David mentioned a while back about wanting me to bring in some martial arts philosophies for discussion. I put in the samurai story to see if you guys enjoy it or not, it seems to have opened up an interesting debate.
So I will introduce to you what I think is the ultimate in martial arts philosophies (though there are many more), and that is the 'Book of Five Rings'
The five rings are:
The Ground Book
The Water Book
The Fire Book
The Wind Book
The Book of the Void
It was written by Miyamoto Musashi, who is widely regarded as the greatest swordsman who ever lived, in Japan at least. He wrote the book in 1645.
His introduction:
Quote:
I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time. It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Geshin, age sixty years.
From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of strategy. My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist, Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests.
After that I went from province to province duelling with strategists of various schools, and not once failed to win even though I had as many as sixty encounters. This was between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the Way of strategy when I was fifty.
Since then I have lived without following any particular Way. Thus with the virtue of strategy I practise many arts and abilities - all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics. I take up my brush to explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon. The time is the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, at the hour of the tiger (3-5 a.m.)
david hobbs
I like that. It is not martial arts as depicted by Hollywood but rather a journey through the self in order to arrive back where you began your journey, back to the self.
As a sort of majiky guy I can relate to this story and I believe that the strategist became the mystic.
This has been my experience of a few of my martial artist friends and I can always relate to what they say.
I have felt the energy flowing through my belly and it is quite an amazing experience. I have related my experience to a friend who is a martial arts teacher and when I said that With this energy there would be no need for physical contact he did not laugh at me but to my surprise agreed.
It would seem that the martial arts are a mystical journey for those with eyes to see.
