did the samurai contradict itself?

Question

the samuarai talk about honour ect but in zen buddhism one has to get rid of this, were they more egoisitc

Answer 1

Samurai were not monks, they were typically lords and landed elite who followed a creed. Bushido, while influenced by Zen, was not a purely religious pursuit.

Answer 2

You need to read the history of the Gempei War (1180-85).

It was in this war that Samurai first came into armed conflict with the warrior Zen Buddhist monks of Heien Mountain (and also the war when the first Shogun was appointed).

The samurai defeated the monks and beheaded 2,000 of them at Heien Mountain, and this broke the power of the Buddhist monks in Japan. BUT this is where the Samurai first came into contact with the principles of Zen and were impressed by it.

After the Genpei War did the Samurai seek out those tough fearless warrior Zen Buddhist monks who survived and became their students to learn how to 'empty your mind' or 'clear your mind' or meditate to improve your sword technique and fighting spirit.

Some Samurai after 1185 actually became Zen Buddhist monks and achieved 'enlightenment'; but the greater majority, if not all, of the Samurai simply modified those Zen Buddhist views, teachings, and practices into something the Samurai could utilize and understand. The Samurai veterans of the Genpei Wars (1180-85) turned meditative 'enlightenment' into Santori (enlightentment through the sword) and over the next several hundred years interpreted everything 'Zen' into the Code of Bushido (the way of the warrior).

Also, there were different levels of Samurai; not all the Samurai were 'high class' and received the best of a Samurai education. There were low level Samurai who were bullys, drunks, arrogant, or who rarely followed the Code of Bushido and became executioners or assassins or hired swords. There were actually 'ex-Samurai' who became commoners.

So the Samurai were not contradictory at all since they slowly evolved Zen Buddhism into something else, which was Bushido (way of the warrior) which included killing your enemy as effectively as possible.

Answer 3

Wait a second- isn't zen about getting rid of the ego? Samurai (most) devoted their lives to serve their daimyo lord, which is one way of extinguishing personal desire. Honourable ways do not necessarily conflict with zen, nor other forms of Japanese buddhism.

Plus, the Samurai families and clans predate buddhism in Japan by a few hundred years- they could live without it. Even in later years, when buddhism became more important in Japan, it was still sharing religious influence with Japan's indigenous Shinto religion. In an extreme case, a samurai may have eschewed buddha and put all his faith in Japan's own gods, and he would still have been samurai, (even if the monks weren't too keen on him!)

Answer 4

From SECRETS OF THE SAMURAI

"A group of men whether in war time or peace time that were required to keep themselves at a state of combat readiness and throw away their lives at any moment without question doubt or hesitation on the mere whim of their masters had to be experiencing a form of cult like insanity"

The warrior monk TAKUAN who formulated most of the meditative excercises for the samurai originated many of the ideas on which BUSHIDO would be later based.

Most people dont realize that BUSHIDO wasnt written down as a formal code until long after the samurai had long given up their swords and went into commerce and politics.NITOBE THE CODE OF BUSHIDO 1902.
Read it some time you can order it from most of the online book sellers.It's an eye opener.

Answer 5

Buzzard covers it well.
Only thing I would add is that the samuri sought an awarness of 'iaido' zen, the meditative art of the sword. Perhaps it was the emperors honour they were more interested in than there own. Loyalty to the emperor was the highest code of bushido in those days.

Answer 6

the term Samurai means servant. When you are a person of real honor, you honor your position, your title. If you are a servant, you serve. It has nothing to do with religion or belief system.

Even the Bible tells Christians to serve their masters(their bosses) well. If you are a policeman and you kill someone, that is not sin, because it is your office. If you are a crooked policeman and kill someone because you are in a position that you do not morally perform, then you are a murderer, which is sin.

Answer 7

C'mon the word it self "samurai" means one who serve's now how can you serve something or some one with out following honor,duty,respect ect,ect...

Answer 8

The samurai fought fot their leader. they were loyal to that.