|
The
Code of Bushido includes veracity, politeness, courage, benevolence, justice,
loyalty, and, above all, honor. In the Code of Bushido, honor
stands in an interesting place. It cannot be separated from the
other six codes and without it the other six have little power.
By adding morality, honor enhances and helps us understand the
other codes, and helps us to determines how to handle conflicts
in life.
The Code of Bushido was developed for a warrior society driven
by class and gender distinctions. This "code of honor"
was designed to bring a level of discipline and stability to that
society. Today we live in a very different world but the
code still has meaning, and can help to make us better people as
we work towards "perfection of character." Honor
encourages us to return kindness for kindness and to treat all
people with respect regardless of social standing. Too
often in today's world people such as wait-staff or store clerks
are treated with rudeness by those who consider themselves better
educated and superior. Unlike in feudal Japan however,
where class and gender distinctions were the rule, an honorable
person today would never consider treating someone differently
because of his or her job, gender, or place in society. Instead,
it is the duty of the honorable person to treat all people with
respect and to speak out against injustice.
 Honor is a term that is hard to define and is often misunderstood. Many associate honor with revenge and the idea of "death before dishonor." Many people have gotten into fights in attempts to "defend their honor." The culture of dueling often left men dead after seemingly mild insults, and that culture still exists in today's gangs; or as we saw recently, in today's hockey rinks. What many don't see is that these people aren't fighting over honor. Instead, they are only saving face. They do not see the distinction between honor and face and feel as if their honor has been taken from them. Honor, however, cannot be taken from you by an insult. It can be thrown away by believing the insults and taking revenge but it can never be taken away from you. Instead, honor is within you and is demonstrated in how you respond to others.
In Sankosho (p. 120) is a story of a master swordsman who sat calmly through a barrage of insults from potential robbers. The swordsman avoided a fight by expertly catching four flies with his chopsticks and then getting up and walking away. Traditional misunderstandings of honor would see this man insulted and would say that he should get revenge. In fact, nothing that the robbers could say would take away the swordsman's skill or honor. Fighting them would not make this swordsman more skilled or honorable. It was more honorable for this swordsman to walk away.
The same can be said to be true for Kokondo-ka today. In Kokondo we have the techniques to do great damage to those who insult us. With great power, however, comes even greater responsibility. It is often the responsibility of an honorable person to avoid hurting another person, even if it means taking a few insults. Mere insults will never take your training and your skill from you. Insults will certainly not take away your honor but an unnecessary fight will. Furthermore, you dishonor your sensei and Kokondo by fighting unnecessarily.
Honor applies to everything we do in the dojo. Our senseis have given us a priceless gift: knowledge of Kokondo. One can never fully repay one's sensei for this gift. The repayment we can bring is in the form of honor we demonstrate to the sensei, the dojo, and the system. In concrete terms, this means helping with the cleaning and upkeep of the dojo no matter what your rank. This means bringing new people into the system when appropriate and always showing loyalty to both sensei and system. Honor includes treating those of higher rank with the respect that they have earned; never questioning the effectiveness of a technique; and stepping aside when etiquette requires it.
 Recently, the tryouts for the U.S. Women's Olympic Tae Kwon Do team were held. Two young women who happened to be close friends competed for the final slot. In the semifinal round, the woman with more seniority and experience was injured leaving the door open for the sure victory of her friend in the finals. The woman with less seniority could have won the Olympic berth quite easily. Instead, she bowed out and gave the position to her friend--the one she knew deserved it more. Honor sometimes involves swallowing one's pride and ambition in order to do what's right. This young woman did just that. This example can clearly be generalized to things we do both in the dojo and things we do in everyday life. The goal is to find the proper balance between humility, glory, and respect.
True honor involves benevolence and politeness towards all people, the courage to do what is right, loyalty to all who have helped us, justice but not revenge, and veracity without causing harm. Six of the Codes of Bushido are inherent in the concept of honor and without honor these other six are meaningless. Imagine veracity without honor: one can be too truthful and cause great damage. Courage without honor can lead us to harm ourselves or others unnecessarily. Loyalty without honor can lead us to follow blindly those who are harmful to us or to others. Honor is clearly the hardest of the seven codes to define and yet it is the most essential. To be honorable, one must decide what is the "right thing to do" and then do it. To be honorable one must demonstrate politeness, courage, benevolence, justice, loyalty, and veracity- The Code of Bushido.
|
