𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐊𝐲𝐨𝐭𝐨 - 𝐌𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢: 𝐒𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥
Loved this short documentary. This documentary had helped me gain more insights on the reason behind Zanshin - how it comes from the ancient swordsman period. But when Alex mentioned how today we don’t carry swords around like them, it has suddenly given me the idea of “𝙯𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙”.
To us, kendo practitioners nowadays, we must also remain vigilant in our daily life following each training, 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨/ 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣 (𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚) 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙤. Winning or losing, self or others, 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙨 as soon as we can.𝙒𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙪𝙨.
The discussions about Miyamoto’s philosophy and Zen also really inspired me to look at the importance of this present moment. Not only for kendo training, but it also provided me very important insights on my understanding about Zen Buddhism.
Below are some quotes that really inspired me and I want to constantly reflect on. Thank you Sam sensei for sharing this with us.
----------------------------------------------------------------
“The 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 how to 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 and how to 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 is 𝙠𝙚𝙮. Musashi always trained himself to keep this balance“
“The dojo, or training hall, is not a place for winning and losing, is where student forge their minds to intense repeated practice.”
“[professor Bennet] Zanshin, or lingering mind, is one of my favourite terms. It means to always remain vigilant. Even if you think you’ve won, you must take stock of the entire situation. Never let your guard down. Today we don’t carry swords around like they once did, but we must face other perilous things like the novel coronavirus."
"𝙋𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩, 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙢 (𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙟𝙤-𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙣, 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩. That was his approach.”
“He repeats the deities and buddhas but had no need of them. 𝙃𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝, without divine assistance.”
“1000 days to forge, 10,000 days to refine, a bout is within a second.”
“It is a chance to affirm whether or not your training is going in the right decision. So, if you do not succeed, you are doing something wrong. It’s nerve-wracking.”
“It all began with the book of five rings….𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚: the water, the wind and the sky.”
“[Prof Bennet] 𝙆𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙤’𝙨 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙚.”
“[Catching a catfish with a gourd] the painting illustrates a question in zen: A large catfish if swimming in the river. It poses the question of how the man will catch the large catfish with his small gourd. - You can’t. How you solve this difficult issue is what makes zen dialogue interesting…..
…..𝙄𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚’𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣. In other words, how does one attain enlightenment? How can you capture a heart? There are no logical answers. It implies that you yourself must think hard to devise the answers.”
“Why did Musashi pursue Zen?”
“Pursuing the Way takes you to a spiritual level. I think Zen is about dealing with yourself and increasing that spirit….
… Musashi was always conscious about death. 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙎𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙮. Then death comes too close for comfort you think about how to live your day. If you do not live this moment, this day, prepared to die, you will not have a fulfilled life.”
“We must not lament for the life we once had - but think about what we can do now. That is the most important lesson.”
Comments