FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.tutorialoutlet.com Length of Course: 8 Weeks Prerequisite: PHIL 101 Table of Contents Instructor Information Evaluation Procedures Course Description Grading Scale Course Scope Course Outline Course Objectives Policies Course Delivery Method Academic Services Course Materials Selected Bibliography Instructor Information Instructor: Dr. Jeff Shirkey

1. PHIL 311 Identify and evaluate the major themes and claims of these
philosophers. Examine and analyze key concepts present in these writings
FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
www.tutorialoutlet.com
Length of Course: 8 Weeks
Prerequisite: PHIL 101 Table of Contents
Instructor Information Evaluation Procedures Course Description Grading Scale
Course Scope Course Outline Course Objectives Policies Course Delivery Method
Academic Services Course Materials Selected Bibliography Instructor Information
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Shirkey
Email: jeffrey.shirkey@mycampus.apus.edu
Office Hours: By appointment Table of Contents Course Description (Catalog)
This course is an introduction to the Japanese philosophical tradition. Zen Buddhist
teachings
will be examined through two quite different but equally representative schools:
"zazen" - sitting
in meditation, and "koan" - Zen riddles. The Bushido or Samurai
teachings will also be
examined. Modern translations and commentaries of the classical texts will be used.
The course will be of interest to those interested in non-western philosophy, cultural
studies, and Asian
studies.
(Note to Students: The course materials, assignments, learning outcomes, and
expectations in this
upper level undergraduate course assume that the student has completed all lower
level general
education and career planning coursework necessary to develop research, writing, and
critical
thinking skills. Students who have not fulfilled all general education requirements
through
courses or awarded transfer credit should strongly consider completing these
requirements prior
to registering for this course.)
Table of Contents
Course Scope
The primary focus of this course will be on the writings of two important and
influential
Japanese thinkers, Dogen and Hakuin. We will attempt a first, tentative interpretation

2. of these
difficult works. The approach will be to allow these texts to speak to us, based on the
assumption that they may have something to say to us today and are not simply
museum pieces
from another time and place. We will also examine two popular and more assessable
philosophical movements, Bushido and Wabi-Sabi.
Table of Contents
Course Objectives
Identify and evaluate the major themes and claims of these philosophers.
Examine and analyze key concepts present in these writings.
Compare and contrast the philosophical views of the authors with those of the other
authors as
well as will our own views.
Table of Contents
Course Delivery Method
This course delivered via distance learning will enable students to complete academic
work in a
flexible manner, completely online. Course materials and access to an online learning
management system will be made available to each student. Online assignments are
due by
Sunday evening of the week as noted and include Discussion Board questions
(accomplished in
groups through a threaded discussion board), examination, and individual assignments
submitted
for review by the Faculty Member). Assigned faculty will support the students
throughout this
eight-week course.
Table of Contents
Evaluation Procedures
Discussion Board: Each week your are required to answer at least one question on the
discussion board by Thursday and respond to at least two posts from other students by
Sunday.
Your responses should be well thought out and presented in a clear, concise, thorough,
and
well-organized essay. Your responses to other students should be substantive. Your
response
to the question should be a minimum of 250 words. Your responses to other students
should
be a minimum of 125 words. The discussion counts for 20% of your final grade.
Analysis and Interpretation: Each week you will be required to answer one question
based on
the reading that will require a careful reading, analysis, and interpretation. Your
answers should
demonstrate that you have read and understood the material. Your responses should be
well
thought out and presented in a clear, concise, thorough, and well-organized essay. The

