It is as if a God acted through you.
We will read a free translation of a few extracts from Tokusai’s teachings. You can expect a certain amount of technical instruction, in the field of Kendo. We need not explain that here. But then he speaks of something higher than correct technique. He will say, for instance, that when mind and vital energy are united in Emptiness, right action takes place of itself, independently. ‘It is,’ he says, ‘as if a God acted through you.’ Someone may object: ‘Oh, he can’t use words like that. It doesn’t mean anything. And he’s calls himself a Buddhist, so he’s not supposed to believe in gods.’ He uses such words because that is what it feels like. One point is to get people to practise, and find out for themselves what it is like. A second point is that such words may help a student to recognise something that has happened. At …