realizes that he is a traveler in this world. Being in the present he is in tuned with life. Living this way he burns-up but does not burnout. He is present with the present and living in the present he unfolds his gifts for this world. That is why he is whole with life because it is his deepest self who acts and touches the world.

CONCLUSION.-

A warrior is someone who practices the art of love, for love is the supreme art. He touches the world with his soul and finds the Spirit everywhere in life. That is why we say that the warrior knows the essence of all creatures.

The path of the warrior is exemplified by the cherry flower. This flower has a distinct characteristic. Its petals remain closed most of its life. When the petals become totally open it dies.

The warrior is the cherry flower totally open. He is fully alive an in such a state he travels this world.