Socks, Certificates, and Titles

In our traditions, when a deshi receives a certificate in recognition of what they have done, and perhaps what they are capable of being, they are guided to observe it, celebrate the accomplishment, and then place it in their sock drawer.

We do not hang what we are on the wall.

We do not require the validation of certificates, nor grand titles to address one another—certainly not to refer to oneself.

You are what you are, and the way you comport yourself should be commensurate with your position within our traditions.

You should be instantly recognizable (for what you are).

Not as the mental construct of who you imagine yourself to be, but as your true self, forged by the teachings of our tradition.

Keep going!