Dokkodo - Musashi's 21 Rules Of Living According To The Way Options

[Cosmin Lupu]

As some of you may know, this Summer, I have begun my apprenticeship in the great Miyamoto Musashi's, Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu school of swordsmanship, where I am studying Ken Jutsu and trying to develop myself spiritually and mentally.

This extraordinary man has written a set of 21 rules which he considered of utmost importance so that one can follow The Way, as he called it along his/ her life. Here they are below, so you can read them. It's really strange to read and think about how many of them we break everyday, just because of our habits and they way we are used to live our lives. It's most definitely a challenge to try and live by these rules, even though some of them, have deeper meanings than just the words they are made up of, as all of Musashi's writings have. For instance, it is said that you must constantly re-read his famous book - The 'Gorin No Sho' so that each time if you evolve through practice, as a human being, you will discover another meaning to his words each time. Fascinating, ain't it?

Miyamoto Musashi's Dokkodo.

- The Way Of Walking Alone -


1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.

How many of these rules have you broken most constantly? I for one am breaking rule no. 13 ALL THE TIME ..

Cosmin

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[Ben Higgins]

This is definitely hand in hand with Zen. The whole 'without desire' basically means that it's ok to enjoy pleasures but you must always remember that these are just temporary and not the root of our happiness and spirit. If you seek fulfilment through sensory satisfaction only then you are weakening your spirit.

Being 'detached' and 'observing' the world is meaning that you let everything be as it is without judgement. What we often forget as that 'we are nature' just as much as the animals and trees. So when us humans are going about our business and living our lives we are just nature being nature. In that spirit we should observe the world and everything in it just as we observe nature being nature without interfering or judging.

A lot of people get confused here because it sounds as if Zen has no morals.. observing people being and doing what they will without judgement. It doesn't mean that you let people commit terrible acts around you without intervening and it doesn't mean you condone bad acts. It simply means that you don't differentiate between something that comes from nature and something that doesn't. You can't look at an act of kindness and say that it's an act of humanity and then look at an act of brutality and say the person is 'not human', a beast etc. All acts, whatever they are, are a reflection of nature and whatever created us. It's said that each person shows the picture of the entire universe within them. One person is a reflection of mankind, its free will and its potential.

Without sounding religious and freaking anyone out, we don't have to like all things we see but we have to accept them as coming from the same source of creation and as such, they are a reflection of it. I might not be explaining it very well but that's the kind of approach of Zen. You can observe the life force in everybody and everything, knowing it all comes from the same ultimate source and know how everything is connected. It just manifests itself differently and wears different faces but all is one.

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