The Tao of Butchery

From Chuang Tzu, translated by Bruton Watson:

Cook Ting was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui. At every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every move of his feet, every thrust of his knee-zip! zoop! He slithered the knife along with a zing, and all was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time to the Ching-shou music.

"Ah, this is marvelous!" said Lord Wen-hui. "Imagine skill reaching such heights!"

Cook Ting laid down his knife and replied, "What I care about is the Way, which goes beyond skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now-now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes, Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants. I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the knife through the big openings, and follow things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint.

"A good cook changes his knife once a year-because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his knife once a month-because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine for nineteen years and I've cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is as good as thought it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness into such spaces, then there's plenty of room-more than enough for the blade to play about in. That's why after nineteen years the blade of my knife is still as good as when it first came from the grindstone."

"However, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties, tell myself to watch out and be careful, keep my eyes on what I'm doing, work very slowly, and move the knife with the greatest subtlety until-flop! the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife and look all around me, completely satisfied and reluctant to move on, and then I wipe off the knife and put it away."

"Excellent!" said Lord Wen-hui. "I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!"

This has always been my favorite passage out of what I know of ancient Chinese literature/philosophy. I am told that part of the point is the paradox of The Way existing in such unclean work as butchery. The direct analogy of the enlightened butcher to studying "The Way" of martial arts—especially swordsmanship—is uncomfortable to contemplate. But that is the paradox of studying the arts of war for peaceful reasons.

Quote on Perfection

“They say that nobody is perfect.
Then they tell you practice makes perfect.
I wish they'd make up their minds.”
Winston Churchill

Quotes on Science

“Science is the systematic classification of experience.”
George Henry Lewes (1817-1878)

“Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.”
George Santayana (1863-1952) “The Life of Reason”

Quote of the Beach

To myself I am only a child playing on the beach,
while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.

Isaac Newton

Quote on knowledge

I find that a great part of the information I have
was acquired by looking up something
and finding something else on the way.

Franklin P. Adams (1881 - 1960)

Quote on Instruction

“In ancient times, there were no martial arts schools as we now know them. Instruction took place wherever and whenever a teacher decided to practice or to share his wisdom -- whether in an open field or deep within a fog-shrouded mountain. Some martial arts masters claimed that the only school was on the battlefield.”

KENSHO FURUYA, KODO: Ancient Ways

Quote on Wisdom

The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.

Solomon Ibn Gabriol

Quote from Dave Barry

Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world.

Dave Barry

The Difference Between Strength and Courage

I don’t know who wrote this, but it is so true.

The Difference Between Strength and Courage

It takes strength to be firm.
It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to stand guard.
It takes courage to let down your guard.

It takes strength to conquer
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain.
It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in.
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend's pain.
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to hide feelings.
It takes courage to show them.

It takes strength to endure abuse.
It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone.
It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love.
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive.
It takes courage to live.

Quotes

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, “This Is My Story,” 1937

“There will be a time when loud-mouthed, incompetent people seem to be getting the best of you. When that happens, you only have to be patient and wait for them to self-destruct. It never fails.”

Richard Rybolt

Ulysses S. Grant – The Art of War

“The art of war is simple enough.
Find out where your enemy is.
Get at him as soon as you can.
Strike him as hard as you can,
and keep moving.”
Ulysses S. Grant

Words To Live By – Rev. David Carr

“Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make yours any brighter.
The joy in life comes not from surpassing another's gifts,
but in fully manifesting our own.”

A deep thought of Jack Handey

"To me, Judo is like a ballet,
except there's no music,
no choreography,
and the dancers knock each other down."
-Jack Handey

Jack Handey is an American comedian and comic writer. He is famous for his Deep Thoughts, a large body of surrealistic one-liner jokes, as well as his "Fuzzy Memories" and "My Big Thick Novel" shorts.

Quotes from Patrick Lafcadio Hearn on Judo/Jujutsu

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (06/27/1850 – 09/27/1904) or Koizumi Yakumo, his name after gaining Japanese citizenship, was an author, best known for his books about Japan. He is especially well-known to the Japanese for his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories.

