Why the Samurai shouldn't study too much Buddhism

There's so much mindfulness in today's world. And to enjoy freedom, the stoics, and quite a lot of thinkers like them, advice a kind of detachment from the material world - at least when it comes to deriving anger from material failures.

Yet - when we are NOT yet free; isn't it better to think of how to be good followers of our clan and company? Is then too much dwelling on the mental virtues for freedom really with what we should consider ourselves?

A Samurai is not overly concerned with a peaceful mind.

(Kusunoki Masashige, 14th century)

In the Hagakure, Tsunemoto writes that the Samurai should not study too much Buddhism. 

Instead, one finds other virtues, quite detrimental to preserving one's peace of mind, in the thinking of the way of the samurai - bushido. 

Act quickly

The philosophers in Their Elevated Elysium like to think and not make haste. 

Yet, the Samurai prefers to to act and act quickly. Only the feeble refrain from acting. 

Use the anger

The stoics stay clear of anger, and comfortably turn their fat necks away.

Yet, for a Samurai, rage can be turned into a force that can be directed at one's enemies or what needs to be done.

Don't be afraid of death

In one translation, Tsunemoto writing goes:

"This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way; his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling."

Perhaps we don't always have death over us, yet at some point, being attached to personal safety is obviously counter to Tsunemoto's samurai. If we accept that everything will vanish to the point that it has already vanished, we can do the right thing, free of fear. 

If we are afraid of death, we might refrain ourselves from doing the necessary.

Often, the hard way is the right way and can be enjoyed precisely because of its hardships. 

Live by honor

Honor, and the lesser byproduct of reputation, is everything in a clan-based society. 

Hint: much of business life, and beyond that, behaves like a clan based society.

In all action, show respect, stick to your word and never loose face.

Serve your master

Precisely because of honor and reputation, the Samurai cannot have anything but complete loyalty to his master.

A good follower

Most of us spend some time in a clan, nowadays called an "organization" or a "corporation". This existence can be enjoyed for its medieval, clan- and samurai-like attributes.

And being valuable to the clan is a sure way to achieve freedom.

So let's think how we become a good follower for our master, and put the horse before the cart, and consider this and enjoy this before we start to consider freedom.

A samurai shouldn't study too much Buddhism. 

Be a good samurai first, and then, be the monk who dwells on transcendental freedom in his state of higher and higher enlightenment. 

If we set our will to it, our goals will be in our grasp.

Tsunemoto again:

"Nothing is impossible in this world. Firm determination, it is said, can move heaven and earth. Things appear far beyond one's power, because one cannot set his heart on any arduous project due to want of strong will."

Farewell.

//antinous&lucilius

Essential Reads: How to find freedom in an unfree world

A scary question; do we have the courage to be free? To defend it for ourselves? To act on our own freedom? Or do we just prefer to sit in our prison and complain about things conveniently remote?

One of Harry Brown's not-so-known books has the title "How I found freedom in an unfree world". The book is almost 50 years old now.

It might feel outdated in today's world, or, so we thought. Still, we got hold of it as an e-book and put it into our favorite speech-engine and listened to it as an audiobook, with the fire cracking in the fireplace and seeing spring slowly arrive at these northern latitudes outside the windows. 

The book is not quite as outdated as one might think. There's a very vibrant core idea in Mr Brown's thinking.

Pericles, Athens 429 BC, defender of freedom in the larger sense of the word. 

To build freedom for ourselves, the idea is to focus on what we actually can act on, and have the courage to do something if needed, or let it go otherwise.

So: let's not talk about the grass on the other lawn. Let's not get hung-up about who is the president of the US, what's happening in China, or if our local parliament is passing a law that we hate. Nothing if that is of much importance, unless we can truly do something real about it.

Life is and will always be a battleground. Let's not sit and be upset about that.

Let's focus on ourselves instead. Is any of that upsetting for us, in our immediate surrounding and interactions? And even if it is, how big is the impact? Or do we feel insulted, rather than our freedoms being really decreased?

Let's act on our immediate surroundings and how that creates freedom for ourselves instead. Those decisions are tougher but far more impactful than complaining about far-away, theoretical assaults on some kind of idealized freedom. Provoking thought? Perhaps, but then tell impact might happen on a small scale.

Stuck in a marriage, or don't like the laws around marriage? Divorce. Don't like the taxes? Find a way to optimize them. There's much that can be done. Or just earn more money. Don't like to be employed? Start one's own company. Don't like the school-system? Find alternatives.

Is this a lack of civil courage? Yes and no. I would say that it takes courage to grasp our personal freedom and realize that much more than one thinks is under our control. And if we want to fight in the public arena for real, we should do as Pericles and actually fight, and not merely complain.

Do or do not: there are no complaints.

Let's not complain about being unfree, or what is outside our control, so we loose sight of what can be done with our actual freedoms here and now. 

The conclusion would be: being unfree is usually much more in our heads than in our reality.