“If my self was my dwelling, then my body resembled an orchard that surrounded it. I could either cultivate that orchard to its capacity or leave it for the weeds to run riot in. I was free to choose, but the freedom was not as obvious as it might seem. Many people, indeed, go so far as to refer to the orchards of their dwellings as “destiny.” One day, it occurred to me to set about cultivating my orchard for all I was worth. For my purpose, I used sun and steel. Unceasing sunlight and implements fashioned of steel became the chief elements in my husbandry. Little by little, the orchard began to bear fruit, and thoughts of the body came to occupy a large part of my consciousness.”
Sun and Steel(Page 5) | Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima was an author and a philosopher, born after World War 1.
He was a teenager when World War 2 began and was drafted into the Imperial Japanese army. However, a doctor misdiagnosed him as having tuberculosis, caused by his frail body and having a chest cold at the time. This made him ineligible for service.
His peers left to fight in the war, and he stayed behind. Coming from a samurai bloodline, this left him with immense shame as he grew older. As Mishima matured, he became entrenched in the expression of traits he deemed to be honorable pertaining to samurai doctrine; traits like honor itself, pride, sacrifice, and strength, to name a few.
To not express these traits in the defining cultural event of the 20th century pained Mishima. He stayed in Japan as a civilian writer during the war.
He grew up sheltered, raised by a family that encouraged the pursuit of mastery in mind, without any heed to mastery over the body. As he grew older, the rift between his mental strength and bodily weakness made Mishima unsatisfied with his body. He saw the body as a field that needs to be cultivated and transformed into a beautiful orchard.
By strengthening the mind domain but not the body domain, an individual neglects their orchard, the individual’s first interaction with the world.
The orchard is the domain of sense. Sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch belong to the orchard.
This philosophy of body and mind mastery corresponds to Miyamoto Musashi stating that “once you understand the way broadly, you see it in all things.”
The pursuit of mastery over mind alone neglects the orchard. The house of the mind may be sound, and even beautiful, but it takes more effort and consideration to walk past a decaying orchard than a beautiful one. In order to have a fulfilled spirit, an individual needs to feed the spirit contributions to mastery in both body and mind. This creates balance. Complete fulfillment.
You can still progress through life unbalanced, or pursuing pleasure, like how a car without tires can technically move about on wheels, but the ride isn’t comfortable, or secure, or very fulfilling as a means of getting to the next destination.
We all proceed to the same next destination.
“One day, it occurred to me to set about cultivating my orchard for all I was worth. For my purpose, I used sun and steel.”
One day, it occurred to Mishima to pursue mastery over his body through sun and steel, or lifting weights in the sunlight. He chose to perform his training with minimal clothes on so the sun may vitalize both body and mind.
Mishima believed the sunlight provided vitality, a strong contrast to his youth spent overcoddled indoors.
To love yourself is to pursue mastery of body and mind, orchard and dwelling, for all you are worth.
The orchard is the body
The orchard is the first impression. The pursuit of mastery over the body is a requirement for fulfillment. People who love themselves pursue mastery to obtain fulfillment. Cultivating a healthy orchard is morally good. As so is the promotion of orchard cultivation to those who have not yet found The Way.
A strong mind in a weak body, when there is potential to obtain a strong body, is suffering. The ability to pursue mastery in body or mind and refusing to do so is suffering. Having the capacity to do, without doing, is suffering.
The orchard is a product of the actions of the individual. The individual’s actions form the composition of their body. This is something worth considering. How do you want your orchard to appear?
Body = Orchard
Mind = Dwelling
Spirit = Hearth
The mind and spirit come later, if at all.
Cultivating mastery in body, mind, and spirit(BMS) provides a fulfilling life which makes pleasure more rewarding, as opposed to the pursuit of pleasure outright, which malnourishes the spirit.
Achievement and the pursuit of mastery are nourishment for the spirit.
Pleasure serves its purpose as a respite from the path when the path has beaten down the wanderer.
As a pursuit, pleasure is Hell.
