Synopsis
A story about a man’s journey on the way of the sword. His failures and success, his learnings and struggles and his love and hates.
Key Takeaways
Page 99 (PDF) – “It is not I who deserve the credit for capturing Takezō. It was not I who accomplished it, but the law of nature. Those who break it always lose in the end. It is the law that you should respect.”
Similar to the saying, “we are not punished for our sins but by them”
Page 119 (PDF) – “Sorry, Takezō. It’s out of my hands. It’s the law of nature. You can’t do things over again. That’s life. Everything in it is for keeps. Everything! You can’t put your head back on after the enemy’s cut it off. That’s the way it is. Of course, I feel sorry for you, but I can’t undo that rope, because it wasn’t me who tied it. It was you. All I can do is give you some advice. Face death bravely and quietly. Say a prayer and hope someone bothers to listen. And for the sake of your ancestors, Takezō, have the decency to die with a peaceful look on your face!”
This is just brutal. Like the above, we are what we create in our physical and mental worlds
Page 109 (PDF) – “You seem to be under the misconception that if you perform one brave deed, that alone makes you a samurai. Well, it doesn’t! You let that one act of loyalty convince you of your righteousness. The more convinced you became, the more harm you caused yourself and everyone else.””
Doing one good deed doesn’t make you a good person. Did you do that deed with a catch? Did you expect something in return? What you do and how you do it is important. Also do you think your better than someone just because you perform one good deed?
Page 117 (PDF) – “True courage knows fear. It knows how to fear that which should be feared. Honest people value life passionately, they hang on to it like a precious jewel. And they pick the right time and place to surrender it, to die with dignity.”
Life is worth a lot and somethings are worth more than life. What things are worth dying for? What things can help you?
Page 179 (PDF) – “These days he often felt deep admiration for other people’s work. He found he respected technique, art, even the ability to do a simple task well, particularly if it was a skill he himself had not mastered.”
Aristotle, “Excellence is a habit” A thing worth doing is worth doing well
Page181 (PDF) – “He stopped along the way to look at several well-known temples, and at each of them he bowed and said two prayers. One was: “Please protect my sister from harm.” The other was: “Please test the lowly Musashi with hardship. Let him become the greatest swordsman in the land, or let him die.” “I want to lead an important life. I want to do it because I was born a human being.”
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace, taking as Jesus did the sinful world as it is and not as I would have. Obstacles make the man. A man was made by patience and the odds against him.
Page193 (PDF) – “Having since learned from Takuan that life is a jewel to be treasured, Musashi knew that far from giving up nothing, he and Matahachi had unwittingly been offering their most precious possession. Each had literally wagered everything he had on the hope of receiving a paltry stipend as a samurai. In retrospect, he wondered how they could have been so foolish.”
No amount of money is worth a life. Use your life well, don’t spend it on things that are not worth it.
Page 196 (PDF) – “Matahachi had no doubt meant well, but there was something twisted
about his attitude. Why must he praise Musashi so and in the next breath carry on so about his own failings? “Why,” wondered Musashi, “couldn’t he just write and say that it’s been a long time, and why don’t we get together and have a long talk?””
Self pity and looking down on oneself when comparing to others is not good and we must always strive to look up and do our best
Page 181 – “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked. “That you’re too strong is the only thing I have to teach you. If you continue to pride your self on your strength, you won’t live to see thirty. Why, you might easily have been killed today. Think about that, and decide how to conduct yourself in the future.
Physical strength is important but so is mental strength, how are you preparing to get mentally strong, calm, detached and mindful.
Page 342 – “What’s important to a woman is not her body but her heart, and chastity itself is a matter of the inner being. Even when a woman doesn’t give herself to a man, if she regards him with lust, she becomes, at least as long as the feeling lasts, unchaste and unclean.”
We give our heart with our minds, when we fantasize about other partners it’s in those moments we become unclean, dirty and loose the chance to gain intimacy
Page 346 – “It was precisely this conflict of emotions, swirling incessantly in his veins, that constituted what the Buddha called delusion.”
Conflicting wants will drive you crazy, wanting a simple life but with nice house, car and clothes. These are conflicts.
