The Taste of Banzo’s Sword - Zen Story
- Everything IFS
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The Taste of Banzo’s Sword (Zen Story)
Today we enter… The Taste of Banzo’s Sword.
This one is sharp. Not with cruelty but with presence. It’s about the kind of teaching that cuts through pretense… and wakes you up.
Let’s step into the dojo together.
Let the Story Unfold
A young man came to the sword master Banzo and said, “I want to be your student. How long will it take me to master the sword?”
“Ten years,” Banzo replied.
“What if I train twice as hard?”
“Then twenty years,” said Banzo.
Frustrated, the young man agreed to begin.
The next day, Banzo gave him chores.
Sweeping.
Cooking.
Fetching water.
No sword lessons.
Days turned to weeks.
The student grew impatient.
One day, as he bent over the fire,
Banzo struck him with a wooden sword.
No warning.
No words.
Just a sudden blow.
From then on, it kept happening
whenever the student’s back was turned, Banzo would strike.
Eventually, the student began to anticipate.
Sense.
Move.
One day, he caught the blow mid-air.
Banzo smiled. “You have tasted the sword.”
Sit With the Meaning
The student wanted form.
Technique.
Schedules.
Progress.
He wanted to “learn.”
But Banzo offered experience. Presence.
No lessons.
No lectures.
Just life.
And surprise.
Because awakening, like swordplay, doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It meets you where you are, in motion. It strikes when you aren’t prepared. And slowly, your system learns: Not through study… but through being. That’s what it means to “taste” the sword. Not to know about it but to feel it before it touches you. To move from awareness, not anticipation.
Turning Inward With Your Parts
Is there a part of you that only feels safe when there’s a clear plan, structure, or timeline
What does it fear when learning feels unpredictable or out of your control?
Can you sense a part that resents slow progress, and another that longs for integration more than instruction?
What shifts when you imagine being taught by life itself not through words, but through surprise?
Let Expression Rise
You don’t need to be ready.
Just let yourself respond.
Choose what feels most alive:
IFS Journaling
Write from the voice of the part that wants mastery now.
What is it trying to outrun?
What does “being good” mean to it?
IFS Parts Art
Draw the moment before the sword strikes.
What emotions live there? Fear? Readiness? Defiance? Let your parts show you.
Somatic IFS
Stand tall. Close your eyes. Slowly shift your weight side to side, as if sensing a blow before it comes .Let your body listen.
And if none of these feel right…it’s perfectly okay to simply rest with the story. Let the silence do the holding.
Stay here with your parts as long as you like, and we’ll meet again in the next story.
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