Jirinden（５４）Without knowing yourself, your place and your(the right) time, it is difficult to know the essence of anything.
「Mazu onore wo sitte tsugi ni onore no ba wo shiri onore no toki wo shiru ni arazare ba mono no Atari wo siru koto katakaru beshi」（Heishū Jirinden, Vol.III , Atari jou chū ge）
・Without knowing yourself, then knowing your place and knowing your time, it is difficult to know the essence of anything.
First, know yourself; then, know your place and know your (the right) time. Without understanding these, it will likely be difficult to grasp the essence (中 atari, 中心) of anything. You may be able to understand the so-called essence (中 atari, 中心) when you hear about it, but when it comes to truly understanding the essence (中 atari, 中心), if you haven’t truly grasped (ataru, 当たる) it, even if you claim to have, it cannot be considered as such. How can you grasp this essence? First, you must understand people, then know the context of the situation, and finally, know the timing.
What does it mean to first understand people? It means recognizing that people possess both yin and yang(陰陽 Inyō), as well as both truth and lies (虚実 kyojitsu), and that you yourself also possess these qualities. If you use yin to attack yin, or emptiness/lies to attack emptiness/lies, you will not understand the essence even if you say it did. Showing others a false appearance to increase your own false appearance stems from not knowing yourself. It is only yourself who does not hide anything from yourself. If you ask, you will receive an answer; if you act, you will understand. Therefore, knowing yourself is not difficult.
If you do not even try to understand something as simple as that, how can you expect to understand things that are difficult to know, like your enemy’s secrets? After thoroughly understanding yourself, you can then approach every corner of your opponent.
(Presented by Yuji Wada, Costantino Brandozzi, Constantin Von Richter, Keith Tang)
