The Gate to The Way

Greetings each.
I wasn’t sure on how I should title this post but as I am reading a favourite book of mine ‘The Life Giving Sword’ Yagyu Muninori It has given me much insite not only in my study of Budo but also as a human being.

I hope it will give food for thought. I’m in no doubt some of it will be controversial ,wouldn't be me if it wasn’t lol.:woohoo: :woohoo: I hope you enjoy it all the same .

The Great Learning..Is the gate for the beginners mind or student. When arriving at a house you first go through the gate. The gate is a sign that you have approached the house and will in turn meet the master. Learning is also the gate that approaches the way (understanding the Force). When you pass through the gate you find yourself at The way

Written words are not the key to The way. These words are the gate. There are many people who are unaware of The way ,regardless of how much they have learned. They may read very skilfully but they remain unaware of The way. Nevertheless it would be difficult to approach The way without study. There are also many people who are naturally in harmony with The way and have never studied at all.

The Great Learning says ..Extend your knowledge to all things .In short this will lead to ‘Emptiness’ . This of course is a lifetimes study .If you do not know all things ,you will have doubt.When you have doubt the subject will remain in your mind. Only when every stone is left unturned will you be ’Clear'. EG Reciting the alphabet comes naturally it is not in your mind until you need it . That moment before you need it ,is Emptiness. Again, counting 1-10 is natural. It is not in your mind until needed.

When there is nothing in your mind, things are easy to do. The study of the Way is done for the sake of making a clean sweep of your mind. Oddly in the beginning from our first breathe we are in perfect harmony because we know nothing we are empty of clutter and have no doubt because we have no knowledge. (This in my view is the circle of the way )

We are constantly obstructed by many things as we learn and they will not go away until you are sure and understand it and so you remove that issue from your mind.
When you are required to use what you have learned it will come in to use with ease and without thought and will clear when finished with.We must learn to do this with all that we learn and only when satisfied, should we move on to the next subject.

To end, another passage from this book , I hope will help in trying to achieve a passage to the Way.

KI (The Force) and Will.
The mind that takes up a stance within and intently considers a matter is called the will. The will is internal but when it is manifested externally it is called Ki. The will can be said to be the master and Ki the servant (or is it the other way round ? That is for you as an individual) Will is internal and uses Ki. If Ki overruns its bounds, it stumbles. Ki is reined in by will and should not be made to hurry. It is essential to remain calm so that Ki is reined in by will and will is not dragged along by KI.This is perfect balance , harmony a passage to the way.

Yours in the Spirit of Budo

Mike

That makes alot of sense.My favorite subject is history,I do realy well at and never worry about it when we have tests.Math on the other had has always given me trouble, so its always on my mind,it bothers me.Im not sure i have the right i dea but thats how i interprated what you wrote.thanks for posting!

Greetings Lycaenion

Thank you for your reply. That is pretty much how I see it. I'm sure many will take a differnt view and that is fine.We are all individual.

Some folk just have a natural gift to do things , where others may find the same task very difficult . I guess that's why there are so many different trades around the world . One would hpe it helps to keep a balance.

Yours in the spirit of Budo

Mike