Yagyu Munenori - Learning is the Gate, not the House
“Learning is the gate, not the House.”
“Learning is critical to attaining true wisdom, but wisdom will not be gained by learning alone. Integrate knowledge into the principles behind. Put them deep into one’s core being. Go past the point of anything at all being on one’s mind and you will be in accord with the Way.”
Yagyu Munenori explains, "learning is the gate to attainment of the Way. You get to the #Way by going through this gate. Therefore #learning is the gate, not the house. But when you see the gate, don't take it for the house. The house is inside, past the gate.”
Since learning is a gate, when you read books, don't think this is the Way. Books are a gate to get to the Way. Therefore many people remain #ignorant of the Way no matter how much they study or how many words they know. Even if you can read fluently according to the commentaries of the ancients, as long as you are ignorant of the #principles you cannot make the Way your own.
Uncertainty exists because of not #knowing. Being doubtful, those things stay on your #mind. When the #principle is clarified, nothing stays on your mind. This is called consummating knowledge and #perfecting things. Once there is nothing on your mind, everything becomes easy to do."
Yagyū Munenori is considered on par with Miyamoto Musashi. He lived during the same timeframe, and wrote a similar treatise on the Way of the Warrior, named the Heihō Kadensho. It is divided into 3 chapters: Killing Sword, Life-giving Sword, and No Sword.