Budo and the Budo Teacher at Present Times
By Shlomo David

Budo is the way of martial arts. It is also a way of life. To me, it is the art of living.

Budo embraces all human aspects and ideals; it teaches, polishes and builds strong healthy persons, with high moral standards and good qualities to benefit society and themselves. It deals with human body mind and spirit; in relations, between man and his partner or his opponent, between man and society, between man and his surroundings and nature. It is not just a beautiful theory and a na?ve ideal. These are practical goals and acts that we should strive to achieve.

The last century, has seen society gradually abandoning all ideals, morals and good qualities for the sake of technical progress and the pursuit for money and power. Individuals became estranged from society, shutting their eyes to see others, the poverty, the misery and the suffering. They alienated themselves from beauty, love and compassion.

Most of our educational systems are bankrupt and our youth is lost without ideals and values. Our leaders do not always give good personal examples and most of our ruling systems lost their credibility.

Here lies the importance of the Budo teacher. He has great influence over his students but also a great responsibility. His dojo is an isolated island in a utopian land, a forge where all the students are rebuilt to a new shape.

The power is in the hands of the Budo Teacher. He should stand as a solid strong rock rising in the middle of an unquiet world and society like a lighthouse in stormy dark waters.

Budo supplies the teacher the powerful tools to educate and cultivate new men, strong but gentle, wise but modest, prudent but generous. Men with high moral standards and with good qualities, which will in turn, influence also their close circuit to heal society. The ultimate goal of the Budo teacher is to build warriors; warriors that will lead a fight; a fight to build a better world, to fight against injustice, to defend the weak, to contribute to society and heal it; to bring back ideals and the caring for others; to bring back love, trust and faithfulness among ourselves; to bring hope to people for a better life and a better world to live in.