HAGAKURE COMMENTARY 1

So my wife told me that the samurai post needed more of my own commentary and explanation of why I liked those two passages. Truth be told the post got erased and I had to retype the whole thing with my 3 month old on my lap. By the time I finished retyping it I had no more energy to write any commentary. If this was ancient Japan, I would have already committed seppuku (ritual suicide where I stab myself in the stomach with a short sword and carve from one side to the other) for such laziness. Anyway these passages spoke to me.

The first one compares the value of being righteous versus being in harmony with the Way. This is a major difference between Judeo-Christian philosophy and eastern philosophy. The Judeo-Christian way claims that God gave man dominion over the earth and all living things. Everything on the earth is here for us to do with as we will. We are made in God’s image. Except that we fuck up. And even though he made us and gave us the tools to make our decisions, we’ll still get punished for fucking up (this could be a whole other post). Essentially the religion is based on hierarchy with God at the top, us below him, animals below us, plants below that, and the devil at the bottom. In this framework being righteous is the best. Being good and aligned with God, the most high, and opposed to evil is the highest level. This will ensure your entrance to heaven.

Unfortunately, being “good” all the time is hard to do. People who try so hard to rigidly cling to the scriptures often end up fostering “evil” in themselves or their own family. For example, the former priest from my parents’ church. His two sons were big-time drug abusing deviants in the town. Catholic schoolgirls rebel by pulling their skirts almost up to their crotch and have a rep for promiscuity. One extreme fosters another. How many catholic priests ended up molesting children? By denying something or calling it taboo, it only becomes more desirable. No sex? You’re just asking for trouble. The current “abstinence only” approach to sex education is yielding higher rates of pregnancy and STD’s. Making pot illegal and the drinking age 21 only propels kids to abuse them. In France where the drinking age is much lower, and drinking is not considered taboo, teenage abuse of alcohol is much less. As soon as something is a big deal, and off limits, we want to know about it, we want to experience it. Making pot illegal only makes kids think it’s cool (and causes people to get killed or go to prison). There is such a mystique about pot because it is illegal; that makes it more desirable. The fact that it’s illegal is the only reason it can be a “gateway” drug to dangerous substances like cocaine and heroin. If it was freely sold in stores, it wouldn’t be such a hip thing. People would still smoke it, but without the hype. I’d like to know the attitude to pot in Canada where it has recently been decriminalized. Look at the 80’s with Reagan’s conservativism dominating the country. This fostered N.W.A. and some of the most violent gangster rap. Cocaine use was high. Under Clinton rap music’s hostility faded into club music and bling bling boring crap. Fear and alienation of an element you don’t like can often give it more power.

Eastern philosophy, particularly Daoism, emphasizes that our existence is dependent on the harmony between heaven and earth. That life is delicately held in balance by the relationship of different natural elements. It is not hierarchical but is based on all things facilitating each other’s existence. Understanding the ebb and flow of the universe, of nature, of people, is the goal of Daoism. By living in accord with this flow, our lives will be smooth and prosperous. The Dao is not concerned with one extreme or another, but only with the balance that is found between the two. It embraces the varied things of the universe as different expressions of the same existence. I realize this sounds like a bunch of convoluted jibber-jabber, but like it says in the passage, if one doesn’t understand this for himself, he never will. It is through self reflection examination, through consultation with your peers, elders, and books that one discovers the Dao. A good example of how Daoism addresses righteousness is this passage from the Dao De Jing:

“When all the world recognizes beauty as beauty, this is in itself ugliness.
When all the world recognizes good as good, this is in itself evil.
Indeed, the hidden and the manifest give birth to each other.
Difficult and easy compliment each other.
Long and short exhibit each other.
High and low set measure to each other.
Voice and sound harmonize each other.
Back and front follow each other.
Therefore, the Sage manages his affairs without ado,
And spreads his teaching without talking,
He denies nothing to the teeming things.
He rears them, but lays no claim to them.
He does his work, but sets no store by it.
He accomplishes his task, but does not dwell upon it.
And yet it is just because he does not dwell upon it that nobody can ever take it away from him.”

Then again this whole blog is kind of preachy and pretentious. Is this blog is in a higher place than righteousness? Please take it away from me.

If anyone has some insight as to what having eight eyes or seeing things from the side means, please share your thoughts.