Bushido comes out of Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism, and Shintoism. The combination of these schools of thought and religions has formed the code of warrior values known as Bushido.
From Buddhism, Bushido gets its relationship to danger and death. The samurai do not fear death because they believe as Buddhism teaches, after death one will be reincarnated and may live another life here on earth. The samurai are warriors from the time they become samurai until their death; they have no fear of danger. Through Zen, a school of Buddhism one can reach the ultimate "Absolute." Zen meditation teaches one to focus and reach a level of thought words cannot describe. Zen teaches one to "know thyself" and do not to limit yourself. Samurai used this as a tool to drive out fear, unsteadiness and ultimately mistakes. These things could get him killed.
Shintoism, another Japanese doctrine, gives Bushido its loyalty and patriotism. Shintoism includes ancestor-worship which makes the Imperial family the fountain-head of the whole nation. It awards the emperor a god-like reverence. He is the embodiment of Heaven on earth. With such loyalty, the samurai pledge themselves to the emperor and their daimyo or feudal landlords, higher ranking samurai. Shintoism also provides the backbone for patriotism to their country, Japan. They believe the land is not merely there for their needs, "it is the sacred abode to the gods, the spirits of their forefathers . . ." (Nitobe, 14). The land is cared for, protected and nurtured through an intense patriotism.
Confucianism gives Bushido its beliefs in relationships with the human world, their environment and family. Confucianism's stress on the five moral relations between master and servant, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and friend and friend, are what the samurai follow. However, the samurai disagreed strongly with many of the writings of Confucius. They believed that man should not sit and read books all day, nor shall he write poems all day, for an intellectual specialist was considered to be a machine. Instead, Bushido believes man and the universe were made to be alike in both the spirit and ethics.
Along with these virtues, Bushido also holds justice, benevolence, love, sincerity, honesty, and self-control in utmost respect. Justice is one of the main factors in the code of the samurai. Crooked ways and unjust actions are thought to be lowly and inhumane. Love and benevolence were supreme virtues and princely acts. Samurai followed a specific etiquette in every day life as well as in war. Sincerity and honesty were as valued as their lives. Bushi no ichi-gon, or "the word of a samurai," transcends a pact of complete faithfulness and trust. With such pacts there was no need for a written pledge; it was thought beneath one's dignity. The samurai also needed self-control and stoicism to be fully honored. He showed no sign of pain or joy. He endured all within--no groans, no crying. He held a calmness of behavior and composure of the mind neither of which should be bothered by passion of any kind. He was a true and complete warrior.
These factors which make up Bushido were few and simple. Though simple, Bushido created a way of life that was to nourish a nation through its most troubling times, through civil wars, despair and uncertainty. "The wholesome unsophisticated nature of our warrior ancestors derived ample food for their spirit from a sheaf of commonplace and fragmentary teachings, gleaned as it were on the highways and byways of ancient thought, and, stimulated by the demands of the age formed from these gleanings a new and unique way of life" (Nitobe, 20).
I. Rectitude or Justice
Bushido refers not only to martial rectitude, but to personal rectitude: Rectitude or Justice, is the strongest virtue of Bushido. A
well-known samurai defines it this way: ‘Rectitude is one’s power to
decide upon a course of conduct in accordance with reason, without
wavering; to die when to die is right, to strike when to strike is
right.’ Another speaks of it in the following terms: ‘Rectitude is the
bone that gives firmness and stature. Without bones the head cannot rest
on top of the spine, nor hands move nor feet stand. So without
Rectitude neither talent nor learning can make the human frame into a
samurai.’
II. Courage
Bushido distinguishes between bravery and courage: Courage is worthy of being counted among virtues only if it’s exercised in the cause of Righteousness and Rectitude. In his Analects,
Confucius says: ‘Perceiving what is right and doing it not reveals a
lack of Courage.’ In short, ‘Courage is doing what is right.’
III. Benevolence or Mercy
A man invested with the power to command and the power to kill was
expected to demonstrate equally extraordinary powers of benevolence and
mercy: Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity,
are traits of Benevolence, the highest attribute of the human soul. Both
Confucius and Mencius often said the highest requirement of a ruler of
men is Benevolence.
IV. Politeness
Discerning the difference between obsequiousness and politeness can
be difficult for casual visitors to Japan, but for a true man, courtesy
is rooted in benevolence: Courtesy and good manners have been
noticed by every foreign tourist as distinctive Japanese traits. But
Politeness should be the expression of a benevolent regard for the
feelings of others; it’s a poor virtue if it’s motivated only by a fear
of offending good taste. In its highest form Politeness approaches love.
V. Honesty and Sincerity
True samurai, according to author Nitobe, disdained money,
believing that “men must grudge money, for riches hinder wisdom.” Thus
children of high-ranking samurai were raised to believe that
talking about money showed poor taste, and that ignorance of the value
of different coins showed good breeding: Bushido encouraged thrift,
not for economical reasons so much as for the exercise of abstinence.
Luxury was thought the greatest menace to manhood, and severe simplicity
was required of the warrior class … the counting machine and abacus
were abhorred.
VI. Honor
Though Bushido deals with the profession of soldiering, it is equally concerned with non-martial behavior: The sense of Honor, a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth, characterized the samurai.
He was born and bred to value the duties and privileges of his
profession. Fear of disgrace hung like a sword over the head of every samurai …
To take offense at slight provocation was ridiculed as
‘short-tempered.’ As the popular adage put it: ‘True patience means
bearing the unbearable.’
VII. Loyalty
Economic reality has dealt a blow to organizational loyalty around
the world. Nonetheless, true men remain loyal to those to whom they are
indebted: Loyalty to a superior was the most distinctive virtue of
the feudal era. Personal fidelity exists among all sorts of men: a gang
of pickpockets swears allegiance to its leader. But only in the code of
chivalrous Honor does Loyalty assume paramount importance.
VIII. Character and Self-Control
