Becoming a person who can be depended on
when something happens

All of you here today are the core members of the future, the people who are working to become branch masters.

When you graduate from simply learning Shorinji Kempo techniques, you are in the position to help with the teaching, and you've gotten a sense of the real appeal of Shorinji Kempo. I imagine that this period is when you are most on fire with the enthusiasm of, "Let's do it!"

To you who are at this point, there is something I would like you to understand. Once you become the teacher, and people call you, "Sensei," "Sensei," the feeling can arise that you've grown great in the world, and, somehow, your own progress and development stops dead.

Among your students a serious one appears, and as he develops with desire to do more, "sensei" the, floats in midair. When juniors develop even while you are at a standstill, envy can arise, and some people might feel threatened and interfere with the development of the students.

Until just recently, there was a branch master who got in the way of a student who wished to go to Hombu. Among such, there were also branch masters such as a Self Defense Forces commander and a corporate executive who called up Hombu for special permission for their kenshi to attend a leadership seminar despite knowing that shodan are not permitted to attend. This is admirable, and I want to express my respect for them. Wanting to make your child better equipped than yourself, I think that is the true spirit of parenting.

There are many who have branches that have succeeded tremendously, some who have been thrown out by their students, and some cases where the branch naturally died out. Although they've heard the same things, and do the same Shorinji Kempo, when people's reception of it and their daily approach is different, the results can be stunningly different. Some people complain, saying, "I'm trying my hardest in good faith, but I've not found good students and they don't progress."

Some only criticize others, no matter what," It's the world that's bad not me." But people begin to want to distance themselves when you just complain all the time. The trust required for others to be able to trust you, to believe in you is not something you can earn in a single day. Not doing the bad will not link you to trust. A person who can be trusted when something comes up, becoming someone who can be relied on ? this sort of personal relation is what I want to create through Shorinji Kempo and you who are now in this position can make such relations. This is the true value of Shorinji Kempo, and from the outset, Shorinji Kempo is not thinking to produce athletes.

Once more, please return to the original point. What has Shorinji Kempo been trying to do, and why?

(At a branch establishment seminar)

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