-etuzan Jakusui- Onozomi No Ketsumatsu -

A student once asked me: “Master, I desire to be fearless. How long until my culmination?”

But beware: The culmination comes in two forms. -Etuzan Jakusui- Onozomi no Ketsumatsu

The first is the fulfillment of the form —wealth, love, victory. This is the outer blossom. Sweet, fragrant, but fleeting as morning dew. Most men stop here. They taste the fruit and declare themselves sages. A student once asked me: “Master, I desire to be fearless

Do not mistake desire for the whim of a child. The true onozomi is not born from the tongue or the fleeting heart; it rises from the hara —the belly—where the breath meets the bones of the earth. It is silent. It does not shout. It simply is , like the root of a pine gripping the cliff. This is the outer blossom

By Etuzan Jakusui (paraphrased)

I struck the bell beside me. The sound filled the room, then faded.

Thus, practice your onozomi as the mountain practices stillness—not to become still, but because it is stillness. Do not chase the culmination. Let it chase you. And when it finally catches you, do not be surprised if you find yourself laughing, because you will realize: