How difficult this would be, especially in our consumerist culture that fetishisizes instant gratification:
1. Accept everything just the way it is
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must
preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.
― Miyamoto Musshi
6 Replies to “Sounds Lonely: The Path of Aloneness”
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HemmingPlay 
Very good Obi Tzu!
More simply and succinctly and to my preference, don’t let anyone or anything mess with your “WA”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_%28Japanese_culture%29
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Reblogged this on Fueling Your Consciousness.
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Nigh impossible to attain, but good data to reflect upon, of course, for moments like when you wake up in a broken down seedy apartment off the Rue d’Aerschot, tangled up in a pile of itinerant Austrailian girls who don’t look so young or pretty in the light of day, whiskey bottles clattering to the floor, the cramped room stinking of sweat and smoke and booze and kababs.
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This seems like a source of focus and power in the practice of a real Samurai. Having no sense of self is actually disturbing though. There is no giving of self or accepting of others in personal relationships in this practice. I wouldn’t make a good Samurai.
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I like most of these as ideals but I’d never be able to abide by them.
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These come out of feudal Japan, from the 1600s some time. The author was a samurai soldier for hire. So these were martial virtues, and they would be difficult even if everyone around was practicing them, too.
I don’t think I’d be able to do all of them, either. But I like looking at ideals to measure myself against. It’s usually pretty embarrassing.
But the contrast between the kind of self-denial and discipline in this teaching and the messages we’re bombarded with by advertising to do the opposite is interesting.
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