The Real Bushido

"As a military man, to serve one's country, to serve one's lord, or to die for an ideal is important.  But something that transcends this is to protect one' s country, protect one's lord, and to attain an ideal.  This is the true essence of the warrior, and what flows there is the real bushido."  Masaaki Hatsumi, Advanced Stick Fighting

The West has a distorted view of bushido, due in part to a perversion of the original understanding of the ideal in the East.  The concept  of bushido or "the way of the warrior" was conceived out of the flowering of noble ideals and to properly understand its meaning, the modern day warrior must see the term in relation to the ancient purpose and meaning of "samurai." Most westerners who have any understanding of Eastern martial arts have heard the definition of samurai as "one who serves."  

To be samurai, in ancient times or in modern, one must serve.  The ancient samurai served Lord and clan; the modern serves country, community, and family.  And, it is out of this philosophy of service that the concept of bushido should be understood.  Bushido is not merely a credo of reckless abandon culminating in death for any cause but a deeper, spiritual, and subtle philosophy of death to self, of death to ego.  Therefore, bushido finds its expression in the mundane of daily life.  Understood in this way, bushido lives in this modern age just as vibrantly as it did centuries ago and gives the modern warrior a very real connection to all of the true warriors of the ancient past.  "What I urge people to understand here is that the so-called essence (gokui) should not be regarded as the peak of the mountains, rather it is more like the flat of the plains.  Gokui means to lead an ordinary life, it is to possess an "everyday Mind" (heijoshin)."  Masaaki Hatsumi, Advanced Stick Fighting 

 

Though the concept of bushido is generally thought of as an Eastern ideal, it does find a parallel in Western thought.  It is my personal belief that all truth is God's truth and I think that the ancients uncovered a bit of God's truth in the original conceptualization of bushido.  Biblically, the concept is revealed by divine inspiration when the apostle Paul writes, "I die daily." 1 Corinthians 15:31  Here, in three words, the ideal of bushido is given its most succinct and profound expression.  In its highest form, bushido is a call to selflessness and a mandate to service.  The real bushido is a living philosophy encapsulating the highest ideals of self sacrifice which finds living expression in the mundane aspects of daily life.  The real bushido then is a daily death to selfish desire, to physical comfort, and a call to the service of country, community, and family.  For the warrior, bushido may result in his physical death, but more importantly it requires the sacrifice of the self in his everyday existence.