“I have five enemies, envy, lust, greed, pride and apathy. If I can hold my own against these in this lifetime, then I shall consider myself a lucky man…”

Ashida Kim

This page was once a place where we posted the names of those who had offended or cheated Sensei Ashida Kim, the reasons they were selected for this distinction and our proposed course of action to rectify the situation. These miscreants included publishers and literary agents who stole millions of dollars in unreported and overseas sales, who refused to honor contracts signed in good faith and swapped Sensei’s intellectual property amongst themselves like vampires sucking the blood out of any other victim. But we stopped them. By asking people to boycott their products, by publishing Sensei’s books and videos ourselves.

There were trolls and cyber-commandoes, who, out of jealousy, pollute the internet with lies and slander and constant questions to which no amount of answer was satisfactory. All to get attention for themselves, so they could imagine and pretend that someone was listening to them, in a vain attempt to fill the awful loneliness of their pitiful lives. But we beat them. By ignoring them, by refusing to believe the trash and filth that they spew like little monkeys throwing their own feces at the zoo. For, indeed, they are no more than that. We strive to be better than that, to serve a more noble purpose.

As Sensei has said, “All these things are merely steps upon the path. What is done is done. We cannot have ‘revenge’ on any of these people. Nor can we hope for ‘justice’ or fair play. Neither should we seek to modify their behavior in any way. Each of them must work out his own karma. All we can try to do is set a good example by our own lives. We are men of peace who can fight like ten tigers, sworn to protect and defend the Homeland. This is the ancient martial arts tradition upon which we are based.

He explained it this way, “One day soon, my friends, you will wake up and say to yourself, ‘What a beautiful day!’ And, as you go through the day with that feeling of joy you will ask yourself why you continue to drag around the baggage of battles long ago fought and won or lost. You cannot go back and fight them over. Each contest stands alone, you must know when they are done and move on.

“Nor can you concern yourself over much with threats or fears of what may happen tomorrow. No one knows what the dreams may come. Each day, like a scholar at his first class, prepare an empty mind upon which the day may write. Be here now, enjoy this moment, follow your bliss and do your best. That is all that is required. The chattering of monkeys is of no consequence and men do not beat drums before they hunt tigers. We are all here for a reason. Discovering that reason and acting upon it is the sole purpose of our time on this planet. Human beings are, after all, creatures of light having a temporal existence. It is a voyage of self-discovery.

Plato said, "The only real service we can be to our fellow man is to remind him of the experience of Eternity, the memory of which is lost at birth.” knowing this, and that concurrently the only thing one can 'take with them upon passing' are the memories we have created here, then it only makes sense to try and make good memories. To accomplish this, the ancients have taught us the martial arts.

From Precepts for a Peaceful Warrior, by Ch'onsa Kim:

The Warrior strives to reach above himself, his false perceptions, his adversaries... His highest achievement is not one of victory, but one of absolute truth.

Have compassion for all beings, causing them no unnecessary hurt, nor needless harm.

Refrain from needless competitiveness, from contriving for self-advantage, and from subjugating others.

When accepting authority over others, know also that you accept responsibility for their well being.

Value true friendship, and fulfill your obligations, rather than striving with egotistical motive.

Seek liberation from the negative passions of hatred, envy, greed and rage, and especially from delusion, deceit and sensory desire.

Learn to let go of that which cannot be owned, or which is destroyed by grasping.

Seek the courage to be; defend yourself, and your convictions.

Accept transience, the inevitable and the irrevocable. Know that change exists in everything. Negate the barriers to your awakening; discover the positive in the negative, and seek a meaningful purpose in what you do.

Be just and honorable; take pride in what you do, rather than being proud of what you have accomplished.

Having humility and respect, give thanks to those from whom you learn, or who have otherwise helped you.

Act in harmony with your fellow beings, with nature, and with inanimate objects.

Know that a thing or an action which may seem of little value to oneself, may be a priceless treasure to another.

Help those who are suffering or disadvantaged, and as you yourself become awakened, help those who seek to make real their own potential.

Know that there is no shame in questioning.

Be diligent in your practice, and on hearing the music of the absolute, do not be so foolish as to try to sing its song.

Remember to renew the source, in order to retain good health.

Seek neither brilliance nor the void; just think deeply, and work hard.

When still, be as the mountain; when in movement be as the dragon riding the wind.

