The Way of the Samurai: Die Daily
The Way of the Samurai is found in death….If by setting one’s heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling. – Yamamoto Tsunetomo, from Hagakure
I like to think of meditation and enlightenment as being like a momentary death. We get the experience of transcending the small self when the ego falls away. The “me” we identify with doesn’t exist in that space. This grounds us. After meditation, the worries and concerns of our little worlds don’t seem so important.
Imagine a glass sitting on a table. Then imagine a bored cat next to it. Even the best-made glass is smashed when it is dropped to the floor. It is inevitable, in fact, that every glass will break, and even eventually reduced to dust. In one way it makes more sense to think of that glass as already broken.
When we come at life from the understanding that it is fleeting, it becomes easier to be in the moment. Like a samurai in battle, we can forget our anxieties and fears and do what needs to be done.
There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment. – Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Our physical Martial Arts practice gives us many great opportunities to practice living in the moment, and recognizing this truth. Take sparring in Kung Fu. If we miss with a punch or get kicked, that has a tendency to stick in our mind. Then when the next strike comes, instead of being able to respond to that, we are still attached to the last moment. And we fail again. We try to let go of that last failure as soon as the moment passes so that we are ready for this next one. It isn’t always easy. Yet when we succeed, it’s like magic. Our body and mind work together with perfect synergy.
When we practice push-hands in T’ai Chi, we have a similar experience of being stuck in our heads. We often dwell on thoughts like, Am I doing this right? Has my partner pushed me more that I’ve pushed her? Why did Sifu just make that face at me? Unsurprisingly, these thoughts don’t really do us any good. Instead when we are able to focus on our breathing, the movement of our body and the energy that our partner is providing us, our experience is much better. Not only do we have more success with the drill, but we have the ultimate success: discipline over our minds and a momentary destruction of the ego.
While for most people thinking about death can be quite a grim exercise, I suggest you do so from time to time. You don’t need to visualize your flesh rotting from your bones, but simply set yourself straight. Whatever is stopping you from being decisive, from doing what needs to be done in this moment, isn’t really that big of a deal. If you wait long enough, your glass will be broken.
