THE ZEN MIRROR

All Perfect

By Jeff Brooks

A samurai stood at the head of his troops, on the edge of the field of battle. He was at the height of his power, a master of the arts of the sword and strategy, an accomplished politician and poet as well. It was April. The cherry blossoms fell from the trees, and with every breeze thousands and thousands of the blossoms filled the air. They were beautiful, and fleeting. He watched them fly from the trees. He watched them fall. He said to his friend, “You could spend your entire life searching for the perfect one and never waste a moment.” As a practitioner he understood the profound beauty of a life lived in the endless pursuit of perfection.

Later that day he was mortally wounded in battle. The blood flowed from his wounds and his life ebbed away. He spoke again to his friend, who now kneeled beside him. The heavenly storm of cherry blossoms swirled around them, for a moment obscuring the land and the sky, hiding the dead and dying soldiers around them on the battlefield. The samurai looked at the cherry blossoms as if he had never seen them before. He said, “All perfect!”

What had changed? The quality of the falling cherry blossoms had not changed in that one hour, from the beginning of the battle to the end of it. But that warrior’s mind had changed. He understood something in the moments before his death that he had missed all his life, despite his power, despite his achievements. Having let go of his attachment to an imagined ideal of perfection outside this moment, an ideal he could no longer pursue, he recognized for the first time that right here, right now, all we see, all we are, is perfect, with nothing extra, nothing lacking… nothing but this moment, perfect as it is.

Author’s Note: The quotes given in this article are from The Last Samurai movie. The interpretation is mine. Perhaps this shows that when viewed from the right perspective not all the garbage that flows out of Hollywood is garbage.

Jeffrey M. Brooks

Jeff Brooks (9th dan), began martial arts training in 1978 and opened his first karate dojo in Northampton, MA (1988 through 2009), while also conducting self-defense seminars, professional programs in combative skills and served as a regular contributor on Zen and karate-related topics to FightingArts.com.

Jeff then moved to South Carolina  and started a career in law enforcement, serving as a police officer, then  detective, defensive tactics instructor, firearms instructor, PPCT instructor, Deputy US Marshal, and Deputy Sheriff. After retirement, he founded Mountain Karate in Saluda, NC.

In karate Brooks received his 5th degree Black Belt from the Nagamine honbu dojo, his 7th degree black belt in 2004, and his 9th degree black belt in 2022, in recognition of his formation and leadership of Yamabayashi Ryu. He studied with leading teachers in Okinawan, Japanese, and Chinese traditions, in the US and overseas, including Katsuhiko Shinzato (the translator of Shoshin Nagamine’s Essence of Okinawan Karate Do, and formerly a student of the Kishaba brothers’ karate and kobudo); Sogen Sakiyama, Roshi (direct student of Miyagi Chojun, and practitioner of Goju-ryu karate); and Shoshin Nagamine (Chief of the Motobu District Police, Mayor of Naha, and founder of Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu).

Jeff Brooks has written hundreds of published articles on martial arts, and Zen and has been cited widely online and in print. He wrote speeches and presentations for high profile public figures in politics, media, business and the arts.

He is author of several books including “True Karate Dō”, available on Amazon.com