Some time ago, I had made and shared a summary of a text that I found interesting about a code of conduct that was used by the Samurai of Japan, I had found it interesting and it seemed to me that it was worth buying it, I published it in my blog on Steem and You could see it HERE.
I have remembered it, because today I saw an article entitled "Can a Businessman be a Samurai? What Bushido Can Do for the Modern Man" and I wanted to take back what I had written, share it and raise an idea at the end.
"... Samurai means who serves, the service in question is none other than the military. The emblem of the samurai was the cherry blossom, for its brief, ephemeral and beautiful life, generously offered to man. The samurai always dedicated their lives to the service of their daymo or shogun (lord), who was their boss (at the same time responsible for lives and haciendas around them), should be worthy of that fidelity, so he should direct them with benevolence fatherly and intelligence. "
Samurai Code
... its main maxim is ...: SHI MON YORI IRITE SEI MON NIIRU, which could be translated as "through the door of Death you come to true Life" ... In addition, the samurai followed the philosophy muga, that is, the absence of ego.
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1640) reflects in the Dokko-do (The Life of the one who goes alone, very appropriate for a samurai) the following points:
Man should not feel attachment for anything in life.
Man should respect the gods and the Buddhas, but not abandon themselves completely to them.
Man must always train his spirit in strategy and tactics.
Yamaga Soko (1622-1685), well-known thinker and Confucian, proposes:
Innate nature of respect for the law.
Fulfill all your social obligations.
Concern adequately with their role
Conserve a noble and elevated spirit
Maintain a generous and tolerant attitude.
Apart from the maxims to follow, the samurai must have certain basic virtues. According to Koyo Gunkan these virtues are: generosity and tolerance (ounce), magnanimity (doryo), gallant attitude (fudo) and resolution (shiki).
For Nitobe Inazo, the virtues of the samurai must be:
Justice. His conduct must always be based on honor and justice.
Serenity as a basis for moral and physical courage. Even to the point of not fearing death.
Benevolence, understood as the tenderness of the Warrior (bushi no nasake). Thus showing affection, piety and magnanimity.
Courtesy. It is the discipline of the soul, harmonizing body and spirit.
Truthfulness The word of a warrior is enough (bushi no ichi gon), his law, his life and his work are one with his word
Honor It will keep you safe, even, if necessary, perform the Seppuku (harakiri). Honor not only affects the warrior but all those who are related to him, if he loses his life it is no longer valid and endangers the life and honor of others, so to save them he has to sacrifice himself.
Show loyalty, devotion and self-denial towards your Sensei until death, in exchange for your affection.
During the Tokugawa period, ideas of the Samurai class were included in the code of honor behavior, known as the Bushido (The Way of the Warrior). The martial arts already go back to the tenth century, but it was during the period of the Japanese civil wars (1482-1558) that the guidelines that a warrior should adopt to deserve the name of being human and be considered a warrior knight began to take hold. . Bushido indicates what is the attitude of every budoka. In the Tokugawa Era, it happened to be rather well (Way of the educated Man), where poets and literati appeared, without ceasing to be experts in the handling of weapons, seeing in them the means to perfect themselves through skill which involves training with weapons. After the famous Meiji revolution, the code of honor merged with the nationalism that had just appeared as sentiment in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Bushido shows a great influence of Zen Buddhism, from which concepts of:
appeasement of feelings
calm attitude in the face of the inevitable
the domain of oneself before any event
present more proximity with the idea of death than with that of life and,
absolute poverty.
Bushido has 7 Fundamental Principles:
Gi: truth, justice, fair and correct decision.
Rei: fair behavior.
Yu: bravery that leads to heroism.
Meiyo: honor and glory.
Jin: love and benevolence towards humanity.
Makoto: total sincerity.
Chugi: devotion and loyalty.
Final Words
What motivated me to share this content again has to do with the idea that although each epoch has its values and principles, there is certainly a strong influence that comes from each past epoch and shapes part of the present, allowing although everything changes , the essence of each people or culture remains. This may explain Japan's peculiar combination of tradition and technology, but I believe that other cultures can also take advantage of the ideas and virtues present in this Samurai warrior philosophy.
I understand that for each people, what is understood by virtue and by default may be variable, but I believe that those embodied in the Bushido are broad enough to be usable with a few cultural adaptations.
In addition, the idea of applying these principles and virtues of the code to professional life can have positive effects on the sense of accomplishment and the achievement of a better quality of work life.
What do you think?