A General Discussion
"One who is supposed to be a warrior considers it his foremost concern to keep death in mind at all times, every day and every night, from the morning of New Year's day to the evening of New Year's night."
-Bushido Shoshinsu
The chapter goes on to say that it isnt right to sit around worrying about death like the monk Shinkai.
It is important to keep death in mind for the reasons that when we assume we will have a long life, we tend to put things off. To the samurai, it was important to have their afairs, public and private, handled at all times incase of their sudden demise, or that they become disabled or incompasiated.
It was also important to respect your employer and parents.
They believed that is was important to look in on and if needs be, take care of your parents into their old age. I imagine they would probably advice the samurai to make sure they had a proper burial and thus honor in death.
The document adviced the samurai to perform well beyond the call of duty as not to dishonor him, his parents or himself. However, in the time that the document was written, the samurai's employer was the king... so no failure there.
"In any case, when you forget about death and become inattentive, you are not circumspect about things. You may say something offensive to someone and get into an argument. You may challenge something that you may as well have ignored, and get into a quarrel.
Or you may stroll about in resorts where you have no business, not avoiding the crowds, where you may bump into some oaf and have an unexpected brawl. You could lose your own life, get your employer bad reputation, and cause your parents and siblings difficulty."
-Bushido Shoshinsu
It seems as if the Shoshinsu intended for warriors to leave the Earth as they entered it, with a clean slate.
With that being said, the Shoshinsu states that one who has become fat and lazy and over indugles himself to the point of obsession has forgotten about death.
"People of all social classes, high and low, contsantly overeat, drink too much, and indulge in their desires to an unhealthy degree, all because they have forgotten about death. This puts a strain on their internal organs, so they may die remarkably young, or become sickly or invalid."
-Bushido Shoshinsu
This passage in particular speaks to me. I have let myself go and become fat and lazy. I offen dont clean or take care of myself and my family and that will not do. My goal is to get past this feeling of sluggishness. Exercise, proper diet and a good night's sleep is the remedy for this, and as of today, that will be so.
~Zenith
 Warangel Zenith · Mon May 21, 2007 @ 04:07am · 1 Comments |
