The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

in terms of personal practice, this is fine, but with this way alone, thespirit of true natural farming cannot be kept alive. This kind of narrownatural farming is analogous to the school of swordsmanship known asthe one-stroke school, which seeks victory through the skillful, yetself-conscious application of technique. Modern industrial farmingfollows the two-stroke school, which believes that victory can be won bydelivering the greatest barrage of swordstrokes.Pure natural farming, by contrast, is the no-stroke school. It goesnowhere and seeks no victory. Putting "doing nothing" into practice isthe one thing the farmer should strive to accomplish. Lao Tzu spoke ofnon-active nature, and I think that if he were a farmer he would certainlypractice natural farming. I believe that Gandhi's way, a methodlessmethod, acting with a non-winning, non-opposing state of mind, is akinto natural farming. When it is understood that one loses joy andhappiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farmingwill be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing ofcrops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. [In thisparagraph Mr. Fukuoka is drawing a distinction between techniquesundertaken in conscious pursuit of a given objective, and those whicharise spontaneously as the expression of a person's harmony with natureas he goes about his daily business, free from the domination of thevolitional intellect].119