Guru and the Ninja

Book excerpt: Fifty years ago, Carlos Casteneda brought us the wisdom he had gleaned from studies with a Yaqui medicine man. Now, in the 21st century, Three Initiates share some of the knowledge and understanding they have learned from training with Ninja Master Ashida Kim and his teacher the mysterious Guru. To be sure, there were lessons in martial arts, stealth and invisibility, in meditation and Qi Gong. But, the tales of courage and patriotism and adventure are what opened the portals of self-knowledge and brought them to the threshold of truth. When Ashida Kim appeared on the scene during the "Ninja Boom" of the eighties, he was often challenged to produce some documentation of his Ninjitsu training. He always said he learned it in the Army, and that the tradition was not to reveal your training, having "no name-no art." This is the de-classified story of the Guru, his father, brother, teacher, friend and mentor. It is hoped that this chronicle of a life well lived will be of some benefit to other Seekers on the Way.