Be aware at all times, like the tiger which only seems to sleep, and at all times let the mind be like running water.

When you are required to act, remember that right motive is essential to right action, just as right thought is essential to right words.

Beware of creating burdens for yourself or others to carry.

Act with necessary distinction, being both creative and receptive, and transcending subject/object dichotomy.

Know that you are not the center of the universe, but learn to put the universe at your center by accepting the instant of your being.

Seek security within yourself, rather than in others.

Know that even great worldly wealth, and the accumulation of material things are of little worth, compared with the priceless treasures; love, peace and the freedom to grow.

Allow yourself to be, so that your life may become a time of blossoming.

– Ch'onsa Kim

To this end we let go our vengeance. We do not forgive, nor forget. We seek only to better ourselves by following the Way. In so doing, we learn the lessons of the past, without allowing them to burden us, so that we are prepared for the undiscovered country, the future.

It is said, ‘the mood of the warrior is waiting for the enemy to appear.’ The mood of the Ninja is also waiting; waiting for something wonderful to happen. May you find your own Way as pleasant.

I remain,
Ashida Kim

That being said... there are nonetheless some high crimes and misdemeanors that should not go unpunished or be allowed to continue and some insults that cannot be ignored...

In 1979 I began to write a series of books for Paladin Press, Boulder CO, some of the titles of which include Book of the Ninja, Secrets of the Ninja, Secrets of Invisibility, Ninja Death Touch, Ninja Mind Control and Forbidden Fighting Techniques of the Ninja. The copyrights for all of these books were applied for by Paladin Press and they are registered in my name.

Between 1980 and 1995 revenue from these books rose to a peak of $40,000 per year in 1984. That means that I alone made the company $400,000 in one year, more than any other author they have had before or since. In spite of this success, royalties quickly and steadily declined thereafter despite numerous secondary rights sales to companies like Citadel Press, Bantam Books, Penguin Publishing and countless overseas sales and translations, and the fact that I wrote eight more books for the company. During this period I discovered that the royalties for most of these books were going to a New York literary agent who organized many of the secondary sales and overseas rights. In fact, Secondary Royalty reports from Citadel Press listed him as the author. When I asked about this, the editor I spoke with told me this was an “accounting device" to "make sure the money went to the right person.” Which apparently wasn’t me.

Also, several of my books suddenly had new titles and covers. Secrets of the Ninja became Invisible Ninja and Book of the Ninja became Ninja Training Manual and so on. When I asked a twenty-year employee of Paladin who had risen through the ranks from editor to treasurer about this, she referred me to the New York agent who told me flatly, “Those books are mine, you are not entitled to any money from them.” And hung up the phone. The next day, the trusted employee was fired.

I continued to deal with Paladin and demanded an accounting, among the materials sent to me was a note clipped to royalty reports from South America saying that I and several other authors should receive no royalties for these sales, per instructions of the owner of Paladin Press. In 1995 Paladin severed all contractual obligations to me. At that time, according to the letter they sent me, they would no longer publish my books and all rights to all books reverted to me, although some continued to be published by Citadel and Penguin and others, most of whom I am unaware of because they kept all these dealings secret, under “secondary rights” contracts that could not or would not be voided.

In 1999 Citadel Press, who was responsible for many of these unreported sales and copyright infringements on behalf of Paladin and the literary agent, declared bankruptcy. At that time I had three separate contracts with them beyond secondary rights on the above titles, all stating that in the event of bankruptcy all rights reverted to me and the contract was void. But, that is not what happened. Instead, I got a letter from their attorney saying that clause was “unenforceable” and that my contracts had been sold to Kensington Publishing.

That same year Citadel "re-copyrighted" all my best sellers by claiming they had "added new material." In so doing the installed their literary agent friend as the "author" because that is how he was carried on their accounting books. They could not possibly have added any new material because they know nothing whatsoever about the subject. Despite their supposed bankruptcy, Citadel Press still maintains offices in NY and a website and have continued to operate as a covert distributor of all of my books worldwide and stolen all of the money from those sales.

For ten years I tried to work with Kensington. I offered new books, I tried to find out what had happened to all my old books that they supposedly now owned. All to no avail. When they wanted to release the new edition of Secrets of the Ninja to “honor” me for being inducted into the USMA Hall of Fame in 2009, they refused to make changes in the original manuscript that had been wrong from the first edition, and never corrected by Paladin either, and added an endorsement from Haha Lung, one of their house writers, to promote his books against my wishes. This insult was the last straw.

