A 17th Century Japanese View Of Our Game

[vluc]

While reading a book on the art of the sword (“By the Sword” by Richard Cohen), I came across this section that I thought was quite applicable to our game and want to share it with you. These paragraphs are from a chapter entitled “Where the Sword is the Soul” and address the Japanese view of the importance of the sword in their culture.

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“To a Western mind, the teachings of Japanese swordmasters can be either deeply attractive or puzzlingly vague, but on a practical level it is easy to appreciate the samurai goal of achieving a spiritual balance to sustain oneself in battle. To fight without fearing death or defeat, being able to meet an opponent without rancor, overcoming ego, and having a profound sense of calm when under the highest conceivable pressure are formidable assets, whatever the contest. However, even the nobles principles can become diseased.”

“A seventeenth century teacher, Yagya Tajima no Kami, listed six temptations to which swordsmen are prey; 1) the conscious desire for victory, (2) the desire to resort to technical cunning, (3) the desire to display one’s skills, (4) the desire to overawe the enemy, (5) the desire to play a passive role, and (6) the desire to rid oneself of any of the above”.

“For a samurai, mere technique was not enough to make him a master of his art; he had to immerse himself in its existential aspects, which could be attained only when he achieved a state of mind known as “mushin”, “no mind”, or “munen”, “no thought”. If this were attained, the samurai was said to have shin, or spirit, so that his skills would flow through his body independent of his mind.

[benos]

I like number 6.

[BigDave]

Nice.

Man, how that translates. Not only to shooting though. I'll take #6 as well, thank you.

[SiG Lady]

No. 6 is Transcendence.

Transcendence is good...

[TDean]

Wow! That's good stuff Vluc.

Thanks for the brain-food.

[sanzen]

how do you control the part of the mind that does the controlling?

[Duane Thomas]

You don't.

[blackdragon]

My martial arts instructor once told me" It's like going into your bed room at night, You just turn on your light. You don't make any specific effort it just happens". Free your mind and your ass will follow!

Ivan

[9MX]

smells like miyamoto musashi

[Merlin Orr]

Free your mind and your ass will follow!

Ivan

Well said! Simple and direct.

[rmills]

Bruce Lee once said:

"In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess".

[blackdragon]

Musashi Rocks!

Ivan

[istu]

Great post. Reminds me of a zen story:

After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man, "see if you can match that!" Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. "Now it is your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament, "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."

[eerw]

wow...great stuff...thanks guys..just what I needed tonight...