Learning From "After the Rain"

While watching "After the Rain", there was a scene in which a lowly samurai was facing a renowned master in a practice duel. The lowly samurai was actually trying to pull a fast one: he was going to quickly admit defeat, so as to put the master into a good mood and maybe even getting some money out of it. So he entered the duel without any intention to win, or even try winning.

To the renowned master, he was faced with an opponent that presented countless openings, yet this opponent somehow didn't seem to care that he had many openings. In the end, the renowned master admitted defeat: when faced with an opponent that didn't seem to care if he won or lost, the renowned master just didn't know what to do.

It reminded me about what I have learnt in taiji, that when we are fixated with winning, we end up losing. When we are afraid of losing, that fear of losing can be used against us. The renowned master couldn't use fear of losing against the lowly samurai; instead, he was afraid of taking any of the openings as it would fix him on a course of action and open him to counterattack instead.

Bottomline is still the same: Don't be fixated on winning, don't be afraid of losing.