A Classic Text on the Japanese Way of the Sword
by Miyamoto Musashi, translated by Thomas Cleary
- Below you can find my top highlights from the book (it is not meant to be a summary)
- Quotes are edited for readability when context is required, and bolded to help structure the notes.
- Skim… then slow down on the paragraphs that catch your interest. Reflection requires pause.
- If it resonates, you can purchase the full book here.
PART 1: THE BOOK OF THE FAMILY TRADITIONS ON THE ART OF WAR
(Context: Written in 1632 by Yagyu Munemori, mentor of the Shogun, and head of the Secret Service.)
Note by Miguel: I found specially fascinating and at times schocking how he intertwines Zen buddhism with the martial arts. I have focused on the quotes that are relevant for individual mastery, not warfare.
The mindfulness to observe the dynamic of situations even in a group is an art of war. In social and professional relationships, since you are acting as you see situations develop, the attitude is the same as that of the warrior, even when there is no discord.
If you do not see the dynamic of a situation, you may remain too long in company where you should not be and get into trouble for no reason. When people say things without seeing others’ states of mind, thus getting into arguments, even forfeiting their lives as a result, this is all a matterof the difference between seeing or not seeing the dynamic of a situation and the states of the people involved.
On the need of knowledge being conveyed: What is written in these three scrolls is a book that does not go outside of the house. Nevertheless, that does not mean the Way is secret. Secrecy is for the sake of conveying knowledge. If knowledge is not conveyed, that is tantamount to there being no book. Let my descendents think on this well.
Since learning is a gate, when you read books do not think this is the Way. This misconception has made many people remain ignorant of the Way no matter how much they study or how many words they konw. Even if you can read as fluently as a commentary of an ancient, if you are unaware of the principles, you cannot make the Way your own.
Nevertheless, even though this is so, it is also hard to reach the Way without learning.
When you do not know the principle, nothing at all comes to fruition. In all things, uncertainty exists because of not knowing. Things stick in your mind because of being in doubt. When the principle is clarified, nothing sticks in your mind. This is called consummating knowledge and perfecting things. Since there is no longer anything sticking in your mind, all your tasks become easy to do.
The practice of all the arts is for the purpose of clearing away what is on your mind. In the beginning, you do not know anything, so paradoxically you do not have any questions on your mind and you are obstructed by that. This makes everything difficult to do.
When what you have studied leaves your mind entirely, and practice also disappears, then, when you perform whatever art you are engaged in, you accomplish the techniques easily without being inhibited by concern over what you have learned. This is sponteously conforming to learning without being consciously aware of doing so.
Consummating vs Perfecting: To learn all the sword strokes, the physical postures, and the focus of the yes, to thoroughly learn all there is to learn and practice it, is the spirit of consummating knowledge. Then, when you have succeeded in learning, when everything you have learned disappears from your conscious mind and you become innocent, this is the spirit of perfecting things.
You do not even know where your own mind is.
The learning is for the purpose of reaching this state. Once you have learned this successfully, learning disappears.
This is the ultimate sense and the progressive transcendentalism of all the Zen arts. Forgetting learning, relinquishing mind, harmonizing without any self-conscious knowledge thereof, is the ultimate consumation of the Way.
ON MOOD AND WILL
Will vs Mood: The mind with a specific inward attitude and an intensive concentration of thought is called will. Will being within, what emanates outwardly is called mood.
If the mood rushes out too much, you will stumble. You should have your will restrain your mood, so that it does not hurry.
Lower your center of gravity securely, and do not let your mood become hurried and aggressive. It is essential to control your mood by means of your will, calming down so that your will is not drawn by your mood.
ON APPEARANCE AND INTENTION
Although strategy is falsehood, when the falsehood is used in order to win without hurting people, the falsehood finally becomes true. This is an example of what is called achieving harmonious order by means of its contrary.
ON SICKNESS OF MIND
To fix the mind obsessively on anything is considered sickness. It is sickness to be obsessed with winning … and it is sickness to be obsessed with putting forth all one has learned. … It is also sickness to be obsessed with getting rid of sickness. Since all of these various sicknesses are in the mind, the thing is to tune the mind by getting rid of such afflictions.
People who have successfully managed to pacify their minds … are unstained even as they mingle with the dust of the world. Even if they are active all day, they are unmoved. This is the state of people who have consummated Buddhism.
As long as you are not rid of sickness, you will be distracted by it and fail to see. When you fail to see, you lose. … If the mind clings to one spot and lingers there, you will miss what you should see, and suffer unexpected defeat.
THE LIFE-GIVING SWORD
Existence & Nonexistence: When a duck is floating on top of the water it is “present”, and when it dives under the water, it is “absent”. So even when we think something exists, once it is concealed it is nonexistent. And even if we think something is nonexistent, when it is revealed it exists. Therefore existence and nonexistence just mean concealment and manifestation, of what is essentially the same thing. Thus existence and nonexistence are both always there.
