WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR: A Book That Changes Lives

by Dan Millman

“When a baby is upset, it expresses itself in banshee wails — pure crying. It doesn’t wonder about whether it should be crying. Babies accept their emotions completely. They let feelings flow, then let them go. In this way, infants are fine teachers. Learn their lessons and you’ll dissolve old habits.”

“You’re going to need unusual energy to cut through the mists of your mind and find your way to the gate. So purifying, regenerative practices are essential.”

“You’ll need to refine every human function — moving, sleeping, breathing, thinking, feeling — and eating. Of all the human activities, eating is one of the most important to stabilize first.”

“Your present diet,” he said, glancing up through the sunlit branches of a beautiful tree,”may give you ‘plenty’ of energy, but it also makes you groggy, affects your moods, and lowers your level of awareness.”

“In your present state of evolution, you cannot ‘eat sunlight’ except in limited ways. When humanity does develop this ability, the digestive organs will become vestigial and laxative companies will go out of business. For now, a proper diet allows you to make the most direct use of the sun’s energy. This energy helps you focus your attention, sharpening your concentration into a slashing blade.”

“My diet may at first seem spartan compared to the indulgences you call ‘moderation,’ Dan, but I take great pleasure in what I eat because I’ve developed the capacity to enjoy the simplest foods. And so will you.”

“The pleasure from eating, Dan, is more than the taste of the food and the feeling of a full belly. Learn to enjoy the entire process — the hunger beforehand, the careful preparation, setting an attractive table, chewing, breathing, smelling, tasting, swallowing, and the feeling of lightness and energy after the meal. You can even enjoy the full and easy elimination of the food after it’s digested. When you pay attention to all elements of the process, you’ll begin to appreciate simple meals.”

In a few years, there will be no need for rules. You can experiment and trust your instincts. For now, however, you’re to avoid foods that contain refined sugar, refined flour, and meat, as well as coffee, alcohol, tobacco, or any other drugs.

“There’s no point in my trying to explain my reasons; you’re just going to have to find your future thrills in fresh air, fresh food, fresh water, fresh awareness, and sunshine.”

“Proper posture is a way of blending with gravity, Dan. Proper attitude is a way of blending with life.” And so it went.

“What comes out of your mouth is as important as what goes into it.”

It was over; I was through being a slave to random impulses.

“Your energy level is rising. People, animals, and even things are attracted to energy fields. That’s how it works.”

I practiced breathing so slowly that it took one minute to complete each breath. When combined with intense concentration and control of specific muscle groups, this breathing exercise heated my body up like a sauna and allowed me to remain comfortable outside no matter what the temperature.

Too late I remembered that the purpose of his insults had always been to show me my own pride and resistance, and had taught me to persevere.

The breath is a bridge between mind and body, feeling and doing. Balanced, natural breathing brings you back to the present moment.”

“There’s no praise and no blame on the path you’ve chosen. It’s time you blew into your own sails.”

“Let feelings flow, then let them go.”

In a small fishing village in Japan, there lived a young, unmarried woman who gave birth to a child. Her parents felt disgraced and demanded to know the identity of the father. Afraid, she refused to tell them. The fisherman she loved had told her, secretly, that he was going off to seek his fortune and would return to marry her. Her parents persisted. In desperation, she named Hakuin, a monk who lived in the hills, as the father. Outraged, the parents took the infant girl up to his door, pounded until he opened it, and handed him the baby, saying, “This child is yours; you must care for it!” “Is that so?” Hakuin said, taking the child in his arms, waving good-bye to the parents. A year passed and the real father returned to marry the woman. At once they went to Hakuin to beg for the return of the child. “We must have our daughter,” they said. “Is that so?” said Hakuin, handing the child to them.

You see, any unconscious, compulsive ritual is a problem. But specific activities — smoking, drinking, taking drugs, eating sweets, or asking silly questions — are both bad and good; every action has its price, and its pleasures. Recognizing both sides, you become realistic and responsible for your actions. And only then can you make the warrior’s free and conscious choice — to do or not to do.

“There is a saying: ‘When you sit, sit; when you stand, stand; whatever you do, don’t wobble.’ Once you make your choice, do it with all your spirit. Don’t be like the preacher who thought about praying while making love to his wife, and thought about making love to his wife while praying.”

