Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone)

Warrior:
This is another of Musashi’s precepts that presents the way of the
warrior as that of an emotionless stoic that shuns many of the most
basic human feelings. It’s one that I would rewrite as, “Don’t let the
sadness of a separation prevent you from accomplishing your task at
hand.” Why the difference? Because I believe that being saddened
by a separation is one of the most basic human feelings. Just
because one is a warrior doesn’t mean these feelings should be
ignored or that the warrior should refrain from feeling them.

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I can understand why Musashi would write this, especially from a
practical stand point. The warrior can’t afford to be weakened by
sadness. And sadness can be extremely weakening; just look at the
cases where people have been paralyzed with grief, unable to do
anything, and even so distraught over separation that they take their
own lives. The fact is warriors will experience much separation.
The warrior will be separated from friends and family when he or she
leaves for war. This separation will be enhanced if spouses and
lovers find solace in the arms of another in the warrior’s absence.
And the warrior will face the greatest separation when his brothers
and comrades-in-arms fall, and he must continue the fight with only
their memories and ghosts to keep him company.
The bond formed between warriors during training and combat is
unique to only those who experience it, and it only makes sense that
if that bond is strained or broken from separation through distance or
death, that the warrior will feel sadness. I’d even go as far as saying
that if the warrior didn’t feel sad when thinking of a fallen comrade,
he wouldn’t be honoring the dead as he should.
I know veterans who, at times, remember those they lost and
experience a rush of emotions that include guilt, loss, shame, and
sadness. These feelings are natural, even though sometimes they
are almost unbearable. And there are many warriors who raise a
glass, with sadness in their heart, each anniversary for someone
they lost and are now separated from. This ritual, along with the
feelings that come with it, is cleansing for those living. It honors
those who are gone. To suggest one should never feel this, that one
should never be saddened by separation, especially when that
separation is through death, is not only nearly impossible to achieve,
but something I wouldn’t want to achieve in the first place.
It is only when the feelings prevent the warrior from carrying on his
or her duties that there is a problem. The tragedy is when the
saddened veteran takes his or her own life over the ghosts that
haunt him or her. The dishonor is the unbecoming behavior of the
soldier who receives the “Dear John” letter. And the infraction is

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when the soldier fails to continue fighting after the loss of a fellow
soldier. The warrior must still live, and the warrior must still fight,
even when those he greatly cares for are gone. That is why I
suggest we rewrite the precept as, “Don’t let the sadness of a
separation prevent you from accomplishing your task at hand.”