The Spirit of the Warrior

Thomas Cleary's Training the Samurai Mind is a collection of excerpts from texts on bushido drawn from twenty two writers over more than four hundred years. It is a discussion of the thoughts, beliefs, cultural influences, and teachings that gave birth and form to the martial culture of feudal and post feudal Japan.

In one chapter he presents some of the teachings of Saito Totsudo. He doesn't tell us much about Totsudo, describing him as "a scholar of classical Confucianism" born in Edo, who worked as an educator in the service of a lord. Throughout his life he was given political appointments and even courted by the shogun Tokugawa Iesada, but education was his calling and he would return to it again and again until his eventual retirement in 1859.

In one section, Totsudo discusses the virtues of the Warrior's Spirit.

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"Once the manner of a warrior is proper, it is essential to cultivate the warrior spirit. While maintaining the manner of a warrior is for the purpose of cultivating the warrior spirit, insofar as manner is a matter of external appearance, however awesome it may be, it cannot be relied upon on a deep level. When the spirit fills your being like blazing fire, that is rather more reliable.

Thus, it is when the warrior spirit is effective that the manner of the warrior is truly firm. Even if your physical strength is above ordinary, if your spirit flinches you can't face opponents effectively. However skillful you may be in martial arts, if your spirit flinches you can't use them against opponents. So, it is when filled with spirit that intelligence and courage are effective.

For this reason a horse is not prized for its color but for its sturdiness, in a warrior it is not sternness of appearance that is valued but strength of spirit that is approved.

It is this spirit that plunges into the thick of battle. What speaks directly and criticizes severely right in the ruler's face is also this spirit. When your dignified manner in everyday life is so dashing that people are in awe of you, that too is due to being filled with this spirit.

If you are not filled with spirit, you become gutless. Once you are gutless, you'll be spineless too. What use is a spineless warrior?

In recent times the manner of warriors has deteriorated greatly some being soft, some being mean. How can men like this perform the role of shield and citadel? They might as well break their bows and arrows and swords and give up the samurai profession. Even those among them who are said to be warrior-like may seem impressive when suited up and wearing their swords, but most of them while outwardly stern are inwardly soft. They may contemptuously rebuke weak people like widows and widowers, but when they encounter strong people they remain silent where they should criticize. How could such timid samurai be right-hand men of nobles and lords?

These bad habits all come from pampering oneself and being greedy. Confucius said of a certain man, "He is greedy - how can he be firm?" So if you want to be firm and unflinching in spirit, first you should control desire, as it says in the Book of Changes (I Ching). It is only out of greedy desire that you think you might as well flatter your superiors for the sake of a profitable salary, or you think you might as well bow your head to merchants for the sake of money.

Mencius said, "Shame is a serious matter for a man." A samurai without a sense of shame shouldn't be called a warrior. Warriors of old "could be killed but not disgraced," considering it a serious detraction for a warrior to be shamed, determined not to be dishonored even if they're killed. So even if they were executed for a crime, they considered it an honor to be allowed to cut their own stomachs. They disdained being tied up, as a disgrace to the corpse.

Generally speaking, the sorts of men who are to be punished are not good people, so there should be no question of honor or disgrace. The reason such men were nonetheless so brave is that in the past no warrior, whether good or bad, was shameless and clueless in the way of the warrior.

The fact is that it is by having warriors that a nation stands, and it is by having spirit that a warrior stands. If a warrior's spirit is not strong, that's like ginger that's not spicy. What flavor is there? With only warriors like this, it's the same as having no warriors - how can the nation stand?

Anyway, that spirit comes from having a sense of shame and forgetting desire. This is what is called the heart of honesty and integrity. When you forget desire, you don't shirk your duty even if it's bad for you personally, and if you have a sense of shame, you won't be fazed by anything, even the prospect of being killed. This way you won't be afraid of anything in the world. Isn't this strengths?

Mencius said, "A man of will doesn't forget he may wind up in a ditch, a brave man doesn't forget he may lose his head." If samurai always keep this maxim in mind as a protective amulet, they will not lose the sense of honesty and integrity. Not losing the sense of honesty and integrity, they will also become courteous and just."

Thus does Totsudo describe the aspects of the warriors spirit. Courage. Integrity. Justice. The warrior should have a sense of personal shame and forego desire. He should treat the weak with respect and the powerful with honesty. He should comport himself with honor and his spirit should fill his being "like a blazing fire."

Only then will he be able to truly express his martial training. Only then will "intelligence and courage be effective." Only then will people be "in awe of you." And never forget that if you use violence as a means of conflict resolution, you too "may wind up in a ditch."

That is the true spirit of the warrior. That is the difference between a common thug and a Martial Artist. That is the expression of the Way.

Drills -
Beginner: Cultivate the spirit of the warrior. Comport yourself with honesty, even in small things. Do not allow deceitfulness to enter into your nature.

Intermediate: Forego desire. Control your appetites. Be frugal with your resources. Be selfless and giving,  rather than greedy and grasping. Eat to live, don't live to eat.

Advanced:  Practice integrity. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Demonstrate the same values in yourself that you admire in others. Be an example for others of the Warrior's Spirit.