Bushido

The word is Japanese and means, the traditional code of the Japanese samurai, stressing honor, self-discipline, bravery, and simple living. Of course its roots are in Chinese. Bushi, warrior (from Chinese wu shì, knight, warrior wu, military + shì, brave warrior) + do, way (from Chinese dào). The Western equivalent might be likened to King Arthur’s Court and the Knights of the Round Table. Everyone has a code by which they live. Some know what it is because they chose it carefully and consciously or accepted it from another and modified it according to their personal strengths and weaknesses. As no one can have another’s experience no one can have another’s code. No matter how disorganized the code may appear in another’s life it is there. It is not what we say it is but what we do. A person may say they don’t steal. They may then rationalize taking time at work to do personal things in order to hide from themselves the broken code. Their Wa will be disturbed because of the inconsistency. Imagine a pool of clear, clean, fresh water with round stones on the bottom. The stones may be observed if the water is troubled or calm. How they appear will be determined by how much the water is stirred. The calmer the water the more clearly the objects in it may be observed. Bushido and Wa work together like that. Drop a pebble in the pond and the ripples will change the appearance.

What makes all this work is the Dao or Tao. The Way, the Isness of Life, the Immutable Principles of the Universe. The Tao is not Bushido. Bushido comes out of the Tao the way plants come out of the earth. From the earth grow both weeds and plants which bear fruit. Bushido can be like that. It all works. The murderer has his Bushido and the saint his. The difference in Bushido will determine the quality of Wa. The quality of Wa will determine the Bushido chosen and followed. My Bushido is based on my experience of the Tao. The test of the accuracy of my perception is the quality of my Wa. If my Wa is disturbed my Bushido has not been followed and I have the opportunity to find and correct the error I have made and bring myself back into harmony with my Bushido and thereby the Tao which restores my Wa. These are my words and my experience. I learned it from the Universe, the Way, the Tao. I believe all beings live in the Tao. Some accept it, some fight it, but no one gets out of it.