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From: norrish@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Michael Norrish)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Samurai Buddhism
Message-ID: <1991Jun10.162813.19825@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 10 Jun 91 16:28:13 GMT
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Victoria Uni. of Wellington, NZ.
Lines: 26
Approved: prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov

In many sources that I have access to, (not many really :-), it is
stated that the samurai of Japan practised a form of Buddhism, that
had certain elements in common with Zen. Thus it bred a certain
indifference to death, and a willingness to do one's duty to a daimyoo
as this servitude was all part of honour etc. This code was/is known
as Bushidoo.
A little further thought on this subject quickly led me to the
conclusion that this must have been a funny sort of Buddhism; one that
saw little harm in killing and murder, (however that might be
justified). Is anyone more knowledgeable than I on this subject? Would
someone care to share their knowledge with the rest of the world, (or
me personally if this doesn't seem interesting enough for global
distribution).
Personally I have always had something of a fascination, (rather a
morbid one, I will admit), with this 'warrior-code'. Any further
illumination much appreciated,

Michael

Disclaimer: I am not a martial artist of any shape, size or
description. Can one be such and a pacifist as well? I don't think so.
--
Michael Norrish.                        norrish@rata.vuw.ac.nz
------------Victoria Univeristy of Wellington-----------------
Church-Turing Thesis, (Theodore Roszak version): Computers are
ridiculous. So is science in general.