"If Fighting is Your Goal, Go Somewhere Else
If your purpose in coming to Shorinji Kempo is simply from a desire to learn weaponless combat, then you shouldn't be here anyway. It's the desire to gain an autonomous way of living, no matter what it takes - people who think that way are welcome.
If everyone cared only about their own little happiness or benefit, the world certainly won't get any better, neither will it improve. And if you simply will the destruction of any way of thinking or of living that differs, if you say, "suppress the statements of anyone in the way," then the world can only get worse. It's neither of these extremes, but rather being able to think of the benefit of others at the same time as I think for myself, being able to think not simply of Japan but also of other countries - that is the kind of human being you want to be.
To that end, moreover, shouldn't we each change our individual values. No mater how slow the speed, it goes on steadily. Though it might seem impossible, we have only to keep going. I have no intention of changing this way of thinking, and I wish to maintain my autonomy for this purpose. Moreover, I wish for all of you to gain this same autonomy.
In Shorinji Kempo, our natural way of greeting each other when people meet begins from the gassho rei. Then you grab me, and I grab you, and we each throw each other in turn. Amidst all this I want to grow in skill, but I also heartily wish for you to get better too, and so we each build up our progress.
Moreover, it is through such practice that we can maintain awareness of the relation between self and other, awareness that while the self exists the other outside of oneself who is different in every way from the self exists also. This awareness of the reality of human society seems so thoroughly familiar and yet one forgets it so quickly. What is more, amidst the awareness of the existence and relationship of self and other, one changes oneself to go beyond oneself and become capable of thinking at least half for the feelings and happiness of others. That is the way we should be, and if the encounter with Shorinji Kempo should be a chance for such a self reform then it is a good thing.
Thus the kind of scenes where one person suddenly knocks down a partner and says, "Pretty impressive, huh? Do you give? Well then, you follow me!" have no place in our organization. "I want to brag about my physical power. I want to learn a way of always winning fights." If that alone is your goal, then Shorinji Kempo is not for you, and I recommend that you find another martial art.
(1973, lecture at University camp)
