In the Bujinkan (which translates as "devine warrior house") there are those, who, upon reaching godan shidoshi, 5th degree black belt and licensed teacher, leave their instructors and consider themselves direct students of the grandmaster, Soke Masaaki Hatsumi. In truth this is how rank was designed to work back in the "old days".

In these modern times of great growth in the Bujinkan we see students (we're all students) who leave their instructor once reaching Godan, but then only travel to Japan to train with Soke once a year, or even less. In the early days the first generations of Shidoshi (they're now all Shihan, 10th degree and higher) traveled to Japan to train with Soke many times throughout the year or attended events in other countries where Soke would teach.

These new students, having left their Shihan instructors prematurely thinking they've "arrived" and have "made it" travel to Japan for year-end training and can, if they wish, buddy up to Soke (given the opportunity) or one of his senior students and request rank. Soke Hatsumi - in many cases - will give you what you ask for. If you shell out the yen, you can get a higher rank, that is, until you reach Judan, 10th degree black belt. To enter that tribe you need the recommendation of two other Judan. The free ride stops there. No relationships, no Judan.

Returning home with their new status they still have no one to train with and in many cases don't even have students of their own to teach. They become ghosts in the Bujinkan. The Shihan, both Japanese and non-Japanese, know full well who's good and who's not. They know who's training with whom, who is not training, and who is showing up to whore for rank.

I have even known of students who have manipulated different instructors in order to "crash" the Godan test early in order to "keep up with the Jones". Showing up to events later with their new godan patch on their uniform, they have only superficial relationships in the Bujinkan and no students. Their victory remains empty. These people become "marked".

Many "ninja" throughout the history of the Bujinkan have left the Booj very angry and disappointed because of how Soke ranks. Soke, being a ninja after all, will allow you to travel down that dark road of illusion. My own feeling is that he has no personal interest in having a closely managed and monitored Bujinkan. We're adults traveling the spiritual road of real budo, we need to know right from wrong, real from unreal. An important part of Ninpo is understanding the empty from the tangible.

SGI

There is no training in SGI. We use that term, but training is in the form of "on the job training opportunity". The dark side of the Gakkai is that leaders can run amok. I've heard the unpopular stories. Authoritarian and heavy-handed leaders yelling at members, members "kicked out" of their local organization, leaders who judge others faith by their own values.

If you're an ex-Gakkai members reading this I'm sure you have your own story to tell...

So what to do?

The dark side of free choice. Think for a moment how we would have to redesign SGI to keep this from happening.

1. Leadership training courses. These would have to be paid for by the individual and would probably cost increasing increments of hundreds of dollars as the position and responsibility became greater. If leadership quality was regulated and standardized then a member would have to complete these courses as they moved up into more responsibility. Of course, soon only leaders who could afford the training would move up. Then again, if you can't afford the training then your faith is weak, right?

Remember that any certification process usually demands recertification. As an EMT I must recertify every two years. Same here. Leaders would have to recertify. Instructors would have to be hired, programs developed. Along with all this would be controversy and conflict natural with any corporate entity. Would an outside company develop the programs? Would "leader trainers" be certified to teach the courses? Would there be corruption in the bidding process? Hell yes, all these things are human nature and occur naturally.

2. Leadership review. Senior paid staff would need to "spot inspect" local meetings, perhaps even undercover, a sort of Gakkai secret police. There would need to be reviews and reports, reprimands and a complaint process. There would be no more "we're all leaders in SGI", you'd either be a leader or a member.

3. The leadership and training certification could possibly develop into an asset for one's professional career, "resume padding" as it were. There would be those seeking leadership certification, perhaps like in the Bujinkan, for itself without the position, just to have it for status. We'd all know who these folks were, and they would become like ghosts in SGI.

Imagine being at a meeting where someone asks a question about Buddhism, and another member snaps back "why are you asking US, YOU'RE the one with the leader cert!"

4. Leadership contracts - perhaps one could recieve training on credit in exchange for leadership contracts, say a two year contract in exchange for the basic group leader training course. This works just fine for Scientology!

The list would continue, the examples becoming more and more ridiculous -though precedents exists of these kinds of approaches thoughout government and private industries.

Soke Hatsumi has it right. Relationships are what determines what's real and what's empty. Certification, ranks, positions, these things are only given value by the relationships the holders have with others in their tribe. Without relationships they are nothing but the dark path of human illusion, standing in our way to becoming fulfilled and enlightened.

More importantly we are responsible for managing our own relationship. For every lousy Gakkai leader there are members enabling them to be that way. Maybe instead of leader certification we should make everyone a leader to begin with, and make them go through member training...

Rev. Greg, Shidoshi