Takuan, Musashi and the Snake

Once upon a time the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi was practicing zazen beside a stream with his life-long friend and mentor, Zen Master Takuan Soho.

Suddenly, he became aware of another presence nearby. From the corner of his eye, he saw a deadly viper slithering into the clearing toward Takuan.

Knowing that the slightest movement might frighten the venomous snake into attacking his friend, Musashi kept watching the serpent in utter stillness. When Takuan himself became aware of the snake's presence, a faint smile appeared on his face. The snake came toward him, and peacefully crawled across his thighs.

The serpent continued on its course toward Musashi. Several feet away, sensing Musashi's presence, he recoiled, preparing to attack, but suddenly scurried away into the bushes. Musashi had not moved. His fierce spirit undisturbed by the threat of the viper was so palpable that the snake had speedily moved away in fright.

Most men would be proud to possess such an intimidating aura, but Musashi felt only shame as he suddenly understood his own greatest shortcoming.

"What troubles you?" asked Takuan.

"All my life, I have trained myself to develop such skill that no man would ever dare attack me. Now that I have reached my goal, all sentient beings instinctively fear me. You saw how the snake fled from me!"

"I saw it", the priest said. "Since it dared not attack you, you defeated it without striking a blow, and because of that, both the snake and you are alive now. Why does that sadden you?"

"Because I am so strong that no one can ever grow close to me. I can never have true peace." Musashi pointed a finger at the priest. "Not like you", he said with admiration. "You did not fear the snake, nor did the snake fear you. Your spirit is so calm, so natural, that the snake treated you no differently than the rocks, the trees, or the wind. People accept you that way, too."

Takuan smiled and resumed his Zazen.

Musashi spent the last years of his life cultivating Heijoshin, the state of mind demonstrated by Master Takuan.

Please consider the similar story of the contemporary encounter between a Korean Tiger and Master Swordsman Yagyu Munenori, and the same Zen Master Takuan. Their main purpose is to illustrate the power of Heijoshin.

At a lower level, you might also want to ponder the point developed by Master Takuan. Because of the strength demonstrated by Musashi, no confrontation occurred, and no body got hurt. This is somehow the same as the doctrine of military dissuasion : You know that I am soooo strong that if you attack me, you will pay so very dearly that you won't even dream about it. It is in a sense a good thing - nobody gets hurt. However, the reason it occurs is that there is a balance of strength. If for an unknown reason the balance is broken, then there is no more deterrent, and war and destruction happen...

Takuan, Munenori and the Tiger

In November, in the 13th year of Kanyei (1636), a Korean ambassador came to pay tribute to the Third Shogun Tokugawa Iyemitsu. He presented to him various Korean products, among them a live tiger.

One day, the Shogun went to see the tiger with his retainers. Zen Master Takuan and Kenjutsu Master Yagyu Munenori were among them.

The tiger was about 5 feet in height. The Shogun was interested in its fur. "How fine its fur!" he said to his attendants, "Can any of you go and touch it?"

No one answered.

"Does it look so fierce to you?" said the Shogun. "What do you think Yagyu" he inquired."You are a master swordsman and expert at military arts. Surely your kenjutsu ability can overcome the tiger. When you succeed it will do credit to the virtues of Japanese Military expertise and will be an honor to Japan abroad."

Munenori bowed to the Shogun and rose quietly. With an iron fan in hand, he approached the tiger. Munenori stood before the pen, and ordered the gardener to open its door. "Is it safe to open?" inquired the gardener. "It is safe,' replied Munenori. At this, the gardener opened the pen. The tiger held itself in readiness to leap, but Munenori entered the pen fearlessly, holding out the iron fan in front. All looked on with breathless interest, and the Korean envoys stared in amazement.

The animal became very nervous. But Munenori remained calm. He edged along, holding out the iron fan in front pointing it at the animal's eye. It gave a roar. Munenori kept his eye upon its breathing, aimed his fan at the tiger and gave a loud kiai. The tiger reluctantly drew back. The people were astonished. When Munenori shouted once more, the tiger bent its forelegs and stooped with its jaw on the ground. Munenori smiled and walked slowly out of the pen.

