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From The Zen Way to The Martial Arts
One day a samurai, a great master othe sword (kendo), set out to learn the secret of swordfighting. This was in the Tokugawa period. At midnight he went to the sanctuary at Kamakura, mounted the long flights of steps leading up to it, and did homage tothe god of the place, Hachiman. In Japan Hachiman is a great bodhisattva who has become the patron of Budo. The samurai made his obesisance. Coming back down the steps he sensed, lurking under a big tree, the presence of a monster, facing him. Intuitively he drew his sword and slew it in the instant; the blood poured out and ran along the ground. He had killed it unconsciously.
The bodhisattva Hachiman had not told him the secret of Budo, but because of his experience on his way back from the sanctuary, the samurai understood it.
Intuition and action must spring forth at the same time. In the practice of Budo there can be no conscious thought. There is no time for thinking, not even an instant. When a person acts, intention and action must be simultaneous. I you say, "Aha, a monster, how can I kill it?' or if you hesitate at all, only the forebrain is working; whereas forebrain and thalamus (the primitive, central brain) and action must all coincide, in the same instant, identical--just as the moon's reflection on the surface of the stream is never still, while the moon itself shines and does not move. This is hishiryo consciousness.
to be continued...
