(Note: I use AI to help me translate my stories from Japanese to English.)
People can still practice shugyō in the age of AI.
What is shugyō (修行)?
Shugyō is a method of polishing one’s mind and body through rigorous training.
It is a Japanese word that originally refers to an organized practice of disciplining the mind and body to achieve a religious purpose.
Practices such as fasting, pilgrimage, meditation, prayer, and repentance are considered forms of shugyō.
However, I believe shugyō is not limited to religion. Cooking, working, playing soccer, and learning a foreign language can also be forms of shugyō.
If it helps you improve, it’s shugyō. All daily activities can be shugyō.
When I think of shugyō, I remember Goku, the main character of Dragon Ball, a Japanese anime created by Akira Toriyama.
Goku is a martial artist who strives to become the strongest person in the universe. He trains his mind and body very hard to go beyond his limits. He loves shugyō more than anything else.
AI and robots might solve almost all social problems in the future.
However, no one — not even AI or robots — can make you more skillful, kinder, or stronger. You have to train yourself to become more skillful, stronger, and kinder.
Many people practice meditation today. Meditation is a kind of shugyō, because people can train their minds through it.
Humans have always tried to change their environment. They cut down trees, built houses, and made roads. Because of this, the outside world has become sophisticated.
Now, people are becoming more interested in themselves. They are trying to improve themselves for the better.
We used to focus on creating high-tech machines, but now we are trying to improve our minds, bodies, and skills more and more.
The results of shugyō are improvements in the body, mind, and skills. People practice shugyō to enhance these aspects of themselves.
It’s enjoyable to feel these improvements — there are new discoveries and personal growth every day.
I like learning English. For me, learning English is a kind of shugyō. I try to improve my mind and English skills.
You don’t do shugyō for power, fame, or money. You do it for self-improvement.
The more rigorous the shugyō is, the more your skills, body, and mind will improve.
One Japanese scholar and martial artist wrote that the opposite concept of competition is shugyō.
In shugyō, one does not compete with others in terms of relative superiority or inferiority.
Through shugyō, practitioners are expected to eliminate their ego. It is not a competition with others.
All things can be shugyō.
Let’s practice shugyō and keep improving ourselves!