“The Book of Five Rings” by Miyamoto Musashi has been in my hands for a couple of days now. There is already so much I want to say with respect to what the book talks about. Nevertheless, I will refrain from doing so until actually will have finished reading. What I will do, though, is share with you a couple of quotes from it. The following are extracts from the first part of the book - The Earth Scroll.
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| 五輪書 宮本 武蔵 |
“With the science of martial arts of my individual school outlined above, by diligent practice day and night the mind is naturally broadened; (…) For people who want to learn my military science there are rules for learning the art:
1. Think of what is right and true.
2. Practice and cultivate the science.
3. Become acquainted with the arts.
4. Know the principles of the crafts.
5. Understand the harm and benefit in everything.
6. Learn to see everything accurately.
7. Become aware of what is not obvious.
8. Be careful even in small matters.
9. Do not do anything useless.
(…) Once you have learnt the principle, you should not be defeated even in individual combat against twenty or thirty opponents”.
“The science of martial arts is not just a matter of reading these writings. Taking what is written here personally, do not think you are reading or learning, and do not make up an imitation; taking the principles as if they were discovered from your own mind, identify with them constantly and work on them carefully”.
Cool, isn’t?
AMAZON: The Book of Five Rings
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to get a comment from you on my blog.
Yes, I think it is facinating that two strangers from different generations, different places can learn from each other.
I really liked your rules for learning military science. Wow, that could apply to so many things in life. I can even apply it to my own profession of photography. You read different things than I would and it is great for me to be able to find wisdom from something I would not have normally read. Does that even make sense?