Most people, regardless of their sincerity, miss the point of randomly strewn lessons from the master.
A major example is to “fight as if one is already dead.”
Fighting as if you are already dead is not the same as fighting with everything you have. Acknowledging the finality of all things as death is true; however, someone who does “fight as if they are already dead” does not appreciate the value of living a life filled with joy and compassion and carries a burden of continued frustration and anger.
Fight with the idea that the enemy is dead. By accepting that the enemy is dead, and you having trained accordingly, you are merely dispatching him, her, or it, with dignity and aplomb and not self-destructive egocentrism.
Fighting relates to who has the most determination to win. Musashi teaches fighting as the deliverance of another’s demise, simple and straight forward, and should not be based on who is faster or stronger but who is one with power and quickness, whence comes strength and speed. Think only in terms of destroying the target.
Aside from the above, consider General George Patton’s advice to his soldiers: “I don’t want my boys to die for their country. I want the other sons of bitches to die for theirs.”
©Hanshi Stephen F Kaufman
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