C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Essays and Thoughts on  The Dokkodo Part Seven Do Not Regret What Has Been Done Woodblock print by the artist Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi of a man holding a mirror to Musashi in order to get a better look at the swordsman.  Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. jpd 01793) Often, regret is nothing more than a way of "holding on," of our inability to truly let go .  In this way, you can see how this maxim relates to our previous one of being "detached from the desire" for worldly things.  Our regret, when looked at from this perspective, is something that we are actually attached to .  We don't want  to let go of our past.  And so we don't! Our regrets - as with many other things - are nothing more than our attachment to the past.  We think, we ruminate, we worry about what we might have done different.  And so we stay stuck in a past that only exists in our mind, or in our thoughts , to be a little more precise.  For we could...