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from "Cultivating Chi" by Ekiken

12/25/2015

1 Comment

 
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)
1 Comment
Nathaniel
1/4/2018 02:40:27 pm

Returning to this section of the Yojokun for the new year:

You should avoid all the following:
- Rice that has gone bad.
- Rotten fish.
- Macerated meat.
- Foods that have lost their color.
- Foods that smell bad.
- Foods that no longer taste freshly boiled.
- Foods that have not yet ripened.
- Roots that have been dug out before they are fully grown.
- Foods that have passed their prime.

The "Analects" of Confucious notes that these foods were not eaten by sages, and such men made a point of taking car of themselves. You should make such guidelines your own rules.

It is also said that even if you have a lot of meat close at hand, you should not eat so much that it overcomes the chi of the rice. You should not eat a lot of meat anyway. A meal has its foundation in rice. Nothing should be more in quantity than rice, regardless of the meal.

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    Nathaniel Whitmore

    Karate-do, Judo, Kobudo, Iaido

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