8

I will title this 8, but I think that I have fallen behind a little bit. Life gets busy.

Being a retainer is nothing other than being a supporter of one's lord, entrusting matters of good and evil to him, and renouncing self-interest. If there are but two or three men of this type, the fief will be secure.

If on looks at the world when affairs are going smoothly, there are many who go about putting their appearance, being useful by their wisdom, discrimination and artfulness. However,if the lord should retire or go into seclusion, there are many who will quickly turn their backs on him and ingratiate themselves to the man of the day. Such a thing is unpleasant even to think about. Men of high position, low position, deep wisdom and artfulness all feel that they are the ones who are working righteously, but when it comes to the point of throwing away one's life for his lord, all get weak in the knees. This is rather disgraceful. The fact that a useless person often becomes a matchless warrior at such times is because he has already given up his life and has become one with the lord. At the time of Mitsushige's death there was an example of this. His one resolved attendant was I alone. The others followed in my wake. Always the pretentious, self-asserting notables turn their backs on the man just as his eyes are closing in death.

Loyalty is said to be important in the pledge between lord and retainer. Though it may seem unobtainable, it is right before your eyes. If you once set yourself to it, you will become a superb retainer at that very moment.

I find this very interesting on so many levels. It boils down to trusting your instructor. Following their lead, whether you question it or not, doing what is asked with a full heart. It is sometimes doing things you do not understand, learning to do things that you do not understand, teaching things you do not understand, over and over and over, until.... you understand.

I have actually seen this happen where one that is leading steps aside and "goes into seclusion." It is interesting to see what happened after reading this passage and the parallels that happened. Those that continued with trust in what they were told, flourished. The others did not, as much. Also, those that were loyal seemingly were ostracized, or as much as they could be in polite society.

Follow your master. If he/she doesn't know what they are doing, they are hopefully following someone that does!