Self-Development Through Asking "Why?"

In the philosophical teachings of the Ninja Warrior's Mikkyo esoteric mind-science that forms the foundation for the Warrior Concepts Life Mastery Program taught to my students and clients, there are three areas of focus that allow the Ninja Warrior, or anyone who understands these principles, to act with enlightened clarity and always achieve his or her goals. Each of these so-called '3-Keys of Success' can be focused on in and of itself, but the real 'magic' results when the three are brought together and aligned with the Ninja's vision.

The 3 Keys are collectively known in Japanese as the Sanmitsu or '3 Secrets.' Not at all 'secret' in the conventional sense as being kept away from others or hidden, the sanmitsu are seen as 'secret' because they have to be 'discovered' by the student to have any benefit. The three are the "thoughts," "speech," and "actions" of the Ninja practitioner. They are seen as both the necessary elements to bring about success, and the means by which we can change and affect our world. In this article, I'd like to focus on the 3rd Key, the 'secret' of the power of our actions. And, like a well-maintained vehicle that gets us where we want to go, our actions are the direct manifestation of our thoughts and intention in the outside world around us.

As seen on the Kongo-kai mandala of Universal Enlightenment, our actions are associated with the 'wind' realm of All-Accomplishing Wisdom and the concept of skillful means. Our actions have the potential to change our world and our experience of it. Students studying within the upper training modules before advancing into the Black Belt Mastery Stages are constantly reminded of the truth of the power of their actions during their class opening and closing as they recite the Ninja Master's Admonition of Sh'kin Haramits' Daikomyo! The lesson of this phrase is that 'every moment - every action - holds the potential of being just that thing that will produce the happiness, understanding and power that we have been seeking.' It means that "no-thing doesn't matter" - everything deserves our attention.

Of course, merely running around 'doing stuff' is not at all what we're talking about here. Most of us can remember a time when we did a lot but accomplished very little. For most of us, we need only think back over the past few days. The key or 'secret' here is not in the activity itself but in the focus or direction that requires a particular action. The truth is that unfocused, undirected action is nothing but idle 'wheel-spinning.' It accomplishes nothing toward the accomplishment of goals and more towards creating even more of the feelings of exhaustion, exasperation and distraction that regularly plague our days.

To harness the power of our deeds and actions, we must first take the time to focus on what it is that we would like to accomplish. We must ask the important questions that will allow us to discipline ourselves to acting with purpose and not impulse. Questions like: "What do we want our life to be like and about?" and "What is important and what needs to be illuminated?" will help to answer the primary question of "why?"

Why are we doing these things? What, if anything, are we working toward, or is this just another distraction or another attempt to avoid the unpleasant? The following is a list of "why" questions that can be used to determine whether an action is worth doing in the scheme of things:

• Why am I doing this?

• Why is that important?

• Why is that important? (This is not a duplication but a clarification of the last answer!)

• Why do I give in to avoid unpleasant responses from others even when I don't think this is beneficial or productive?

• Why don't I act when I know it is the right thing to do or is something that must be done to produce the results I need?

• Why do I fill my days with activities that do not contribute to the accomplishment of goals, conditions and results that I say and believe are important?

• Why do I choose inactivity (laziness and procrastination) when there are things that should be done to bring me closer to accomplishing my goals?

This is a partial list and I'm sure that you can, and have thought (and possibly asked yourself) of many others like them. The point here is not to discuss acting out of the mindset that says, "when you're unsure of what to do, do something." But, to maintain a constant focus on the purpose for acting. In fact, if you were to refer to your life purpose process and the lists you created to establish the "why" for acting, you will see the difference. Remember, anything done that is in alignment with our life purpose is what the Ninja - the Enlightened Warrior engaging with his or her world - sees as an Enlightened Action. And, anything that does not contribute to our life purpose - to creating the life we want to be living - is a distraction.

Period.