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The Way of the Modern Ronin, Part 3

 Essays and Thoughts on the "Dokkodo"
Part Three
Do Not Seek Pleasure for its Own Sake

Miyamoto Musashi in his prime, wielding two bokken; woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (courtesy of Wikimedia)

The 2nd maxim of Musashi's Dokkodo is "do not seek pleasure for its own sake."  When I first read the Dokkodo many years ago, this one struck me as a little odd, or I probably thought it was too "outdated" - a maxim from ancient Japan that didn't apply to us today in the modern world.  But I couldn't have been more wrong.

First off, don't try to make this maxim - or the others that follow - more or less than what they are.  Most of these - as with all teachings from a Wisdom Tradition - have both the "surface" meaning, and that which is "below the surface", so to speak.

On it's "surface", this maxim is fairly simple and straightforward.  When you seek pleasure for the sake of pleasure alone, you WILL run into all sorts of trouble!  This should be obvious - but sometimes we quite literally don't see what is right in front of our noses.

Pleasure, of itself, is neither good nor bad.  And pleasure should NEVER be something that you avoid because you think it's "sinful", or it makes you have feelings of guilt.  Pleasure is, by its very nature, "neutral" - it arises with "good" and "bad" things.  Sometimes pleasure will arise from a hard workout - whether with weights, or in martial arts - or from a session of zazen.  But it can also arise in some individuals via "bad" things, such as theft or even murder!  You might say to yourself, at this point, "Well, I would never take pleasure from killing!"  That may be true, but let's take a look at the standard 5 precepts that all Zen students vow to keep:
  1. No Killing
  2. No Stealing
  3. No Lying
  4. No Improper Sexual Conduct
  5. No abuse of intoxicants
Okay, you're thinking, well, that's easy enough!  But a couple of caveats must be noted.  First, "no killing" means that you vow to not kill any living being.  Did you step on a few ants walking to your car this morning?  Did you turn on your "bug zapper" the other Saturday night, for your local neighborhood cookout?  Or swat at a mosquito at said cookout?  Or maybe you called your local pest control company to eradicate the mosquitos, and other "critters", before the cookout?
Guess what?  ALL of those "transgress" the precept.  Which brings us to the 2nd point here (and this is the "main" point): It all comes down to intention.  If you intended to kill a sentient being - and, yes, even roaches and mosquitos count here - then you are guilty of transgressing this precept.  On the flip side, if you're grilling some veggies for your cookout, and a few stray mosquitoes, flies, or other insects meet their demise at the hands of your charcoal fire pit, then you're NOT guilty of any transgression - there was no intention to harm.  The same holds true for a sparring session at the dojo - if you accidentally break your sparring partner's nose, but had no intention of doing so, then you haven't transgressed the precept.  But if you try to hurt your sparring partner - let's say you lose your cool because of how hard he hit you - and fail to do so, then you have still transgressed it.

Back to our maxim, and the point brought up about obeying the precepts.  You may now realize that there is more to this "Do not seek pleasure for its own sake" maxim than at first glance - more nuanced and subtle.

As with all of the Dokkodo, each maxim, the more it is explored internally and mused over, begins to slowly unveil its truth to the Budo practitioner.  Let's look at some of the more "surface" benefits to practicing this maxim:

If you are training for the sake of pleasure alone, then you will never be able to fully "give yourself" to the training.  Pleasure may be a "side effect" of Budo training, but it should never be the goal.  The goal is to strive for perfection, even if that means there is some inherit pain involved.

If you seek pleasure in things outside of your training, then you risk being sucked into idle pursuits that will never help you to achieve your goals.  As it says in the book of Matthew:
"Small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, but few find it."*


*Matthew 7:14

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