ian

I think you feel like you 'know' a technique when you have had an enlightenment about it or you suddenly understand you know how to improve it. Then you have a few more years of using this altered technique until you realise there is more to learn. I've often come out of class thinking - yes; I can do this. And for a while that is true, but then I start to reanalyse it.

Although I think it is great to have beginners mind, I think the learning process is actually cyclical (as mentioned before). You refine and rediscover aspects that you've already learnt.

Last year I felt like I'd understood ikkyo (and indeed I can teach an effective ikkyo far more quickly to my students than I could 5 years ago). I know there are many different ways to do it, using the same concept, but I am certainly better at ikkyo than I was.