Ninja Stuff

DannyinJapan

DannyinJapan

Joined
Oct 9, 2003
Messages
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It is the annual Ninja training festival again. (Daikomyosai)
So, in the spirit of things, I thought I might start a new thread that Bill Marsh sort of started in the 9mm vs 40 cal thread to be found elsewhere.
He said that a friend of his, when confronted by an armed man who demanded his wallet.. "..used all his Ninja training and handed the guy his wallet."

I tried to indicate that I agreed with that idea, but Im not sure I was understood. Furthermore, I wanted to suggest that sensing the bad guy in the dark was another important aspect of ninjutsu. This is the real subject of this thread.
Sensing danger is not some comic book, mystical bull$hit. Any butt-licking animal knows when trouble is near. Only humans have sort of evolved their own natural "danger sense" out of themselves.
But ask any mother if she knows when her kids are in trouble without hearing or seeing it and she'll probably say "of course."

That's the same thing Im talking about. The thing is, this isnt just some little helpful thing that might save you someday by luck. This is a major part of our training. Seeing the future and sensing danger is part common sense, part experience and part pyschic ability. (A thing that CAN be developed through training) To pass the fifth degree belt test, Sensei will cut at you from behind with a sword. He will make no noise. If you move in time, you pass. This is a demonstration of the ability of the subconscious, non-cognitive part of our own bodies to sense and avoid danger. Dont ask me what it feels like, I dont know. I just moved for some reason and I passed. It wasnt a cognitive event.

Of course, if you have a cranio-rectal inversion when trouble happens, then you have already lost the battle and you should consider yourself lucky if you survive. This is something you must also train to prevent. Just as technical skill and marksmanship require training, so does an aware mind.

Please give this some consideration.
 
It's knowing when to slow-roll a stoplight in the city...when to pass and go to the next bar instead...when it suddenly dawns on you to check your tires...which night to make sure you have your outside night lights turned on instead of saving money by having them off.

It just is unless you pay attention to it and learn to listen to it.
 
And those bastards at that unnamed goverment facility think I'm paranoid. Ha! I'm really part ninja and just didn't know it. :D
 
I think I understand what you're saying, Danny. I think most people could avoid some danger if they would just pull their heads out of their butts, like you said. I have no martial arts training, nor am I considered paranoid. However, I keep my head up in unfamiliar situations. Usually, I can see a problem from a "mile" (like 15 secs) away.
The most profound experience I had with this was when I was working at Target while in college. I was at the Electronics counter (or boat as it is called) early one Sunday morning. I had a guy come up to me. He didn't look "dirty". He didn't act like he was there with intent. Just a regular guy asking me questions about some things. I answered politely, but the whole time I was thinking to myself "This guy is dangerous. Something's not right. Keep an eye on him." He left without any problems.
Maybe 3 or 4 days later that same guy was on the news. he was caught at walmart (located right next to the Target i worked at) demanding money from a cashier at knife point early one morning. He turned out to be a methhead (like every criminal in that town...evil drug). My guts felt like they fell out when I saw that. Why didn't he mug me? Could he tell I was on to him? Probably not. Even though there was no one around, and it was a straight shot from the counter to the door. It was a long run, and there is a big difference between the 18-19 year old girl at the front of the store and a fairly broad 22 year old guy at the back. Too many things working against him, i guess. Still, it felt like someone walked over my grave when I saw that guy on TV. Being assulted by a violent drug addict is not worth 7 bucks an hour.

Jake
 
That's right, no amount of money is worth your life.

Some people DO have a natural talent for this stuff, but everyone has it a little bit at least.
One ought to study animals to learn this. If you chase your cat with a mischievous intent in your heart, he runs fast doesnt he? They know.
But if you are full of love the cat comes to you, right? they know.

We as humans have lost our ability to know like this. It is something we must cultivate and pay attention to.

Cops and Moms are probably pretty talented at this, just out of necessity.

But like Bill mentioned, even a trained Budoka is helpless if he gets caught with a cranio-rectal inversion. You have to keep those antennae up and moving all the time. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I like to relax completely around my friends and family and the people I love.
That's ok, but there is a certain level of awareness you cant ever turn off.

