The Journey, not the Destination

Politicians and celebrities using the media to downplay the shame of their misdeeds.   Fathers killing their children for choosing a different point of view.   Our culture’s understanding of honor – meiyo in Japanese – is seriously distorted and sullied.   It seems today that if we can get away with something or “sincerely apologize” if we get caught, then it’s ok to do whatever we want.   Our reputation, our family name, our honor doesn’t matter much anymore.   On the other hand, much arrogance and selfishness has been perpetrated in the name of one’s “honor”.   So what is it really? This is the 6 th virtue of Bushido.   Wikipedia states that honor is “a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation”.   The key word is perceived.   From multiple definitions of the word comes the idea tha...

Honesty – makoto in Japanese is the 5 th virtue of Bushido.   Defining honesty is kind of like throwing jello on a wall and expecting it to stick.   So much of what the word means depends on the context and culture in which the word is used, unfortunately. The quality of being honest; uprightness, fairness, truthfulness, sincerity, frankness.   This is what you see when you look up the word in a dictionary.   Looking up the word honest, though, you find a deeper attempt at definition: honorable in principles, intentions, and actions, upright and fair; gained or obtained fairly; genuine or unadulterated. Nitobe relates that a samurai could not even comprehend living a life that entertained anything but honesty.   He writes in ‘Bushido: The Soul of Japan’, “The bushi held that his high social position demanded a loftier standard of veracity than that of the tradesman and peasant. Bushi no ichi-gon --the word of a samurai […] was sufficient guaran...

"For the true master, martial arts are essentially avenues through which one can achieve spiritual serenity, mental tranquility, and the deepest self-confidence."  -- excerpt of Chapter 1 from "Zen in the Martial Arts" by Joe Hyams After reading this chapter, my thoughts ... Am I true?  I am definitely not a master, but am I true?  Not right now.  Please grant me the courage and strength to do so.  To be true. Am I willing to travel the avenues necessary to achieve what I want?  Without a dojo where I live?  Without a teacher 3 times a week?  Well, at least in the traditional sense.  Am I willing to let it all go and redefine my "dojo"?  I have plenty of places to practice.  I have so many memories of dojos past that I can create my own "dojo" wherever I am.  I must if I want to stay on the avenue.  I must let go of the restrictions in my own mind, the grief of not having a dojo right down the street, the wishing ...

I’ve had lots of people ask me why we bow in martial arts.  What I never knew until now was that the commanding word in Japanese that a sensei uses to instruct his students to bow – “rei” – is also the word for respect, the “why” we bow. Dictionary.com states that respect as a noun means “ esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability” or “deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy”.  As a verb, respect means “to hold in esteem or honor ”, or “to show regard or consideration for”, or “to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with”.  The kanji character is also translated as “thanking; gratitude”.  This is what we learn bowing is all about – thanking our sensei for teaching, our fellow karate-ka for working out wit...

Whoa!  Benevolence is not a word we see on a day-to-day basis!  It brings up images of religious saints, philanthropists, and Boy Scouts helping someone cross the street.  It seems to be reserved for those special people that do not get caught up in the rat race of trying to keep up with the Jones’.  The World English Dictionary defines benevolence as “inclination or tendency to help or do good to others”.  It stems from Latin – meaning disposition to do good.  Similar words are altruism, amity, compassion, generosity, kindness, charity, mercy.  Benevolence is one of the five tenets of Confucius , perhaps the most fundamental.  It has also been translated as selflessness, good will toward humanity, and brotherly love.  The kanji itself is described as a man and the number two – implying the unity of two human beings.     Mencius , a follower of Confucius, sums it up, as “a benevolent man is ever min...

Bushido Virtue #2 : Yu or Courage The word courage is seen in the media frequently.  Often, stories regarding our troops and their families describe their courage in the midst of turmoil.  Sometimes we focus on a once in a lifetime story of courage such as the “Miracle on the Hudson” when Capt. Sullenberger successfully ditched his airplane in the Hudson River and saved 155 lives.  Most of us will never be faced with such situations where others are seemingly endowed with supernatural courage.  So what *is* courage anyway? Courage is defined in the Random House dictionary as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. without fear; bravery”.  The word comes from Old English, Old French, and Latin – all referring to the heart.  Other words we use similar to courage include:  fearlessness, valor, pluck, spirit, valiance.  One of my favorite definitions is “courage is fear that has said it...

Let’s face it.  Rectitude is not a word used much in 21 st century America.  So what does it mean? According to the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary , rectitude is a word that originated from the Latin word rectus, meaning straight, or right.  From here, the definitions given include: moral integrity, righteousness, being correct in judgment or procedure, justice. Inazo Nitobe said in “ Bushido , the Soul of Japan ” that ‘Nothing is more loathsome to him [the samaurai] than underhanded dealings and crooked undertakings.’  He also refers to the analogy of the human body.  He likened rectitude to the human skeleton, for without the skeleton the body has no shape, and likewise, without rectitude, one’s life has no framework within which to live.  Essentially, Gi represents that which keeps one on “the path”, knowing right from wrong – and choosing the right.  It’s like a hiking compass that always points to true north no matter wh...