Essays From The Master

There will be times when people and ideals fail, due to weakness, circumstance or ill planning and it is in failure that discipline takes the form of devotion and it is devotion that answers weakness, circumstance or ill planning. When people fail the truth of the path is constant and endures, when ideals fail the truth of the path remains to renewal ideals backed by right understanding. When failure is due to circumstance the path usually has the answer or will lead to the answer if one fully applies the path. When failure comes due to ill planning the path will council one as to how to start over and plan more effectively, if one has the will to do so. When failure is due to weakness the path has the means to grow stronger or in otherwise be better; power is the answer to weakness and power is born from the application of weakness. In all of these cases and their answers the key is devotion to the path, the rightness or realness of the path is a matter how it prepares one to endure and find the answers i.e. if the path inspires devotion or not. The world will always test both the one on a path and the terms of the path itself which is why paths usually include methods for dealing with challenges to the path. If a path is not worthy of devotion then it is not a path but rather a step toward finding the path that is worthy of devotion. It is worthiness of devotion that gives various paths the aura of spirituality or mysticism even if the path does not acknowledge a higher power or the like.

Nin Do, the Silent Way, acknowledges the principle of Kokoro or the Heart of All Things and many see it in many ways. It does not matter if it is seen as philosophical, symbolic, or energic or what have you, what matters is if it works when it is applied. The same is true of both the principle and movement as to martial methods, so the issue of where, how and from whom they are learned does not matter. If the path and its tools have an answer it is worthy of devotion and that devotion is a part of the discipline in that path. It is discipline to the path that will allow the path to sustain the individual on the path which shows that is equally up to the individual to sustain the path so that the path can do as it is meant to do. If a path does not inspire devotion so that one is disciplined about it either the path is not true or the path is true but is not right for the person that is not called to be disciplined about it. One that is fanatical about a path is not disciplined about that path rather they fear the path or some figure in that path or that the path is not true. A disciplined person on a path with enough knowledge and will can find the truth in a path if it is there to be found. If one knows that a path leads to the truth then being questioned about the path should be a source of fear or anger but rather a source of joy as questions lead to revelation. If circumstance or weakness in failure cause one to question one’s path fear not because to question brings greater understanding and thus a greater devotion once the truth is realized anew.

The Silent Way, Nin Do, is the way by which one endures and its methods range from the martial to the mystical and magickal, not that one will not all but rather so that one has the option if something is needed. Both the code and the mantra of the Komuso Ryu of Nin Do are meant to inspire the inner discipline that will lead to outer action that will reflect the path in such a way that bares the path out. The discipline of devotion will not prove a teacher right or even a path right, rather the discipline of devotion will show one on the path the insight that is needed to be able to address the concerns of that individual. The person truly devoted to a path as a discipline will come to understand that one cannot force another to accept a path, devotion must come from within or the path will be made as false as any forced devotion to the path. If the path is not a way of life then that path is just a tool in the path that is one’s life.