Earth (chi/ji) by Nao of japanesecalligrapher.com
In the hopes of encouraging you to read The Book of Five Rings
One/First (ichi) by Nao of japanesecalligrapher.com From the Ground Book:
"According to the Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon, and yet you can also win with a short weapon. In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size.
It is better to use two swords rather than one when you are fighting a crowd and especially if you want to take a prisoner.
These things cannot be explained in detail. From one thing, know ten-thousand things. When you attain the Way of Strategy there will not be one thing you cannot see. You must study hard."
Many people who first approach old strategy manuals such as this one will complain that the material is vague and the examples are outdated, e.g. who uses a sword anymore? And for that matter, who uses two? And if swords were used nowadays, isn't it obvious that two would be more effective for dispatching a crowd...but why for taking a prisoner? Well, we can thank our poly/pan/monotheistic deit(y(ies)) that Musashi demonstrated the effectiveness of his Way of Strategy by forestalling our complaints with "These things cannot be explained in detail."
A cop out? Possibly. But let's see if we can, from this piece of archaic advice--this "one thing," know many more things.
How does Musashi's suggestion that winning is possible with a long or short weapon--a weapon of any size--apply to something like meditation or the LSAT? First of all, we know that a weapon's length affects the circumstances of a fight. The longer the weapon, the greater the striking distance; the shorter the weapon, the smaller the distance. So what are weapons if not tools to define and adapt to circumstances? And if that's the case, of course there are instances better suited for "use two swords"; having two weapons lessens the impact of external circumstance. Have you or any of your opponents closed? It's a good thing you have the short sword. Have your opponents fallen back? Strike with the long sword.
But these examples rob the message of its truth. Musashi was right to not go into detail. From this brief passage, zen and LSAT students should take away this: circumstances change. Noise will happen. Pencils will break. You will need to go to the bathroom; you will get thirsty. People will cough, and look sexually attractive, and be generally distracting. The student of either discipline "must study hard" to learn how to use the weapons necessary to integrate, crush, or transcend these distracting circumstances--the Meditations covered this here. If the student can develop the skills to succeed in the midst of distraction with the tools at her/his disposal ("the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon") and be adept at using multiple tools whenever necessary ("use two swords rather than one"), the student will succeed in her/his undertaking.
So do we know "ten thousand things"? I'd say so. If we are able to evolved and adapt to circumstances and not lose sight of our objective (winning), then any one of ten-thousand or more unimaginable conditions can be used, circumvented, or overcome. It just takes some forethought, flexibility, and hard, hard practice.
(Thanks to Nao and Alice for the calligraphy. Also, if you haven't been to the Land of the Rising Sun to help, you know, clean up and rebuild, go here, here, or here for now.)