3. minimum word count should be 350 words. The analysis and interpretation essays are
worth
40% of your final grade.
Term Paper: You must first submit a paper proposal and have it approved before
writing your
paper. The proposal should be sent to me by email. You have the option of writing on
a
suggested topic or coming up with your own. Topic proposals should be submitted by
email by
the end of week 5 so that enough time remains if revisions are needed. Papers should
be
approximately 10 pages. The paper will be evaluated on form as well as content. It
should be
clearly written, well organized, and free of spelling and grammatical errors. Sources
used in
research must be included in a bibliography. References must be supplied for all
quotations and
also for any idea, insights, or viewpoints you by reading the work of others.
Trusthworthiness,
and Autonomy in
the Elite Honor
Culture EIKO IKEGAMI shame is a complex notion in any culture, it has
strong negative connotations in modern Anglo-American usage.
It also often implies experiencing a passive emotion in a private
space. Imposing such an image onto other cultures' usage of
shame, however, may obscure the complexity and dynamics of the
concept. Premodern Japanese samurai culture indicates that the
notion of shame can be a powerful public concept even while
rooted in the innermost depth of an individual's dignity.
Although anyone can experience emotions related to shame
and honor, social usages and the degree of social influence
wielded by these concepts are considerably different if the ruling
ehte place them at the core of their collective identity. The Japanese concept of shame
was closely connected to the rise and transformation of the samurai elite and their
political institutions. Yet,
a sense of shame was a criterion of honorific autonomy and trustworthiness of
individual samurai as well as the inner source of
their self-esteem. Interestingly, haji or shame can be described in
Japanese by a kanji (Chinese character) that consists of an
ideogram composed of two root characters representing "ear"
and "mind."^ As this way of writing implies, by serving as a bridge
/LTHOUGH SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Winter 2003) 1352 SOCIAL
RESEARCH between individual aspirations and social expectations, shame in
the samurai culture is a case study in the complexity of the interactions between the
self and society.
To be sure, shame {haji) in Japanese can also represent the private passive emotion

4. related to concern for one's social reputation. But within the context of the samurai's
elitist honor culture,
shame had much deeper and more complex layers of meaning.
In this paper, I would like to shed light on an unlikely combination of meanings—
namely, the close relationship between shame
and moral autonomy. For several centuries, haji played a central
role in constructing the identity of the Japanese samurai, the
class that ruled the country from the medieval period until the
mid-nineteenth century. The samurai collectively defined themselves as those who
know shame and would risk their lives to
defend their honor. In comparison, members of such other
classes as the court aristocracy and the commoners would not
think of dying for such a reason—or be perceived by others as so
doing. The concepts of shame and honor helped to construct
the collective identity of the samurai that differentiated this category of warriors from
the rest of Japanese society. The comparative study of shame cultures is not an easy
task because shame
and honor can be expressed in collections of concepts that are
related to one another but applied differently to different gender, age groups, status,
and economic categories even within a
given cultural and linguistic area (see, for example, Herzfeld,
1980; Schneider, 1971; Abu-Lughod, 1986). The present paper is
an overview of the shame culture of the premodern Japanese
samurai as an elite male culture.
The samurai's honorific sentiments were expressed by a constellation of words that
included na (name), meiyo (honor), haji
(shame), chijyoku (shame), iji (pride) and mengoku (face). Within
this cultural complex, having a sense of shame meant more than
a concern with the externals of honorific status; it also implied a
pride and dignity related to internal evaluation in light of the
group's approved behavioral principles. The samurai culture SHAME AND THE
SAMURAI 1353 derived its vitality from the close connections between honor,
dignity, and individuality that were often expressed in the lexicon of
shame. The internal emotional dynamics of the samurai were
attached to the sociopolitical roles of individual members of the
class through the vocabulary of shame and honor. I have examined elsewhere the
samurai's role in the making of modern Japan
by using their honor culture to gain entree to their cultural and
social history. I investigated the cultural reformulation of the
samurai through the examination of numerous examples of
honor-related violence in which the samurai's sense of honor and
shame was clearly at stake, including quarrels, fights, and vendettas that took place
over the course of several centuries. The transformation of samurai culture was the
long-term result of their
changing relationship with the Japanese state (Ikegami, 1995).
Samurai intellectuals, however, also contemplated the ethical

