The Way of the Samurai, Part Two: Become One Who is Permanently Dead

 The Way of the Samurai

Selections and Commentaries from Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure, the Classic Exposition on Zen and the Japanese Warrior Code of Bushido

courtesy of Wikimedia

Part Two: Become as One Who is Permanently Dead

"I have found that Bushido means to die.  It means that when one chooses between life and death, one will quickly choose the side of death.  There is nothing else to consider.  One simply makes up one's mind and pushes ahead...  When one has to choose between life and death, there is no time to worry whether one's objective has been achieved.  All of us prefer to live, so we can always find a reason to stay alive.  If one lives as one intends to die, it is cowardice... If one dies when one intended to live, it might be regarded as a vain death or as craziness, but one will not incur any shame.  This is to be a real man of Bushido.  If every morning and every evening one dies anew, one will become as one permanently dead.  Thus will one obtain a realm of freedom in Bushido, and be able to fulfill one's duty to the house for one's whole life without falling into error."

 ~The Hagakure, book one, part two (Barry D. Steben translation, 2008)

This is the second part of the first book of Tsunetomo's masterpiece.  It is oft-quoted and often misunderstood.  If you don't grasp the point of "dying before you die" in Zen/budo, then it will not be possible to fully understand The Hagukure, and you won't, as a martial practitioner, reap the full benefit of studying the text.  So let us see what it might truly mean to become as "one who is permanently dead"...

"I have found that Bushido means to die.  It means that when one chooses between life and death, one will quickly choose the side of death."

In Zen, as in other spiritual traditions, particularly that of many of the Christian mystics and saints, you will often hear/read the saying (or something very similar) that one "must die before you die".  In deep Zen samadhi it's said that you die the "great death".  This great death is NOT a physical death of the body/mind organism that you take yourself to be; rather, it's the death of the "ego-self", that which Buddhism holds to not be "real" anyway, at least no more real than a dream, ephemeral and fleeting.  As the great mystic/sage of the 20th century, Wei Wu Wei, said, "Why are you unhappy?  Because 99.9% of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself - and there isn't one!"

"There is nothing else to consider.  One simply makes up one's mind and pushes ahead...  When one has to choose between life and death, there is no time to worry whether one's objective has been achieved."

This is the point where Zen training and martial training truly coincide.  "There is nothing else to consider" means that you don't let your mind wander over the myriad of thoughts and feelings that come to your mind while training.  As my first Sensei in Isshin-Ryu karate would constantly reprimand us in class (or just remind us): "You must fight without fighting!  You must think without thinking!"

"If every morning and every evening one dies anew, one will become as one permanently dead.  Thus will one obtain a realm of freedom in Bushido..."

How do you "die anew" every morning and every evening?  And why would you want to become as "one permanently dead", I suppose, would be the next question.

First, let's look a little more at the concept of birth and death in Zen through the writings of the founder of the Soto school of Zen, Eihei Dogen.  In Dogen Zenji's master work "The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye", he has this to say about birth and death:

"Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death.

"It is a mistake to suppose that birth turns into death. Birth is a phase that is an entire period of itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, in buddha-dharma birth is understood as no-birth. Death is a phase that is an entire period of itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, death is understood as no-death.

"In birth there is nothing but birth and in death there is nothing but death. Accordingly, when birth comes, face and actualize birth, and when death comes, face and actualize death. Do not avoid them or desire them.

"However, do not analyze or speak about it. Just set aside your body and mind, forget about them, and throw them into the house of buddha; then all is done by buddha. When you follow this, you are free from birth and death and become a buddha without effort or calculation."*

Now, back to our first question: How do you die anew each and every morning and evening?  I would say that the "best" way is through seated meditation - Zazen, to use the "Zen" term.  Even though Zen can seem exceedingly deep, which it is, certainly, as anyone can tell through just a cursory read of Dogen, it is also simple.  (Keep in mind that simple doesn't mean "easy".)  How did Dogen, for instance, come up with such profound utterances as are found in his masterwork quoted above?  Well, he did so through the use of seated Zen meditation, Zazen, which is about as "simple" as it comes when it does come to meditation.  The key is to practice, as any devoted martial arts master can tell you!  You practice each and every morning and evening, with both your martial training and your zazen, until birth and death are no more, and you have becomes as "one who is permanently dead".  Ironically, at this point, you will also become as one who is permanently alive, for birth and death have now been defeated, and only aliveness remains.

*“Birth and Death” from Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Translation © 1985 by the San Francisco Zen Center.