Through intensive training, self-discipline, and the other steps presented in the nine lessons here, these artists have mastered their Ways and themselves. By so deeply involving their own inner beings in their art, they are able to poignantly touch the souls of others viewing or using their work. Hands, hearts, and minds have melded with the materials and actions with which they work daily to create true beauty, a beauty that also pervades their own being.

Developing the self via artistic expression with Zen precepts is a fundamental and well-known path to self-mastery. But the Way to self-mastery does not require that a person be steeped in Oriental wisdom or Zen training. Other cultures around the world, Western and Eastern, have their own recognized and recognizable masters, men and women whose skill in specific activities is obvious and undeniable, as is their unflappable calm. Such individuals seem invariably to manifest an uncommon depth and strength of character: their power and talent is not only physical, but comes as a result of the coordination and effort of their total being in their chosen endeavor.

At times the specific activity, the Way leading to mastery, seems unlikely. Although some would see the competitive sport known as "bodybuilding" as an activity dominated by muscle-bound and narcissistic jocks, it is also an art form in which the human body becomes a medium for sculpting, an undertaking that requires tremendous discipline, perseverance, and motivation. Arnold Schwarzenneger, perhaps the world's most famous bodybuilder, has this to say in his autobiography Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder: "I think the most important things I developed through bodybuilding were my personality, confidence, and character." His road to fame (and fortune) was paved from the materials he used in his daily training regimen: "I taught myself discipline, the strictest kind of discipline. . . I could apply that discipline to everyday life." A seven-time winner of professional bodybuilding's most prestigious award, Mr. Olympia, Schwarzenneger also has been the number one international box office attraction, has served as the Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, and promotes the healthy development of inner city youth and the handicapped through various athletic programs he organizes and supports. For these successes he credits more his brain than his brawn: "You must consider that in the beginning you are training the mind as well as the body . . . The mind is incredible. Once you've gained mastery over it, channeling its powers positively for your purposes, you can do anything." Clearly, in mastering control over matter--whether clay, the implements of tea, flowers, or physical movements such as kicks and punches--mastery also can come over mind, heart and spirit. Ultimately, this is the Way of Mastery: the enduring process of discovery and knowledge, applied in the forging of stronger and better technique, form and self.

The Sword and Pen are One
While the martial arts offer a particularly effective option for mastery, and while mastery is also achievable in other serious, artistic endeavors, fullest personal development is perhaps best achieved by some combination of the two. In Japan there is an expression: Bunbu ryodo (sometimes Bunbu ryoho or Bunbu ichi), which essentially means, "Cultural and martial [development] are both one Way," or more figuratively, "The sword and pen are one." Musashi echoes this expression early in his Book of Five Rings: "First of all, the way of warriors means familiarity with both cultural and martial arts." And Nitobe Inazo, in his work Bushido, tells us that part of the standard curriculum of the bushi, besides such martial disciplines as horsemanship, fencing, archery, jujutsu, and spearmanship, was the study of calligraphy, ethics, and literature. As Musashi himself discovered, to develop as a total human being, martial valor and ferocity needs tempering with the sensitivity and softness more frequently associated with non-martial, creative arts. Conversely, the strength of spirit cultivated in the fighting arts can supply the boldness and dynamism that can bring vivid life to any art. This is the manifestation of the essential unity of the timeless dualities of yin and yang, neither of which is complete without the other.