Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone)

Warrior:
To be detached from desire, or any strong feelings of wanting to
have something or wishing for something to happen, aligns with the
philosophic approach of stoicism that Musashi seemed to embrace
and definitely encouraged others to follow. It’s not surprising, as
many self-made men on the battlefield had to confront obstacles and
struggle to overcome them, leading to a more stoic philosophy for
living. Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 AD), the Roman Emperor who is
considered one of the most important stoic philosophers, had similar
beliefs on desire. In his opinion, to desire was to be permanently
disappointed and disturbed, since everything we desire in this world
is empty, corrupt, and paltry. Aurelius believed death was desirable
because it would mark and end to all desires. Both men seemed to
believe in stoic ideas revolving around the denial of emotion.
I’m not certain that I agree with being detached from desire as much
as I believe in the importance of controlling one’s emotions. I’m not
totally convinced that all desire is negative and leads to a permanent
state of disappointment, but I do believe that desire has led many

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down the wrong path with disappointing results when not controlled.
For the warrior, controlling emotions, especially those such as fear
and panic, is extremely important. Fear can cause a person to freeze
and be unable to act, resulting in death for themselves or members
of their team. When people panic, they make mistakes, also often
resulting in death. I understand that this is not what Musashi was
writing about with the above precept on desire, but I feel it is a much
more important concept that he should have addressed.
The warrior trains so that he or she won’t freeze and be affected by
panic in the time of emergency. Through scenario training, we find
that stress inoculation reduces response time and freezing when
faced with life and death situations. To survive, the warrior learns to
keep emotions in check and remain calm and steadfast regardless of
circumstances. It’s not that the warrior doesn’t feel fear, but rather
that the warrior controls it and does what is required in the face of
fear. No matter how much external events fluctuate, no matter what
the threat or emergency, the warrior controls his or her emotions so
that the situation at hand can be dealt with appropriately.
This is obviously the ideal and not something that is always attained
by everyone who draws a sword or carries a gun.
[10]
I wonder if
Musashi’s advice to be detached from desire your whole life is a way
to train to control all emotions. Maybe being detached from desire is
Musashi’s way of controlling emotions hence controlling oneself.
Maybe it was a precursor to controlling fear and panic. And maybe
I’m just reaching for something that wasn’t really there in Musashi’s
original thoughts and writing. I don’t know for sure…
What I do know is this. Controlling emotions, especially those of fear
and panic, is a crucial skill for the warrior. Training can help one
develop this, and being detached from desire may be a mental
discipline and form of training to assist with the development of this
skill. So while I don’t necessarily agree that all desire is negative, I
do believe that regularly detaching yourself from desire is a mental
training that helps with discipline and may help with the controlling of
other emotions. This control is a worthy goal for any warrior.

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