I remember talking to a friend in the dojo a few years ago and he asked me if I tusted him. I started to say "yes" but he slapped me pretty hard before I could speak. I didnt even feel the pain, the shock and pain converted instantly into realization, enlightenment.

I can trust and love, but that doesnt mean I turn off my sense of danger.
When all of this comes together for you, you may find yourself happier.
Hatsumi Sensei laughs and smiles wheile he is effortlessly destroying groups of young men. He is a happy camper, even now at 74.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Why didn't he mug me? Could he tell I was on to him? Probably not.
Click to expand...

I think he probably could. Or at least noticed that you were alert enough to be troublesome. This type of sensitivity is not uncommon among predators.

The predator is a delicate creature.

I've had situations disolve when I gave them my complete and undivided attention. ("Situation" being the complete 4 pi environment here and now.)
 
It's knowing when to slow-roll a stoplight in the city...when to pass and go to the next bar instead...when it suddenly dawns on you to check your tires...which night to make sure you have your outside night lights turned on instead of saving money by having them off.
Click to expand...

Yep. I listen to it, and when I don't I often regret it.

My mother and I (when I lived in Maui and she in Maine) used to regularly pick up the phone to call each other at the same instant. I picked it up and she said "hello?" It never rang.

I used to wake my wife up by staring at her when she was sound asleep. Try it on someone--it's easy. But it doesn't make them happy after the 6th time, then they just get grumpy.:D
 
My $0.02...

Well, I'm hardly an expert on this subject, but I don't think the 'danger' sense has evolved out of people. I just think that for the most part, we never learn to pay attention to it, since our daily existence doesn't involved constant threat. Danny's story about his friend slapping him is an example of the sort of training people need to teach them to listen to their 'danger sense'.
 
Once, I was riding home with a friend from a nearby city. As we were leaving, it felt wrong. My hairs stood up. There was danger, and I told him to be alert. We made it home safe.

But as we were coming into town, we were passed by an armada of ambulances and fire trucks going the other way, lights blazing. I found out that there had been a horrific accident on the very road were were driving, probably less than a minute after we passed. Several people were killed, numerous cars involved. And I knew in advance that something would happen. I knew it.

Listen to that sense. It does not lead you astray.

Chris
 
Another thing is the time dilation...I have experienced it several times, at least a couple of them intentionally. I don't *know* how I did it though...not enough to trust it anyway.

Danny...I am certain you *know* what I am talking about. It's one of the reasons Hatsumi Sensei laughs and smiles as he's taking his time dealing with the honestly much faster younger guys.
 
[Another thing is the time dilation...I have experienced it several times, at least a couple of them intentionally. I don't *know* how I did it though...not enough to trust it anyway. /QUOTE]

I've never experienced it but someone I trust implicitly has...VERY strange stuff indeed.
Click to expand...
 
I know what Danny is talking about. It's a gift. Sometimes I have it. But it's chaotic in my life, untrained that I am, and the times when the instinct is gone and dumbness takes over has resulted in stupid messes.

That's a reccomendation for understanding and training.




munk
 
This is a very important thread...

Thanks!

My only thought is that sometimes I make myself do stuff to be prepared even when I have no sense of danger. I always figure those may be the times I need to be careful, or ready. maybe I believe in Murphy too much. The best we can hope for is long periods of yellow alert in this life.

Tom
 
When I don't pay attention to my instincts, I get in trouble. This has been the case since before I started training~ by 19, at least. Paying attention helps keep you out of trouble with parents of the GF! :D

Got in some trouble about a year ago. Told "someone" that her mother was about to appear, and what she was going to say. "Someone" didn't listen, and urged me stop talking about it. 10 minutes later, her mother appeared, saying exactly what I said she was going to say...

"Someone" listens now. :D

You have to pay attention. Just because we don't understand a mechanism, doesn't mean it's not very real.

