Miyamoto
Musashi (c. 1584 – June 13, 1645) was an expert Japanese swordsman and rōnin.
Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his
excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. He was
the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship and
the author of The Book of Five Rings a book on strategy, tactics, and
philosophy that is still studied today.
There is
nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger,
richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek
nothing outside of yourself.”
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply
of the world”
“You must understand that there is more
than one path to the top of the mountain”
“Do nothing that is of no use”
“from one thing, know ten thousand
things”
“If you wish to control others you must
first control yourself”
“It is difficult to understand the
universe if you only study one planet”
“Perceive that which cannot be seen
with the eye.”
“Get beyond love and grief: exist for
the good of Man.”
“Do not regret what you have done”
“Today is victory over yourself of
yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
“If you do not control the enemy, the
enemy will control you”
“All man are the same except for their
belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them”
“Whatever the Way, the master of
strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful
people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear
busy.”
“The only reason a warrior is alive is
to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win”
“To know ten thousand things, know one
well”
“Respect Buddha and the gods without
counting on their help”
“You may abandon your own body but you
must preserve your honour.”
“Know your enemy, know his sword.”
“The important thing in strategy is to
suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
“The true science 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.”
“To become the enemy, see yourself as
the enemy of the enemy”
“It is difficult to realize the true
Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest
things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.”
“When you decide to attack, keep calm
and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of
constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.”
“No man is invincible, and therefore no
man can fully understand that which would make him invincible”
“Never stray from the Way.”
“When in a fight to the death, one
wants to employ all one's weapons to the utmost. I must say that to die with
one's sword still sheathed is most regrettable.”
“Whatever the Way, the master of
strategy does not appear fast.”
“It is said the warrior's is the
twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if
a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to
both divisions of the Way.”
“Step by step walk the thousand-mile
road.”
“When your opponent is hurrying
recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced
by the opponent.”
“Immature strategy is the cause of grief".”
“When you attack the enemy, your spirit
must go to the extent of pulling the stakes out of a wall and using them as
spears and halberds.”
“It is said the warrior's is the
twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.”
“You should not have a favourite
weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not
knowing it sufficiently well.”
“If you are not progressing along the
true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be
pondered well.”
“A thousand days of training to
develop, ten thousand days of training to polish. You must examine all this
well.”
“guard. It is in this sense that I
recommend the guard without a guard. Whatever the situation is, you hold the
sword so that you can slash your opponent.”
“The essential is to think that
anything you are doing has to become the occasion for slashing. You must
examine this well.”
“In sum, it is not good to let the hand
or the sword become fixed or frozen. A fixed hand is a dead hand; a hand that
does not become fixed is alive. It is necessary to master this well.”
“It is necessary to know ten thousand
things by knowing one well. If you are to practice the way of strategy, nothing
must escape your eyes.54 Reflect well on this.”
“Know that there are no other forms
apart from these five in the School of the Two Swords.”
“This is a truth: when you sacrifice
your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do
so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.”
“By knowing what 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 confusion.”
“Then you will come to see things in an
all-encompassing sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as
void.
In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom exists, principle exists, the way exists. Spirit is Void.”