The Korean envoys were impressed...

Munenori bowed before his lord.

"You have done well, Lord Yagyu," said Master Takuan. "This display of your ability surely will convince every ruler of foreign lands of the glory of Japanese Military Arts, I have been your friend for many years but had never seen you display your ability to that extent before.

As Takuan had spoken, the Shogun asked him. "The tiger was crushed by Yagyu's swordsmanship. If you could tame it by virtue of Buddhism, it would be the greatest national glory in foreign countries. I wish you to try at once, Takuan."

Takuan laughed and said, "It may not be so interesting or glorious. But as you wish my Lord, let me tame the animal."

He bowed to the Shogun and went down to the yard, walked straight to the tiger and opened the pen himself. When the gardener tried to stop him, he had already entered the pen.

The tiger became roared in anger. Fearless and smiling the Priest entered the pen and closed it himself. He stood before the tiger, turning up his sleeves.

The people opened their eyes in amazement at his boldness, being unable to guess what he intended to do. The tiger at first appeared ready to spring at the intruder, but far from taking the offensive, it stepped back with its back raised and rounded like a rock, overwhelmed by the Priest's friendly manners.

Takuan walked toward the tiger, bent a little forward and thrust out his left hand before the nose of the animal who licked it.

Yagyu Munenori sighed and lowered his head, struck with admiration.

Takuan stroked the tiger on the head, he laid down like a puppy and played with him.

The Master laughed merrily and sat astride the tiger.

In future posts :  

• The meeting of Master Takuan, Miyamoto Musashi - an other famous sword master - and a venomous snake... 
• The fight between Master Kaicho Yamamoto - founder of Yoshukai Karate - and an other Tiger.

3 Treatises on Swordsmanship - and Zen...

The Battle of Sekigahara on October 21, 1600 cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Ieyasu to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, this battle is considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Edo period, or Tokugawa shogunate.

At the beginning of this period, 3 short treatises on swordsmanship appeared which would become influential far beyond what their authors originally intended.

The First classical treatise on swordsmanship was The Mysterious Record of Unmoving Wisdom, (Fudochi Shinmyoroku) written by Zen Master Takuan Soho around 1632. This treatise looks at Swordsmanship from the perspective of Zen. 
It specially emphasizes the importance of keeping the mind free of attachment and fixations.  
On the battlefield, this means keeping the mind from stopping on anything, whether the stance, the opponent's sword, the technique, anything that could prevent the mind from moving freely.

The Second classical treatise on swordsmanship was The Life Giving Sword (Heiho Kandensho) written by Yagyu Munenori around 1632 also. The philosophy of this treatise is based on the above mentioned Fudochi Shinmyoroku written by Takuan for his friend and disciple Munenori.

It emphasizes in a similar way the importance of keeping the mind free of attachment to details of techniques, or even to the idea of winning. This treatise is however much more technical in its description of certain techniques Munenori inherited from his father and his father's master, the legendary Kamiizumi Ise no Kami Hidetsuna.

The Third classical treatise was the famed Book of Five Rings (Gorin no Sho) written by Miyamoto Musashi between 1643 and 1645. Although the Philosophy underlying Musashi's book is also to keep the Mind Free from any attachment, Musashi puts high emphasis on the technique of Swordsmanship, and does not consider the willingness to win as a hindrance, but as a mean to complete one's duty to one's Lord, but the willingness to survive the fight as one attachment that could mean defeat. 

Yagyu Munenori was a disciple and friend of Takuan. It is not clear whether Musashi ever met Munenori, although they were together in Edo(Tokyo)in 1623. Musashi also very likely met Takuan around 1630 after he had been temporarily banished to Northern Japan.

Numerous translations of these treatises are available, but I particularly enjoy the ones by William Scott Wilson. 

These are :

The Unfettered Mind – includes the Fudochi Shinmyoroku and 2 other texts by Takuan.

The Life Giving Sword by Yagyu Munenori

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

Mr Wilson gives us clean, accurate and lively translations of these 3 great texts. Although he is not himself a swordsman, the help he received from persons qualified in this domain make his translations very valuable for whoever is interested in how Martial Arts and Zen were related in 17th century Japan.