bushidomartialarts
06-06-2007, 07:21 PM
Bob, here's a copy of my Yondan thesis paper. If it suits your needs, you're welcome to it.
TEXT BEGINS
Warrior is an important concept to the martial artist, a capitalized word in our lexicon. It evokes images of courage, of power, of glory. The warrior is an inspiration, a powerful metaphor, an image we carry with us throughout our training.
What is a warrior? A warrior is, of course, one who goes to war. A skilled combatant, a protector of the weak and the helpless. A fighter. This is one key characteristic of the warrior, although it is not the only one. In a modern society where violence is rare, the concept of the warrior as simply a physical combatant is outmoded. In today’s world, a warrior must look to expand the role, the definition and the opportunities for warriorship. Today’s warrior is no longer just a fighter. Today’s warrior is a servant.
DEFINING THE WARRIOR
All human cultures have had some sort of warrior class. Even among primitive hunter-gatherer tribes, there were those who hunted and those who gathered. From the Toltecs to the Navy SEALS, from Roman Legionairres to the Knights Templar. From modern policemen to the Samurai, traditional warriors were called upon to fight for and defend the non-combatant members of his (and more recently her) society.
Even within these very traditional examples, however, we see the warrior’s role goes beyond simple feats of arms. In Celtic societies, warriors were respected for their skill at poetry. Toltec warriors considered their first duty to be the preservation and passing on of tribal knowledge. The knights of the crusades were religious scholars. Viking chiefs were legal experts. Although combativeness is a defining characteristic of the warrior, it is not and has never been the defining characteristic. Two examples are particularly telling.
Plains Indian youths who wished to be considered warriors had to pass two tests as rites of passage. The first, a vision quest, was a period of meditation, physical hardship and inner exploration. The second was to count coup over an enemy, to actually touch him during a battle without doing him harm in any way. It’s interesting to note that neither of these tests to prove their warrior spirit involved killing. If fact, only one had anything to do with combat at all.
More recently, in her book The Code of the Warrior, Shannon French discusses a survey of students in her class at the US Naval Academy. The survey asks students if certain words are perfect synonyms for “warrior”. When asked if “murderer”, “killer”, “fighter”, “victor” or “conqueror” were such synonyms, the students almost universally disagreed. Many violently disagreed. Even within our armed forces, where violence and combat are a common consideration, warrior is understood to mean more than just violence and combat.
Outside of violent professions, the nonviolent aspects of warriorship take on even more importance. As modern life becomes safer and less violent, a warrior must look to other opportunities to fulfill his role. To rely on combat as our only expression of warrior quality is to deny ourselves too much. We must expand our consideration of what a warrior is.
EXPANDING THE DEFINITION
It’s clear that a warrior is not only a combatant, but what are the other aspects of a warrior? An exploration of warrior cultures throughout history demonstrates several attributes held in common by nearly all such men and women.
A warrior holds himself to a higher standard than the population he protects.
The concept of honor is important to all warriors, regardless of which words they use to describe it. Specifically what constitutes honor and how it is upheld varies from culture to culture. Lying was forbidden to Viking warriors, but embraced Sioux braves as clever tactics. Regardless of the specifics, each and every warrior looks for ways to uphold their personal values. In some cases, such as with the Samurai of Japan, these values were rigidly codified. In others, like the Viking kings, honor was a more personal matter and varied from warrior to warrior.
A warrior does not permit emotion to prevent him carrying out his duty.
All warriors feel fear. No true warrior allows fear to cause him to flee from battle. This is the obvious example set by warrior cultures throughout history. In many cultures, however, this concept of emotional control goes beyond the battlefield. The Hagakure warned Samurai against allowing yourself strong words against your family or liege. In more modern times, the concept of ‘an officer and a gentleman’ reminds our soldiers to maintain a courteous demeanor regardless of emotional stress or provocation.
A warrior stays sharp.
