The Pocket Samurai published by Shambala Publications has a chapter on Kaibara Ekiken and his book Cultivating Chi (Yojokun). Shambala's translator W. S. Wilson writes, "Kaibara Ekiken was one of the preeminent intellectuals of his time. A samurai who trained in the martial arts of the sword, bow, spear, and horsemanship, we was also a practicing physician and a lecturer on the philosophy of Confucianism..."
"You should consider the foundation of your body to be your father and mother, and its beginning to be heaven and earth. As you are born and the nourished by heaven and earth and your father and mother, you cannot truly consider your body a personal possession with which you can do as you choose. Rather, your body is a treasured gift from heaven and earth. It is something left to you by your parents...
...Indeed, to consider the gift of life as your possession alone and then to abuse it by overindulging in food, drink, sex, or in any other manner is to squander your health and invite disease to enter. To hasten your own demise so thoughtlessly demonstrates extreme ingratitude..."
"The first principle of the Way of Nurturing Life is avoiding overexposure to things that can damage your body. These can be divided into two categories: inner desires and negative external influences.
Inner desires encompass the desires for food, drink, sex, sleep, and excessive talking, as well as desires of the seven emotions - joy, anger, anxiety, yearning, sorrow, fear, and astonishment.
The negative external influences comprise the four disposition for Nature: wind, cold, heat, and humidity..."
- Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714)
...Indeed, to consider the gift of life as your possession alone and then to abuse it by overindulging in food, drink, sex, or in any other manner is to squander your health and invite disease to enter. To hasten your own demise so thoughtlessly demonstrates extreme ingratitude..."
"The first principle of the Way of Nurturing Life is avoiding overexposure to things that can damage your body. These can be divided into two categories: inner desires and negative external influences.
Inner desires encompass the desires for food, drink, sex, sleep, and excessive talking, as well as desires of the seven emotions - joy, anger, anxiety, yearning, sorrow, fear, and astonishment.
The negative external influences comprise the four disposition for Nature: wind, cold, heat, and humidity..."
- Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714)
