The way of the samurai is based upon selflessness. In Japanese, messhihoko (滅私奉公) means “to be selflessly devoted.” The thing that a warrior is selflessly devoted to is the line between life and death. A life or death situation is not one that the samurai takes for granted and so both warriors understand the gravity of the situation and each one does not take the other’s sacrifice lightly. One example of this seriousness is the old samurai practice of altruistically growing a beard or mustache prior to going into battle. Some think that growing facial hair made the samurai look fiercer. However, another reason pertains to the practice of cutting off the head of one’s opponent after defeating them and taking it back as evidence of one’s prowess on the battlefield. Being prideful, a samurai, even in defeat, wouldn’t want to embarrass the victorious samurai by being mistaken for a child or woman which could render his death meaningless. To plan ahead and grow facial hair so as to be counted as a proper kill was considered an omiyari (思い遣り) or “a thoughtful act” on the part of the dying samurai. Taking the situation seriously, both samurai assiduously prepared themselves as an omiyari because they both understood that their battle is life or death, and they don’t want to die an unearned death or take a life undeserved. To the outside looking in, people think that training in the martial arts is about learning how to destroy others. On a certain basic level it is, but to the ardent it is something so much deeper. As martial artists, the opponent we are trying to defeat is ourselves. It is easy to be selfish and act self-centered because being selfish is a primal instinct. However, martial arts training is about developing the self to live one’s life at a higher level and so a warrior sees selfishness as a sign of weakness. Anyone can be selfish, but only someone of true warrior spirit can be selfless especially when they don’t have to be.
Today’s goal: When the time comes, can you act selflessly?