About the Translation
This is not another book about Japanese business strategy. There is a significant difference between not getting a deal signed and having your head cut off. Business is mental. War is mental and physical. The true warrior has no problem understanding this difference regardless of all the hype suggesting that ‘business is war.’ It absolutely is NOT.
This is a book for ‘martialists.’ Not martial artists. The concept of ‘art’ leads to a misunderstanding of the warrior’s purpose and preclude a subjective relationship to form and function. Paradoxically, the warrior is all passion although he shows none and ‘kills’ without hesitation. The reality is one of neither subjectivity or objectivity.
Development of technique is essential to the understanding of purpose. Once specific technique is understood the warrior stops using it on a conscious level because of the limitations it imposes by having an identity. Knowing how to do something and actually doing it are not the same. Taking a life is not the same as taking money. This fundamental premise is the reason why samurai despised the merchant class even though the samurai understood the need for the merchant mentality. Cold-blooded businessmen do not understand the true strategy of the warrior.
This present work is done with the purpose of clearing up misconceptions of naive westerners and easterners to the ‘real’ purpose of the 5 Rings. It explains in depth the truths necessary to be comprehended before it is possible to come to terms with the teachings of Musashi. It is therefore to be studied as a ‘universal’ explanation.
I take full responsibility for all concepts presented herein.
Hanshi Steve Kaufman, 10th. Dan
Preface
This is not another book about Japanese business strategy. There is a significant difference between not getting a deal signed and having your head cut off. Business is mental. War is mental and physical. The true warrior has no problem understanding this difference regardless of all the hype suggesting that ‘business is war.’ It absolutely is NOT.
This is a book for ‘martialists.’ Not martial artists. The concept of ‘art’ leads to a misunderstanding of the warrior’s purpose and preclude a subjective relationship to form and function. Paradoxically, the warrior is all passion although he shows none and ‘kills’ without hesitation. The reality is one of neither subjectivity or objectivity.
Development of technique is essential to the understanding of purpose. Once specific technique is understood the warrior stops using it on a conscious level because of the limitations it imposes by having an identity. Knowing how to do something and actually doing it are not the same. Taking a life is not the same as taking money. This fundamental premise is the reason why samurai despised the merchant class even though the samurai understood the need for the merchant mentality. Cold-blooded businessmen do not understand the true strategy of the warrior.
This present work is done with the purpose of clearing up misconceptions of naive westerners and easterners to the ‘real’ purpose of the 5 Rings. It explains in depth the truths necessary to be comprehended before it is possible to come to terms with the teachings of Musashi. It is therefore to be studied as a ‘universal’ explanation.
I take full responsibility for all concepts presented herein.
Hanshi Steve Kaufman, 10th. Dan
Introduction
My name is Miyamoto Musashi. I have killed over 60 men in fights and duels. When I was sixty years of age I looked back upon my life and with a flash of wisdom I realized that all of my victories were based on either great luck or an innate ability or perhaps that the methods of other schools were inadequate.
When I came to terms with my own skills and abilities, the realities of what I had accomplished seemed to hold a higher principle which forced me to depart from the commerce of the world, seek isolation and tear my soul apart so I could examine what I seemed to know instinctively. I practiced and meditated constantly until I came to understand the workings of the spirit.
I am considered to be the greatest swordsman Japan has ever had. It was during my fights and duels that I developed my own style of two-sword fighting, Although I was committed to my sword I was also dedicated to learning painting and sculpture and poetry. I instinctively felt a necessity to be able to understand the arts and to be capable in them. My prime focus was on swordsmanship. I was not a particularly religious person although I know of Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism and am aware of their tenets.
What will be changed in my teachings in the passing of time can not be known. There are, however, definite warrior attitudes that make common sense for the martialist. These warrior attitudes are succinct and definitive.
It may seem that I repeat myself about the same thing over and over. While it is true that I do, it is to enforce my teachings upon you. By constant repetition you will soon come to understand my Way of strategy. I do not leave it to you to briefly get a quick idea.
The book of 5 Rings is divided into five sections called Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and No-thing-ness. Earth lays the groundwork for the study of the work. Water explains attitudes of warriorness through an understanding of strategy. Fire teaches fighting with the learning of Earth and Water principles. The book of the Wind describes the differences in my school’s style versus the styles of other schools. The book of No-thing-ness describes the ‘way’ of nature through unthinking misconceptions and conceptions as the true mode of being.
I have not followed the paths of other men. I have lived without the benefit of a teacher and by my own devices I became the master of myself and thereby master of the sword and the brush never differentiating between any of these ‘arts.’
It should be understood that without the assistance of a teacher many roads become open to a practitioner, some on the correct path and some on the incorrect path. It is not for everyone to be without guidance – only a few, and they are exceptional – can make a journey to wisdom without a teacher. One must have extraordinary passion, patience and self-discipline to make a journey alone. The goals must be understood, definitive, and no diversion can be acknowledged or permitted if one is to attain enlightenment within the aspects of a chosen art. This is a very difficult road to travel and not many are made for it. It is frustrating, confusing and very lonely, certainly frightening and sometimes makes one think in terms of not having much sanity left in order to deal with the everyday surroundings of their world. Also, there is no guarantee you will attain perfection. It must be self-defined without preconceived notion.
And so we begin….
HANSHI WISDOM PRESS 