JIKI SHIN KORE DOJO
(“Willing heart is the dojo”)
This statement, recorded in the Book of Yuima, is attributed to Yuima Koji, who was thought to be an enlightened teacher during the earliest stages of development for Buddhist teaching.
One day on his way back to the city, Yuima unexpectedly met a fellow monk on the street who asked,
“From whence do you return?”
Yuima answered, “I’m returning from the dojo where I attained satori.”
The fellow monk then asked, “Where is there such a dojo where one can attain satori? In the city there is so much noise and activity that I wish to escape to the dojo from whence you came.”
Yuima’s answer was, Jiki shin kore dōjō or “The willing heart is the dojo.”
The atmosphere of our contemporary lifestyle surrounds us with a multitude of tools and equipment, an unprecedented variety of conveniences. Yet the complaint is often that it is difficult to find a place where one can study or acquire competence in some discipline. All that a person needs is “a sincere willingness to study.” If one truly wishes to study, one can do so under any circumstance.
Yuima Koji stated that only the “dojo within” was needed to develop even such traits as compassion, wisdom and spiritual training, to name a few, and that a special setting and methods were not necessary.
– Extract from SHODO: The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy
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