{"id":61523,"date":"2022-03-05T16:02:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T20:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=61523"},"modified":"2022-03-11T09:00:30","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:00:30","slug":"miyamoto-musashi-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/miyamoto-musashi-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Miyamoto Musashi’s Philosophy in The Ground Book"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi write in The Ground Book in The Book of Five Rings<\/em>? Why does Musashi put so much emphasis on the fundamentals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Book of Five Rings<\/em>, Miyamoto Musashi’s philosophy is that in order to become a great samurai, one must first master the fundamentals. He believed in a student-centric approach to teaching, where the master is simply there to help guide the student on their own journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are Musashi’s lessons from the Ground Book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Ground Book: Musashi\u2019s Fundamentals of the Way<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ground Book introduces some of the most important aspects of Miyamoto Musashi’s philosophy. We can group these core fundamentals into three categories: Know your discipline, use your tools well, and be flexible, patient, and disciplined.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Learn and Train Before Application<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For Musashi, the foundation of effective strategy lies in first establishing a thorough knowledge of the samurai principles<\/a>. Developing genuine knowledge of your discipline depends on two factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. You are responsible for your own development and learning.<\/strong> Although Musashi mentions having his own school for aspiring Samurai and writes The Book of Five Rings <\/em>to explain the Way to others, he nevertheless believes that it is up to each individual to take charge of his own learning. He uses the metaphor of the needle and thread to explain his reasoning: The teacher is the needle, but it is the student, as the thread, who must find a way through the needle in developing and applying his knowledge. In other words, the teacher can facilitate learning, but it is the student\u2019s responsibility <\/em>to put what he learns into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. You must thoroughly know the ways of your art before you can put it into effective practice<\/a><\/strong>. The aspiring warrior must seek to know every aspect of his art, from technique to weaponry to achieving the right state of body and mind, before he is ready for combat. Musashi repeatedly warns that this is not a quick or easy process: he urges his reader to meditate deeply and slowly on what he has written and to tirelessly study \u201cday and night,\u201d as Musashi himself claims to have done for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Use the Right Tools and Resources<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Musashi writes that the true warrior is aware of <\/strong>all <\/em><\/strong>of the resources available to him, and strategizes accordingly<\/strong>. These resources include tools, such as different swords and other forms of weaponry, and the different abilities warriors have both individually and when working collectively as an army. <\/p>\n\n\n\n