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Showing posts with the label Shinto purification

The Way of the Modern Ronin, Part 16

  Essays and Thoughts on The Dokkodo Part Sixteen Abstain from Fasting and Other Things That Affect You Physically Mas Oyama - modern-day heir to the Budo throne of Musashi - was a believer in Kangeiko , or "cold training" the same as the samurai at the time The Dokkodo  was written. Of all the musings/thoughts of The Dokkodo , this precept is the most widely translated - perhaps even mis translated.  For instance, Wikipedia  has it translated as, "Do not act following customary beliefs."  Roshi Richard Collins in his book No Fear Zen,  translates it almost exactly the same way: "Do not follow customary beliefs."  If you have read my past posts here on The Dokkodo , you know that I love  Collins's book, but I think this is the one musing where he  might  miss the point a little. Compare those translations with the translation by William Scott Wilson, the preeminent scholar and translator of traditional budo  and Bushido  works.  Wilson translates it as