Musashi and The Way of the Sword (pt. 2)

By Greyson Gilbert

In the first article (find it here first, if you haven't read it yet), Musashi and The Way of the Sword (pt. 1) I gave a little intro to how i found this novel and some of the impact it's had on me.  The novel is called Musashi, a 1000 page Japanese epic written by Eiji Yoshikawa and translated to English. Miyamoto Musashi was a Japanese swordsman of the early 1600's, and the novel is a dramatic but historically accurate account of his journey to become one of the greatest swordsman Japan has ever known.  The Way of the Sword represents a higher calling, a calling that we are called to pursue in our own lives today. It is choosing the hard path, the path of discipline, hardship, and the path of honor. The book will challenge you in more ways than you thought possible, and I can't recommend it enough.

“The world is always full of the sound of waves.
The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing, and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it depth?”

I want to simply give you some highlights of mine from the book, yet this literally only scratches the surface of the wisdom and challenges held in its pages. I give a little reflection for each passage, but I encourage you to think about what they mean for yourself. There is no right or wrong response, as it will vary for each reader.

“People were born with two hands; why not use both of them? As it was, swordsmen fought with only one sword, and often one hand. This made sense, so long as everybody followed the same practice. But if one combatant were to employ two swords at once, what chance would an opponent using only one have of winning?” 

Musashi is the originator of the fighting style "Niten Ichi Ryu," meaning "two heavens as one." This distince style was his way of challenging the norm and pushing the possibilities, and honoring what was given him: two hands. It gave him an edge over all other competitors. If we took advantage of everything available to us, how much more could we be?

“Fighting isn't all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills.”

This can apply to life so well. This path is more than superficial. It is a discipline of the spirit that does not concern itself with the trivial, shallow nature of the world around us. This leads to the next interesting point Musashi makes:

“There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.” 

I read this and think of how the Lord has enabled us with his Spirit. He reminds us that we already have everything we need, we only must reach within, through wrestling and reflection, and rip it out. And sometimes, that ripping may seriously hurt. But it is worth it.

“True courage knows fear. It knows how to fear that which should be feared. Honest people value life passionately, they hang on to it like a precious jewel. And they pick the right time and place to surrender it, to die with dignity.” 

True courage knows fear. Death and dishonor was a huge deal in Japanese culture, and still is. A persons eternal destiny and legacy hinged much on the circumstances under which one were to give their life. We must hold life in a balance, as we are called to die every day to ourselves, yet not to die to just anything. We must not be foolish, but when we find that which is worthy, give all. This relates to another piece from the book:

“Think what you like. There are people who die by remaining alive and others who gain life by dying.”

“...you're going to find people from all over the country, everyone hungry for money and position. You won't make a name for yourself just doing what the next man does. You'll have to distinguish yourself in some way.” 

Wisdom given to Musashi from a wise mentor. 

“I want to lead an important life. I want to do it because I was born a human being.”

What is within us that causes us to be enthralled with such heroic, romantic, epic tales from books and movies, such Gladiator, Cinderella, or even Musashi? We were created with a desire to seek more in life than average. Press into that and seek simple, personal ways you can challenge yourself. It's who you were made to be.

“Enemies were teachers in disguise.”

Truth.

“He saw the white paper as the great universe of nonexistence. A single stroke would give rise to existence within it. He could evoke rain or wind at will, but whatever he drew, his heart would remain in the painting forever. If his heart was tainted, the picture would be tainted; if his heart was listless, so would the picture be. If he attempted to make a show of his craftsmanship, it could not be concealed. Men’s bodies fade away, but ink lives on. The image of his heart would continue to breathe after he himself was gone.” 

Art was central to the pursuit of Samurai. God is the great artist and creator, and we are made in his image. That is why we can see and feel his movements within the flows of creative outlets.

“You seem to be under the misconception that if you perform one brave deed, that alone makes you a samurai. Well it doesn't! you let that one act of loyalty convince you of your righteousness. The more convinced you became, the more harm you caused yourself and everyone else.”

This is a life pursuit, something we will forever be beginners at and never master; accepting this allows us to begin somewhere.

“Still, in a fight like that, you never know. There’s a superhuman element involved. All warriors have to face it; winning or losing is partly a matter of luck.” 

It's the truth. Sometimes life throws a left hook and you get rocked. The only thing in life we can bet on is that most of life we can't bet on.

“There's nothing more frightening than a half-baked do-gooder who knows nothing of the world but takes it upon himself to tell the world what's good for it.”

Frightening in a sense of deplore: people like this are just the worst, as you know. I love the language: "half-baked do-gooder." Don't point to the speck in another's eye when you have a plank in your own. Don't speak of things you don't understand. The path to wisdom begins by listening and learning.

The next excerpt comes from a section of the book after Musashi has become a well-known swordsman in the land. He seeks solitude to reflect and learn, and he chooses to take up the plow as his mission, just as fighting was. He learns through trial and persistence an incredible truth. Read and reflect:

“On the eleventh day, it finally stopped raining. Musashi chafed to be out in the open, but it was another week before they were able to return to work under a bright sun. The field they had so arduously carved out of the wilderness had disappeared without a trace; in its place were rocks, and a river where none had been before. The water seemed to mock them just as the villagers had. Iori (his student), seeing no way to reclaim their loss, looked up and said, “This place is beyond hope. Let’s look for better land somewhere else.” “No,” Musashi said firmly. “With the water drained off, this would make excellent farmland. I examined the location from every angle before I chose it.” “What if we have another heavy rain?” “We’ll fix it so the water doesn’t come this way. We’ll lay a dam from here all the way to that hill over there.” ‘That’s an awful lot of work.” “You seem to forget that this is our dōjō. I’m not giving up a foot of this land until I see barley growing on it.”

"Musashi carried on his stubborn struggle throughout the winter, into the second month of the new year. It took several weeks of strenuous labor to dig ditches, drain the water off, pile dirt for a dike and then cover it with heavy rocks. Three weeks later everything was again washed away. “Look,” Iori said, “we’re wasting our energy on something impossible. Is that the Way of the Sword?” The question struck close to the bone, but Musashi would not give in. Only a month passed before the next disaster, a heavy snowfall followed by a quick thaw. Iori, on his return from trips to the temple for food, inevitably wore a long face, for the people there rode him mercilessly about Musashi’s failure. And finally Musashi himself began to lose heart. For two full days and on into a third, he sat silently brooding and staring at his field. 

"Then it dawned on him suddenly. Unconsciously, he had been trying to create a neat, square field like those common in other parts of the Kanto Plain, but this was not what the terrain called for. Here, despite the general flatness, there were slight variations in the lay of the land and the quality of the soil that argued for an irregular shape. “What a fool I’ve been,” he exclaimed aloud. “I tried to make the water flow where I thought it should and force the dirt to stay where I thought it ought to be. But it didn’t work. How could it? Water’s water, dirt’s dirt. I can’t change their nature. What I’ve got to do is learn to be a servant to the water and a protector of the land.” In his own way, he had submitted to the attitude of the peasants. On that day he became nature’s manservant. He ceased trying to impose his will on nature and let nature lead the way, while at the same time seeking out possibilities beyond the grasp of other inhabitants of the plain. The snow came again, and another thaw; the muddy water oozed slowly over the plain. But Musashi had had time to work out his new approach, and his field remained intact. “The same rules must apply to governing people,” he said to himself. In his notebook, he wrote: “Do not attempt to oppose the way of the universe. But first make sure you know the way of the universe.”