Black Belt

The black belt is one of the most misunderstood achievements a person can attain. The only people who have the ability to fully appreciate and understand the rank are those who have achieved it. Unfortunately even those who achieve the rank are not guaranteed to fully comprehend the soul of the black belt.

As an instructor I feel a great responsibility when it comes to upholding the ideals of the rank of black belt. I take every possible precaution to ensure people who earn a Silent River Kung Fu black belt are solid martial artists and, more importantly, are strong moral characters who understand the spirit of the rank and the responsibility that goes with it.

No instructor is perfect. You can do your best to weed out the candidates who are in it for their own ego but despite all the safeguards you put into place, people can, and do, mislead you. I don’t know of any instructor who has not had the embarrassment of having one of their unqualified first degree black belts decide that they have arrived and branch off on their own. Having thirty years of blood and sweat trivialized by someone who thinks the rank of black belt is the end rather than the beginning is only worsened by having that embarrassment instigated by one of your own.

The black belt has changed and it continues to change. Schools have stopped teaching styles and only teach techniques. Students are judged and ranked solely on what they do in the training hall. Honour, kindness, loyalty, humility - these attributes that form the foundation on which the martial arts are based, have little value in today’s schools. It is all about the next student and the latest craze. Want to learn tae kwon do? We have an instructor of that. BJJ? No problem, we have an instructor for that too. The great grandmasters like Morihei Ueshiba and Wong Fei Hung are being replaced by Greg Jackson and Billy Blanks. Our industry has lost its way.

I think the genesis of a solution lies in each of us who wish to attain the rank of black belt. This may be as simple as making your black belt mean something by keeping the following truths in front of us:

• Training is not a sacrifice, it is an investment. If your training is a sacrifice, you are only doing it to satisfy your or someone else’s ego. Remember, nothing is for free. If you want the benefits of training, you need to put in the time and make your training applicable to your life outside the training hall.

• The black belt is a journey, not a destination. Make your journey something to remember and you will never regret it.

• The black belt is earned, not given. Your journey is unique so what you do to earn the rank will be just as unique.

• Your black belt is defined by who you earn it from. Every black belt has a lineage attached to it. Some have meaning, others do not. Earn your rank from someone who understands what the rank means and whose lineage has not been severed by ego and ambition.

• Never forget that the black belt represents skill in a complete, all encompassing system. Getting a black belt for knowing a bunch of individual techniques that allows you to fight well is the equivalent of getting a degree in literature for memorizing the dictionary. 

With the popularity of the UFC and our society’s tendency to seek instant gratification, true martial arts are difficult for the public to identify and are becoming endangered. It is only the schools that stay loyal to the integrity of the art over the public’s demand for easier standards and the latest crazes that can ensure the future of the two thousand year old discipline.

“To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility – the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests – serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities.” – Sokon ‘Bushi’ Matsumura (l809 - 1901)