Master Hughes Touches the lives of thousands Dai osho Master Hughes Master Hughes Helping others Meditation Center offers new training techniques by Hannah Buchanan Jacksonville daily progress One man is reaching the world one person at a time and he began his quest right here in Jacksonville. Master M.J. Hughes started the National Meditation Center for World Peace, a 501c3 organization, which specializes in humanitarian training, in 1987 with a lot of patience and hard work. He’s using the center to devote his time to reach people of all ages, from Jacksonville and East Texas to the rest of the world. I was diagnosed with epilepsy, and I was put on disability. I couldn’t work. I didn’t just want to sit around I’m not that type of man. I knew the kids here didn’t have much. With is own time, money and effort he created the center from the ground up. This lot was under water, I practically filled it with dirt, Hughes said. Then it was nothing but a dirt lot. I literally funded this by myself. Growing up, Hughes became interested in Asian culture, including meditation and marital arts. He used training from his mentor Master J. Kim and focused first on using the center to reach troubled youth in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas with his expertise as a master instructor in Jujitsu. I’ve been in martial arts for 30 something years. I’ve been teaching it for more than 20 years, Hughes said. I’ve been studying the Asian arts all my life. As proof of his love of the culture and ways, a picture at the center shows a younger Hughes sitting on a bed of nails, while other pictures show some of the thousands of martial art students who have been through his training and teaching. December 28, 2006 05:03 pm They go, who are you talking about? Something like this is in Jacksonville? Hughes said with a laugh. For 20 years, we specialized in working with troubled youth and law enforcement. This last year we’ve made a shift to more agency training. We’ve found its more cost effective. It’s a way to reach more people. We’ve had people from all over come here. The difference between the center and most agencies is the highly technical expertise. In addition to the martial arts training, the center also provides personal safety and self-defense training for women, anti-violence programs and other humanitarian programs, including bio-terrorism preparedness, emergency training; and community health safety and security.