09/06/2026
Shoshin (or, being taught everything versus being taught everything we know)
Did Sensei teach the same to everybody? It’s an interesting question to ponder. Short answer, no. But it might be better to ask if everybody learned the same even in the same class. It’s very difficult to know what you don’t know, and with the greater your understanding of the subject comes the more circumspect you can be. It’s even harder to learn if you don’t have any questions. Or, as Epictetus said, “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
One time some of us were in the dojo office getting our shoes on after class and we were talking about a particular student’s knowledge of karate. Sensei was there, but he wasn’t being directly addressed. And as usual, if he wasn’t being directly addressed, he wouldn’t interject himself. In retrospect, we must have seemed like a bunch of little children, but somebody asked Sensei about it and he said that the person in question knew everything he could know. He said it as a matter of fact without emotion; it was what it was. Another student asked if is it like the old story of having a cup of tea that is already full and the teacher can’t pour anything new into it. Sensei said “no”. He said some people have a big cup and some people have a little cup. “Some people understand and practice a little and some people understand and practice lots.” And he went on to say something that he would have occassion to repeat several times over the years. He said that sometimes students will say that they know everything that he [Iha Sensei] can teach and decide to leave the dojo and go teach on their own, but he [Sensei] will think “No, everything he knows I taught him, but he doesn’t know everything I know.”
Our capacity to learn begins with humility. Not everyone has the same capacity to be sure, but each of us can maximize our potential to learn by keeping a beginner’s mind (shoshin).
Photo credit: Pattrick Yockey
