When you train and compete for years—whether in sport, art, or spiritual discipline—reaching pinnacles of mastery or enlightenment becomes less about repetition and more about embracing teacherless knowledge while learning to see beyond what you already know.

This holds true for beginners as well. In fact, it’s especially important early on, when you are still forming your foundation and activating your potential.

Whether you’re starting fresh or pushing through a plateau, real growth requires something deeper than just drills.

It requires contemplation.
Commitment.

And a constant rebuilding of your foundation—with fierce clarity about what you’re becoming.

A Journey Through Loss and Renewal

After years of neglecting my training—while caring for my mother through her passing, then losing my sister, and days later, my father—I felt emptied out.

I lost my balance.
My energy dipped.
Focus scattered in all directions.
Business was hard. Life felt unanchored.

Returning to the Mountains

So I went to the mountains.

I always go to the mountains.

They are where I’ve cultivated my spirit for as long as I can remember.
They are my training ground—for meditation, movement, and healing.

Not a gym.
Not a studio.
The wild.

And this time, I wasn’t there to perform or perfect. I was there to begin again.
To rebuild.
To re-root.

I entered what I call “Teacherless Knowledge.”
I hiked for almost three years—no agenda, no mental calculations, no contrived movements.

Only presence.
Listening deeply.
The trees surround me.

I entered the Heart of Trees—the practice known as Zhan Zhuang.

The Wisdom of Zen Master Takuan

Zen Master Takuan (1573–1645) wrote:

“Penetrate the place where heaven and earth have not divided and yin and yang do not reach. This is where the experience will attain success.

It’s the teacherless learning.

Whether walking, sitting, or speaking—keep up the relentless effort to see directly.

Then over the years, it will be as if you found a lamp in the night—attaining teacherless knowledge and exercising uncontrived action.

You transcend the ordinary without leaving the ordinary.

This is the Tai-A—the peerless sword that holds no equal.

The Tai-A sword is inherent in everyone—complete and perfect. It refers to the mind.
The mind is not born at birth and does not die at death—it is the original face.”

Uncovering Teacherless Knowledge

“Keeping up unremitting effort…
Constantly focusing on seeing directly…
Returning again and again to the self…
Investigating the principle…”

This is how you uncover teacherless knowledge—
Not through external mastery, but through internal revelation.

It is uncovered, not taught.
It is activated, not acquired.

Why I Return to the Mountains

This is why I go to the mountains—again and again.

It’s where I move.
It’s where I listen.
The Earth becomes my temple, my dojo, my remembering.

Seeking the Heart of Trees

Summer or winter, no matter the season—
I seek that quiet place in nature,
Where the Heart of Trees whispers the teachings no one else can give.

Where the true foundation is built—
Not for the world’s approval,
But for the soul’s alignment.

Where you come face to face with something vast and unspoken.

Where you begin to know…
without being taught.

The Path to Teacherless Knowledge: Awakening Mastery Beyond Instruction

True mastery isn’t found in repetition alone—it’s discovered in stillness, presence, and deep internal knowing.

Whether in the wild or within yourself, the path to teacherless knowledge is one of continuous awakening.

Keep listening. Keep rebuilding. And trust that the wisdom you seek is already within you.