In Japan samurai practiced zazen to master martial arts, which is not just a physical thing. It was a matter of whether he would lose or win. So, as long as they were afraid of losing their life, they could not act to their full ability. Only when he was free from “to kill or to be killed,” and only when he reacted to his enemy’s activity, that was the only way to win. If he tried to win, he might lose. So, how he could act without the kind of fear which would limit his activity was the most important thing. Because they had this kind of problem they practiced Zen very hard. It was a matter of survival on the battlefield. So, he fought his fight in the zendo, not in the battlefield [laughs].
Kobun Chino
—cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 69-03-09 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.