Thread by @TheStockSensei_

Today, let's talk about Bushido.

Chivalry is a flower that is just as indigenous to Japan as its emblem, the cherry blossom.

In fact,
'Bu-shi-do' literally means 'Military-Knight-Ways.'

Bushido is characterised by:
-Honor
-Courage
-Justice
-Loyalty
-Self Control

(THREAD!)

Bushido is the core moral principles that the Japanese Samurai were instructed to observe. It is not a written code.

..At best, it consists of a few sayings. More frequently it is a code, unuttered and unwritten.

Possessing all the more powerful force of practical deed.

It was founded not by one person or in the time of one man. it was an organic growth of centuries.

The Bu-Ke or Bu-Shi (Fighting Knights) originally have been a rough breed who made fighting their specialty.

They were recruited from the manliest and the most adventurous.

But as life grew larger and its relations more complex, many were seeking the support from a higher authority.

After all, without higher moral support, the ideal of knights and the samurai would have fallen far short of chivalry.

In Japan, there were several sources of Bushido.

The first was Buddhism.

It fostered within a sense of a calm trust in fate, and of quiet submission to the inevitable.

One Sensei summarised it as,
"A stoic composure in the face of danger, a disdain of life and a friendliness with death."

A illustrious teacher of swordsmanship said,

"Beyond this point my instruction must give way to Zen teaching.

Which represents human effort to reach zones of thought, through meditation, beyond the range of verbal expression."

Putting one in harmony with the absolute.

The second was Shintoism.

Shinto theology has no place for the 'original sin' and believes in the innate goodness and god-like purity of the human soul.

Shinto shrines conspicuously lack objects and instruments of worship, and a plain mirror is hung to typify the human heart.

This is done to reflect the image of the Diety.

When you stand, therefore, infant of the shrine to worship, you see your own image reflected onto its surface

The act of worship is close and consistently paralleled to the injunction, "Know Thyself."

...But self-knowledge does not imply, in Greek or Japanese teaching, of the anatomical or of psycho-physic phenomena.

These all speak of knowledge of a moral kind.

Of the introspection of our moral nature.

...Profound sayings stay profound for a reason!

The worship of nature endeared the country to its souls and to its ancestral worship.

Tracing from lineage to lineage, this introduced 'national conciousness.'

The country is more than land to exploit.

It is the sacred place of their gods, and the spirits of our forefathers.

A 'Torii' is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine.

It symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred.

The presence of a torii at the entrance is usually the simplest way to identify Shinto shrines.

Another example of this worship is found in judaism.

"In Hebrew literature, it is often difficult to tell whether the writer is speaking of God or of the Commonwealth; of Heaven or of Jerusalem; of the Messiah or of the Nation itself."

- Feudal and Modern Japan (1897) Vol. 1.

This religion impacted the national emotions, and imbued Bushido with loyalty to the sovereign and love of country.

The ethical doctrines of Confucius were KEY source of Bushido!

I will dive more into Confucius and also Mencius's impact in another thread.

Bushido makes light of knowledge and as such it is not pursued as an end in itself, but as a means to the attainment of wisdom!

If you'd liked learning a little about bushido; please leave me a comment or retweet this post!

To your learning.
Your friend,
Sensei

....psssst!

as always, if you'd like to learn more, Sensei has homework.

Feel free to check out this ppt. slideserve.com/jagger/japanes…