A warrior seeks only to know contentment. Martial arts training teaches us about how to employ leverage. Leverage means moving something with the least amount of effort which will bring the greatest return. Leverage is then about knowing what is sufficient and sufficiency is about balance or contentment. The famous samurai, Date Masamune once said, “Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness.” Masamune’s quote is about striking a balance between strength and suppleness. When we train, we realize that the only real opponent is ourselves and so life’s real path is inner peace. At Ryoanji temple in Kyoto, there is a famous tsukubai or stone “washbasin” that was donated by the feudal lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni. On the face of the stone basin there are kanji characters which are surrounding a square 口. The ideographs alone don’t mean anything, but when combined with the square口 which means kuchi or “mouth” the characters become 吾, 唯, 足, 知 which translates as “I only know contentment” or ware tada taru wo shiru. Through training, we learn that the only thing to strive for is inner peace and not the outside world of competition, acquiring and materialism. The more we train, the more efficient our movements become, but at the same time we become more at ease. We become more at ease because our desire for external gratification becomes less and our inner desire for peace or calmness increases. Thus, as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nobody can bring peace but yourself.” Warrior training is about learning to be content with what we have and who we are as opposed to having what we want. Therefore, a real warrior only seeks contentment.
Today’s goal: Reflect on what you have done lately which created contentment.