5. implications of shame in philosophical discussions in which questions of shame and
honor allowed them to explore issues of moral
autonomy, integrity, and trust. I begin with the voice of a nineteenth-century samurai
intellectual. Shame and Political Participation in the Samurai Culture "Shame
(haji) is the most important word in a samurai's
vocabulary. Nothing is more shameful than not understanding
shame."2 A young samurai named Yoshida Shoin (1830-1859)
made this observation in his notes for a prison lecture.^ Shame
for Shoin represented not simply a state of emotion but the
core value that defined moral principle. Shoin regarded the
individual's inner sense of moral principle as a better arbiter of
shame than societal definitions of it. The knowledge of what
constitutes shame and the proper ways to avoid it underlay his
sense of dignity, autonomy, and political responsibility. Shoin's
notes continue: 1354 SOCIAL RESEARCH On one occasion someone asked me:
Which is more serious, crime (tsumt) or shame {haji)? I answered: Crime
belongs to the body, but shame lies in the soul. . . . Now,
people at the grass-roots level discuss national politics and
criticize officeholders. This kind of behavior is a crime
because it is not the job of ordinary people, and it is not
their prescribed role in society. However, if you ask about
their internal motivation and find that they are worried
about the future of the nation, and have tried to ask questions about its legitimacy—
their behavior is less culpable.^
The contrast that Shoin draws between shame and crime seems
strange in terms of the contemporary notion of shame as a private
experience. His formulation, however, cannot be understood
without considering its contemporary political context as well as
Shoin's own public "crime" as defined by the law of the shogunate—
namely, his attempt to go abroad. To understand the seriousness of his crime, we have
to look into the historical
background.
At the time that Shoin was composing his lectures, Japan had
been ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868) for more
than two centuries. The seemingly perpetual peace that followed
the establishment of Tokugawa rule was undergirded by a strict
isolationist policy that sealed off the shores of Japan. No Westerners except for a
small group of Dutch traders on the island of
Nagasaki were allowed to stay in Japan. The shogunate also strictly
prohibited Japanese citizens from traveling abroad. The news of
the Opium War between Great Britain and China (1840-1842)
and of the humiliating concessions in the treaty that China had to
accept after the war, however, alerted the Japanese elite to the
political realities of the world outside their country. The opinions
of some intellectuals outside the shogun's inner circle began to
circulate among the literati, while less formal networking quiedy

6. began among a concerned group of political activists. Meanwhile,
Japan's first encounter with the West, in the form of the American SHAME AND
THE SAMURAI 1355 navy, created a sense of national crisis. It stirred the minds of
the
samurai, whose class identity was originally and still officially
based on military prowess.
The entry of Commodore Matthew Perry and his four "black
ships" into the Bay of Edo in 1853 to demand the opening of
Japan to the West shocked the Japanese. The advanced technology that powered the
American vessels was a forceful demonstration in front of the shogun's own casde that
the Tokugawa rulers
could no longer guarantee the peace of the country—which had
been the source of the legitimacy of the samurai regime. The
spell of the pax Tokugawa wasfinallybroken by the apparent military superiority of
the American navy. In 1854, Shoin and another
man secredy hired a small boat and attempted to board Perry's
ship on the occasion of the Commodore's second visit to Japan.
The two men's petition to Perry, which was recently discovered in
the Yale library, refiected Shoin's sincere desire for foreign travel
coupled with full awareness that his action was a grave offence
under the law of the shogunate. It seems likely that Shoin wanted
to learn the secrets of the West's military and technological
strength. Perry turned down Shoin's petition in order to avoid
diplomatic complications vnth the shogun. Following Perry's
refusal, Shoin delivered himself to the shogunate's authority
acknowledging his act. He committed a crime according to the
letter of the law, but he was not ashamed of his action. After being
jailed in Edo, he was sent back to his home province, Choshu; he
was imprisoned at the Noyama jail.
Being accused of a crime was usually considered shameful for
the other members of the defendant's family. When Shoin wrote
about crime and shame in prison, however, he was not simply
defending his past action; he was trying to create a new moral basis
for political participation by using the honorific idiom of shame
within samurai culture. For ordinary samurai in the oudying
provinces, organizing as a group to participate was defined as a
crime by the Tokugawa regime. The shogunate had strictly prohibited the formation of
horizontal alliances of any kind. Further- 1356 SOCIAL RESEARCH more, the
Tokugawa rulers were skilled in preventing the formation of private alliances that
went beyond territorial and status categories. The first Tokugawa shoguns had
strategically
decentralized Japan, dividing the country into approximately 260
domains ruled by semi-independent daimyo (feudal lords). The
vassal samurai, whose income was largely derived from hereditary
stipends, acted as administrators of these domains, collected taxes
from the daimyo's subjects, and adjudicated disputes. The primary

