A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following:
In one's life, there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies, but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless, but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others. In a higher level, he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.
These are the levels in general. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life things that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself."
Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.
Often times I like to take some time away from my busy life and thumb through Hagakure. Usually it only takes me one page before I see something insightful and think about it. Today this passage grabbed my attention. The last line is by far my favorite. I cannot speak about what others should do, but I really like to live my life like this line. To continually grow through hard work is a beautiful thing. Its not always easy to see yourself gaining skill. Eventually you do reach a plateau and can see the progress. At these times I think it is good to feel a little pride for your hard work. Not so much that you stop training hard though... Maybe I'm still at the first or second step lol.
