A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following:
In one's life, there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others. In a higher level he has pride concerning in his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.
These are the levels in general. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself."
Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, born in 1659, was a samurai of the daimyo Nabeshima Mitsushige in an area now known as Saga Prefecture in Japan. Later, upon the death of his master, Tsunetomo was granted permission to retire and become a Buddhist priest. Later, with the help of a young visiting samurai and former scribe known as Tashiro Tsuramoto, Hagakure was completed by Tsunetomo in 1716. Hagakure, a Japanese word that could be translated as either "hidden by leaves" or "hidden leaves" later came to be recognized as a classic exposition of samurai thought and came to influence many subsequent generations of readers.
Submitted January 20, 2018 at 08:37AM by WanderingRonin77 http://ift.tt/2BfiCmb
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