J
 
You have to pay attention. Just because we don't understand a mechanism, doesn't mean it's not very real.>>> Spectre

And the kind of attention you have to pay- is different than other kinds. I know that sounds wrong and contradictory, but these instincts, at least for me, are sometimes very quiet and you have to listen without a lot of your own internal noise. Sometimes, of course, it's everything you can do not to listen, because it's screaming in your ears.

OT; this is not relevant, I guess, but there's something else I learned; just because you have intuition, or instinct, this talent or skill, does not mean you own it

You can't take it for granted, though often it arrives as Grace.

munk
 
I relax and go off guard when at home during the daylight when the drapes are open and I can see who's approaching.
If I don't know them the antenna as DIJ says goes up.
At night the door when answered is answered very warily.
Being a senior citizen and handicapped has brought out the ability that I used to just take for granted when I was younger especially when I'm out and about.
The sense has long kept me out of trouble in many different ways.
 
munk said:
OT; this is not relevant, I guess, but there's something else I learned; just because you have intuition, or instinct, this talent or skill, does not mean you own it

You can't take it for granted, though often it arrives as Grace.

munk
Click to expand...

I don't know if Grace is the word I'm thinking of. I call it being in the groove.

Pulling up the rifle as the target moves from cover.

Servicing targets like a metronome off the firing line.

The "just in time" sway back as the fist crawls past your face.

The animal, voiceless, part of your brain warning that "something wicked this way comes".

Many of you know that much better than I, but I'm telling you, living in the now, being in the groove, proof of Intelligent design. I believe in Spirits too, I don't know about totem critters, or gremlins, but didn't someone have gnome-like little helpers?

Sorry for hijacking your thread DIJ.
 
I'm certainly willing to consider smaller sources of this wisdom than God, but the point where intuition and instinct leave rightfully what I own as a man and individual and tap into a larger whole is not clear to me. I'm not sure how much of my best is me, or me listening to the Great I Am. Or as Rusty loved to hear, The Great Heart.

No matter, I guess. And there's all kinds of ways intuition manifests, I can't even catelogue them all mentally. From a practical standpoint, for me personally, if I'm going to benefit from a knowledge greater than my own- some intuition or Grace from the Great Heart, I can't have previously locked it up and called it my own. It seems to 'disapear' when herded selfishly, do you know what I mean? You have to listen. You can't have your ego blarring.

There have been times in my life a Voice has burst through with warning, even when I was hopelessly caught up in myself and my ego and day to day living. And not unkindly, I can almost hear; "Listen up, As-Hol-, I'm trying to tell you something'.

Just thinking aloud on one of my favorite subjects, and I wish Rusty were here. I guess someone is going to say, "He is."


munk
 
Nasty said:
Another thing is the time dilation...I have experienced it several times, at least a couple of them intentionally. I don't *know* how I did it though...not enough to trust it anyway.
Click to expand...

Time dilation is part of the body's response to adrenaline. It is a great gift, and our bodies know how to use it. You also are stronger and faster (part of the time dilation).

The literature says you are also clumsier, and tend towards tunnel vision. I find that this is not true for me. My perception of flow is enhanced, and my perceptions extend in a sphere around my body. Hearing, smell, touch, are all more acute. I have not tried very fine motor skills in such a state so the books may be right on that.

You can hurt yourself in this state by tearing muscles, breaking ligaments or bones, etc. It also uses a lot of energy. You don't want to go around hyped on adrenaline all the time but when you need it it's good that it's available. For me, it's not something I turn on consciously. It's a gift. I've known some martial artists who try to induce this state on demand, but that isn't my path.

You know you've been there if you're coming down and the blood is pounding in your ears.
 
I did exactly that once Howard...I broke my back (actually snapped off one of the transverse processes of L1) by catching a "weapon" rack that was falling off a truck after being mishandled by my troops. I caught it, shoved it back up on the truck and collapsed. I awoke in the hospital and was paralyzed for 16 days until the swelling went down and the nerves recovered from the shock. The muscles were strong enough once loaded with go juice to do it, the bone wasn't.

Doing it on demand would be a very valuable skill...
 
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