“Swordsmanship is the art used at the border between life and death. It is easy to throw away your life and proceed toward death, but it is difficult not to make life and death two... Entrust life to life, and… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“Take this single tree. They could cut it down and make half of it into an incense tray, decorate it with lacquer set with gold or silver filigree, and set it in an alcove of an aristocrat or man of high rank as a tasteful ornament. The other half they could make into wooden clogs for stepping through the mud.… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share
“Swordsmanship is the art used at the border between life and death. It is easy to throw away your life and proceed toward death,… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“I just entrust my body to the Creator and don’t intrude my own willfulness while I’m here. This is knowing the general drift of… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“The readings required of every Confucian scholar. The Four Books are: The Analects, The Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius.… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“It is the consistency of principle that when form changes, the mind and ch’i change with it. Principle has no form, but exists within… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“An earthworm close by sighed and said, “Well now, men are clear enough about what they’ve understood, but can’t infer one thing from another.… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
“Man is a moving being. If he does not move to what is good, he will surely move to that what is not. If… — Issai Chozanshi Copy Share Image
