Closing the Gap
A thought on Jiri Icchi (事理一致), and the distance between knowing and doing
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Recently, I’ve been thinking about the idea of Jiri Icchi (事理一致). It’s often translated as the unity of action and understanding. In simpler terms, it points to how closely what we do reflects what we actually understand.
The phrase itself has connections to Buddhist thought, where “principle” (理-ri) and “action” (事-ji) are seen as inseparable. Not as two steps, but as something that exists together. I wouldn’t say I fully understand that in a philosophical sense, but it does seem to describe something very real in practice.
At first, that might sound straightforward. But in reality, those two things are often quite separate. We can understand something in theory, yet struggle to put it into practice. Or we can repeat something again and again without really understanding why we are doing it.
I think, in my own teaching experience, learning a second language is a good example of this. In the classroom, we might study grammar, memorize vocabulary, and learn set expressions, and on paper, that can all make sense. But when it comes to applying those skills in conversation, things don’t always come out the way we expect. Words don’t come quickly enough, sentences feel unnatural, and what we “know” doesn’t fully show up in how we use the language. The person we are speaking to may even seem puzzled. At the same time, simply speaking without awareness or reflection can only take us so far. We might get by, but without a deeper understanding, our progress tends to plateau. In both cases, there is a gap between knowledge and action.
Over time, though, something begins to change. The grammar we studied starts to appear more naturally in our speech. The words we once had to search for begin to come on their own. What we understand and what we do begin to align, even if only gradually. This is the kind of direction that jiri icchi seems to point toward. Not perfect understanding, and not perfect action, but a closer relationship between the two.
In keiko, this becomes very tangible. Simply going through the motions without intent can turn into empty repetition, and once again progress may plateau. There is also a quiet trap here. It is easy to value the act of practicing itself, rather than what is actually happening within that practice. We might mention how often we train or how consistent we are, and it can sound humble. But at times, it becomes a way of pointing to effort, or even self-promotion, rather than examining it. When that happens, practice can lose its substance and turn into repetition without direction, perhaps eventually leading to frustration, failure, or quitting altogether. Certainly, that is an unfortunate place to end up.
In that sense, the effort to practice every day is not just about discipline. It becomes a way of gradually bringing action and understanding into alignment. Even if the progress is small, that alignment is what gives the practice its meaning.
Addendum
After uploading this article, I received an interesting comment from Kenshi247 through Instagram:
“Be sure and research Yamaoka Tesshu’s idea of this…as he was the one who coined the phrase.”
That sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole.
From what I can reference so far, Yamaoka Tesshū certainly seems closely associated with the phrase jiri icchi within a budo context. In his writings, he describes ji (事) as technique and ri (理) as mind or principle, and speaks about arriving at the place where the two become one. That feels very close to the direction I was trying to point toward in this article.
At the same time, the reference I later came across also explains that the term jiri itself was already a Buddhist term long before Tesshū. In that context, ri refers to underlying principle, while ji refers to concrete action or phenomena. It seems likely that Tesshū drew from those older ideas and expressed them through shugyō and swordsmanship.
Whether he coined the phrase itself or helped reinterpret it within budo, I honestly can’t say for certain. But in some ways, that uncertainty feels appropriate. The more I look into these ideas, the more they seem less like concepts to master intellectually and more like something gradually clarified through practice itself. In the end, that is probably closer to the purpose of this Substack anyway, a record of reflections on keiko, process, failure, and reinvention.
References:
浄土宗大辞典「事理」
Kim, H. (2023). A study on “Gokui (the secret teaching) of Ittō-Ryū”: Referring to “Ittōsai Sensei Kenpō Syō”. Hiroshima International University Bulletin of the Center for Fundamental Education, 8, 58–80. https://www.hirokoku-u.ac.jp/about/publication/bulletin/pdf/bec008_058.pdf
(In a recent article from 2026/5/12, Kenshi247 delved into more detail here.