MEDITATIONS: DOKKODO; THE WAY OF ALONENESS XX.

Principle Twenty

You may abandon your own body, but you must preserve your honor. (Miyamoto, Musashi)

What is honor? Modern men will struggle to give a coherent answer to this question; and even during Musashi’s time, honor was, by most, synonymous with positive reputation. However, any glimpse into historical figures or awareness of contemporary celebrities will reveal the shallow definition of honor as indistinguishable from popularity to be inaccurate. It is not what is meant when honor is invoked. It lacks the moral dimension which transcends the mere opinion of others.

But Musashi does not give him own definition. It is up to the student to discover his own. In this mediation, what seems most appropriate as a definition for honor is, “The harmonious union of one’s reputation with one’s moral integrity.” Honor, so defined, joins the individual to his society. It is the mark of an admirable person—that is, a person worthy of mirroring, of emulation. Therefore, to be honorable, or to occupy a position of honor, is to be a model for one’s civilization.

With the given definition, it is no wonder why Musashi, or anyone, would stress its importance. Yet the Dokkodo’s twentieth principle does not mention honor alone. “You may abandon your own body,” comes first.

Now it must be answered, what does it mean to abandon one’s own body? The Buddha answers:

Many do not realize that
We here must die.
For those who realize this,
Quarrels end. (Buddha, Dhammapada, 4)

Human beings are mortal and finite. A human life is short, and no matter how well or cautiously lived, all men grow old, become sick, and die. One’s health, youth, strength, even one’s life is therefore nothing worth clinging to. That is not to say that the body ought to be neglected, but it is to establish a hierarchy of values. One’s life is important because of the legacy he inherited and passes forward to his children, their children, and the community at large insofar as his linage becomes a thread in the cultural fabric.

The body lives at most a hundred years and reaches only as far as its hands and feet. But one’s honor—that being one’s reputation and actual moral character—lives on in one’s family and friends and even times in enemies. Honor, as living in the matrix between the individual and social, is a relational, or spiritual, aspect of one’s being. Honor is thereby immortal, unbound by the constraints of time and is able to propagate outside of the minds of the people who value it. That is why heroic deeds get recorded in history and mythology: they all describe the spirit of honor living within narrative, searching for worthy human vessels in which to incarnate itself.

A soldier knows this, which is why he lays down his life to defend his tribe. A father knows this, which is why he puts himself in the line of fire to protect his wife and children. But those who choose the body above honor keep neither. The qualities necessary for one to love and respect himself are the same as those necessary for him to love and respect others. One must be willing to sacrifice time, energy, and comfort in the moment for someone that is not oneself right then. Oneself tomorrow or a year later is not so different than one’s neighbor: the man who values honor thinks about himself from such a distance; the narcissistic sociopath thinks only of himself that very moment—which is why he lies, steals from, and betrays everyone, even his future selves. Such a mode of being cannot be long sustained, not even as long as the lifespan of the mortal human body.

So, while one may be required to sacrifice his life, it is each persons moral imperative to do so only in service of his honor, for honor is one of many guides by which one accords with the Way.

Buddha Gautama, Siddhartha. The Dhammapada; Teachings of the Buddha, translated by Gil Fronsdal, Shambala Publications Inc, 2008.

Miyamoto, Musashi. Dokkodo, translator unknown, 1645.