7. loyalties of the vassal samurai were therefore directed toward their
immediate masters, the regional daimyo. The vassal samurai were
also organized into a pyramidal structure of stratified hierarchies.
National political matters were dealt with only by the shogun's
inner circle of advisers, while the politics of the daimyo domain
were managed by the senior samurai in each domain. Lower-level
samurai, whose stipends were barely adequate to support their
families, were not supposed to discuss national issues. The structure of the samurai
hierarchies is the immediate context of Shoin's
argument: that samurai should act according to their own moral
principles rather than automatic obedience to the laws of the
shogunate and their immediate master.
Although the life of the average Tokugawa samurai was that of
a loyal and sober bureaucrat during the long period of external
peace, the threat posed by Perry's ships caused a number of
thoughtful samurai to look beyond the borders of their own
province. Shoin took advantage of this shift in mood and tried to
encourage individual samurai to participate in politics by appealing to their centuries-
old concept of shame.
If you cannot practice the way and are only occupying an honored status and wasting
a hereditary income, how can you show
your face [menboku]? If the number of such shameful people
increases, the moral principles of society are lost, then in effect
they are larcenous. In general, although a crime may be known to
outsiders, it is a matter that affects only the individual. But if a
samurai harbors shame [of such kinds] in his mind, this will eventually harm both lord
and people.^ SHAME AND THE SAMURAI 1357 In other words, Shoin was arguing
that a person who is aware
of a crisis of national security and does nothing about it has
behaved more shamefully than one who breaks the law. In his
writing, shame is defined not as the consequence of evaluation by
an external authority, but the result of internal conversations with
one's imagined other. Shoin had frequent conversations with his
inner self. Avoidance of shame (that is, knowing shame or having
a sense of shame) was not defined as evading condemnation by an
external other, but rather as truthful adherence to this internal
other. The point of Shoin's redefinition of shame was to make the
individual the ultimate source of moral judgment. It is the moral
integrity of the person rather than society that defines shame. By
underscoring the moral autonomy of the individual samurai with
reference to the older notion of shame, Shoin was able to
encourage political actors to break the statutory boundaries that
prohibited the formation of pohtical alliances. Paradoxically,
Shoin was able to establish an indigenous version of political individuality and civic
participation by using a concept (haji) often
associated with concern for one's reputation in the outside world.

8. Knowing shame {haji o shiru, or shuchi) thus represented moral
consciousness in the mirror of an internalized other as well as the
voice of the imagined community of honor. In this sense, the culture of honor among
the samurai always connected the aspiration
of individuals with the judgment ofthe larger community. Yet this
notion of honor was more than the subjection of a person's inner
self to external expectations. The samurai's imagined community
of honor, which originated historically as a class of medieval
mounted warriors, itself always respected decisive action and the
autonomy of individuals; it put little value on passivity (Ikegami,
1995). For this reason, a sense of shame was also rarely understood as a passive
emotion related to conformity to social expectations. The deeply institutionalized
samurai honor culture made
it easy for Shoin to reformulate the notion of shame as a cultural
resource for encouraging participation in politics. 1358 SOCIAL RESEARCH
Yoshida Shoin was released on one occasion but was later
imprisoned again because of the shogunate's increasingly repressive measures against
political opposition. He was sent to Edo and
executed at the age of 29. Despite his early death, Shoin left a
clear stamp on Japanese history as an educator and political theorist because his small
private school trained a number of young
samurai who later became revolutionary activists. Shoin's former
students carried out the project of radical political change that
brought about the Meiji restoration in 1868. The mentality and
idioms of shame and the samurai honor culture supplied the
resources for what I have elsewhere called "honorific individualism"
(Ikegami, 1995) in premodern Japan. The presence of honorific individualism in the
Japanese elite was a critical cultural
resource for radical social change, since the Meiji restoration was
carried out by alliances among the samurai who dared to challenge the shogun's
authority. Shame in the Context of Institutions and Personal Strategies Shoin's logic of
shame as a stimulus for social change indicates
that shame in the samurai culture was a link between social institutions and personal
strategies. Individual samurai had to consider the various political and other
institutional structures that
routinely defined and labeled shame in their lives in order to
make a point of honor. But an individual actor was not simply a
passive consumer of the accepted codes of shame and honor. In
fact, a samurai was also required to make strategic decisions so as
not to incur shame when his samuraihood was tested. The ability
to decide for oneself to defend one's honor was a paradoxical
component of the samurai's code of shame. In the medieval
period, batdefields were the approved ground for testing a samurai's honor because
fighting required swift independent action.
Unlike a modern army, in which the individual combatant is
trained to obey orders from superiors in the chain of command. SHAME AND THE

