As a young man in the 1960s I was heavily into Buddhism; that was my generation.  Apart from the heavy stuff, I used to read the adventure stories of Lobsang Rampa.  I mentioned this to Trish and she said, ‘Did you know he was a plumber from Devon who fell out of a tree and then started claiming he was channeling a Tibetan monk?’

It kind of surprised me.  Usually I’m the one who debunks the myths around here! 

So I took a look at the guy on the internet.  Talk about a nut!  But you know what?  The whole story is kind of a metaphor for the martial arts.  In other words, there are a lot of guys who have fallen out of their tree!

The problem is that the delusion of the martial arts teacher soon becomes the student’s reality. 

So here’s the story about Lobsang Rampa according to his believers:

http://www.lobsangrampa.org/

and here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa

If you do the google, you’ll find plenty more.

Now, there are monks in Tibet—no question about it!  Their austere practices, their lifestyle, is for real.  There are plenty of real things that they do that are very impressive.  The Lobsang Rampa books are not pure fiction—there is some factual content, and it’s this factual content that is used to give credibility to the utter fabrications of the author.

It’s the same in the martial arts.  Fighting is reality in the martial arts.  But rather than deal with having fighting in their gym, most martial arts teachers will point to ‘the past in China/Japan/Okinawa' and then engage their students in practices that don’t contribute to the ability to fight.  They point to the reality and then deliver the Lobsang Rampa bullshit.  Since the advent of MMA, they even point to MMA—and then go on to the same bullshit practices.

When you don’t have fighting in your gym, you’re relying on faith—and what your teacher tells you.  If the teacher is wearing the persona of a martial artist, and if the teacher is constantly referencing the knowledge base of the martial arts, its terminology, history, etc. people have a tendency to put their faith in that person. 

But that guy is just another Lobsang Rampa.  Now the irony is, Lobsang Rampa’s books inspired a lot of people to study Buddhism.  But as soon as you begin to study Buddhism, you’re into the heavy shit.  In martial arts, somebody’s entry point might be a video game or martial arts flick, but sooner or later you’ve got to put aside the bullshit and get down to business.  And in martial arts, business is fighting.

Most people don’t know anything about fighting.  They go to a martial arts club hoping to learn.  And if the instructor is using the credibility of MMA and the ‘ancient masters’ to prop up an instructional  program that is complete bullshit, then the person walking through the door is getting Lobsang Rampa in a gi. 

And in some cases, you might even get Lobsang himself.