“See first with your mind, then with your eyes, and finally with your body.”

“It is bias to think that the art of war is just for killing people. It is not to kill people, it is to kill evil. It is a strategem to give life to many people by killing the evil of one person.”

“Once a fight has started, if you get involved in thinking about what to do, you will be cut down by your opponent with the very next blow.”

“Conquering evil, not the opponent, is the essence of swordsmanship.”

Zen and the Sword Art by T. Berg

“To cut a man with a single blow is easy. To avoid being cut by a man is difficult.”

“It is the very mind itself that leads the mind astray.”

“You should strike at the moon in the water.”

“When you have run the length of various practices, those practices will no longer remain in your mind and that lack of mind is at the heart of all things. By then forgetting your training and casting off your mind, you can become more aware of yourself and your environment. You enter through training and arrive at absence.”

“When questions are cleared up they become nothing, you will achieve emptiness and your actions will be in harmony with what you have learned without your being aware of it. If you keep a released mind, your movements will always be free. Even pets are better raised unleashed.”

“The Art of the Sword is in expelling attachments and not allowing your consciousness to linger on anything. This is the basic principle. It is essential to maintain a clear and empty mind.”

“The sword raised for attack is death-dealing; the sword in defensive position is life-giving.”

“Keep composure inside and martial ardor outside.”

"Existence and Non-Existence, Good and Evil are sicknesses of the mind. If you do not expel these sicknesses from the mind, nothing you do will turn out well. Thus it is said, ‘Expel Existence and Non-Existence altogether, and make what lies behind them your own.’ This advocates expelling both existence and Non-Existence, but continuing to live in the midst of them and advancing to the level of the ultimate."

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