ENLIGHTENED SWORDSMANSHIP: NEED THE PRACTICE OF AMERICAN LAW (OR, FOR THAT MATTER, THE TEACHING OF AMERICAN LAW) BE SO SOUL-LESS?

Daisetz T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture (Bollingen Series LXIV), with an Introduction by Richard M. Jaffe (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 1959, 2010) ("The swordsman's 'unconscious' and the psychoanalysts' 'unconscious' are not to be confused, for the former is free from the notion of self. The perfect swordsman takes no cognizance of the enemy's personality, no more than his own. For he is an indifferent onlooker of the fatal drama of life and death in which he himself is the most active participant. In spite of all the concern he has or ought to have, he is above himself, he transcends the dualistic comprehension of the situation, yet he is not a contemplative mystic, he is in the thickest of the deadly combat. This distinction is to be remembered when we compare Eastern culture with Western. Even in such arts as that of swordsmanship, in which the principle of opposition is most in evidence, the one who is to be most intensely interested in it is advised to be liberated from the idea." Id. at 96-97. "One great advantage the sword has over mere book-reading is that once you make a false move you are sure to give the opponent a chance to beat you. You have to be on the alert all the time. While to be on the alert is not the ultimate of swordsmanship, it keeps you true to yourself: that is to say, you are not allowed to indulge in idle thinking. Thinking is useful in many ways, but there are some occasions when thinking interferes with the work, and you have to leave it behind and let the unconscious come forward. In such cases, you cease to be your own conscious master but become an instrument in the hands of the unknown. The unknown has no ego-consciousness and consequently no thought of winning the contest, because it moves at the level of nonduality, where there is neither subject nor object. It is the reason that the sword moves where it ought to move and makes the contest end victoriously. This is the practical application of the Lao-tzuan doctrine of 'doing by not doing.' Sun-tzu, a great authority on warfare, says: 'It is not the best thing to win every battle one is engaged in; the best thing is to win without planning to win.  This is perfect victory.' " Id. at 132-133. "But we must remember that it is no easy task to realize this state of mind, for a man has to go  through a great deal of discipline, not only moral but highly spiritual. As Ichiun says, a first-class swordsman must also be a 'perfect man': he is not only to be great in his profession, but as a moral character he is also to be great in every way; the swordsman must be more than a mere technician who cannot think of anything else but displaying his skill in the art of killing. As long as the technician is impatient in the demonstration of his art he can never come out victorious in his combat. . . . " Id. at 209-210. "We are not necessarily all ascetics, but I do not know if there is not in every one of us an eternal longing for a world beyond this of empirical relativity, where the soul can quietly contemplate its own destiny." Id. at 256-257.)