The Samurai Way of Living
As if you are Going to Die Today!
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all preach the inevitability of death and use this fact in an attempt to persuade (and frighten!) people into behaving in a certain way. It goes without saying that these attempts—often irrational and inhuman—have not been successful.
As contrary to common sense as it might seem, the samurai warriors of feudal Japan were among the few people who fully recognized and accepted the fragility and briefness of life and based their way of living on that knowledge.
Members of the samurai class were taught from childhood that life is as fragile as a cherry blossom that can be wafted away by the slightest breeze, and that they should live their lives accordingly, obeying all of the obligations that made up their world so that they could die at any moment without remorse for having failed to live up to their responsibilities.
Samurai warriors generally followed this philosophy of life with profound diligence for two very simple reasons. First, they were subject to being killed, or having to kill themselves and sometimes their families as well, at a moment’s notice. And second, they believed that if they failed to behave according to the precepts that controlled their class they and their families would be disgraced forever.
The samurai knew that if people are always ready to die at a moment’s notice they are far more likely to follow what was known as the Shichi Toku (She-chee Toh-kuu), or “Seven Virtues.” These seven virtues were:
1) Jizen (Jee-zane)—Benevolence and Charity
2) Kennin (Kane-nee)—An Indomitable Spirit, Fortitude
and Perseverance
3) Kibō (Kee-bohh)—A Life filled with Hope for the Best
4) Seigi (Say-ghee)—Righteousness and Justice
5) Shincho (Sheen-choh)—Care, Caution, Discretion
6) Shinnen (Sheen-nane)—Conviction and Faith
7) Sessei (Say-ssay-ee)—Moderation and Temperance
This is not to infer that all of Japan’s samurai were paragons of these seven virtues, or to ignore the fact that the definitions and nuances of all of these virtues were based on Japanese values and aspirations, which often differed fundamentally from Western precepts.
But within Japanese society during the age of the samurai the level of ethics, manners, morality and overall behavior was as high—if not higher—than has ever been achieved, before or since, in any other society. And this encompassed many of the most desirable and admirable beliefs and behavioral traits that were part of the Hebrew, Christian and Islamic traditions.
The code of conduct prescribed for the samurai (their “commandments” if you will) and the rationale for these codes covered all of the areas and topics of human interest and needs, especially those that involved appearance, personal relationships, and living a well-ordered life.
Japan’s samurai class, which formally came into existence in the 12th century [and was not abolished until the early 1870s], based their beliefs and way of life on the teachings of the great Chinese sage Confucius who lived from 551 to 479 B.C., and on the precepts of Zen Buddhism, founded by the Indian monk Bodhidharma in the 6th century A.D.
Confucius taught an ethical system based on personal virtue, devotion to family—including the spirits of one’s ancestors—justice, and absolute loyalty to one’s superiors.
Bodhidharam, forced to flee his homeland, went to China in 532 A.D., where in addition to having engaged in dialogue with the reigning emperor is said to have sat facing a wall for nine years, meditating. He then taught that enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation and intuition, rather than through scriptures written by religious leaders.
The strict discipline and absolute obligations taught by Confucius were a perfect match for Japan’s warrior class, who broadened and strengthened them to encompass virtually every aspect of their lives.
The meditation practices of Zen provided the samurai with the incredible fortitude they needed to accept their strict obligations, to develop equally incredible skills in martial arts, and to face death at any moment with dignified calm resolve.
From an early age members of the samurai class were taught that they should begin each day with the realization that they could die at any moment—and if that moment came they should die with dignity. They were taught that if you are ready for death at all times, dying is easy—and that in life death is the only thing that is absolutely sincere.
As harsh and as unforgiving as the samurai way was, it created a culture in which the rules of life were known to all members of the class and were followed meticulously by the overwhelming majority.
The concept of living your life as if you could die at any moment is, of course, a well-known element in Judaism and Christianity. But it has been a total failure in influencing the conduct of most of the people raised in these religions.
A fundamental part of this failure in so-called Christianized societies is the teaching and the belief that one can be forgiven for his or her “sins” in life right up to the moment or death, and be welcomed into Heaven with open arms. All you have to do is confess your sins and say you believe in God or Jesus.
This belief does not provide sufficient incentive for most people to live a “sinless life,” and because it is inadequate these societies institute secular laws designed to control behavior. Some people make an effort to obey these laws. Others don’t. So god-oriented societies have historically been filled with human violence of every description—much of it perpetrated in the name of the Hebrew, Christian and Islamic God.
Key factors in the historical prevalence of violence in societies that depend on man-made laws for punishment during life and Godly justice after death is that most law-breakers are not punished or the punishments that are meted out do not deter unlawful behavior, there is no real evidence that God has ever punished anyone before or after death, and there is always the death-bed confession that supposedly washes away all sin.
In contrast to this ideology, the fundamental factor in the “religion” of the samurai was that punishment for breaking the codes of life was immediate and was based on all-inclusive unending shame in the here and now.
Virtually all of the shame culture of the samurai class gradually seeped into Japanese society as a whole. Rather than fearing the retribution and punishment of an unseen god who never actually punished anyone for their sinful behavior—at least directly and visibly—the Japanese were conditioned to feel intense shame for any kind of conduct that was not accepted in their society.
In its Japanese context, having done something shameful—or just being perceived as having committed a shameful act—was often enough to not only totally ruin the lives of individuals but often that of their families as well.
In other words, in samurai-influenced Japanese society punishment for unacceptable acts did not necessarily depend upon the enforcement of secular laws, or promises of after-death punishment by an all-knowing, all-seeing god.
Individuals who failed to live up to the cultural requirements of Japanese society suffered intense feelings of personal shame combined with losing their place in society. This latter sanction was especially powerful because of the family and group orientation of Japanese culture.
All other people around the world are, of course, familiar with the sense of shame but most of them are not culturally programmed to suffer very much from it, so shame has never been a paramount influence in controlling conduct.
Even more important in most other societies, particularly in contemporary times, the independent, self-directed mentality of the people significantly limits the degree of influence family and social approval has on the behavior of the vast majority. In simple terms, many people do whatever they can get away with, untroubled by their conscience or any threat of delayed punishment.
In Christian theology, Adam, the first human being, almost immediately disobeyed the commandments of God resulting in all human beings thereafter being born in a state of disgrace known as “original sin,” which could be erased only by strict obedience to the [man-made!] laws of God.
Unlike Christians who are said to be tainted with this “original sin,” the samurai of feudal Japan were born with an “original debt” that they owed to their parents, to their future teachers and to their superiors. The concept of this debt was one of the prime principles of Confucianism, and was subsumed in the Japanese word giri (ghee-ree), which refers to the debt of gratitude that one automatically owes to parents, teachers and superiors.
The power of giri in shaping and controlling the lives of the samurai was virtually unbounded, and was taught in the form of a sense of honor that was instilled in the samurai from childhood. It was not a secondary religious concept. It was a fundamental way of life. Failure to live up to the precepts of giri resulted in acute feelings of personal shame.
I suggest that teaching the young a sense of shame in the here and now, rather than depending on a sense of guilt which thay can easily ignore would be far more effective in ensuring a positive and enriching standard of behavior.
Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961. To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/
