The Way of the Modern Ronin, Part 5

Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo
Part Five
Think Lightly of Yourself, and Deeply of the World

A scroll depicting kami Hachiman dressed as a Buddhist monk (courtesy of Wikimedia). The Bodhisattva Hachiman was well-loved by Taisen Deshimaru, the author of The Zen Way to the Martial Arts (quoted below).

As with most of Musashi's musings, this one is another that seems at odds with modern sensibilities.  This is, of course, because the modern person's values are almost always the opposite of the sayings in The Dokkodo.  Yet - and here is where "modern man" gets the most confused - when you think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world you actually become much happier, more joyful, and more in love with life.  As the Dalai Lama says (and this is a paraphrase), "the purpose of our lives is to be happy."  But he adds that "happiness is not something ready-made, but comes from your own actions."  And how do you achieve this elusive happiness? "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion."  Happiness, then, comes from what seems the oddest of places: selflessness and love of others.

This sort of thinking is nothing new in Buddhism. The Buddhist sage Shantideva (8th century, C.E.) wrote in his "The Way of the Bodhisattva" (and once again I'm paraphrasing), "All the joy of life comes from thinking of others, all suffering comes from thinking of oneself."  And in The Hagakure (written about a hundred years after Musashi), Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote, "Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.  Matters of small concern should be treated seriously."
In his book "No Fear Zen: Discovering Balance in an Unbalanced World", Roshi Richard Collins - commenting upon this very aphorism of Musashi's - had this to say, "Attainment is indirect.  Rarely when we go after something directly - through the will alone - do we attain it.  Attainment comes unconsciously, automatically, naturally, spontaneously, if we have prepared properly.  In the Hagakure, gradual preparation leads to sudden, spontaneous action."  And in his book "The Zen Way to the Martial Arts," the late Zen master Taisen Deshimaru (Collins's master) said this, "Intuition and action must spring forth at the same time.  In the practice of budo, there can be no conscious thought.  There is no time for thinking, not even an instant.  When a person acts, intention and action must be simultaneous.  This is hishiryo consciousness."  (C.S.'s note: Collins defines hishiryo as, "the samadhi of zazen, absolute thought, beyond thinking and not thinking.")
If some of the discussion on this particular musing seems abstract, then let's make it more practical.  When you practice your martial art, or when you train in the gym to build muscle and strength, you don't concentrate or focus on being a great martial arts master, and you don't focus on how you're going to win the Mr. Olympia or the World's Strongest Man one day.  No.  Instead you concentrate on form, technique, posture, breathing, and upon proper execution of the movement or the lift.  IF you become World's Strongest Man, then it's not from thinking on that; it's not something that can be directly sought.  Rather, it's something that comes indirectly from the hard training.  It's the same with martial arts training.  And it's the same with life.