Belts

Belts (in the martial arts), are milestones -- not destinations.

(Belts (in fashion) are often wonderful accessories, but I'm no expert. My best friend is, so check out his blog)

I often see students at our school (and elsewhere) get very focused on their belt:

• "which one do I have?";
• "which one's next?";
• "oh! I got a black belt!";
• "I'm ready for my next belt!";
• "why didn't I get my next belt?"...

When you view your belt (and a black belt especially) as a destination, it can become an object of desire. From this perspective the belt becomes a commodity, or item to get. And this is guaranteed to eventually be a path to unhappiness... (a Buddhist tenet is that the root of all suffering is desire)

Sometimes the difficulty with language is that we don't have the words to describe what we mean. 'On the path to black belt' or 'We are a black belt school', could be taken to mean that actually getting the piece of cloth, or annually awarding a piece of cloth, means that the piece of cloth is what you want.

The truth (or my truth anyways) is much different. I believe that the study of the martial arts is a lifetime thing, an alltime thing, not a sometime thing and not 'get the next belt' kinda thing.

From this perspective, any belt (but a black belt especially) is a milestone, a mark of accomplishment, but not a destination. I can't desire it as a physical thing, because what it actually is, is a sign of my continued evolution as a person and a martial artist. Our school has many belts, for many reasons.

• They provide students with an opportunity to set goals.
• They provide instructors with some sense of what a student should (?) know.
• They provide markers for changes in curriculum, and help organize classes.

But that's all they are. What people should desire, is not an object, but the opportunity to embrace continuous change. Everytime I step on the mat, I have a chance to remake myself. I don't need a belt to remind me of that fact, and sometimes it actually interferes with it. I sometimes think that because I've been teaching at the school for three years, that people now have a hard time thinking of me as a student -- but that's ultimately what I am.

I've also noticed that more often than not, the people who view the belt as a destination, are the ones who stop showing up to train once they've got their black belt. They achieved their goal, and find it hard to put it in perspective.

My hope is that our school is a school for black belts, not one where people get pieces of cloth. But that's up to the students who train here. I know what it is that we are trying to do.

As one of my favorite instructors says "Are you a black belt, or are you some one who has a belt that is black?"...