Page 353 – “I will have no regrets about anything”, “I will have no regrets about my actions” and “I will do nothing that I will regret”
Said different ways, don’t do anything that you will regret including inaction.
Page 355 – “The difference between a beggar and the great wandering priest Saigyo lies inside the heart”
Life is all about how you take things. Are you a beggar or a wanderer? How do you take things in your heart?
Page 355 – “If even a wanderer like me has five good rice cakes, then it must be that heaven allows everybody to celebrate the New Year one way or another”
Five rice cakes, be grateful for what you have, always.
Page 438 – “Pictures should be owned by the people who really love and appreciate them”
Full your life with things that you love
Page 439 – “You should avoid the temptation of thinking that your dreams can be realized only in some far-off place. If you think that way, you’ll neglect the possibilities in your immediate surroundings”
You have gold all around you, embrace it and use it wisely
Page 507 – “Do you think the great saint Shinran was joking when he said that any believer has the strength of two, because the Buddha Amida walks with him”
Universal truth – I fear no evil for thou are with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
Page 509 – “The truly brave man is one who loves life, cherishing it as a treasure that once forfeited can never be recovered. He well knew that to live was more than merely to survive. The problem was how to imbue his life with meaning, how to ensure that his life would cast a bright ray of light into the future, even if it became necessary to give up that life for a cause. If he succeeded in doing this, the length of his life – twenty year or seventy – made little difference. A lifetime was only an insignificant interval in the endless flow of time”
Live a life worth living, do it for a cause and be ready to throw it down at any moment
Page 524 – “While believing sincerely in the gods, he did not consider it the Way of the Samurai to seek their aid. The Way was an ultimate truth transcending gods and Buddhas. Stepping back a pace, he folded his hands and, rather than ask for protection, thanked the gods for their timely help.”
Be careful what you ask God for, work like everything depends on you and pray like everything depends on God
Page 529 – “Mushashi clung to one basic strategy. He never attacked a group from the front or the side – always obliquely at an exposed corner”
Flank, flank, flank, rarely attack a problem head on
Page 542 – “Why Matahachi did persist in considering himself inferior? And why did he attribute his troubles to others. Nobody can create a worthwhile life for you but you yourself. What is done is done. Forget about the past. “
You are inferior to no one, you must persist in life and achieve all that you can whilst enjoying your life.
Page 583 – “Wasn’t nature itself big only when it was reflected in human eyes? Didn’t the gods themselves come into existence only when the communicated with the hearts of mortals. Men – living spirits, not dead rock – performed the greatest actions of all”
Look to nature for inspiration and remember that you too can inspire
Page 656 – “Only those who had grown their own grain and vegetables really understand how sacred and valuable they were”
If you get everything given to you in life you will never know how valuable your life truly is.
Page 661 – “If you do nothing but read you’ll lose sight of the reality around you”
Reading is inferior to doing
Page 663 – “Do not attempt to oppose the way of the universe. But first make sure you know the way of the universe”
This is deep, don’t try to change things but rather understand them and once you understand something only then can you act.
Page 680 – “Instead of wanting to be like this or that, make yourself into a silent, immovable giant. That’s what the mountain is. Don’t waste your time trying to impress people. If you become the sort of man people can respect, they’ll respect you, without your doing anything.”
Life is not about trying to impress people is about doing the best you can in each moment, living your life to the fullest.
Page 768 – “The way of the sword must have specific objectives, to protect and refine the spirit”
Think about weight training like this, its not just about getting stronger but making your spirit stronger and healthier.
Page 771 – ‘’Even more exciting was the prospect of being able to show people that they were wrong, that he had what it took after all”
This is at the point when Matahachi is offered the bribe from the Daiymo, these are the wrong motivations. Do things for the right reasons.
Page 783 – “Cowardice is the most shameful weakness a samurai can be accused of. You let several weeks pass after your brother’s death before challenging Sasaki Kojiro. You adopted the cowardly ruse of getting others to help you lure Kojiro here so you could attack en masse.”