In 1891, on his return from Europe, Jigoro Kano (the father of Judo) was appointed principal at Kumamoto College. During his tenure there Kano asked Lafcadio Hearn to join the faculty as a lecturer in English literature. It was during this time that Lafcadio Hearn began his study of judo.

“What Western brain could have elaborated this strange teaching, -never to oppose force by force, but only direct and utilize the power of attack; to overthrow the enemy solely through his own strength, -to vanquish him solely by his own efforts? Surely none! The Western mind appears to work in straight lines; the Oriental, in wonderful curves and circles. Yet how fine a symbolism of Intelligence as a means of foiling brute force! Much more than a science of defense in this jiujitsu: it is a philosophical system; it is an economical system; it is an ethical system, (indeed, I may say that a very large part of jiujutsu training is purely moral); and it is, above all, the expression of a racial genius as yet but faintly perceived by these Powers who dream of further aggrandizement in the East.”
Lafcadio Hearn, Out of the East, 1895

“I fear I cannot explain at all, I can only suggest. Everyone knows what a 'counter' in boxing means. I cannot use it for an exact simile, because the boxer who counters opposes his whole force to the impetus of the other, while a jujutsu expert does precisely the contrary. Still, there remains this resemblance between a counter in boxing and yielding in jujutsu, that the suffering is in both cases due to the uncontrollable forward impetus of the man who receives it. I may venture then to say that in jujutsu, there is a sort of counter for every twist, wrench, pull, push or bend, only the jujutsu expert does much more than yield to them. He aids them with a wicked slight that causes the assailant to pull out his own shoulder, to fracture his own arm or, in a desperate case, even to break his own neck or back.”

The Secret

A would-be disciple haunted Nasrudin, asking him question after question. The Mulla answered everything, and realized that the man was not completely satisfied: although he was in fact making progress.

Eventually the man said: 'Master, I need more explicit guidance.'

'What is the matter?'

"I have to keep on doing things; and although I progress, I want to move faster. Please tell me a secret, as I have heard you do with others.'

'I will tell you when you are ready for it.'

The man later returned to the same theme.

'Very well. You know that your need is to emulate me?'

'Yes.'

"Can you keep a secret?'

'I would never impart it to anyone.'

'Then observe that I can keep a secret as well as you can.'

--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, by Idres Shah

Something to think about…

“The Way is a specific and determinedly deliberate methodology. The ancient masters must be studied constantly without respite, even when the practitioner thinks he has grasped the knowledge.”
Miyamoto Musashi

“The way of the warrior is a Way of life and can never be considered as a hobby unless you are seeking only to impress others with your techniques.”
Miyamoto Musashi

“I think that the day Japanese martial ways become sports will be the day they die. Sports emphasize the fun of wining and losing and even physical education is only a secondary concern. They are totally devoid of character training. This is not what martial arts are about. If the river of Japanese martial arts should ever flow into the ocean of sporting activities, it is sure to become polluted by salt water before it has flowed even one hundred yards.”
Minoru Mochizuki
Yoseikan Dojo Shizuoka City
11/22/82

“Budo at its best is not a game, a sport, or even a method of self-defense, but a method for the development of human potential.”
John J. Donohue
“The Forge of the Spirit Structure, Motion, and Meaning in the Japanese Martial Tradition.” 1991

“Budo is concerned with an individual’s search for something, where bujutsu is concerned with the application of the art of the technique. Budo, is the way, where bujutsu refers to the technique. Through the practice of bujutsu, the way of budo can be followed. The literal translation of the word budo is “not to use spear” which means “not to fight” or “stop fighting.” The way of budo is not to be concerned with winning… winning, sport and the competitive spirit are not the way to understand budo. It is rare to come across a real artist who practices budo, I doubt if many really exist.
Gogen Yamaguchi

“If your mind is not projected into your hands even 10,000 techniques will be useless.”
Yamaoka Tesshu

“One finds life through conquering fear of death within one’s mind. Empty the mind of all forms of attachment, make a go-for-broke charge and conquer the opponent with one decisive slash.”
Togo Shigekata