Everything in your power: Modern Uketamo

uketamo

I think there is a bit of a misconception of Uketamo, the philosophy of the Yamabushi. Uketamo is about acceptance to the core, but if you just accept everything that happens to you, and people know you are doing this, it can be very easy for them to use you. They can just throw stuff at you and say 'accept this'.

Obviously this is not how the philosophy works. I understand it as you do everything in your power first, and only then is the situation there for the uketamo. This means that if someone is trying to use you, you don't just accept it, you push back as you normally would. It might be better to say that uketamo is for the retrospective, the things in the past that you cannot change. And equally this is true for the future as well; things that might transpire that you have no power of controlling because they haven't happened yet, i.e. they are not real and not worth worrying about. But if someone is trying to use uketamo against you, don't let them. Do everything in your power to have the situation transpire as it normally would, without being used.

ENJOYED THIS? HAVE MORE.

MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM

Subscribe to my yamabushi newsletter

RECENT BLOG POSTS

women in red and white kimono standing in front of the temple
When consideration isn’t consideration
person riding bike making trek on thin air
Comparing yourself to others
close up photo of lion s head
Primal fear

YAMABUSHI BLOG POSTS

Special invitation
person in red long sleeve shirt
An Aura of Busyness and… Pockets?
clear light bulb placed on chalkboard
Two-pronged attack : why I have so many projects on the go

RANDOM POSTS

architecture bungalows daylight home
Building a house in Japan
young athletes preparing for running in training hall
The Time on Task Principle and making it a habit
Information and insights
Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Get In Touch

Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

tim@timbunting.com

Share this:

Like this:

Like Loading...
Scroll to Top