Miyamoto Musashi's Rules

Rules to live by!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Fawn: Okay. You guys. So we were talking about the book of the five rings by Miyamoto Musashi Musashi. Yes exactly. I always get that wrong. Okay. So these are the nine rules. And so this is a major warrior. Forgive me, like, correct me if I'm wrong, Matt, major warriors, samurai,

[00:00:23] Matt: the samurai

[00:00:24] Fawn: he's the samurai.

And so he had nine rules of the way.

[00:00:33] Matt: Right grant that he felt would help guide you down the path. Yes.

[00:00:36] Fawn: So these were his nine rules and this is why we're going to discuss, and we took intuition, out of one of these rules, two of these rules, right? So...

Rule 1: Do not think dishonestly.

Rule 2: The way is in training.

And we've gone over this on our previous episodes guys, it's just, uh, [00:01:00] we're just, uh, re reflection.

Rule 3: Become acquainted with every art.

Rule 4: Know the ways of all professions.

Rule 5: Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

[00:01:24] Matt: And the one we focused on today, intuition will know that's the next role I was hoping.

Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:01:31] Fawn: Number six. All right. All right. Calm down.

Rule 6: Develop intuitive judgment, and understanding for everything.

I'm going to repeat that. Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything.

Rule 7: Perceive those things which can not be seen.

That's a big one. Again, I'm going to repeat that.

Number seven, perceive those things which [00:02:00] cannot be seen.

Rule 8: Pay attention, even to trifles.

It's the little things that give you the most information. Certainly can be definitely things that people ignore them. All right. All right. All right.

Rule 9: Do nothing which is of no use.

And we were doing shows on every single rule.

And so

[00:02:30] Matt: I was just, I was just idly questioning, you know, which one do you think is the least important, which is kind of a fun question to ask because that's certainly one I struggle with,

[00:02:40] Fawn: I would say number nine. I'm sorry. My, what, what do you think it

[00:02:44] Maya: was looking at them? It's so hard to decide, but I.

Let's say number nine.

[00:02:53] Fawn: Yay. Me too.

[00:02:55] Maya: Okay. So I think that to me, [00:03:00] do things that are of no use are like watching mindless TV or just kind of lollygagging, but. Sometimes you just need to do that. I think, oh my God, the

[00:03:13] Fawn: TV has saved my life,

[00:03:15] Matt: but it, but, but here's where it gets fun. I'm sorry.

[00:03:17] Fawn: I had to wait, wait, wait.

I'm so sorry. Hold your thought. I totally interrupted Maya. Maya, what did you just say?

[00:03:23] Maya: Doing

things that are of no use sometimes are how you just veg out. If your brain is always on all the time, how are you ever supposed to relax and just chill out. My

[00:03:38] Fawn: number nine is to me. I love you. You are my sister.

Thank you. Thinking, oh Matt, I have spent, what is

[00:03:46] Matt: that? Like? I discovered these rules when I was probably 15, 16, which is a great time to discover them. And I've, I've dissected every single one, like over the course of it feels like years and I [00:04:00] find that there's an interweaving. And so when we start plucking it, this one.

On the surface level, I would a hundred percent agree that that seems like it's not a big deal. Yeah. But between one, two and nine, do not think dishonestly the way is in training and do nothing, which is of no use. There was actually a point in time. Owing to the intricacies of the time. Musashi found himself at the house of the leading cortisone or prostitute in all of Edo, which is I think Tokyo now.

And he was sitting there very stiffly and there was the house of Yoshioka outside. And it's a whole story. I mean, this, this thing is big, but there was basically 50 men outside looking for his blood because he had slain, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, anyways. And she said, you are too rigid. You need to loosen up. And he was like, what?

And then she took a loot that she had made. It's an eight string [00:05:00] instrument and she cut it open. And she showed him that the way that this instrument is able to make all the sounds is not because there are straight lines, but because there is a curved form inside. You have to give yourself over to relaxing and pleasure and everything else that is of use and Musashi was considered a great painter as well as a great swordsman.

[00:05:24] Fawn: Is that one. So many great martial artists are into tea ceremony and

[00:05:29] Matt: the tea ceremony is very rigid and calligraphy. Yes, absolutely. It's because Musashi studied these things as well. He had a great friendship with a tea master in Japan. So I only,

[00:05:41] Fawn: Jackie Chan is into collecting teacups.

[00:05:44] Matt: I don't know what's going on with Jackie.

Yeah, he's Chinese, not Japanese. Careful. I didn't

[00:05:50] Fawn: say he was Japanese. I'm just, no, I'm just talking about tea. Relax everybody. Well,

[00:05:55] Matt: I always say that everybody should have at least one hobby. They should feel no need to [00:06:00] defend

[00:06:00] Fawn: it. And I was also thinking martial arts. Okay.

[00:06:03] Matt: You know, I agree with you 100% where you're like, it's important to vege out to TV.

I totally get it. Thank you. That is of use. Yes. That is the tricky. The way it is in training makes a person feel like they always have to be studying. And there are points in time where it's important to rest and recharge. I mean, your body basically tells you a third of your life. You need to be recharging at least because we have to sleep and teenagers

[00:06:30] Fawn: need a lot of sleep, a lot of food and a lot of sleep

[00:06:34] Matt: now.

And then the trick is, and now how it ties into do not think dishonesty, which is the kind of the third one that. The points of intersection are very interesting is don't lie to yourself. I'm vegging out to recharge to have fun and that is indeed part of my training or part of my life or part of my, because you know, the way is in your life really is how I perceived number two as well.

So these things are [00:07:00] very intricate, subtle, so many levels, and honestly, the least important of them is all of them because all of them in my mind are equally important.

[00:07:12] Fawn: Of course,

[00:07:13] Maya: because if you focus too much on one, it can become the worst. If you're doing nothing, if you're doing everything of no use all of the time and that becomes your life, right.

Of course, that's going to be the worst one, but if you're focusing on number two all of the time, then your greatest success could also be your greatest downfall, right?

[00:07:36] Matt: Yeah. If you're always training, then at some point you become the Willow tree and the wind comes and you break

[00:07:44] Fawn: problem,

[00:07:44] Matt: but that's just it.

I mean, this, this man was absurd as far as how connected, how his philosophy. They study this Japanese businessmen study this. So therefore American businessmen study this to try and get a sense of the [00:08:00] Japanese mindset, whatever that means. You know, there's a reason why this guy is so highly regarded.

Wow. Yeah, I know, I know it thrashes Eastern philosophy to the Western mind. It thrashes us and it's just what it is. There's a Zen story where men walks into a butcher shop and he says, I want your best cut of meat. And the man says, all my cuts are best. Well, what do you do with that? Well, it also means all my cuts are worst because you know, there you are.

So it depends on what you put into it, but anyways, it was like way too deep to get into at the end of a podcast recording. So I was just, I was just curious. I, I liked throwing out these really, really weird random questions like

[00:08:44] Fawn: that. Them. Forced me to think, well, this is, this is conversation right here.

Right? Whatever blows in the wind that comes towards us, the genius that's whispering. This is, this is the art of connection, but [00:09:00] anyway, all right. Okay. So, okay. Here we go.