What are (my) Precepts?

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In short, "a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought." A rule is, "one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere." In our karate community there are the ten precepts, rules that speak to thoughts on the what and why of karate of Okinawa, of Karate. 

In his rendering of the precepts it appears he is trying to regulate thoughts as to what karate is, why one practices karate and how to apply karate. In my studies to date the following are the precepts I would provide my students in regard to karate as training, practice and applicability in reality: 

1. Understand your intent in training and practice so when you apply it, the proper form and function is achieved from conditioned memory. 
2. Understand that regardless of intent karate training promotes many benefits such as health, strength, agility, balance and other such things. 
3. Understand that there are no short cuts to learning to apply karate because there is a natural rhythm and cadence to karate along with nature’s requirements to learn things especially to the state of application under duress. 
4. Understand that body conditioning that hardens the bodies natural defensive armor is necessary to survive violent encounters so that one can apply skills to stop the damage. 
5. Understand that regardless of technique(s) that principles hold more importance when one has to apply multiple methodologies at appropriate force levels to achieve appropriate, acceptable and both legal and social requirements of self-defense. 
6. Understand that to achieve expertise and to maintain that level of expertise requires repetitive, ongoing, consistent training, practice and reality-based applications to self-protect with karate or any martial art. 
7. Understand that karate, in essence, provides both health and the ability, if properly trained and applied, to self-protect self and others but one must decide and create a line between others aspects such as sport or self-improvement vs. self-protection in our personal defense against aggression and violence. 
8. Understand the visual-imagery of situations and scenarios while experiencing reality based adrenal stress-conditions is best to achieve master of karate in self-protection and defense. 
9. Understand that the human body has limitations in training intensity where overextending and compressing said training to expedite progress tend to lower progress and stresses our body to a state that harms rather than promotes health, fitness and endurance, all necessary in the attack. 
10. Understand that karate as an all-round physical endeavor does contribute through its health and fitness processes to longevity as long as all other things are equal, i.e., like gene’s and DNA, etc.

I would also add these precepts to those I mention in the start of this chapter are the original and still valid to modern karate but mine are meant to be in addition to those precepts of Itosu Sensei as translated by Abernethy Sensei’s and readily provided on his site: https://iainabernethy.co.uk/article/10-precepts-anko-itosu

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