Like any good wanna-be western Samurai I idolize the man known as Miyamoto Musashi. Many within the martial arts community and the Zen community (to a lesser extent) know Musashi through his Go Rin No Sho or "Book of the Five Rings". However he is also known for another text, one I was lucky enough to stumble across a few years back. It is called Dokkodo which roughly translates as "The Path of Aloneness". Dokkodo was written a week before Musashi died in 1645.
Dokkodo basically consists of Twenty-one precepts for living ones life in accordance with this path. These principles have had a very profound affect on me and are in a large part responsible for my creating the Godless Samurai Ethic I now follow. I feel much of my admiration for this work comes form the poignancy I see in the act of writing something like this shortly before the end. To me, these precepts are as important, if not more so than the fundamentals of Bushido itself. Below I have listed each and I recommend that, should you read them, you consider each one and how it can be applied to modern life. I think you'll find that many are as relevant today as they were in the Seventeenth Century. Also, if you wish, you can read my own interpretations of these principles starting right here.
Dokkodo - The Way of Walking Alone
1 - Accept everything just the way it is.
2 - Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3 - Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4 - Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5 - Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6 - Do not regret what you have done.
7 - Never be jealous.
8 - Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9 - Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10 - Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11 - In all things have no preferences.
12 - Be indifferent to where you live.
13 - Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14 - Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15 - Do not act following customary beliefs.
16 - Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17 - Do not fear death.
18 - Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19 - Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20 - You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21 - Never stray from the Way.