Musashi's Lesson in Zen

My mother has a saying that goes something like the body will let the owner know when it's not well. My body finally caught up with the pace I had taken it all week and I'm beginning to feel rather sick. I woke up early to meet with Kiyota Sensei to help him with his computer woes. Despite the lack of energy in me, my enthusiasm to spend any time I can get with this great man overcame any realm of pain.

It didn't take much to get him going again so that he could continue writing his book. Mainly, he needed the ability to use character accents and regain his access to email. At the end of the session, he thanked me and offered some home grown lettuce from his garden. I graciously accepted and offered my services again at anytime in the future. This is the loyalty that I have for my Sensei and there's a lot of respect between the teacher and student.

When I returned home, I spent most of the day immobile and tried my best to rest the body. I turned off the phone, watched a little television, but mostly took the day with ease. In my personal time, I recalled a lesson I learned in an Art History class regarding the great samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Now one may ask what a deadly killer has to do with Art History? Miyamoto Musashi boasted of over 60 duels in his lifetime and was never once defeated. He used his experiences to devout his life to the study of swordsmanship and ultimately Zen Buddhism. As a warrior monk, he was also an excellent student of calligraphy and painting.

The very same hands which were used to kill his enemies had produced some of the finest sumi-e or ink paintings. He painted in a powerful and direct style with an amazing economy of strokes. He is particularly remembered for his paintings of birds, such as Koboku meikakuzu or “Shrike Perched in a Dead Tree”.

This swiftly brushed image of a shrike balanced on a branch above a caterpillar that is crawling upward, presumably to its doom is a graphic masterpiece. The tension in the body of the bird can almost be felt as it balances before striking, and every flick of the brush bespeakes alertness. Miyamoto Musashi was a figure who vividly expressed the relation between culture and the samurai ethos, remaining a legend long after his death.

In particular, this bird painting was teaching a fundamental Zen lesson. The perched bird is looking out in the distance seeking its prey unaware that just below is assessible food. The caterpillar is making his way up to a sure death and becoming the bird's next meal. While there's certainly many lessons that can be learned, the most common is one which afflicts a lot of us still today. Especially so in the hustle and bustle of modern life and staying always one step ahead. In our endeavors to getting everything we want, we miss the closest things to us entirely.

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