According to what one of the elders said,
taking an enemy on the battlefield,
is like a hawk taking a bird…
even though it enters into the midst of a thousand of them,
it gives no attention to any bird other than the one it has first marked.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
When one has made a decision to kill a person,
even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead,
it will not do to think about going at it in a long, round about way.
The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy
and it is better to dash in headlong.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm.
When meeting with a sudden shower you try not to get wet
and run quickly along the road,
by doing such things as passing under the eves of houses,
you still get wet.
When you are resolved from the beginning,
you will not be perplexed,
though you will still get the same soaking.
this understanding extends to all.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness
Existing where there is nothing
is the meaning of the phrase:
Form is emptiness.
That all things are provided for by nothingness
is the meaning of the phrase:
Emptiness is form
One should not think that these are two separate things.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
It is bad when one thing becomes two.
One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai.
It is the same for anything else that is called a “Way”.
If one understands things in this manner,
he should be able to hear about all Ways
and live more and more in accord with his own.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The Way of the Samurai is found in death.
Meditation on inevitable death should be preformed daily.
Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace,
one should meditate on being ripped apart by
arrows,
rifles,
spears,
and
swords.
Being carried away by surging waves,
being thrown into the midst of a great fire,
being struck by lightning,
being shaken to death by a great earthquake,
falling from thousand foot cliffs,
dying of disease,
committing seppuku at the death of one’s master,
and every day, without fail,
one should consider him self as
dead.
This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Even if a Samurai’s head were to be suddenly cut off
he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty.
If one becomes like a revengeful ghost,
and shows great determination
though his head is cut off…
he should not die.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
as dictated to me by a recording of Forest Whittaker, from the motion picture soundtrack:
“Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai”.