Incorporating Bushido into your spirituality

[mawashiman]

A thought that has been in my mind recently, are there any of you out there that incorporate bushido or aspects of it into your own spirituality? or life philosophy if you will.?

ill say that i do, some aspects of it, although I dont think that needs explanation here. Ive never tried to put my spiritual and philosophical thoughts to paper(or keyboard for that matter).

It would be very interesting to see if any/how many MA students out there have some kind of bushido aspect in their minds.:wave:
This could be very interesting discussion. or maybe im way off.

Lets start the ball rolling then :D

Regards.

Paris.

[gquaresma]

Hello,

I personally think that your spiritualality actually gets incorporated into your bushido, if you will. Not the other way around. At least in my humble opinion. I also believe that without a strong spiritual base, you kinda dont have a strong bushido base. I dont think it works the other way around though. Again my opinion.

[Crusader21]

:karatekid To whom it may concern,

Yes... i do believe that Budo is part of our spirituality.
Martial Arts, as so many have said before is not only a way of thought, or a method of fighting.... but also a way of life.

Those who become fully lost and absorbed in the depth of their art I believe will see how Budo changes their lives.

I have come to think that Budo is like 'Religion' for some people. It's principles lead us forward in living life.

Sun Tzu... the legendary war tactician spoke of many tactics that he used to lead troops into battle. Some of these same tactics I've heard are used in business meetings and negotiatians of modern day. In the same situation... a christian may incorporate prayer to achieve an outcome. In other cases... one may apply Theories of Budo.

I must be careful what I say though so I don't offend some people. For I'm sure there will be some Budo practicioners who read this that are also strong Christians.

I suppose in the end... we are all entitled to our own beliefs and explanations of what we perceive to be true.

As much as I enjoy to encorporate Budo (what little of it I know) in my life as part of my spirituality.... I also try do so with great humbleness in feeling that 'The Way,' is not necessarily.... 'The Answer.' As much as it could be...it would be foolish of me to say it is.

[Kimpatsu]

Crusader21,
Please sign your posts with your full name.
TIA,

[Soulend]

Hi all, I put up a similar thread a while ago, and someone pointed out that the elements of 'Bushido' (courage, politeness, benevolence, loyalty, etc.) aren't much different from normal values taught by parents, in religions, and by various organizations like the boy scouts.

I don't have much in the way of 'spirituality', being an agnostic, but I do (or at least try to) hold these values. Whether it is the influence of 'Bushido', or simply the result of my upbringing, I don't know. Also, the 'Way of the Warrior' was not constant- the philosophy was not the same in different provinces or in different clans, and even different among individual bushi.

An interesting discussion of Bushido is at Koryu.com written by Dr. Karl Friday. Take a peek here. (http://koryu.com/library/kfriday2.html)

[Michael Plank]

My "spirituality" is kinda up in the air right now. I was raised a Quaker and for a long time I considered myself Buddhist. Now I'm not so sure. I am sure, though, that the Martial Arts are spiritual for me. I started Iaido as a spiritual practice and I've tried "less meditative" (obviously, all arts are meditative in some way, Iaido is pretty blatant about it, though) arts since, but I would say that spirituality is actually my primary motivation in the martial arts (which may sound a bit wierd since I'm kinda up in the air concerning any kind of "labeled" spirituality). I guess that I could even say that the martial arts ARE my spirituality or religion right now...maybe. :look: I dunno. I do have faith in things like Aiki, Mushin, Zanshin, and Malicia (a Portuguese term from Capoeira), so if that's what makes a religion a religion...

Michael Plank