Buy the Bushidō - Samurai Print

Bushidō means “The Way of the Warrior”, the unwritten code of conduct for the samurai warrior of ancient Japanese, and includes:

Gi – Justice

Yū – Bravery

Jin – Benevolence

Rei – Politeness

Makoto – Veracity

Meiyo – Honor

Chūgi – Loyalty

Buy the 7 Codes of Bushidō Print

To some extent, the Bushidō code is similar to the concept of chivalry.

I find this balance between violent behavior and honor fascinating. Even though we’re now in the 21^st century, the Bushidō Code can still guide us in managing conflicts and living an authentic life.

Too often, I’m quick to equate violence with revenge and protecting your own honor; which sounds ridiculous because how can anyone take your honor unless you hand it over to them yourself? When the words violence, conflict and war come to mind, I habitually think of violence originating from hatred, revenge and corruption. Running through my mind are thoughts of gangs, school bullies and abusive parents (just to name a few). (more…)

Free Japanese Lessons – #3

The 48 Hiragana syllables below are what most non-Japanese speaking people call the Japanese alphabet.

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a i u e o

ka ki ku ke ko

sa si/shi su se so

ta ti/chi tu/tsu te to

na ni nu ne no

ha hi hu/fu he(e) ho

ma mi mu me mo

ya yu yo

ra ri ru re ro

wa wo(o)

n

(more…)

Buy the Tengoku (Heaven) Print

I was watching a webcast video on Oprah.com called Finding your spiritual path. Elizabeth Lesser, author of The Seeker’s Guide and Broken Open, said something early on in the webcast that really caught my attention.

Elizabeth says that our soul is something that we come into life with and that it’s always with us. She adds, “[our soul is] shining in our hearts”.

She uses the metaphor of a lantern to represent our psyche and our body, and the light within the lantern to symbolize our soul. Elizabeth explains that our lantern can get covered by soot (layers of conditioning). Negative emotions, such as fear, mistrust and anger, put soot on our lantern. As a result, the light of our soul becomes dull. (more…)

Buy the Seika (Sacred Fire) Print

Ever had one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong?  Well, today was my day.

It started out early this morning with a migraine. I could hardly sleep with the nauseating pain and I was really counting on a good night’s sleep since my energy seems to be missing in action lately.Everything went downhill ever since.

Here’s some math for you…

Sleepless Night + Soniei + A Pinch of Migraine Leftovers = Miss Grumpy Pants

My day was so bad that I was thinking, “I’m gone to bed. I can’t deal with today anymore”. Satisfied with my decision, I got up from my desk and accidentally spilled a glass of water all over my Japanese lesson notes. Nice. Great. Terrific. After I cleaned up the mess, I was on my way to crawl into bed and hide from today for awhile. (more…)

Japanese Lesson Notes #2

Japanese has 5 vowel sounds: a, i, u, e, o

a sounds like the a in dad (similar to the French or Spanish a)

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i sounds like the e in Pete(similar to the French or Spanish i)

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u sounds like the oo in loop BUT without rounding your lips!

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e sounds like the e in pet

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o sounds like the o in go

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(more…)