The best warriors learn to accept things as they are. When we don’t, we suffer. When the prolific swordsman, Yamaoka Tesshu was young, he was interested in Zen and visited a monk named Dokuon. To show his level of attainment, he said, "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of things is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.” Dokuon sat and smoked quietly and then just whacked Tesshu on the head with his bamboo pipe. This made Tesshu angry. "If nothing exists," said Dokuon, “Where did this anger come from?” Tesshu became angry not only because he was hit but also because he didn't want to be hit. Buddhist monk, Sengchan said, “The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.” Sengchan’s quote and Tesshu’s experience illustrates that we suffer not because we struggle, but because we have trouble accepting the reality of the situation. In training, there are no perfect attacks or responses. Waiting for what it is we want or how we want it is the moment when we get hit on the head. Our minds cause us to suffer as we get caught in a state of judgement between what is and what it should be. Furuya Sensei often quipped that the best students learn that “Nothing goes the way they want it to” or “Nandemo omoidori ni ikanai.” Accepting things as they are actually makes budo the art of “non resistance.” In battle and in life, the best warriors never suffer because they accept whatever comes just as it is not as it should be.
Today’s goal: Not everyone who struggles suffers. What are you having trouble accepting as it is?