Matters of Life and Death: Essays In Budo

By Peter Barus

The Way handed down across the centuries is not subject to popular consensus or notions of what is reasonable. If one aspires - and that word refers to breathing - to training in Bud , one gives up rights, including the right to an ego. This does not mean Ego will not have something to say about it; each moment, Ego appears anew, in the familiar guise of "myself." This is normal. When crossing swords, however, we soon discover that normal is worse than useless. The challenge is only whether to engage fully with life, or be driven by previous behavioral patterns. There is no ultimate victory here: the previous moment has no bearing on the present. We are alive, or not, moment by moment, until there are no more moments.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1481204432
• ISBN13: 9781481204439
• Release Date: January 2013
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 138 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"