Category Archives: Philosophy-Zen Buddhism

Unknown's avatar

Today’s Bushido

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Dear Satoru,
I am a Zen Buddhist. I live a moral, happy, reflexive, meditative life. I use the ancient Samurai Bushido credos as my guidelines. But of late I am having some difficulty dovetailing its principle’s into the standards of today’s world. Your serious site is always evocative and informing. Can you give me some insights into this problem?

I like to keep my blogs short and succinct. I do this because it allows the readers time to think about a specific idea. If the idea is valid and adaptable, a person can use it to change their life for the better. However, since I have been asked numerous times about this problem, and to aid in your inquiry, I will devote the next several blogs to elucidate this difficulty. I will start the next blog with an edited review of the principles of Bushido.
Satoru

Unknown's avatar

Smart choice.

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You meet one of the most wise and intelligent people in the world. The atmosphere is relaxed and open. What do you ask them?

Is there a question and answer that has the potential to fulfill you and make your thoughts a reality? Or do you think that you have all the answers, are content, and cannot improve your life?

If you could have any one request fulfilled, and you could ask for anything except money, what would your aspiration be?

How would you transform your considerations into actuality if you have not examined your life, your objectives, your relationships and yourself?

Are you prepared to ask something significant? And if the answer connotes a specific direction or task, are you prepared to alter your course?

Satoru

Unknown's avatar

Realistic Change

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Realistic Change
Forget about perfect. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again. In life we cannot avoid change and we cannot avoid loss. Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change. Nothing ever stays the same. You cannot step twice into the same river, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.
What is your position in the funnel of life?
Satoru

Unknown's avatar

Freedom

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Just as driving on the right side of the road gives us the freedom to go anywhere, so accepting the natural law of constant change is our route to freedom. Remember that life expands and contracts according to one’s courage.
So you must have the comprehension and will to know that the unity of our existence consists of perpetual change.

Making major changes in your life requires courage but you have to take it step by step. So start now.
Life is Action.
Satoru

Unknown's avatar

Death

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Satoru, I commute to work by car every day. Lately I have been seeing more bad accidents. They have made me more aware of my mortality and the fragility of life. Your comments would be much appreciated.

I have always lived by three credos; “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” “Do anything you want, with style, as long as you don’t hurt anyone,” and that, “Life is too important to be taken seriously so a sense of humor is the most important aspect of any successful loving relationship.” Keeping faith with myself I have tried to keep the candles burning at both ends with a blowtorch. I have been burning bright for as long as I can remember. But there comes a juncture in everyone’s life were the realization of the end of their mortality become overwhelmingly apparent. How you face this inevitability is filled with a multiplicity of emotions, final plans, regrets, resolves and realizations. Untimely everyone dies alone regardless of family, loved ones, children, friends and lovers.

Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down, and when you drive not to tailgate.

Thirty thousand people die and are injured in car accidents every year. If you drive, don’t tailgate, buckle up, avoid distractions, do not text, drive too fast, or have your ego involved in your driving actions. Walk more for short trips. Heart attacks, obesity and car crashes kill more people then terrorist attacks.
Satoru