The second is “The Water Chapter.” Taking water as a model, one makes the mind like water. Water follows the form of either an angular or round container; it becomes either a drop or a great sea. Water is blue—its purity carrying the course of my own style in this chapter. If you discern the principles of swordsmanship with certainty, when you defeat a single opponent freely, you will have defeated everyone in the world.
The Book of Five Rings(p. 13) | Miyamoto Musashi
Water is guided by the invisible hands of physics and fate, always where it needs to be in the place and moment it needs and is supposed to be.
Do we live in accordance with our fate?
Water is pure. 100% effective in its fated purpose. The mind is not so.
Water goes with every flow. It is flow.
To make your mind like water means for your mind to fill whatever space it needs to inhabit, whether that is studying math in the mind domain, engaging in physical exercise in the body domain, or meditating in the spiritual domain. The human mind is naturally chaotic when not managed by the human spirit; this requires active focus.
Our minds can be pure with active thought filtering, but it takes work, discipline, and purpose. To settle the waters of your mind, you must settle your mind. Calm the sea inside of you.
A mind like water will take the form of whatever it is doing. A mind like water is one with the path and one with THE WAY.
Water, like Mind, is good or bad depending on the dose needed and the dose provided. You can easily drown a houseplant if you give it too much water. A 100-year-old oak tree needs hundreds of liters of water a week.
The same goes with the mind. You can drown in your mind by thinking too much when you only need a small amount of thought; this is anxiety.
However, fate can be cruel to the wanderer who thinks too little when they need liters and liters of thought.
Use the mind the right amount for the situation at hand. Not more, not less.
Musashi Dokkado Precept 21 | Never stray from the way.
Clear minds are calm waters. The smoothest sailing occurs when the seas are calm. Calm minds live in the moment, without anxiety, without depression, without the pain of the past or the trepidation of the future.
Accepting the present moment helps the mind stay calm. When the mind is calm, the wanderer may proceed forward effectively. Many go their entire lives without controlling the seas of their mind. For this, they suffer, and they do not go forward consistently.
Thinking minds are turbulent and chaotic. Anxiety is future-based, and depression is present or past-based. Both anxiety and depression are products of thought.
Thought is not bad or good. Thought is a tool, no different than a hammer. A hammer is useful for building a house, and useless for making friends with the new neighbors.
Opportunities for growth and destruction are both born from chaos.
The individual must balance order and chaos in their bodies, minds, and spirits. Different paths require different amounts of order and chaos.
The amount of water you need
Different circumstances require different amounts of mind or ‘water’. There are situations where you need no mind, or a drop of water for small mind situations. At other times, you need a full, expansive and reaching mind, a turbulent ocean.
If you use the ocean when you need the drop, you will cause destruction.
If you use the drop when you need the ocean, nothing will happen.
Pursue a calm mind at all times. This will help you understand your mind and how much of it you need in different situations. Use the prescribed amount of mind needed for the best outcome throughout your life and thereafter.
Purify your mind and use it to great effect.
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