China Boxer

Post edited 4:26 am – October 2, 2009 by SarahSunwalker

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As per request of member Crow, some philosophy from my perspective.

These are outakes from Bushido. It's very different than the Chinese wisdom many of you will be familiar with, and may not be practical for you. But I appreciate it:

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"There is no way to describe what a Warrior should do other than that he should adhere to the Way of the Warrior. Too many are found negligent of this."

 

"There are few who can quickly reply to the question "What is the Way of the Warrior?" This is because they do not know in their hearts. From this we can see they do not follow the Way of the Warrior."

 

"By the Way of the Warrior is meant death. The Way of the Warrior is death; when it comes to the choice between life and death, it is not particularly difficult; be determined and advance. The Way of the Warrior means nothing more than this. It means to see things through, being resolved."

 

"Saying like "To die with your intention unrealized is to die uselessly" and so on, are the words of cowards with only false intention. They are unresolved as to whether to keep to their original plan when faced with the choice of life and death."

 

"Every man wants to live; they theorize with staying alive kept in mind. "The man who lives on when he has failed in his intention is a coward" is a heartless definition. That to die having failed is to die uselessly is a mad point of view. This is not a shameful thing. It is the most important thing in the Way of the Warrior."

 

"If you keep your spirit correct from morning to night, accustomed to the idea of death, and consider yourself a dead body, thus becoming one with the Way of the Warrior, you can pass through life with no possibility of failure and perform your office properly."

 

- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

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"When the time comes there is no moment for reasoning, and, if you have not done your inquiring beforehand, there is most often shame. Study, training, and meditation are for the purpose of prior resolution. Above all, the Way of the Warrior is in being aware that you do not know what is going to happen next, and in querying every item day and night. Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstance, the way of avoiding shame is easy; it is simply in death.

 

Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat; he plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this, you will awaken from your dreams."

 

- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

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"The Body of a Rock." 

The following are the words of Musashi, taken from his Book of Fire:

"When you have mastered the Way of strategy you can suddenly make your body like a rock, and ten thousand things cannot touch you. This is the Body of a Rock.
You will not be moved."

"Open from all Eight Sides." 

This tale is recorded in the chronicle of the house of Terao; the Terao Ka Ki:

Once, a lord asked Musashi "What is this "Body of a Rock"?"

Musashi replied "Please summon my student, Terao Ryuma Suke."

When Terao appeared, Musashi ordered him to kill himself by cutting his abdomen. Just as Terao was about to make the cut, Musashi restrained him and said to the lord "This is the "Body of a Rock"." 

 

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"The Book of the Void." 

"The Ni To Ichi Way of strategy is recorded in this the Book of the Void."

 

"What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in mans knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void."

 

"People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment. In the Way of strategy, also, those who study as Warriors think that whatever they can not understand in their craft is the void. This is not the true void."

 

"To attain the Way of strategy as a Warrior you must study fully other fists and not deviate even a little from the Way of the Warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void."

 

"Until you realize the true Way, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from a viewpoint of the laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation, and the true spirit as the Way, enact strategy broadly, correctly, and openly. Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense, and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void."

 

"In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness."

 

"- Twelfth day of the fifth month, second year of Shoho."

- Written in 1645 by Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin of Miyamoto village in the Mimasaka province of Japan.  

 

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I love Ghost Dog!!! lol  

while we are on musashi miomoto the book of five ring on crossing th revean is a very important consept for martial artest