The Gift of Rain

To have memories, happy or sorrowful, is a blessing, for it shows we have lived our lives without reservation.

Accept that there are things in this world we can never explain and life will be understandable. That is the irony of life. It is also the beauty of it.

As with all the principles of aikijutsu, you do not meet the force of the strike head-on. You parry, you step to the side to avoid the blow, your redirect the force and unbalance your opponent. It is the same with the ken, the sword. These principles apply to you daily life as well. Never meet a person’s anger directly. Deflect, distract him, even agree with him. Unbalance his mind, and you can lead him anywhere you want.

The world goes by, the young and the hopeful, all head for their future. Where does that leave us? There is a misconception that we have reached our destinations the moment we grow old, but it is not a well-accepted fact that we are still travelling towards those destinations, still beyond our reach even on the day we close our eyes for the final time.

I had loaded another weight onto his suffering and it hurt me to understand that while one person can never really share the pain of another, they can so easily and so heedlessly add to it.

The mind forgets, but the heart will always remember. And what is the heart’s memory but love itself?

Time seems to overlap, like the shadows of leave pressing down on other leave, layer upon layer.

The mind forgets, but the heart will always remember. And what is the heart's memory but love itself?

Duty is a concept created by emperors and generals to deceive us into performing their will. Be wary when duty speaks, for it often masks the voice of others.

Was this part of the process of growing up, that we finally noticed the people closest to us in a different, clearer light?

One question remained to me. “If a higher level of bujutsu involves fighting with the mind, what then is the very highest level?” He closed his eyes for a while, seeing things he would never show me. “That,” he said, “would be never to fight at all.

Enlightenment, it is a moment of complete clarity, of pure bliss. At that instant everything will be revealed to you.

Yes, I could say that I had lived my life, if not to the full then at least almost to the brim. What more could one ask? Rare is the person whose life overflows.

while one person can never really share the pain of another, they can so easily and so heedlessly add to it.

In return for surrendering to the throw, you are given the gift of flight,’ he said.

Never meet a person’s anger directly. Deflect, distract him, even agree with him. Unbalance his mind, and you can lead him anywhere you want.

I am certain it has never been easy, growing up as a child of mixed parentage in this place. But that is your strength. Accept the fact that you are different, that you are of two worlds. And I wish you to remember this when you feel you cannot go on: you are used to the duality of life. You have the ability to bring all of life's disparate elements into a cohesive whole. So use it

none of my children—not one—ever took the easy road; that they strove to keep sanity, reason, and compassion alive and burning in these tragic times.

The young have hopes and dreams, while the old hold the remains of them in their hands and wonder what has happened to their lives.

I can only teach you the way, that is all. What you do with it and what it does to you, those are beyond my influence.

He stopped, pausing to arrange his words like an ikebana expert with his flowers, shifting, bending, adding, and taking away to achieve the results he desired.

What made it worse was that we could never truly share such burdens with even those closest to us. In the end, the mistakes were our own, the consequences to be borne by us alone.

Then you understand that certain things cannot be stopped, that they must be allowed to proceed, regardless of the consequences?

When you are lost, in this world or on the continent of time itself, remember who you have been and you will know who you are. These people were all you, and you are them. I was you before you were born and you will be me after I am gone. That is the meaning of family.” He

Teacher, as he was called, looked tiny, childlike, and deceptively vulnerable.

In an instant I saw that I had unconsciously replicated Musashi’s drawing, the drawing that had been copied by Endo-san and for the briefest moment I saw how everything and everyone and every time was connected in some manner.

The world goes by, the young and the hopeful, all head for their future. Where does that leave us? There is the misconception that we have reached our destinations the moment we grow old, but it is not a well-accepted fact that we are still traveling toward those destinations, still beyond our reach even on the day we close our eyes for the final time.