騙されないで
Damasarenai de
Don’t get fooled
Don’t be an shigatsubaka (四月馬鹿) or an “April fool.” In T.S. Elliot’s The Waste Land, he opens the poem with, “April is the cruelest month.” April is supposed to be about renewal as crops are planted, flowers bloom and the snow begins to melt. In a “waste land” everything seems dead and none of these renewals are happening. A fool is defined as “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently.” Thus, an April fool is someone who doesn’t see the robustness of life which is happening all around them and therefore takes life for granted. Training in the martial arts is supposed to teach us about mujo (無常) or “impermanence.” As a warrior learns how to hurt or kill, they inadvertently learn how to live. They learn how to “live” by realizing the futility of violence and the reality that we are all going to die and so they try to make use of every moment of their lives. Martial arts training can seem quite foolish because most of us train for an eventuality which may never happen. Regardless, if an opportunity arises or not, we still have to approach our training with a sense of seriousness. Being serious gives us an edge and it is with this edge that we can come to realize the tenuousness of life and learn how to live and not foolishly waste our lives. There is a Japanese proverb: bakahashinanakyanaoranai (馬鹿は死ななきゃ治らない) which means “stupidity can only be cured by death.” The death we are talking about in a martial arts sense is the death of our egos. This is why in training we are supposed to “kill our egos” so we don’t take life for granted. Today, being the first of April, resign yourself to not be fooled into thinking that you are not good enough, that your life is worthless or that it has no meaning. Your life is very much not a wasteland and is full of purpose and meaning if you could only realize it as such. Don’t be an April fool!
Today’s goal: Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are not good enough.
Watch this video to better understand not being April fooled