"As long as you keep death in mind at all times, you will fulfill the ways of loyalty and familial duty, (...) you will be physically sound and healthy, and you will live a long life." |
Bushido (Japanese "way of the warrior", bushido), was the warrior code of the samurai developed in Japan between the Heian and Tokugawa Ages (9th-12th century) on a basis of national tradition influenced by Buddhism, Zen, Shintoism and Confucianism.
Bushido was a strict code that demanded loyalty, devotion, and honor to the death. Under Bushido, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could regain it by performing seppuku (ritual suicide).
Samurai had a very intimate relation with death and were taught to constantly think about it. But if you realize that the life that is here today is not certain on the morrow, then when you take your orders from your employer, and when you look in on your parents, you will have the sense that this may be the last time-so you cannot fail to become truly attentive to your employer and your parents. This is why I say you also fulfill the paths of loyalty and familial duty when you keep death in mind.