The Importance of Discipline in Karate and Life.

One of the first things I was taught when I first started Karate was discipline. Teaching a strict discipline to a 10 year old boy is not the easiest thing to do, but with a training and time I eventually learnt it. But a question arises, what is discipline? Discipline means abiding by certain rules and regulations of social life. Discipline is what a person imposes on themself and sticks to as strongly as one would follow the law. It enforces a strict control over an individual's rights and privilege. Discip¬line is vital to a successful life. Without discipline army is reduced to a mob of armed thugs, democracy degenerates into anarchy and social life becomes chaotic. The importance that discipline imposes onto the life of a martial artist is undoubtedly large. It holds the entirety of our organisation together and the organisations of most other styles. Without it we would have students who never listened and therefore never learned and would become nothing whatsoever. This is easily transferable over to normal life, as throughout both training and life one needs to show a certain level of discipline.
Mas Oyama said “Following the Martial Way is like scaling a cliff – continue upwards without rest. It demands absolute and unfaltering devotion to the task at hand.” To me, this means that if someone wishes to succeed in following the Martial Way then one must have a strong sense of determination and discipline. Discipline is a part of any martial art because it helps instil certain thoughts and values in a student. It is what helps allow them to train, work, and strive to ever higher levels of knowledge and skill and sometimes is what keeps them going when they may not feel like it. It along with their heart and spirit is what sustains them when sometimes their interests are elsewhere or being side-tracked in part by other things. Along with this it is also what helps them to reach higher levels of skill by not being satisfied with just learning how to do