Lessons from Tsukahara Rengetsu (塚原 蓮月) – An imaginary samurai master
Lesson 4
One evening, as rain fell steadily against the roof, a student asked Rengetsu,
“Master, how do I remove fear?”
Rengetsu did not answer.
He slid open the door and stepped into the rain.
The student hesitated, then followed.
The rain was cold. It soaked through their robes. It ran down their faces and into their eyes.
Rengetsu stood still.
After some time, he asked,
“Are you wet?”
“Yes.”
“Are you harmed?”
“No.”
They stood longer. The student began to shiver.
Rengetsu turned to him.
“When rain falls, you do not remove the rain. You endure it.”
They returned inside. Water pooled on the wooden floor.
Rengetsu knelt and began calmly drying the boards with a cloth.
“Fear is the same.”
“You believe it must be removed before you can act.”
He wrung the cloth slowly.
“But fear is weather. It passes through the body. A man who waits for fear to disappear waits forever.”
The student listened closely. Rengetsu continued.
“In battle, the heart beats fast. The breath shortens. The hands tremble.”
“This is not weakness. This is rain.”
He placed the cloth aside.
“The untrained man says, ‘I must not feel this.’ The trained man says, ‘This too belongs here.’”
He looked directly at the student.
“Courage is not the absence of fear. It is movement while fear is present.”
The rain continued outside, steady and indifferent.
“The practice is simple,” Rengetsu said. “When fear arises, do not argue with it. Do not try to silence it.”
“Notice it. Name it quietly. And continue.”
He closed the door gently.
“When you stop resisting the weather, you stop exhausting yourself.”
Rengetsu extinguished the lantern.
“This is the fourth gate of Budo.”