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| Iaido - The Art of Drawing the Sword I – ai – do = Being – in harmony – with the path After the unification of Japan under the sole rule of the tokugawa regime, the warrior class began to loose its func- tion. It had to search and find a new task. The confrontation with Zen Buddhism became a fruitful and nourishing source. The qualities of death and impermanence was something the warrior had plenty of experience with. Life became more than the sole service to a lord. The discipline became challenge for ones own mind, heart and body. The sword only was the instrument by which the depth of realisation could be distinguished. This process still continues up to the present day. The original technique to kill human beings began to be transformed into a form (kata) to confronate oneself with the defilement of heart and mind. Only a man who found inner peace can win without fighting, whereas he has no real interest in such confrontations. Inner peace is nothing what an ego can achieve. Where is an "I", there exists an inner opponent, and immediately one will find differences. Only the extinction of the I can be in harmony with the path.© The Consciousness in a natural state Man is a being of movement. If he does not move in the good, he moves in the not good. If a thought does not come here it will come there. What underlies the manifold changes is the human heart. He will never achieve to under- stand his heart and through this the laws of the heavenly world, which guide him to his own nature, unless he is endowed with a great power of will to mature through his exercises. The principle is without form. Its function can be shown at the instrument. Without instrument one can not recognize the principle. The wonderful blossoming of the source can be seen in the change of yin and yang and the divine principle of the human heart proves itself in the senssitivity for the four main virtues: kindness, sincerity, ethic and wisdom. The sword is directed towards victory and defeat, but when one comes to understand the inner core, one realizes that it is the natural behaving blossom of the heart. [Tengu Geijutstu Ron, refer to "Literature" ] Someone who has nothing in his consciousness, is a man of the path. A mirror, which has no own form simply reflects everything whatever it will be, without distinction. A man of the path is like that mirror. [Yagyu Munenori, refer to "Literature" ] It does not know anything of guarding, but not useless does stand the scarecrow on the tiny ricefields. This idea was not unknown in the western hemisphere: See following link: Kleist: Das Marionettentheater (German) Examination regulations |
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