# The Book of Five Rings ## Metadata * Author: [Miyamoto Musashi, Shiro Tsujimura, and William Scott Wilson](https://www.amazon.comundefined) * ASIN: B007V3FHRU * ISBN: 1590309847 * Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007V3FHRU * [Kindle link](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU) ## Highlights 1.  Think without any dishonesty. 2.  Forge yourself in the Way. 3.  Touch upon all of the arts. 4.  Know the Ways of all occupations. 5.  Know the advantages and disadvantages of everything. 6.  Develop a discerning eye in all matters. 7.  Understand what cannot be seen by the eye. 8.  Pay attention to even small things. 9.  Do not involve yourself with the impractical. — location: [512](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=512) ^ref-63205 --- Think without any dishonesty. 2.  Forge yourself in the Way. 3.  Touch upon all of the arts. 4.  Know the Ways of all occupations. 5.  Know the advantages and disadvantages of everything. 6.  Develop a discerning eye in all matters. 7.  Understand what cannot be seen by the eye. 8.  Pay attention to even small things. 9.  Do not involve yourself with the impractical. — location: [487](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=487) ^ref-30399 --- In the Way of the Martial Arts, do not let your frame of mind be any different from your everyday mind. In both everyday and military events, your mind should not change in the least, but should be broad and straightforward, neither drawn too tight nor allowed to slacken even a little. Keep the mind in the exact center, not allowing it to become sidetracked; let it sway peacefully, not allowing it to stop doing so for even a moment. — location: [548](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=548) ^ref-28055 --- Do not let your mind stand still even when you are in repose, but do not let it speed up even when you are involved in quick actions. The mind should not be distracted by the body, nor the body distracted by the mind. — location: [524](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=524) ^ref-52048 --- Do not let the mind become clouded inside; — location: [558](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=558) ^ref-37699 --- Sharpen your wisdom, distinguish principle and its opposite in the world, learn the good and bad of all things, experience all the arts and accomplishments and their various Ways, and act in a way so that you will not be taken in by anyone. — location: [531](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=531) ^ref-49272 --- Even when the action is extraordinarily lively on the battlefield, you should take the principles of the martial arts to the extreme and keep your mind unmoved. You should investigate this thoroughly. — location: [562](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=562) ^ref-8462 --- you should take up the sword with the idea of cutting your opponent down. — location: [554](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=554) ^ref-26412 --- When you do this, you should hold your sword so that there is no change in your grasp nor — location: [555](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=555) ^ref-2707 --- the man down. Your grasp does not change when doing this, whether the act involves the testing of new swords on prisoners or corpses, or is taking place in a real fight. In all things, whether it be the sword or the hand, immobility is undesirable. Immobility means a dead hand; mobility means a living hand. You should understand this well. — location: [557](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=557) ^ref-19965 --- The stances are divided into five, but they are all for the purpose of cutting a man down. There — location: [567](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=567) ^ref-13743 --- are no other than these five. No matter which of these stances you take, you should not think of the stance itself, but rather that you are going to cut your opponent down. — location: [568](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=568) ^ref-37055 --- “Knowing the Way of the Sword” means that, even when you handle with two fingers — location: [577](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=577) ^ref-29647 --- you understand what you are doing and can handle it freely. You go against the Way of the Sword by trying to handle it with speed, and it will be difficult to wield. To the extent that you handle the sword well, you will handle it tranquilly. — location: [578](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=578) ^ref-14797 --- strike your opponent at the same moment he makes his attack to strike you. If — location: [594](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=594) ^ref-36709 --- With the Lower Stance, you kill the opponent at the same moment he strikes. — location: [601](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=601) ^ref-26260 --- it is a means of winning by parrying the path of your opponent’s — location: [607](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B007V3FHRU&location=607) ^ref-25424 ---