A sacred story of a Zen monk in ancient Japan; training under a samurai retainer Ninyin knew as the way; to make a decision in the space of seven breaths but couldn’t understand why he couldn’t get over a side to him; a side making him distracted from his training. To dash in head on was the way of the samurai; to dedicate ones body and mind to the way. Ancient Japan was an interesting place.

The Abbot sensed the distractions inside Ninyin One day the teacher instructed him to meditate in front of a mirror until he understood the purpose of this confliction within himself. Unsure of how his master sensed this he sat down in front of the mirror. On the first day he grew weary and applied powdered rouge when he was pale as not to look weak. On the second day his eyes began to open…