It may be said that the swordsmen neither vies in a contest, nor concerns himself with strength or weakness, nor advances or retreats a single step. His opponent does not see him; he does not see his opponent. If he concentrates on the area where heaven and earth remain unseparated and yin and yang do not show, he should achieve success straightforwardly.
When you practice archery, if your mind is occupied with shooting the arrow, the shot will be disturbed, and will not be settled (smooth). If you are wielding the long sword, and your mind is fixed on wielding the sword, the sword will not move smoothly. The archer should forget about shooting the arrow, and shoot as he would doing nothing special. Then the shot will be smooth. When wielding the long sword, or riding a horse, do it as though you would not wield a sword or ride a horse. Stop doing everything, have an empty, everydays mind, even when you have lots of things to do, do it easily, smoothly. The man who has nothing on his heart is the man of the Way.
