Principles for life from a lone samurai: Miyamoto Musashi (Roan Am Davis)

 From Threads: Roan Am Davis

roan_am_davis@

When you think of a lone samurai, you're thinking of Miyamoto Musashi:

• Raised under the bushido code of honour

• Fought and won 60 duels throughout his life

• Traveled Japan as a rōnin (a samurai without a lord)

In old age, he retreated in seclusion to a cave called Reigandō (“Spirit Rock Cave”).

Here he wrote the Dokkōdō (“The Way of Walking Alone”). A scroll of 21 principles for the pursuit of life mastery.

Here's the life philosophy of one of the greatest warriors in history...

Principle 1: Accept everything just the way it is

• Reality is reality

• No matter how much we want it to be different, it isn't

• The only way you can change reality is by accepting it completely.

Then work from there.

Principle 2: Do not seek pleasure for its own sake

• The path of mastery is down the opposite road of pleasure

• We should align our lives with achieving great feats and discipline

• If we experience pleasure along the way, that's fine, but don't make it the aim.

Principle 3: Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling

• Life requires you to make serious decisions 

• The implication of them can ripple throughout your life, and others

• When faced with a choice, get clear on it, do not go off emotions or feelings.

Principle 4: Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world

• Taking yourself too seriously hardens the Ego

• Everything becomes life or death, and you get in your own way

• The world is beautiful place for of depth – put your energy into appreciating it.

Principle 5: Be detached from desire your whole life long

• Desire pulls us towards pleasure seeking

• Pleasure seeking leads us towards greed, lust, and laziness

• The road to mastery is guided by discipline and a sense of purpose

Follow mastery.

Principle 6: Do not regret what you have done

• Regret serves no purpose

• If you've learned the lesson, punishing yourself is worthless

• Do not let the pass taint the present, or it will continue to corrupt the future.

Principle 7: Never be jealous

• Jealousy is stupid

• You don't know what that person has gone through, or will go through

• You can't take aspects of someone's life in isolation and feel sorry for yourself

You're on a different road.

Principle 8: Never let yourself be saddened by a separation

• Friends come and go

• People live and die

• That's life

Just be thankful for the opportunity to meet the incredible people you have.

Principle 9: Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others

• Life is hard

• Challenges present themselves, and must be overcome

• Complaining about how things are, or carrying resentment for how things have gone, is useless

They only serve to poison the mind, and hinder your progress.

Principle 10: Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling lust or love

• Both are fleeting

• You lust for someone one day, the next you don't

• You love someone for a few years, the next you don't

Be guided by the greater.

Principle 11: In all things, have no preference

• Wine connoisseurs strike us as cringy for reason

• To obsess over nuances of something unimportant is silly

• Save your time for the subtleties of whatever skill or philosophy you are learning.

Principle 12: Be indifferent to where you live

• You can live in luxury or poverty

• The only thing that matters is whether you are following your true path or not

• You can live with material wealth, and truly have nothing, or you can live with nothing, and have everything.

Principle 13: Do not pursue the taste of good food

• The body is made of the biomass you consume

• If you eat poor quality food, you're body will be made of poor quality material

• Concentrate more on nutritional value than taste, your body will thank you for it.

Principle 14: Do not hold onto possession you no longer need

• Have you ever seen a hoarder's house?

• Why do people cling to objects with no tangible purpose?

• Because we become attached, and lack the willpower to free ourselves of it

Live like a minimalist, clear your home, clear your mind.

Principle 15: Do not act following customary beliefs

• There's a conventional and societally accepted way of doing anything

• You shouldn't go against this for the sake of going against it

• But you should always be thinking for yourself.

Most people don’t.

From Roam Davis.