Face your problems, don’t let others do the dirty work for you
Page 784 – “Beginning now, be humble, work hard and try with all your might to cultivate your spirit”
Be humble first, you don’t know everything, just do the absolute best you can.
Page 785 – “If one forgot about oneself and worked for the group, food would naturally be forthcoming”
Put others first and abundance will show itself to you
Page 787 – “Why, then, should I cling to a life that is fuffilled, when nobly given, For the sake of our great lord, for the sake of the people”
Protect your life nobly but when it’s time to die be prepared to let it go, give it nobly.
Page 792 – “Two drumsticks, one sound. People were born with two hands, why not use them. Custom had made the unnatural appear natural and vice versa.”
Two drumsticks, one sound. Two eyes one vision, everything is a circle, everything is connected. The same lesson of life is repeating itself over and over again.
Page 792 – “The way of the sword was to face death squarely, unflinchingly, though movement should be free as if it were purely reflexive”
Everything is in preparation, do all you can and then be in the moment.
Page 813 – “One’s self is the basis of everything. Every action is a manifestation of the self. A person who doesn’t know himself can do nothing for others”
Gnothe Se Auton
Page 813 – “There’s nothing more frightening than a half baked do-gooder who knows nothing of the world but takes it upon himself to tell the world what’s good for it”
Jordan Peterson agrees, clean your room and fix your life before you try to save the world
Page 841 – “The truth of the scholar, alone in his study, does not always accord with what the world at large considers to be true. Before I attempt to govern the nation, I must learn what the nation has to teach”
Life is more than books, you need to live it
Page 894 – “If you can bear up under any hard ship, you can experience a pleasure greater than the pain. Day and night, hour by hour, people are buffeted by waves of pain and pleasure, one after the other. If they try to experience only pleasure they cease to be truly alive. Then the pleasure evaporates”
Experience pain just like you will experience pleasure embrace it and know that it will pass
Page 895 – “To tell the truth, I have run up against a wall. There are times when I wonder if I have any future. I feel completely empty. It’s like being confined to a shell. I hate myself. I tell myself I am no good. By forcing myself to go one a new path open before me. It’s a real struggle at times.”
Even the greats feel like they are stagnating
Page 905 – “Leaves and Branches, how many people are thrown of course by irrelevant matters”
Focus on the things that matter don’t get hung up on the details.
Page 906 – “In his final analysis there was no one to rely on but himself. The shadow is not real, the shadow of the confused mind. The shadow may change shape but the universe never”
You can run yourself in circles looking inward. Look out to the universe and realize how little you matter and then you will see how small problems are.
Page 926 – “That’s what’s extraordinary about him. He’s not content with relying on whatever natural gifts he may have. Knowing he’s ordinary he’s always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he’s had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody’s talking about god given talent. That’s how men who don’t even try very hard comfort themselves?
It’s not what you are born with but how you use it. As Ludacris says, “It’s not the hand that you’re dealt, but how you’re playin’ your cards, boy!”
Page 948 – “We owe our life to three things, protection from our lord, the larges of the successive heads and the hardship after the battle of Sekigahara”
Be grateful for you have and give thanks for it every single day
Page 955 – “Everybody has a private and public life, behind the smile is a housewife weeping here heart out”
You do not know what is happening behind people closed doors. Always be patient, kind and all things with love
Page 950’s – Mushasi left with little fanfare and was focused and calm before the bout, little to no distraction. Kojiro has so many guests and was full of distraction, way too much pressure and distraction
Focus on the task on hand. Forget about the trees and branches.
Page 960’s – Mushasi mind is clear before the fight, paints, carves and is little bit bored. He is free but most importantly he is in the moment.
MJ gambled before big games to relax, its important to relax before going into great tasks
Page 968 – “If you were going to win you wouldn’t throw your scabbard away. You’ve cast away your future, your life”
Our acts scream out what we are or what is about to happen. Throwing a speech in the bin after reading it
Thoughts
A great book. This teaches you a lot about life and the challenges you will face. Mushashi is always ready to die for his cause. In each and every moment he does his best, no matter how much he is struggling. Keep doing all you can. Everything you can. This is a book you read and you become wise whilst reading it. 9/10
Stranger in Sydney 