Combative skill is the root of this facet of a warrior. A warrior who does not practice consistently will have a bad day when he meets one who does. Again, though, many cultures take this concept beyond battle and martial skill. Warriors throughout the ages were encouraged to study, practice art, learn verse or other noncombative skills by way of training the mind.
A warrior is a skilled combatant.
Though this essay suggests an expanded definition, war is at the heart of what a warrior is. A warrior is willing and ready to protect his people. Without the ability to do so, the most fervent follower of other warrior aspects is something else entirely.
A warrior goes out of his way to help others.
Beyond being called for combat, warriors traditionally were expected to aid their culture in other ways. Myamoto Musashi is said to have stayed with a village and helped them chase off bandits. He is also said to have helped that same village build a better drainage system for their fields, to allow the crops to survive heavy rain and flooding. The warrior monks of the Shaolin spent as much time educating nearby villages as they did training, and significantly more than they did fighting. Warriors help the people under their protection in any way that proves necessary.
NEW ROLES FOR THE WARRIOR
Centers for Disease Control statistics demonstrate that, in America, violence is responsible for less than one-third of one percent of adult deaths. The numbers for adult injuries are only slightly higher. Though the percentages are somewhat higher for children and teens, this is attributed to the extreme rarity of natural death at those ages.
As our society has become for advanced, more civilized, the presence of violence has disappeared from our daily lives. Clearly, a warriors role as a protector must expand to include arenas other than physical combat, if only to give warriors something to do. Key here is a reapplication of the traits of a warrior to a less dangerous society. By taking the discipline, courage, skills and mindset or the warrior and applying them to all facets of life, we can maintain the essence of the warrior tradition while remaining relevant to our changing world.
As I have already suggested, this is not a new idea. During the 1980s, there was a trend of applying Easter martial philosophy to the business world. Copies of the Art of War and the Book of Five Rings were eagerly consumed by MBAs throughout the western world. Some editions were even reprinted with a focus on application in the board room. I remember a printing of Five Rings where the cover was a photo of a man in a business suit, brandishing his briefcase in a vaguely martial manner. This fad went so far as to feature Sun Tzu’s work in a major motion picture called Wall Street.
Though this idea is a step in the right direction, in that context the application was for purely selfish reasons. Like the killers in French’s study, this is not the warrior’s way.
A better example comes from Richard Strozzi Heckler’s In Search of the Warrior Spirit. Mr. Heckler was invited to teach a six month course of meditation, aikido and related concepts to US Special Forces troops. During that time, he lived and trained with our nation’s warrior elite. Throughout that time, he was impressed by how many of the soldiers applied the drive, courage and discipline of their warrior training to their other goals and interests. Several students discussed in detail a plan for using Special Forces resources for humanitarian purposes. A Special Forces team, they said, had the ideal training, courage and endurance to be first on the ground at the site of a natural catastrophe.
This a perfect example of what the warrior spirit makes possible. This is the difference we can make by applying what we are in combat to who we are in the rest of our experience. Warriors have always been willing to lay down their lives for the people under their protection. Modern life now calls on us to be willing to give of our skills, our time, our discipline.
Today’s warrior is nothing more or less than a servant.
CONCLUSION: SERVICE, NOT SERVITUDE
Being a servant means being willing to help others. To be the one inconvenienced, or the imperiled. A warrior is the person who sees a problem and says “I take responsibility to fix that”. The problem could be a violent attacker – and all warriors train for that eventuality. But it could just as easily be a problem at work. It could be an unclaimed pile of unfolded laundry at home. A social problem in the community. It could even be a logjammeed relationship with a loved one that just needs somebody to apologize first. Being a warrior means doing the service of taking that on.
Servitude, on the other hand, is not the warrior’s way. Despite the Samurai’s relationship with their daimyo, a warrior’s place is neither blind obedience nor groveling cronyism. Instead, a warrior volunteers to serve by way of living up to his higher standards. To serve consistently requires honor, discipline, skill, personal power and a willingness to help that goes beyond what most people are capable of. To serve consistently requires the qualities of a warrior.
