keep your weapons in order

By keeping your weapons in order, your enemy will be subjugated. Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna tells us that if we keep our weapons in order, our enemies will be controlled. As a modern warrior, you do not walk around carrying weapons, unless you have a specific job that requires that you do so, such as a police officer or a soldier, or you have a concealed weapons license.

The main weapons of today’s warrior are his martial arts skill and his wit. You must keep your weapons in order. This means that you must continue to train, and train seriously. Your weapons will do you no good if they aren’t ready for you to use when you need them. When the time comes that you need your weapons, they must be ready.

If your weapons are not kept up, they will deteriorate. You must maintain your weapons and make sure that they are in good working order when and if you ever need to use them. You cannot just obtain a good weapon, learn to use it, put it on a shelf for 10 years and expect to reach for it and use it like an expert when you need it.

Keep your weapons in order. It is a continual process to keep your martial arts skills sharp. Don’t get lazy. Don’t leave your weapons on the shelf to deteriorate and become useless. You may have once been a great marksman, but if you haven’t touched your pistol in 15 years, your marksmanship will not be as sharp as it once was. The same principle applies to your martial arts, as it does with everything else in your life – use it or lose it.