武道はあてなき旅
Budo wa atenakitabi
The martial arts are a journey without a destination.
The best martial artists know that there’s no there there. In the martial arts, it is said, budo wa atenakitabi (武道はあてなき旅) or that “the martial arts are a journey without a destination.” Thus, there is no there that we are trying to get to. There is no destination because the martial arts journey or douchuu (道中) is about self-development not self-perfection. If we think that there’s a destination, then our minds create an end point and a predetermined amount of time to get there. When we don’t get there or don’t meet our time goal, then we are apt to quit. Also, by thinking that there’s a finish line or end point, then our minds have already created a limitation and limitations in the martial arts mean death. Miyamoto Musashi said, ”It takes 1,000 days to forge the spirit and 10,000 more days to polish it.” A day consists of working eight or more hours and so the math works out to about 30 years without a day off. Author Malcolm Gladwell asserts that it takes 10,000 hours of study for the average person to become an expert but in Japan, a person is not considered a takumi (匠) or master level craftsman until they’ve spent 60,000 hours refining their skills. That’s the equivalent of working eight hours a day for 20.5 years without a day off. Martial arts is considered a high level craft since it deals with life and death. All higher level arts require ryuuryuushinku (粒々辛苦) or “toil.” To toil means “to work hard tirelessly” and the martial arts are all about toiling. Understanding this, every day in class, students and teachers should have a goal - something they are working on, something they are toiling on. I often ask my students, “What are you working on?” I am amazed when most don’t have a focus or something that they are trying to figure out. They think that just coming to class will make them better. They aren’t necessarily wrong as even Woody Allen once famously said that “90% of success is just showing up.” However, just relying on showing up is what normal people do. A martial artist is not a normal person and so they have to do more than just show up - they have to toil. To toil is to engage in a continual cycle of awareness, actively applying oneself (toil) and creating incremental change. Actively applying oneself means to be mindfully engaged in something to the nth degree or smallest detail. To do that, we must be mindfully working on something and not just mindlessly showing up. The greatest skill a martial artist can possess is the ability to toil and to do this we need to realize that training is a journey towards perfection but not the attainment of perfection. When we have this journey mentality, everything becomes either a lesson or a test. Lessons help us gain mastery and tests demonstrate to us where we are on our quest towards mastery. The higher we go, the more difficult the road and so the truth about life is that the quality of our lives might improve but at the same time life is only getting harder. It never gets any easier because one or all of the four undefeated opponents are always chasing us: the Grim Reaper, Mother Nature, old injuries, and Father Time. If we stop when we have arrived at a destination, then one of these opponents will catch us. That is why the best martial artists never stop because they know that there’s no there there.
Today’s goal: “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” - Banksy
Watch these two videos of Demetrius Johnson and his ability to never stop moving