9. SAMURAI 1359 the medieval samurai placed a premium on individual bravery
and strategic actions. Even in peacetime, however, the samurai
were constantly aware of the need to defend their honor by strategic displays of
courage and initiative. But even during the Tokugawa period, there were many
occasions in service to one's lord
or in social life that an individual samurai had to show that he
could defend his honor through proud and decisive actions.
In these circumstances, the samurai could make strategic use of
the notion of shame by refocusing and redefining it through their
own words and deeds. One might say that individual reformulations of shame
resemble the role of the captain of an ocean liner.
PRESTON In Philosophy as a Way of Life, Pierre Hadot discusses the understanding
of
philosophy held by the Greco-Roman ancients. Philosophy was not understood only
as an
exegetical or analytical exercise, but as a spiritual practice – a way of life. Becoming a
member
of a philosophical school was tantamount to a religious conversion involving one’s
entire self.
To make one’s doctrines ‘ready to hand’ required a number of ‘spiritual exercises’
which, if
regularly followed, were intended to evince such a transformation. Hadot discusses
the role of
such exercises for (among others) Platonists, Epicureans, Christians, and Stoics. I
propose that
the Samurai should be added to such a consideration. Their respective exercises
allowed the
adherents genuinely to adopt their system of beliefs. Many beliefs held by Stoics and
Samurai
are surprisingly similar. After having discussed some of these similarities, the most
striking
similarity will be revealed: the role of spiritual exercises in preparing both the Stoic
and the
Samurai for death. ABSTRACT A man has only one death. That death may be as
weighty as Mount T’ai, or
it might be as light as a goose feather. It all depends upon the way he uses
it …1
‘What will you make of death?’ Why, what else but make it your glory, or an
opportunity for you to show in deed thereby what sort of person a man is who
follows the will of nature.2
In Philosophy as a Way of Life, Pierre Hadot discusses the understanding of
philosophy
held by the Greco-Roman ancients. Philosophy was not understood only as an
exegetical or analytical exercise, but as a spiritual practice – a way of life. Becoming a
member
of a philosophical school was tantamount to a religious conversion involving one’s

10. entire self. A ‘philosopher’ who did not live his philosophy was not considered a
philosopher at all. This embrace of a philosophical doctrine requires a different sort of
training than that provided to contemporary philosophers. Simply reading, analyzing,
and discussing texts and problems would not normally be sufficient to transform the
adherent’s life. To make one’s doctrines ‘ready to hand’ required a number of
‘spiritual
exercises’ which, if regularly followed, were intended to evince such a transformation.
‘Such a transformation of vision is not easy, and it is precisely here that spiritual
exercises come in. Little by little, they make possible the indispensable
metamorphosis
of our inner self.’3 Hadot discusses the role of such exercises for (among others)
Platonists, Epicureans, Christians, and Stoics. I propose that the Samurai should be
added to such a consideration. Their respective exercises allowed the adherents
genuinely to adopt their system of beliefs.
Because Bushido is less well-known among Western philosophers, it is useful to
provide some brief historical remarks. The Hagakure was composed from 1710 to
1716.4 Tsunetomo Yamamoto, a samurai who had become a Buddhist monk after the
death of his lord, dictated the work to a Samurai scribe, Tashiro Tsuramoto.5 In it, he
gives his own interpretation of the spirit of Bushido.
Bushido, the code of the Samurai, evolved over centuries and is a unique synthesis of
Zen Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucian ethics. Generally, Bushido inherited from
Shinto
the emphasis on loyalty to one’s sovereign.6 ‘Shinto taught pious reverence and
gratitude toward one’s own ancestors, and especially for one’s superiors.’7 The
Shintoist religion, as it influenced Bushido, held that there are two worlds: the
concealed
world and the manifest world. Birth is emergence from the concealed world into the
manifest world, while death is the emergence from the manifest world into the
concealed world. ‘Death, in other words, was hiding – it definitely did not mean a
return to nothingness.’8 Given this understanding, when one’s ancestors died, they
were not obliterated, but lived on in the concealed world as hidden spirits. Reverence
for one’s ancestors was paying respect to one’s family who lived in a world hidden
from
view. If a samurai acted so as to shame his family, the concern was not the abstract
problem of whether or not one could somehow ‘harm’ someone who no longer
existed.
If a samurai shamed his family by his actions, the shame was very real and very much
experienced by his ancestors in the concealed world. To the extent that he was
concerned with shaming his living relatives, the samurai would also be concerned
with
shaming his departed relatives.
The need to live so as to be respectful of one’s ancestors tied in with the Shintoist
reverence for brightness and purity in all matter and thought. Moral goodness was
conceived as purity, moral badness as pollution.9 In medieval Shinto, purity was
understood as expressed by ‘correctness and uprightness’. This approach was
especially