Misperception: If you misperceive the existence and nonexistence of abilities and intentions, even if you use a hundred techniques to the fullest, you will not attain victory. Every sort of martial art is consummated in this one step.
ON THE VOID
“Total removal” refers to the idea that one should get rid of all these sicknesses in one fell swoop.
When the mind is inactive, it is void. When the void is active, it is mind.
In the context of the Universe, the void is the master of the Universe.
In the context of the human body, the void is the master of the human body.
When dancing, it is the master of dance.
When the mind has found its proper place and position in the body and is settled where it ought to be, one is free in all paths. It is important to find this mind and understand it.
People all think they have perceived and opened up their own minds and are able to employ their own minds usefully, but very few people have actually found this mind for sure. The signs that they have not attained realization will be evident in their persons, visible to all who have perception to see.
When people are awakened, everything they do, all their physical actions, will be direct. If they are not up-right, they can hardly be called enlightened people. The direct, upright mind is called the original mind, or the mind of the Way. The warped, polluted mind is called the false or errant mind, or the human mentality.
There are two minds, the original mind and the false mind. If you find the original mind and act in accord, all things are straightforward. When this original mind is warped and polluted by the obscurity of the false mind covering it up, all actions are therefore warped and polluted.
Zen is understood to be a teaching that communicates this mind. There is also imitation in Zen. A lot of people say similar things that are not really the right path, so people who are supposedly Zennists are not all the same.
Enlightened people are honourable because they reduce the false mind by means of the original mind. In unenlightened people, the original mind is hidden, while the false mind is powerful; therefore they act wrongly and get a sullied reputation.
Whatever the false mind does is wrong. … Mistakes will also show up in what you do. Everything will be off. If you accord with the original mind, however, everything you do will be good.
This principle is relevant to everything, without exception. Rid of this sickness, the mind is healthy. This sound mind is called the original mind. If you accord with the original mind, you will excel in martial arts.
ON TRUTH AND UNTRUTH
Having seen all true principles, do not keep any of them in your chest. Let go of them cleanly, making your heart empty and open, and do what you do in an ordinary and unconcerned state of mind. You can hardly be called a maestro … unless you reach this state.
When you shoot, unless you get rid of the idea of shooting, it is a sickness of archery.
The normal mind, not upset by anything, is good for everything. If you lose the normal mind, your voice will quiver whatever you try to say.
The normal mind keeps nothing in the heart, but lightly relinquishes the past, so that the heart is empty and therefore is the normal mind.
Seriousness is not the ultimate realization; it is training in the first couple of steps.
FROM THE TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
Mood: embrace(s) the whole range of meaning of state of mind and disposition of psychic energy.
The normal mind: the mind in its pristine state, not warped by environmental influences.
Zen vs Martial Arts: Yagiu’s deliberate ommission of the last lines of the poem by Saint Manora (“When you recognize Nature, and accord with its flow, there is no more elation, and no more sorrow”) demonstrate the lack of complete coincidence between Zen and martial arts.
PART 2: THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS
(Context: Miyamoto Musashi was a masterless samurai pursuing a career as a dueler and an independent teacher of martial arts.)
Note by Miguel: much of the book concerns the actual art of face to face sword combat. However the reason the book has become a timeless classic is the depth of mastery of his craft, which goes beyond knowledge of tacticts and into embodying the awareness of no-mind.
The true sicence of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.
There are four walks of life: the ways of the knight, the farmer, the artisan and the merchant. (Note by Miguel: have the ways changed that much nowadays?, do we recognize their differences?)
But even if they are not your path, if you have wide knowledge of the ways, you encounter them in everything. In any case, as human beings, it is essential for each of us to cultivate and polish our individual path.
Thinking unhurriedly, understanding that it is the duty of warriors to practice this science, determine that today you will overcome your self of the day before, tomorrow you will win over those of lesser skill, and later you will win over those of greater skill. Practicing in accord with this book, you should determine not to let your mind get sidetracked.
This is something that requires thorough examination, with a thousand days of practice for training and ten thousand days of practice for refinement.
THE FIRE SCROLL
As I see the world, if a burglar holes up in a house, he is considered a powerful opponent. From his point of view, however, the whole world is agaisnt him; he is holed up in a helpless situation.
THE SCROLL OF EMPTINESS
The meaning of emptiness is that the realm where nothing exists, or cannot be known, is seen as empty.
Of course, emptiness does not exist. Knowing of non existance while knowing of existance is emptiness.
Wrongly viewed among people of the world, not understanding anything is itself considered emptiness. This is not real emptiness; it is all delusion.
Being confused, one may call a state of helplessness emptiness, but this is not real emptiness.
They turn away from the true Way by the personal biases in their minds and the individual warps in their vision.
Thinking correctly, clearly, and comprehensively, taking emptiness as the Way, you see the Way as emptiness.
In emptiness there is good but no evil. Wisdom exists, logic exists, the Way exists, mind is empty.
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