“A warrior is worthless unless they rise above others and stand strong in the midst of a storm.”
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
The best martial artists are loyal. Loyalty in Japanese is chuu (忠). To be loyal is defined as “giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution.” The kanji for loyalty is made up of the characters for inside (中) and heart (心). Understanding this, loyalty is based upon our true desires, intentions, or feelings that reside in our hearts. Normal people get to engage in duplicity, but as martial artists, we are trying to get to a place where what is on the outside matches what is on the inside. This integrity comes about because martial arts training is supposed to be a form of misogi (禊) or “purification.” To purify oneself is not necessarily religious but rather the act of becoming less selfish. That is why in traditional Japanese arts they say that the opposite of loyalty is selfishness. In the old days, it was thought that acting out what is truly in our hearts was selfish. When a person studies a traditional Japanese art, there are all these acts of purification which are supposed to combat selfishness like bowing, cleaning, or taking ukemi to name just a few. Each of these acts is supposed to bring us closer to unselfishness. That is why the more we train, the more we sei (精) or “purify” ourselves. Every person’s loyalty has a limit and ideally, our loyalty is inversely proportional to our selfishness or that the more loyal we are, the less selfish we are. However, that is not necessarily the reality because up to a certain level, anyone can say that they are loyal and untested loyalty can be faked. No one knows what’s truly in our hearts but us and that’s why the true definition of loyalty is what we do when no one is looking. There is a saying in traditional arts, “When the teacher is gone, the student reveals themselves.” In other words, who we really are only comes out when we think no one is watching or when we think we won’t get caught. Who are you? Where is your limit? What would it take for you to give up your loyalty? No one knows the answers to these questions for sure. Only time will tell how truly selfish we are in our hearts. The best martial artists are aware of the struggle and thus they are always striving to be less selfish and more loyal.
Today’s goal: Don’t give up so easily. True loyalty is where intention meets character.