The Five Rings — by Miyamoto Musashi describes the elements and the discovery of conquering each element through the element itself. With each Element as a guide, may you find the element that best resonates and brings you the fortune that you need along your journey.
Man’s finest discovery, that of fire. It dawns light and bares warmth. Though if not careful, it can erode and bring us to ash. The power of Fire is an ultimate achievement of mankind. This power brings with it the nature of what we are — untamed. Though, when we work with fire and learn its temperament, we begin to grow boldly and can easily amass whatever we choose to conquer. If it is ourself we wish to conquer, then what is no longer needed must be consumed by the fire within and what shall be reborn from its ashes is what is left behind. In letting go and moving through ourselves, we welcome and honor impermanence.
When one sits around a fire, one learns to sit with a spiritual rite of passage. This rite of passage is the awakening of the inner self. While you sit, if you look upon the fire, feel its warmth and are quiet, you will feel its call. It speaks in silence, it speaks with no emotion, and it stirs endlessly. If we wish to tame that which is untamable, then what is to be done is to let it exist. Fire burns. That is its nature. When you feel yourself burning, either you are eroding what is no longer needed or you are eroding yourself. Listen attentively and you will know which is which.
As with the power to destroy, comes the power to create. What is taken away, is brought back. When you learn to harness the fire within, which has many connotations tied to it, you will come to see the light it bares. It is nourishing, thoughtful, kind, gentle, giving. These aspects of fire from within are aspects of yourself. While fire can be destructive, remember to always look on the aspect that brings light and warmth. Show others the light and from them, receive their warmth.
You are breathing. You are the life essence of the universe. When you inhale, take a moment to realize that which gives you life. When you exhale, take a moment to that which you were. Each moment a is passing breath. You are each moment and each breath. Air is the essence that provides you the energy and life-force needed to be who you are. Allow yourself to take solace in the fact each breath you take is a breath that may not be taken. This is the vital essense known as chi, ki, prana — all are energy.
While many know air to be of water, the truth is that air is its own element, unto itself. It comes and goes like the wind. It has force, mass, and energy and it can be still or be stirred. When you sit with yourself, you will find that each breath has weight, each breath is its own. Learning to still and flow with the breath is the key to learning mastery of self. Slow and steady. Calm, gentle and soft — like the waves of an ocean that produce the tenderness that air can be, much like a breeze.
While it is easy to not remember you are breathing, to take time to breath consciously and with deliberate attention, you will find that each breath is as unique as you are. The self is always waiting for us to arrive. Each moment that passes is a moment that we can welcome our self. So remember, the next time you sit, that you sit patiently, quietly and attuned to your breath. It waits to show you yourself. When you slow yourself and slow your breath, you will ultimately find silence. The peace within.
Our bodies contain 70 percent water and without it, we would die. Life itself is helpless without water. Spiritually, what we are made of is the essense that life itself needs. When we are away from ourselves, we feel it deep within. This deep feeling of selflessness, is because we are no longer apart of the Cosmic ocean to which we belong. It is from the depths of ourselves that we find the truth and within those depths come the stirrings of our water nature. It brings life to us and we grow like a plant from its nurturing.
The Lotus is a flower that blossoms from mud, but within the waters of what most would feel is stagnation and sickness. It is this very sickness that we are ourselves have to uproot and arise from to see ourselves blossom. Each moment you arise, may you honor the water nature you are. Feel and welcome to yourself the sensation of being in, admist, and surrounded by water. Its power is as immense as any and its nature is to teach us the natural way to be with ourselves and with each other.
When water flows, it flows unconditionally. When you find that you do the same, without regard or judgement, then you will have found that you are your water nature. Deep within is a stillness, a sense of peace, a calmness that can take on all suffering and all burdens. Find within yourself the nature of water and become one with the sensation of giving and receiving unconditionally.
It is the first place our feet touch. It keeps us upright, it keeps us stable, and we rely on it to stay grounded. Earth is our home. We know nothing apart from it. It provides, it gives, and even takes. Yet, we call it our home because it is the only one we have. Much like ourselves, we are the only home we can come back to. In this way, we are reflections of the ground that we touch upon within and without.
Throughout our time on this Earth, we have many experiences, all rooted in Nature. Earth, which houses not just us humans, but the vastness of species of life that it is home to; The Jungle, The Mountains, The Oceans, the realms of inner and outer that make up life itself. We are gifted and granted an experience of mystery through Earth herself and are fortunate to take on the experience. May we always remember what a gift it is to be alive.
When we find ourselves on solid ground, we are at once centered. Our two feet securely planted, teach us that while our minds might find there way to the sky, that our bodies remain safely on ground. As the Buddha was asked by Mara who acknowledged his Enlightment, Buddha simply touched the ground — Mother Earth acknowledged The Buddha and it is to this end, that we too show Earth the same gratitude and compassion that it shows us.
The picture you see above is called the Enso (Zen). It is the Zen Circle. It speaks of one truth. That truth is Enlightenment, Imperfection, Perfection. In Buddhism, the Annata (no self, no soul) is blown out (Nirvana). To move past ourselves, one must recognize that each self and each soul is impermanent. That is, it is subject to change. It is and then it is not. If you can understand this, you will arrive at a truth that is true for all things — everything in the Universe, including the Universe itself. Each moment is subject to change and that change is the only constant that moves through all of life.
You know and are of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Yet when you exhale your final breath, you will pass through this life and into the next or some state between this life and the next (known as an afterlife or the bardo). What remains of you is the essense that was and will become subject to change as you are reincarnated into your next form. For those of us who have passed through Samsara for our final time, we will go on to become Enlightened. This idea of being “something”, into “nothing” is the idea known as emptiness. Nothing is actually something, it is that which has been before and will always remain. To comprehend it, imagine you as the essence of self without self.
In whichever practice you believe, take to the root of the practice. Believe with an open mind and an open heart. Learn. Teach. Be taught and learn and teach again. The Imperfection seen through the Enso brings the perfection when the time is right. Eventually, through time and through many selves or through one self, Enlightenment is reached. You will be blown out. When you are, what awaits is the truth for one to reconcile with as it is. That truth will become yours alone.