TEXT ENDS
TEXT BEGINS
Warrior is an important concept to the martial artist, a capitalized word in our lexicon. It evokes images of courage, of power, of glory. The warrior is an inspiration, a powerful metaphor, an image we carry with us throughout our training.
What is a warrior? A warrior is, of course, one who goes to war. A skilled combatant, a protector of the weak and the helpless. A fighter. This is one key characteristic of the warrior, although it is not the only one. In a modern society where violence is rare, the concept of the warrior as simply a physical combatant is outmoded. In today’s world, a warrior must look to expand the role, the definition and the opportunities for warriorship. Today’s warrior is no longer just a fighter. Today’s warrior is a servant.
DEFINING THE WARRIOR
All human cultures have had some sort of warrior class. Even among primitive hunter-gatherer tribes, there were those who hunted and those who gathered. From the Toltecs to the Navy SEALS, from Roman Legionairres to the Knights Templar. From modern policemen to the Samurai, traditional warriors were called upon to fight for and defend the non-combatant members of his (and more recently her) society.
Even within these very traditional examples, however, we see the warrior’s role goes beyond simple feats of arms. In Celtic societies, warriors were respected for their skill at poetry. Toltec warriors considered their first duty to be the preservation and passing on of tribal knowledge. The knights of the crusades were religious scholars. Viking chiefs were legal experts. Although combativeness is a defining characteristic of the warrior, it is not and has never been the defining characteristic. Two examples are particularly telling.
Plains Indian youths who wished to be considered warriors had to pass two tests as rites of passage. The first, a vision quest, was a period of meditation, physical hardship and inner exploration. The second was to count coup over an enemy, to actually touch him during a battle without doing him harm in any way. It’s interesting to note that neither of these tests to prove their warrior spirit involved killing. If fact, only one had anything to do with combat at all.
More recently, in her book The Code of the Warrior, Shannon French discusses a survey of students in her class at the US Naval Academy. The survey asks students if certain words are perfect synonyms for “warrior”. When asked if “murderer”, “killer”, “fighter”, “victor” or “conqueror” were such synonyms, the students almost universally disagreed. Many violently disagreed. Even within our armed forces, where violence and combat are a common consideration, warrior is understood to mean more than just violence and combat.
Outside of violent professions, the nonviolent aspects of warriorship take on even more importance. As modern life becomes safer and less violent, a warrior must look to other opportunities to fulfill his role. To rely on combat as our only expression of warrior quality is to deny ourselves too much. We must expand our consideration of what a warrior is.
EXPANDING THE DEFINITION
It’s clear that a warrior is not only a combatant, but what are the other aspects of a warrior? An exploration of warrior cultures throughout history demonstrates several attributes held in common by nearly all such men and women.
A warrior holds himself to a higher standard than the population he protects.
The concept of honor is important to all warriors, regardless of which words they use to describe it. Specifically what constitutes honor and how it is upheld varies from culture to culture. Lying was forbidden to Viking warriors, but embraced Sioux braves as clever tactics. Regardless of the specifics, each and every warrior looks for ways to uphold their personal values. In some cases, such as with the Samurai of Japan, these values were rigidly codified. In others, like the Viking kings, honor was a more personal matter and varied from warrior to warrior.
A warrior does not permit emotion to prevent him carrying out his duty.
All warriors feel fear. No true warrior allows fear to cause him to flee from battle. This is the obvious example set by warrior cultures throughout history. In many cultures, however, this concept of emotional control goes beyond the battlefield. The Hagakure warned Samurai against allowing yourself strong words against your family or liege. In more modern times, the concept of ‘an officer and a gentleman’ reminds our soldiers to maintain a courteous demeanor regardless of emotional stress or provocation.
A warrior stays sharp.
Combative skill is the root of this facet of a warrior. A warrior who does not practice consistently will have a bad day when he meets one who does. Again, though, many cultures take this concept beyond battle and martial skill. Warriors throughout the ages were encouraged to study, practice art, learn verse or other noncombative skills by way of training the mind.