11. prevalent in and after the Kamakura era.10 If one lived in a correct and upright (pure)
manner, Kami (spirits) would dwell within oneself.11 Impure persons, on the other
hand, would not have their offerings received and accepted by Kami.12 This would
not
only bring misfortune, but would indicate that one’s own ancestors would shun the
samurai as impure. Thus, to pay proper respect to his ancestors, the samurai needed to
not only pay them explicit respect through prayers and offerings, but needed also to
live
a pure (upright and correct) life. Such obligations of loyalty and reverence were
reinforced by the teachings of Confucius.13 The neo-Confucianism of the 17th
century
‘created a force for moral order and a harmonious society’.14
Finally, Zen Buddhism teaches that ‘life is a continual process of dying, and thus
self-understanding and self-reliance are the keynote to moral living rather than
intellectual attainment per se.15 Zen Buddhism emphasizes personal fortitude and
self-discipline – both traits that serve a warrior who must focus his mind solely on the
present battle.16 One slightly unorthodox view (from the perspective of Zen) was that
Tsunetomo did not so much emphasize ridding oneself of all worldly thoughts and
desires as he emphasized achieving purity by concentrating oneself on one’s cause. He
learned from his own master (Tannen) that this approach was ‘equally valuable and
easier’.17
Along with the values of self-reliance, asceticism, and single-mindedness (all
of which were shared in common with Confucianism), Zen laid great emphasis on
self-denial, or transcending life and death as a condition of attaining The Stoic
Samurai 41 spiritual salvation. The warrior’s duty, of course, was to fight and die, and
in
this transcendent posture, Zen offered him the spiritual training necessary to
carry out his duty unflinchingly.18
Like others had done, Tsunetomo wished to express his thoughts on the right attitudes
and actions proper to the Japanese knights.
Centuries of internal warring across southernmost Japan by warlords came to an end
with the victory of the Tokugawa family at Sekigahara in 1600.19 The following 250
years of peace were ushered in through various social reforms. The Tokugawa reforms
and ethical treatises such as the Hagakure fulfilled a similar function: transform a
warrior class that no longer had any wars to fight. From 1600 onwards, the central
ruling authority dismantled the feudal structure, abolished fiefs, and eroded clan
loyalties.20
One important policy of the Tokugawa regime was to change the way lords paid their
vassals. Previously, Samurai would be paid in land grants. To undermine the
formation
of independent warrior bands, Samurai were ordered in the precincts of the castle
towns of their lords and received a stipend of rice rather than land.21 With little
opportunities for military deployment, large numbers of Samurai were even relieved
of
their duties and became Roˆnin (masterless Samurai). Some of these men were able to
find minor administrative positions in some of the larger towns, others received

