Budo training leads to insights much more significant than the mere preparation for fighting. Training is a way of life, an ongoing practice that has its own inner reason.
Training as preparation is wonderful. Spending life in eternal preparation is a great loss. 'Row, row, row your boat until you get to the shore', is what they say. But the shore is already here: training and understanding are one and the same (Shu Sho Ichi Nyo)
The understanding of violent reality belongs to the first two spiritual phases—preserving and breaking. Living belongs to the third phase, letting go.
