Internal Struggle

Yesterday is not a milestone that has been passed, but a daystone on the beaten track of the years, and irremediably part of us, within us, heavy and danderous. We are not merely more weary because of yesterday, we are other, no longer what we were before the calamity of yesterday....
— Samuel Beckett, Proust, p. 3.

     Any contrast of essence and existence is out of the picture. Deliberately so. Every being I encounter is seen to be essential. Nothing is essential but a being. Doing something with my whole being or my whole essence is the same thing.
     The realm of essences and what is essential is not outside this world in some beyond. Essential is whatever is — here and now.
— Walter Kaufmann, Existentialism, Religion and Death, p. 88.

     When a certain person was saying that present matters of economy should be detailed, someone replied that this is not good at all.
     It is a fact that fish will not live where the water is too clear. But if there is duckweed or something, the fish will hide under its shadow and thrive. Thus the lower classes will live in tranquility if certain matters are a bit overlooked or left unheard. This fact should be understood with regard to people's conduct.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai is Found in Death, William Wilson (tr.), pp. 22-23.

     To hate injustice and stand on righteousness is a difficult thing. Furthermore, to think that being righteous is the best one can do and to do one's utmost to be righteous will, on the contrary, bring many mistakes. The Way is in a higher place then righteousness. This is very difficult to discover, but it is the highest wisdom. When seen from this standpoint, things like righteousness are rather shallow. If one does not understand this on his own, it cannot be known. There is a method of getting to this Way, however, even if one cannot discover it by homself. This is found in consultation with others. Even a person who has not attained this Way sees others from the side. It is like the saying from the game of go: "He who sees from the side has eight eyes." The saying, "Thought by thought we see our own mistakes," also  means that the highest Way is in discussion with others. Listening to the old stories and reading books are for the purpose of sloughing off one's own discrimination and attaching oneself to that of the ancients.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., pp. 25-26.

....These are the levels in general. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself."
     Throughout your life advance daily becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., pp. 26-27.

....according to what the priest Ryozan heard when he was in the Kamigata area, when one is writing a letter, he should think that the recipient will make it into a hanging scroll.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., pp. 41-42.

     It is spiritless to think that you cannot attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. If you think you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.
     Master Ittei said,"Confucius was a sage because he had the will to become a scholar when he was fifteen years old. He was not a sage because he studied later on." This is the same as the Buddhist maxim, "First intention, then enlightenment."
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., p. 46.

     In the words of the ancients, one should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths. Lord Takanobu said, "If discrimination is long, it will spoil." Lord Naoshige said, "When matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will turn out badly. A warrior is a person who does things quickly."
     When your mind is going hither and thither, discrimination will never be brought to a conclusion. With an intense, fresh and undelaying spirit, one will make his judgments within the space of seven breths. It is as matter of being determined and having the spirit to break right through to the other side.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., p. 47.

     When someone is giving you his opinion, you should receive it with deep gratitude even though it is worthless. If you don't, he will not tell you the things that he has seen and heard about you again. It is best to both give and receive opinions in a friendly way.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Ibid., p. 52.