Thoughts on Perseverance and Budo
By Hiroshi Ikeda, translated by Jun Akiyama, edited by Ginger Ikeda

To paraphrase a saying I overheard recently, "If you're wrestling with a gorilla, you don't quit when you get tired -- you quit when the gorilla gets tired." I can't think of a better definition of "nintai," or perseverance.

In the Japanese word "nintai," the first character, "nin," means "to bear silently," and "tai" means "to endure with great patience." The combination of the two characters with similar definitions adds increased weight to the intended meaning of the word, indicating the profound effort implied in "perseverance."

We are all bound to encounter a few gorillas in our time, but how well prepared are we to go the distance? The training begins early, when we as children realize that the world does not always heed our beck and call. Anyone who has ever witnessed the impressive power of a toddler's temper tantrum may be reassured that the survival instinct remains intact. Fortunately for all, we tend to refine our methods as we mature.

Ultimately, we gain the ability to persevere in a number of ways -- by the first-hand experience of getting through difficult situations, by the inspirational example of mentors and heroes, and by spiritual convictions. Those of us who espouse the practice of a budo have unique opportunities to learn about perseverance.

In the martial arts, two basic facets of perseverance are involved -- the mental and the physical. Perhaps the first lesson in nintai comes with the realization that we alone are responsible for our progress in the art. What we will get out of the training depends upon the degree of our commitment and level of our involvement in the dojo. "No go, no grow" is a reality.

Whatever our level of commitment, whether it is twenty hours a week or three, we can practice perseverance by meeting our commitment with the same consistency and regularity as in taking a daily multivitamin. Setting personal challenges within the framework of attendance alone can become a meaningful exercise in nintai.

The cultivation of patience to persist and endure, even as training becomes boring, as it does from time to time when we reach seemingly endless plateaus, is another exercise in nintai. However boring a task may seem, we must develop the ability to keep training and working at it, for if we quit, we will never know what we have missed. If we continue, we will find the edge of the plateau and discover new heights.

In budo, we have ample opportunity to persevere as we face our fears. It takes a measure of courage to expose ourselves to fists, knife blades, and wooden swords and to become accustomed to being thrown over the back of some burly person twice our size, often when we least expect it.

And who among us doesn't need to persevere when we engage in the close self-scrutiny that is inevitably prompted by an incident on the mat. In budo, more often than once, the personal inadequacies that we would have preferred to ignore are exposed in the course of our training. It takes courage to acknowledge our weaknesses and to plumb ever deeper, discovering new levels of truth about ourselves and becoming the stronger for it.

In budo, by focusing on the mental aspect of nintai, we can push and test ourselves through training, explore our inner resources, and enhance our mental toughness. With a strong will, we will have the wherewithal to develop our techniques on the mat and to overcome our "gorillas" in daily life.

It is the same for the physical aspect -- continuing even when muscles are sore, taking more consecutive ukemi than we thought possible, doing 500 additional bokken cuts when our arms rebel and give out. This is physical patience. We can ramp up the challenges as we become more disciplined and strong. We can set our own challenges and strive for personal bests.

We all know of individuals, who, seeking to transform themselves, undertake trials and persevere through them. A personal friend of mine in Japan, a high school teacher, rises at 4 o'clock in the morning, every morning, rain or shine, to perform 2000 makiwara strikes. O'Sensei, in 1912, at the age of 29, took on the challenge of leading a group of 80 people to pioneer a settlement in Hokkaido, Japan's far north. This certainly involved mental and physical perseverance. Master Masutatsu Oyama, creator of Kyokushinkai Karate, developed his art after a lengthy retreat in the mountains, enduring self-imposed hardships to toughen and hone his spirit. There are untold examples of immense accomplishment through nintai.