Particularly in realms like the martial arts, an advanced practitioner is always expected to pay tribute to his instructor. By its very definition, this mindset is an ideal method of tracing one’s lineage to the past. You had a teacher, your teacher had a teacher, your teacher’s teacher had a teacher and so on.
 
For some, however, this is also a method to never own one’s responsible in a quandary. All they have to say is, “That’s how I was taught.” Or, “That’s the techniques and traditions of this system.” Meaning, as long as someone, particularly a teacher, is passing all ultimate ownership away from themselves and onto that someone else, they never truly own what they know, what they teach, or whom is responsible for what.  
 
Seemingly, whenever a new individual begins the practice of the martial arts, they hold their instructor in high regard. This is very understood, as they are the one who knows all of the techniques and is the one who is teaching them the methods of self-defense.
 
As time progress, however, there have been those students, who once they reach a certain level of expertise, perhaps receive a black belt, or something similar, they decide that they are better than their teacher. And, in some cases, maybe they are.
 
But, here arises the question, what is, “Better?” Is it because they can (perhaps) do the techniques of the system in a more proficient manner than their instructor? Maybe they feel they are a better instructor and can impart the wisdom of the system in a more precise manner. Perhaps they feel that their instructor holds to closely to tradition and does not allow the system to evolve. Maybe they simply decide that their instructor is not a good and/or moral individual. There are an untold number of reasons for why a student may feel that they have become the better proponent of the system than their teacher, but at the heart of this matter is the student deciding that their instructor is not enough.
 
This is not an uncommon realization to arise within the martial arts. In fact, it is at the sourcepoint for where many a new system of martial arts was formulated. But, then the question must arise, where did this individual, who has broken away from their teacher, gain their knowledge?
 
This question brings us to the point of this discourse.
 
There are those individuals, who learn a particular system of the martial arts, and they never move away from its core teachings. The techniques they have learned are the techniques they have learned. And, that is that. Thus, they are forever beholden to their teacher. They feel they owe them all respect and admiration because they literally taught them everything that they know.
 
There are many a martial artist who walks this path. For those who do, the first thing that they claim is that, “I am a student of whomever.”
 
This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is simply the way they define their emersion into the martial arts.
 
On the other hand, there are many a martial artist who expands on what they have been taught by any particular teacher. Some of these people have studied from several teachers. Others have simply learned what they have learned, respected the process, but then have emerged as a practitioner and/or teacher in their own right. They developed their own profound understanding and then developed a system that is not beholden to one single individual. Who does an individual like this pay tribute to?  Is it to their teachers? Or, is it to themselves?
 
This is perhaps a very philosophic question that most people will never have to answer. For the martial artist, on the other hand, this is a question that must be central to their mind.
 
On the broader scale of life, this is also an enquiry that each individual should ponder. Where has your knowledge come from and who do you own your schooling to?
 
The fact is, in life, if you do not have to take responsibility for what you say or do, and you can pass your choices and actions off as something you have been taught by whomever, life and life experiences become much easier as you are never the one to blame. If, on the other hand, you are the sourcepoint of your creation, then you must be willing to be held accountable.