The changeable days of September’s weather can be compared to the ups and downs of life, and how despite sometimes feeling favoured by a warm day and at other times oppressed by chill or rain, these seemingly random contrasts are a necessary part of appreciating the best of times.

Just as Kendo reminds us that every pebble on the pathways around The Retreat can be regarded as representing a challenge in our lives, walking the pathways reminds us that we have successfully overcome all those which lie behind us, and this is an encouraging thought for all that may lie ahead.

The foregoing examples are two among many other helpful ‘perspectives’ on life that Kendo gives us, which help us to remain positive in ourselves and as we affect others – basically, in the realm of the everyday world, which is so dependent upon how we use our conscious minds. Using such perspectives to help steer our minds in the most positive, productive, and pro-social ways means that we will serve our communities well – a fundamental aim of Buddhism.

But Kendo would also remind us that whilst it is wise to have such attitudes readily available to the mind, the most positive thing we can possibly do with our minds is to set time aside to completely still them. Sometimes life’s challenges can be so great that there is no ‘perspective’ which can accommodate their effects on us, and such a challenge is really calling for us to seek the deeper wisdom of Zen.

Whilst the literal translation of Zen is ‘meditation’, in Japanese Buddhism, it is an entire way of life characterised by stillness, including stilling all else other than the task one is immediately engaged in; this centuries-old form of practising stillness is known these days as ‘mindfulness’, and appreciation of its worth continues to grow.

So, Kendo would tell us to certainly be ready to apply the most pertinent positive perspective moment-by-moment to our immediate lives, but also to remember that there are more resources available to us to help deal with the larger and deeper issues than a perspective can accommodate.

This is the fundamental message of Kendo’s ‘Zen through Kyu Shin Do’ – combining the perspective of seeing yourself at the still centre of the circle of your life, and practising stillness yourself, together the perspective and the practice are immensely empowering.

…and ‘empowerment’ is the perspective which Kendo Nagasaki brings to us all.