Mission statements

[loki09789]

How many of you attend/run schools with 'philosophy and 'mission statements' which are suppose to be the basic ideology and goals/purpose of the program that will take philosophy from idea to reality? If you have one, do you think that it is consistent with what you see in the training and why?

 

[Sin]

I have a dojo motto


1.) To Strive for Good Moral Charecter

2.) to keep and Honest and Sencire Way

3.) to cultivate Perserverence or a will for striving

4.) To develop a respectful attitude

5.) To restrain your Physical ability through spiritual attainment.


I follow these the best way I can and it can be seen though out my classes

 

[chinto01]

We use a dojo kun which was said to be one that Tode Sakugawa used. It goes like this:

Seek perfection of character

Always be faithful

Endeavor to excel

Always respect others

Refrain from violent behavior


I personally try to live by this code daily and our program at the dojo follows this code as well.

 

[loki09789]

We use a dojo kun which was said to be one that Tode Sakugawa used. It goes like this:

Seek perfection of character

Always be faithful

Endeavor to excel

Always respect others

Refrain from violent behavior


I personally try to live by this code daily and our program at the dojo follows this code as well.

I have to be careful when I aske these questions sometimes so here it goes:

I am NOT trying to slam anyone, only understand and possibly through discussion (therefore making people organize and articulate clearly for themselves and others) let others find a better understanding for themselves as well.

Questions:

What are the elements of Character, what does perfect character look like to you?

Faithful to what/who, what does that look like?

Excel is pretty fundamental, but is it specified about training or life in general?

Is 'Respect' codified clearly for the students in and out of class?

Refrain from violent behavior....how do you mean by this statement/explain it to students because it seems ironic that you want them to 'refrain' when you are actually participating and trainign violence during the class?

Both the above responses share a common language and general idea (at least to me) so I just chose the second one to draw questions for clarification from.

 

[Sin]

We use a dojo kun which was said to be one that Tode Sakugawa used. It goes like this:

Seek perfection of character

Always be faithful

Endeavor to excel

Always respect others

Refrain from violent behavior


I personally try to live by this code daily and our program at the dojo follows this code as well.

That sounds a lot like mine, except reworded. Maybe they all where derived form one Motto from long long ago.

 

[loki09789]

That sounds a lot like mine, except reworded. Maybe they all where derived form one Motto from long long ago.

They will all generally sound the same. My desire is to see what these sound bytes really mean to the users and how they are being conveyed/brought to life and meaning to students.

 

[Sin]

Its one thing to say you have a motto its another to live by it

 

[loki09789]

Its one thing to say you have a motto its another to live by it

Exactly, so in order to 'live by it' either you have to figure out/create a meaning for the motto or you have to have it outlined/explained/'lived as an example' by an instructor.

The details of what these sound bytes really mean to individuals is important to quality discussions on 'martial arts values.'

If I say 'integrity' and you say 'integrity' but don't recognize where the subtle differences in meaning are, it can lead to misunderstanding - which can lead to other things. Seeking understanding through clarity and comparison/contrast instead of assumption and judgement keeps people out of the hospital or jail

 

[Sin]

Its a way of life, a way of being exceted into socity. We must adhere to the law of the land. And in order to do this we must have control over ourselves. hence the Dojo mottos

 

[CMack11]

I don't think we have an 'official' mission statement, but we do have a mantra at the end of each class that sums it all up:

Learn Kindness
Learn Humility
Learn Kung-Fu
Respect the School
Respect the Teacher and the Teachings Being Taught
Patience and/or Control

 

[loki09789]

Its a way of life, a way of being exceted into socity. We must adhere to the law of the land. And in order to do this we must have control over ourselves. hence the Dojo mottos

Your discussing conceptually and I am talking about establishing a clear and defined meaning for the concepts before the discussion moves forward to avoid assumptions.

How would you define
'Good Character' for instance? It may be slightly different from one person/school to another. If that difference isn't clear, one person might interpret the contrasting issue as 'insult' or 'wrong' instead of just 'different.'

Clarity is in establishing the details that concepts are built from or can be applied to.