Moving Toward Stillness-Lessons in Daily Life from the Martial Ways of Japan

from cover

Moving Toward Stillness: Lessons in Daily Life from the Martial Ways of Japan is Dave Lowry's distillation of the most important lessons he has learned in the years he's devoted to his martial training. Drawing from his highly regarded magazine columns form the past decade, Lowry sets out

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lessons that not only guide us to a deeper understanding of the social values and moral imperatives that are the ancient heart of budo, but speak to us also of the universal nature of those values and of how they remain relevant to us, in the modern West. among the 45 chapters of Moving Toward Stillness you'll find lessons addressing everything from such well-known martial concepts as 'one encounter, one chance' to the art of being alone, from strategy for the modern-day battlefield to the luxury of anger, from subduing the self and bending like the bamboo to maintaining an unwavering calm in the face of death.

Dave Lowry has been involved in the traditional Japanese martial arts and Ways since 1968 and has written about them for more than twenty years. His articles have apeared in magazines in the US, Japan, and the UK. He is the author of seven books on Japan and budo, including Autumn Lightning (1985), Sword and Brush (1995), and Persimmon Wind (Tuttle, 1998). Lowry lives with his wife and child in Missouri.

Contents

Introduction
1. Entering the Doorway
2. The way of the Master
3. The Warrior's Art
4. Get a New Wife
5. Kantoku ('To Perceive Virtue')
6. When the Nightingale Won't Sing
7. Not Yet, Not Yet
8. Budo Among the Blossoms
9. Excess Baggage
10. A Snowflake on a Hot Stove
11. The Soundof the Drum
12. Sottaku Dioji
13. Enzan O Metsuke ('Viewing the Distant Moukntain')
14. Jikishin ('Direct Mind')
15. Swimming 'Round the Stone
16. Ichi-Go, Ichi-E ('One Encounter, One Chance')
17. A Straight Shadow
18. Count to One Hundred
19. Time
20. Tsune ('Daily Habits')
21. Strategy for the Modern-Day Battlefield
22. Improve Yourself
23. Beauty and the Martial Way
24. Climbing the Circular Ladder
25. The Warrior and the Dirty Diaper
26. What Kind of Shape Are Your Morals In?
27. Martial Artist or Martial Artisan?
28. Simple Things
29. Subduing the Self
30. Catching Catfish in a Gourd
31. Rinkiohen ('Moderation')
32. The Luxury of Anger
33. Shooting with a Broken Bow
34. The Squirrely Approach to Budo
35. Woodcutter's Karate
36. Hiyameshi ('Cold Rice')
37. Bend Like the Bamboo
38. Mirume ('Looking to See')
39. Even If I Die
40. Formalities
41. Sabi-Shiori, The Art of Being Alone
42. Are You Ready?
43. The Spirit of Enryo
44. Not Knowing, But Doing
45. Moving Toward Stillness

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