浅瀬に仇波
Asaseniadanami
Deep rivers move in silence; shallow brooks are noisy
A good warrior knows when to listen. A lot has been written about success, but an often-overlooked topic is listening. I don’t mean patiently waiting one’s turn to talk. When I say listening, I mean something in Japanese called kikikata (聞き方) or “listening or the way of listening.” Most of the mishaps are the result of miscommunications. Miscommunications happen because one or all parties weren’t really listening to one another. Think if we were warriors on the battlefield and were told to cover the rear of our army, but at that moment we were off thinking or trying to talk and just replied reflexively. During the battle, our comrades were overtaken because nobody was watching their backs. Or think of our partner who tells us about their bad day and without really listening, we just nodded our heads which resulted in them getting mad at us or leaving us. There is thought that our tongues have a connection to our minds and our center or one-point. Supposedly if our tongues are moving then we are probably thinking or talking and are then not centered or calm. The Way is in listening because to truly listen one must be paying attention from a position of calm centeredness and this takes a lot of training. So much in budo or the martial arts is about developing restraint, but this restraint isn’t just physical but primarily mental and emotional. Supposedly, we can only entertain one thought at a time so we can’t be listening while we are thinking or talking. Being able to truly listen is one measure of our depth of character and this can be seen in the Japanese expression asaseniadanami (浅瀬に仇波) which means something like “Deep rivers move in silence; shallow brooks are noisy” but it’s supposed to mean those who know little talk very much. To be a good warrior one must know how to truly listen and thus the Way is in listening.
Today’s goal: While you are listening, see if you can feel your tongue moving or if your mind is ready to speak. Then try and just listen and see what happens.