A warrior is a skilled combatant.
Though this essay suggests an expanded definition, war is at the heart of what a warrior is. A warrior is willing and ready to protect his people. Without the ability to do so, the most fervent follower of other warrior aspects is something else entirely.
A warrior goes out of his way to help others.
Beyond being called for combat, warriors traditionally were expected to aid their culture in other ways. Myamoto Musashi is said to have stayed with a village and helped them chase off bandits. He is also said to have helped that same village build a better drainage system for their fields, to allow the crops to survive heavy rain and flooding. The warrior monks of the Shaolin spent as much time educating nearby villages as they did training, and significantly more than they did fighting. Warriors help the people under their protection in any way that proves necessary.
NEW ROLES FOR THE WARRIOR
Centers for Disease Control statistics demonstrate that, in America, violence is responsible for less than one-third of one percent of adult deaths. The numbers for adult injuries are only slightly higher. Though the percentages are somewhat higher for children and teens, this is attributed to the extreme rarity of natural death at those ages.
As our society has become for advanced, more civilized, the presence of violence has disappeared from our daily lives. Clearly, a warriors role as a protector must expand to include arenas other than physical combat, if only to give warriors something to do. Key here is a reapplication of the traits of a warrior to a less dangerous society. By taking the discipline, courage, skills and mindset or the warrior and applying them to all facets of life, we can maintain the essence of the warrior tradition while remaining relevant to our changing world.
As I have already suggested, this is not a new idea. During the 1980s, there was a trend of applying Easter martial philosophy to the business world. Copies of the Art of War and the Book of Five Rings were eagerly consumed by MBAs throughout the western world. Some editions were even reprinted with a focus on application in the board room. I remember a printing of Five Rings where the cover was a photo of a man in a business suit, brandishing his briefcase in a vaguely martial manner. This fad went so far as to feature Sun Tzu’s work in a major motion picture called Wall Street.
Though this idea is a step in the right direction, in that context the application was for purely selfish reasons. Like the killers in French’s study, this is not the warrior’s way.
A better example comes from Richard Strozzi Heckler’s In Search of the Warrior Spirit. Mr. Heckler was invited to teach a six month course of meditation, aikido and related concepts to US Special Forces troops. During that time, he lived and trained with our nation’s warrior elite. Throughout that time, he was impressed by how many of the soldiers applied the drive, courage and discipline of their warrior training to their other goals and interests. Several students discussed in detail a plan for using Special Forces resources for humanitarian purposes. A Special Forces team, they said, had the ideal training, courage and endurance to be first on the ground at the site of a natural catastrophe.
This a perfect example of what the warrior spirit makes possible. This is the difference we can make by applying what we are in combat to who we are in the rest of our experience. Warriors have always been willing to lay down their lives for the people under their protection. Modern life now calls on us to be willing to give of our skills, our time, our discipline.
Today’s warrior is nothing more or less than a servant.
CONCLUSION: SERVICE, NOT SERVITUDE
Being a servant means being willing to help others. To be the one inconvenienced, or the imperiled. A warrior is the person who sees a problem and says “I take responsibility to fix that”. The problem could be a violent attacker – and all warriors train for that eventuality. But it could just as easily be a problem at work. It could be an unclaimed pile of unfolded laundry at home. A social problem in the community. It could even be a logjammeed relationship with a loved one that just needs somebody to apologize first. Being a warrior means doing the service of taking that on.
Servitude, on the other hand, is not the warrior’s way. Despite the Samurai’s relationship with their daimyo, a warrior’s place is neither blind obedience nor groveling cronyism. Instead, a warrior volunteers to serve by way of living up to his higher standards. To serve consistently requires honor, discipline, skill, personal power and a willingness to help that goes beyond what most people are capable of. To serve consistently requires the qualities of a warrior.
TEXT ENDS