Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 86

Experts

the dream.” (1-55) In this case, the
stalwart warrior finds spiritual
liberation by detaching himself from
concer ns of winning or losing.
Ultimately, he will prevail over others
who are more 'calculated' in their
approach to gaining a favorable result.

One of my favorite anecdotes
demonstrating this point concerns a
party of blind monks attempting to
traverse a treacherous mountain pass.
“Once, there was a group of ten blind
monks walking through the mountains.
As they passed around the top of a
cliff, their legs began to
tremble, and although they
took extreme care, they were
overcome by fear. The leader
staggered and then fell off the
edge. The rest all cried, 'Oh
what a terrible end!' They were
unable to take a step further.
The blind monk who had fallen
off the cliff yelled up from
below: 'Do not be frightened.
Falling was not so bad. I am
now quite unperturbed. I
worried about what would
happen if I fell, and was
somewhat apprehensive. But
now I am very calm. If you
want to put your minds at
ease, quickly fall [and get it
over with].'” (10-125)
Sutemi is the requisite
mental attitude in all budo in
which the adept ideally
commits body and soul into

the attack in an act of total self-denial
and sacrifice, with no concern for the
aftermath. What will be, will be. This
attitude held the key to the 'Holy Grail'
of combat _ a superlative combination
of body, mind and technique which
made the warrior invincible in battle
bo th technically and spiritually
through a supposed transcendence of
concerns for life and death.
Although nobody fights with bows
and arrows, swords or spears
anymore, such philosophical and
spiritual underpinnings remain an
important feature in all budo, which
maintain intrinsic connections with the
samurai ethos and battlefields of old.
Although the forms are considerably
different now, the world of modern
budo is a precious legacy left by
samurai warriors who were
encouraged in their training to try and
confront their mortality at every living
moment. Their accrued wisdom can
provide modern practitioners with
fantastic insights into the beauty of
life, and how to live to one's full
potential, paradoxically based on the
sutemi ideal of self-annihilation.
Hagakure demonstrates this point
beautifully.