“It’s better to make a mistake with the full force of your being than to timidly avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit. Responsibility means recognizing both pleasure and price, action and consequence, then making a choice.”

“Moderation? It’s mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It’s the devil’s dilemma. It’s neither doing nor not doing. It’s the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fencesitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It’s for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die. Moderation” — he took a deep breath, getting ready for his final condemnation — “is lukewarm tea, the devil’s own brew!”

Maybe it’s time to trust your own inner knower, the counsel of your own heart.”

Smoking is not disgusting; only the habit is. I may enjoy a cigarette, then not smoke again for six months. And when I do smoke, I don’t pretend that my lungs won’t pay a price; I follow appropriate action afterward to help counterbalance the negative effects.”

Old urges continue to arise, but urges do not matter; only actions do. A warrior is as a warrior does.

But it wasn’t a thought or a voice; it was a feeling-certainty, a knowing. It was as if Socrates was inside me, a warrior within.

about a mother who was overcome with grief by the death of her young son. “‘I can’t bear the pain and sorrow,’ she told her sister. “‘My sister, did you mourn your son before he was born?’ “‘No, of course not,’ the despondent woman replied. “‘Well then, you need not mourn for him now. He has only returned to the same place, his original home, before he was ever born.’”

“Death is not sad; the sad thing is that most people don’t really live at all.”

I saw the futility of trying to live up to anyone else’s expectations, including my own. I would, as a peaceful warrior, choose when, where, and how I would behave. With that commitment, I began to live the life of a warrior.

I’ve dedicated my life to self-improvement without grasping the one problem that sent me seeking in the first place. While trying to make everything in the world work out for me, I kept getting sucked back into my own mind, always preoccupied with me, me, me. That giant was me — the ego, the little self — who I’ve always believed myself to be. And I cut through it!”

“There are no ordinary moments!”

After that, I treated every moment in the gym — on the ground as well as in the air — as special, worthy of my full attention.

Socrates asked me to introduce you to your new phase of training. Meditation is a useful practice, but eventually you have to open your eyes and look around. The warrior’s life is a moving experience.”

“It only hurts because your muscles are like rocks.” “All right, you’ve made your point! How long do I have to stay this way?” Socrates only smiled and left the office abruptly, leaving me standing bent-legged, sweating and shaking. He came back with a grizzled tomcat who had obviously seen some action on the front lines. “You need to develop muscles like Oscar so that you can move like us,” he said, scratching the purring feline behind the ears.

“By now you can appreciate how the mind imposes tension on the body. Worries, anxieties, and other mental debris are stored as chronic tension. Now it’s time for you to release these tensions and free your body from the past.”

“Massage the bones, not just the flesh and muscle — deeper,”

satori, a Zen concept. Satori occurs when attention rests in the present moment, when the body is alert, sensitive, relaxed, and the emotions are open and free. Satori is what you experienced when the knife was flying toward you.

Satori is the warrior’s state of being.”

But most athletes fail to expand this clarity into daily life. This is your task.

when satori becomes your everyday reality, we will be equals. Satori is your key to the gate.”

you looked directly in front of you and took one step at a time. That’s how it works.”

“The true martial arts teach nonresistance — the way of the trees bending in the wind. This attitude is far more important than physical technique.”

“Never struggle with anyone or anything. When you’re pushed, pull; when you’re pulled, push. Find the natural course and bend with it. Join with nature’s power.” His actions proved his words.

Remember to breathe so slowly that you wouldn’t disturb a feather in front of your nose.”

“letting movements happen” instead of trying to do them.

I trained with fierce concentration. I awoke at 4:00 A.M., practiced T’ai Chi until dawn, and ran into the hills before meeting Joy each day. I said nothing about my extra training.

“The routine looked satisfactory, but you did a very sloppy job taking the tape off. Remember, every-moment satori.”

“Dan, you still need to meditate your actions.” “What do you mean, meditate my actions?”

“Meditating an action is different from doing it. To do, there is a doer, a self-conscious ‘someone’ performing. But when you meditate an action, you’ve already released attachment to outcomes. There’s no ‘you’ left to do it. In forgetting yourself, you become what you do, so ...