To be on the alert means to be deadly serious,
to be deadly serious means to be sincere to oneself
and it is sincerity that finally leads one to discover the Heaven Way.
The Heavenly Way is above the self, which is mushin, no mind,
or “munen,” no thought.
When mushin is realised, the mind knows no obstructions, no inhibitions
and is emancipated from the thoughts of life and death, gain and loss,
victory and defeat.

From Zen and Japanese culture
by D.T. Suzuki

I dance;
I become but movement and form,
as I step out each move
in a flow of form and motion,
In this struggle for life and death.

I become water and find my measure against another,
win or lose,
This fluid movement is all I am – all I can be.

I throw myself into this dance,
its motion is treacherous yet beautiful.
This struggle to live, to die,
A desire to overcome –
This dance of artifice – fight and play – is ecstatic.

I step out these forms and find myself in this motion
that celebrates the heart –
The wheel of life and death.

In this movement, I find my death.
I lose myself in these forms – the dance;
Its treachery and its beauty.

I am!
I am an emptiness, nothing but form and motion,
There can be nothing else:
I am a Capoeirista,
“Capoeira mata um.”