Many people think that I am Haha Lung. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is a name invented to insult me. It comes from the references made to the Hai Lung Ryu, or Black Dragon School. When the publishers decided to take advantage of the incredible success of Ninja Mind Control, they invented Haha Lung. To them Haha Lung = Hai Lung, laughing at me all the while. On his website he admits that he is not a martial artist at all but instead a "staff" writer for Paladin Press who also uses the name Dirk Skinner to write "frontiersman" books, another subject about which he knows nothing.

His "books" on mind control are little more than recycled NLP (neurolinguistic programming) technqiues. A psuedo-science at best, whose methods have been largely abandoned by serious psychologists. The names of these methods are "shrouded in mystery" and wrapped in mystical names taken from a medieval role playing game like "mind slayer" and "psychic flail." The sad part is that so many people were led to believe Haha Lung was me in disguise and actually fell for this scam. DOJO Press will shortly release a true edition of Advanced Ninja Mind Control techniques that will be unlike any trash foisted on the public by this fraud. Real Ninja do not meditate on dominating people or manipulating them. We strive only to be of service, so that good deeds will spread out like the ripples on a pond and cover the whole world.

In the last two years I have become aware of how incredibly well known and widely read I have been all this time and how, through a series of shell companies and artful dodging, my books have been sold all over the world for three decades without me receiving a pittance of the income.

When I broke with the first publisher, all rights reverted to me. When the second publisher went belly up, all those contracts went void. I have no contract with the third publisher at all. Therefore, as the copyright holder of all of my books and all of the variations and editions of my books known and unknown I declare that DOJO Press is the only legal and legitimate source for any of my books and that all others are illegal pirated editions. Any other vendor, retailer, distributor, warehouseman or seller in possession of them will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Don’t buy any book with my name on it unless you get it from Dojo Press. For years I gave away Secrets of the Ninja free on my website to keep the publishers from profiting by it. As soon as I took it down they came up with this latest scam to rob me again. The new Dojo Press edition has fifty more pages and 80 more pictures than the original. We have re-worked and re-mastered all of my books, REALLY adding new material and making them better all the time.

I am the most well known and best selling Ninja author of all time, and I have nothing to show for it except the fortunes these thieves have made off my work. Please understand,  this is not for myself or for revenge. I tell you this not to discourage you from trying to accomplish anything. But rather so you will be aware that there are many devils on the road who will gladly pretend to be your friend so they can steal you blind. Even if you are so good you make the company, any company, millions of dollars, they won't share it with you. Even if you sign a contract in good faith, it's not worth the paper it is printed on. Even if you have the copyrights in your name, if you don't have an army of lawyers and thousands of dollars and years to spend in court, it means nothing. Consulting a business lawyer can be just as expensive as hiring a Columbus criminal defense attorney for legal advice.

Same thing happened to Billy Blanks and his Tae-Bo workout tapes. Same thing happened to Susan Powter and her Stop The Madness Diet. I think of how proud my parents would have been to know what a great author I was and how I could have made their lives so much easier. I think of all the good I could have done in the world and all of the people I could have helped, if not for swindlers like these. I went to the FBI with this many times, even before 9/11, and they just laughed, saying that my paltry $5 million was insignificant.

The law is supposed to protect honest people from unscrupulous and unfair business practices. Instead, it is twisted to help them rob us and all we ever hear when we ask for help is, "Sorry, nothing we can do." But there is... 

Ninjitsu is the most inoffensive and non-violent martial art known to man. But, it is a martial art and a method of self-defense. I therefore ask that everyone employ passive resistance to this cause. Boycott and protest the sale of these books wherever they may be found. It worked for Dr. Martin Luther King. It worked for Mahatma Gandhi. It will work for us as well. All you need do is nothing, refuse to participate in their crime. By so doing they will be powerless and broken. Henceforth, these books and this knowledge are KINJI-TE, forbidden, and will ONLY be given by me to those I feel worthy.

Now, there are a lot of pimply faced little trolls that have been jealous of me for decades because they think I am rich from all these books. This is the real story of what happened to all that money. If I had any of it, there WOULD be a Ninja temple where people could be safe from liars and thieves and cowards like these.

And, that is the name of that tune, ‘cause Ashida Kim said so!