山伏
キウイ
Practice for the sake of practice
修験道、剣道、柔道、茶道、書道。
Shugendo, the path to mastery through ascetic training, Kendo, the way of the sword, Judo, the way of passivity, Sado, the way of tea, Shodo, the way of the brush. The ancient Japanese were wise in that they realised this type of pursuit is a path that you take, with goals along the way, but with no succinct goal in mind.
Once you understand this, you understand that your aim in doing things shouldn’t be to reach a certain goal, but to do things for the sake of doing them. Practice for the sake of practice. It’s that simple. Well, there is a slight caveat. It’s not about just doing it for fun, it’s about doing it with the intent to be better than yesterday.
What that means depends very much on the practitioner, which is the beauty of it. This means you don’t compare yourself with others, one of the biggest pitfalls there are.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, I’m Tim Bunting AKA the Kiwi Yamabushi, a New Zealander who became a Yamabushi Ascetic in the Dewa Sanzan mountains of north Japan. I’m part of the Yamabushido team, and we host life-altering Yamabushi training on the Dewa Sanzan (website link). People come to us for the ultimate mindfulness experience, to reach the next level, or simply connect with nature and themselves.
I’m on a mission to summit all 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata Prefecture to spread the splendour of this fabulous location, and in dedication to all those who lost their lives out in nature, including my father.
On my daily blog I post thoughts of a practicing Yamabushi that I hope people can use to better themselves and live as fulfilling a life as possible.
Sign up to the weekly Mountains of Wisdom newsletter, follow me on social (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Clubhouse, all @kiwiyamabushi), or send me an email via the link below to stay in touch.
Tim.
MOUNTAINS OF WISDOM
Subscribe to my weekly yamabushi newsletter
RECENT BLOG POSTS
YAMABUSHI BLOG POSTS
RANDOM POSTS