Miyamoto Musashi - Touch Upon ALL of the Arts
“When you see things from the straight way of the mind, you will see that each person has preferences of the heart, and each eye has its own distortions. Distortions turn your back on the true way. Make the straightforward your foundation, and the heart of truth your way. Clear away the clouds of confusion.”
“Accept and flow WITH nature, rather than aim to overcome and control it.”
How Miyamoto Musashi improved his martial art by learning Zen Gardening…
Did you know that #MiyamotoMusashi was responsible for the design of #zengardens in #AkashiCastle and #HimejiCastle ??
In his #BookOf5Rings, he writes that two of his essential #RulesOfMartialArts are to "Touch upon all of the arts," and "know the ways of all occupations."
In the 1620s, Musashi lived in Akashi, Harima province as a guest of its lord, Ogasawara Tadazane. Musashi's ability and reputation in #ZenGarden design was already so masterful, he was placed in charge of the design of the castle #gardens and a tea house.
Sadly, the #JapaneseGardens designed by #Musashi no longer exist, as they were turned into an athletic field.
Musashi started learning the #ArtofZenGardening through #farming. He and a group of #farmers cleared land, dug drainage channels, and fertilized and cultivated the land. In the process of resisting floods (nature), he developed many agricultural designs to outsmart the forces of nature.
His designs #failed. Every. Single. Time!
Through this process of failure, reflection, revising plans, and taking action (similar to #RayDalioPrinciples @raydalio) he came to understand that humans must accept and flow WITH nature, rather than aim to overcome and control it - a futile goal.
Musashi upgraded his swordsmanship by giving up the thought of #self-mastery through #self-improvement, and instead, changed course towards overcoming others through the power of #perception and #understanding of the #TrueWay. He writes of this understanding in the "#Void" section of his "#BookofFiveRings"
Eiji Yoshikawa's full-length novel "Miyamoto Musashi" gives a larger account of this, albeit in a fictionalized manner.