12. pensions, and still more became farmers. At the same time, the merchant-class (once
at the lowest rung of the social hierarchy) were gaining social and political power due
to the flourishing peacetime economy even as the Samurai were experiencing what
must
have felt like an erosion of their status and livelihood.22 Unemployment and the
disruption of their social structure brought about a deterioration of behavior amongst
Samurai. Relationships between lord and retainer had become cooler.23 Laws were
written to proscribe certain growing problems such as gambling, drunkenness, and
lewd
conduct.24 ‘To compensate psychologically for the urbanization and bureaucratization
of the warrior class, martial arts were developed into highly theatrical, philosophically
elaborated systems of mental and moral training.’25 The development of Bushido into
a
rich ethical system for an aristocratic warrior-class served both to disincline them
from
mischief and to restore their sense of self-worth.
The era in which the Hagakure was written was one that its author viewed as
decadent and steadily degenerating.26 Tsuramoto, too, was disturbed by the
surrounding decadence. It is speculated that such disappointment, as well as a desire
for personal
guidance in how he could improve himself, brought Tsuramoto to seek the counsel of
Tsunetomo.27 Tsunetomo responded to this desire through several years of dialogue.
‘Every word of his in the Hagakure was an ardent cry for the need for revitalizing
samurais with the crashing force of the warrior’s spirit not hampered by the
Shogunateapproved academic rhetorics of Confucianism.’28 Tsunetomo intended to
‘make manly,
self-asserting samurais out of peacetime, weak-kneed young retainers, so that they
could serve their lord not as technicians and bureaucrats but as courageous retainers
with the essential heart of a warrior.29 His work is an exhortation for others to refine
themselves and live the virtuous life of a noble warrior.
With this historical background in mind, let us proceed to the points of comparison.
Views on Hardships
One of the first attitudes shared in common by Stoics and the Samurai is their
response
to so-called ‘hardships’. While most of us tend to view obstacles and challenges in our
42 Ted M. Preston lives as things to be feared, dreaded, and worthy of our complaints,
both the Stoics and
the Samurai attempted to reframe them as opportunities for achievements. The
Hagakure says that ‘when meeting difficult situations, one should dash forward
bravely
and with joy. It is the crossing of a single barrier and is like the saying, “The more the
water, the higher the boat”.’30 In this saying, the water is the difficult situation, the
boat
is the Samurai, and the height of the boat is the greatness of the Samurai’s behavior.
Rather than dreading difficult situations, the Samurai should be grateful for the
opportunity to display his valor in the face of a real challenge. Epictetus uses the

13. example of Heracles to make the same point.
Or what do you think Heracles would have amounted to, if there had not been
a lion like the one which he encountered, and a hydra, and a stag, and a boar,
and wicked and brutal men, whom he made it his business to drive out and
clear away? … what would have been the use of those arms of his and of his
prowess in general, and his steadfastness and nobility, had not such circumstances and
occasions roused and exercised him? … Come then, do you also,
now that you are aware of these things, contemplate the faculties which you
have, and after contemplating say: ‘Bring now, O Zeus, what difficulty Thou
wilt; for I have the equipment given to me by Thee, and resources wherewith
to distinguish myself by making use of the things that come to pass.31
Rather than seeing challenges as something unfortunate, the Stoic is encouraged to say
(to Zeus) ‘ “It is yours to set the task, mine to practice it well”’.32 Matters of
Importance
Related to their respective attitudes towards hardships is a general perspective of
crucial
importance to the Stoics and adopted (to a lesser extent) by the Samurai: give matters
the concern they deserve. For Epictetans, there are two classes of things in our lives:
those things under our control, and those things not under our control. Epictetus
claims that the gods have put under our control only ‘the power to make correct use of
external impressions’.33 It is within our power to make correct judgments and to have
appropriate attitudes, but everything external to us is outside of our control. Epictetus
claims that those things which are not under our control include ‘our body, our
property, reputation,’ and ‘office’.34 Nor are the actions and attitudes of others under
our control. We cannot, for example, control how others behave, though we can
control
what we make of their behavior and how we respond. We cannot control the accident
of our birth, but we can control whether or not we curse our fate. We cannot control
whether or not there is a rainstorm, but we can control whether or not we curse the
rain. What are under our control are our judgments and the emotional responses that
result from judging something to be good or bad. ‘Under our control are conception,
choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything that is our own doing.’35 As such
happiness and peace of mind are under our control if we assume that happiness results
from the judgments we make concerning our circumstances.
1.