Time to Live

Category: Books

  • Bushido

     

    Chanoyu

    Cha-no-yu translates literally as “hot water for tea”.
    The Japanese Tea Ceremony.

     

    To Be Sincere with Oneself

    From the Chinese ideogram for Sincerity, which is a combination of “Word” and “Perfect”, one is tempted to draw a parallel between it and the Neo-Platonic doctrine of Logos – to such height does the sage soar in his unwonted mystic flight.

     

    Sincerity

    Veracity or Truthfulness, without which Politeness is a farce and a show.

     

    Politeness

    Propriety carried beyond right bounds becomes a lie. Masamuni, the sword maker

     

    Veracity of Truthfulness

    Sincerity is the end and beginning of things; without sincerity there would be nothing. Zisi

     

    Hae tibi erunt artes – pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos

    These shall be your arts, to set forth the law of peace, to spare the conquered, and to subdue the proud.

     

    A Worthy Epithet

    The bravest are the most tender; the loving are the daring.

     

    Everything in its Time

    To rush into the thick of battle and to be slain in it is easy enough, and the merest churl is equal to the task; but it is true courage to live when it is right to live, and to die only when it is right to die. Anonymous

     

    Sincerity

    Sincerity is the end and the beginning of all things; without Sincerity there would be nothing. Tsu-tsu

     

    Grace in Motion

    If there is anything to do, there is certainly a best way to do it, and the best way is both the most economical and the most graceful. Grace is the most economical manner of motion. Bushido

     

    Etiquette is a State of Mind

    The end of all etiquette is to so cultivate your mind that even when you are quietly seated, not the roughest ruffian can dare make onset on your person. Ogasawara

     

    The Tenderness, Pity and Love of the Samurai

    It becometh not the fowler to slay the bird that takes refuge in his bosom. Bushi

     

    Empathy

    The feeling of distress is the root of benevolence, therefore a benevolent man is ever mindful of those who ae suffering and in distress. Mencius

     

    The Power of Love

    Benevolence brings under its sway whatever hinders its power, just as water subdues fire: they only doubt the power of water to quench flames who try to extinguish with a cupful a whole burning wagon-load of fagots. Mencius

     

    Everything in Good Measure

    Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; Benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness. Date Masamune

     

    This Once Was True

    It is impossible that any one should become ruler of the people to whom they have not yielded the subjection of their hearts. Mencius

     

    Requirement of a True Ruler

    Instances are on record where individuals attained to supreme power in a single state, without benevolence, but never have I heard of a whole empire falling into the hands of one who lacked this virtue. Mencius

     

    How to Rule

    Never has there been a case of a sovereign loving benevolence, and the people not loving righteousness. Confucius

     

    Requirement of a Ruler

    Let but a prince cultivate virtue, people will flock to him; with people will come to him lands; lands will bring forth for him wealth; wealth will give him the benefit of right uses. Virtue is the root, and wealth an outcome. Confucius

     

    Cowardice

    Perceiving what is right, and doing it not, argues lack of courage. Confucius

     

    Courage

    Courage is the knowledge of things that a man should fear and that he should not fear. Plato

     

    The Straight and Narrow Path

    Mencius calls Benevolence man’s mind, and Rectitude or Righteousness his path. “How lamentable is it to neglect the path and not pursue it, to lose the mind and not know to seek it again! When men’s fowls and dogs are lost, they know to seek for them again, but they lose their mind and do not know to seek for it. Mencius

     

    Rectitude

    Rectitude is the bone that gives firmness and stature. As without bones the head cannot rest on the top of the spine, nor hands move nor feet stand, so without rectitude neither talent nor learning can make of a human frame a samurai. With it the lack of accomplishments is as nothing. Anonymous Bushi

     

    A Power of Resolution

    Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering – to die when it is right to die, to strike when to strike is right. Anonymous Bushi

     

    Right Action

    To know and to act are one and the same. Wan Yang Ming

     

  • Cold Mountain

    A Buddhist monk named Han Shan got tired of life in the monastery and moved off to the wilderness. He wrote verses on rocks and trees to express his thoughts about life – these were collected and assembled in a text called Cold Mountain.

    The clear water sparkles like crystal,
    you can see through it easily, right to the bottom.
    My mind is free from every thought,
    nothing in the myriad realms can move it.

    Since it cannot be wantonly roused,
    forever and forever it will stay unchanged.
    When you have learned to know in this way,
    you’ll know there is no inside or out.

    Talking about food won’t make you full,
    babbling of clothes won’t keep out the cold.
    A bowl of rice is what fills the belly;
    it takes a suit of clothing to make you warm.

    And yet, without stopping to consider this,
    you complain that Buddha is hard to find.
    Turn your mind within! There he is!
    Why look for him outside?

    High, high from the summit of the peak,
    whatever way I look, no limit in sight!
    No one knows I am sitting here alone.
    A solitary moon shines in the cold spring.

    Here in the spring – this is not the moon.
    The moon is where it always is – in the sky above.
    And though I sing this one little song,
    in the song there is no Zen.

    Have I a body or have I none?
    Am I who I am or am I not?
    Pondering these questions,
    I sit leaning against the cliff while the years go by,

    till the green grass grows between my feet
    and the red dust settles on my head,
    and the men of the world, thinking me dead,
    come with offerings of wine and fruit to lay by my corpse.

    Yes, there are stingy people,
    but I’m not one of the stingy kind.
    The robe I wear is flimsy? The better to dance in.
    Wine gone? It went with a toast and a song.

    Just so you keep your belly full –
    never let those two legs go weary.
    When the weeds are poking through your skull,
    That’s the day you’ll have regrets!

    Today I sat before the cliff,
    sat a long time till mists had cleared.
    A single thread, the clear stream runs cold;
    a thousand yards the green peaks lift their heads.

    White clouds – the morning light is still.
    Moonrise – the lamp of night drifts upward.
    Body free from dust and stain,
    What cares could trouble my mind?

  • The Simple Way: Laotze (the ‘Old Boy’)

    Lao Tzu was born in the early seventh century B.C. Although Taoism began before that, he put his knowledge together in the ‘Chinese Bible’, the Tao Te Ching. Thus began the rise and spread of Taoism.

    It should be understood that as a religious text, the message is full of symbolism that can only be grasped with our intuition. The author is describing experiences beyond science and our senses. The common man of this age will laugh at this message – but take heed!

    When a superior man hears of the Tao,
    he immediately begins to embody it.

    When an average man hears of the Tao,
    he half believes it, half doubts it.

    When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
    he laughs out loud.

    If he didn’t laugh,
    it wouldn’t be the Tao.

    Out of the many translations of the Tao Te Ching, I prefer this one by Walter Gorn Old. The most essential ingredient to translating ancient texts is to have a degree of understanding of the topic at hand. His comments are apt and thought-provoking.

    It is said, a reader can only understand such texts unless he or she has read them seven times. So get to it! Read it slowly, backwards and forwards, then set it aside and ponder it.