The Life-Giving Sword

Secret Teachings from the House of the Shogun

Translated by William Scott Wilson
By Yagyu Munenori

$21.95
SKU
9781590309902
- Paperback
Available
Shambhala Publications
10/18/2012
Pages: 192
Size: 5.25 x 7.5
ISBN: 9781590309902
Details

This book is also included in our Reader's Guide on The Samurai and Zen where you will find other important Zen classics.


The legendary seventeenth-century swordsman Yagyu Munenori was the sword instructor and military and political adviser to two shoguns—and was a rival to the great Miyamoto Musashi. Despite his martial ability and his political power, Munenori spent his life immersed in Zen teachings and practice. These teachings formed the framework for his deeply spiritual approach to sword fighting; Munenori saw in the practice of the sword a way to transform the student into a total human being. The Life-Giving Sword is Munenori’s manifesto on his approach. His central themes are the “Life-Giving Sword”—the idea of controlling one’s opponent by spiritual readiness to fight rather than by actual fighting—and “No Sword,” which is the idea that the mind must be free of everything, even the sword itself, in order to get to the place of complete mastery. Munenori’s ideas are essential reading for martial artists of all kinds and can be applied to business and human relations as well.