Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone)

Warrior:
From the Fred Neff and Bruce Tegner books I studied as a kid in the
70s, to my Judo competitions, military years, karate, taekwondo, and
finally settling with Hapkido as my primary martial art, I physically
trained and also devoured every text about warriors I could find.
Through this training and study, I’ve come to believe that character is
the most important element of living as a warrior, more important
than the physical skills, more important than weapon skills, and more
important than determined discipline.

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It’s taken many years of study to realize this. When younger, I was
most interested in the physical skills. I wanted to be able to place a
bullet down range with precise marksmanship; I wanted to physically
defeat those I faced in competition or in those ugly circumstances in
barrooms and parking lots; I wanted to be able to use gun, knife,
stick, or empty hands to defend myself; I wanted the determined
discipline to win at all costs. Fortunately, through all the training,
another message seeped through and permeated my consciousness
and became a central focus of my warrior training. Not to the neglect
of my physical training, but as an integral part of my complete warrior
training. I’ve come to realize, as many have before me, that
character training must accompany the physical training or you only
create thugs, scoundrels, and unscrupulous denizens with fighting
ability, not warriors.
When Musashi wrote “Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the
world,” I believe he too, as he aged, came to realize that there were
things more important to the warrior than the physical skills he
worked so hard in his youth to hone and master. In this precept we
see benevolence and the true core of honorable character;
selflessness and compassion toward the world.
The precept reminds me of the writings of Kumazawa Banzan (1619
– 1691). Kumazawa was around 26 years old at the time of
Musashi’s death, and I have no idea if Musashi’s writings were ever
read by Kumazawa, as his beliefs seem to come from his study of
Confucianism, Shinto mythology, and his experiences in public
service. Kumazawa believed in a concept of social service as the
foundation of warrior culture, and among his writings, he stated, “A
good warrior is always courageous and deeply devoted to the way of
the warrior and martial arts; he takes care not to stumble no matter
what happens, respects his ruler, pities everyone from his wife and
children to the old and young all over the world, and prefers peace in
the world from a humane and loving heart.”
I believe both men came to realize what most warriors realize as
they age, and that is that selflessness and benevolence surpass

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might and force when one considers those things that are truly
important in life. When your world revolves around service and the
death of others and the possibility of your own death, you realize
your own insignificance. You look for the greater good. This allows
you to think lightly of yourself and more deeply of the world.
Unfortunately, it is a precept that I believe will be lost with youth and
only appreciated and learned by those with a number of years
behind them. I especially fear this when I witness the constant
bombardment of selfish materialism through every media
imaginable. Despite the current narcissistic selfie-stick popular
culture, every once in a while I witness a young student following the
path of his or her elderly warrior instructor, and I have hope.