First of all, "Do" is the word for road.  And like that word, it has a host of other meanings and implications. 

For example, like the word road, "Do" means "a course or path (of a man's life)." As when Dante writes, "Midway in life's journey, I went astray from the straight road..." or when the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu writes "A man's life can be likened to shouldering a heavy burden and trudging along a long road..."

"Do" can also imply means or method or stratagem used to achieve a given goal.  Therefore, in Japanese it is a part of the compound that means tool or instrument (dogu).  Or in Chinese it is a part of the word that means tricky stratagem (ch'i-tao).

More familiarly perhaps, "Do" connotes morality or an ethical doctrine. As in the well-known word "bushido" or "the way of the samurai" or "the way of filial piety (kodo)", a quintessential virtue in Confucianism.

At its profoundest, "Do" means the Way, Principle, Reason, Truth, etc. As in Taoism ("Do" is read "Tao" in Chinese) or "the Way of the Buddha" (Butsudo)."

As one might guess, these various meanings will often merge.  For example, the term "the Way of the Buddha" may imply a way or method of becoming a Buddha; that is, perfectly Enlightened, which naturally embraces morality and ethics. Or it may refer to the Buddha's Teaching as being Truth itself.  This merging of meanings in a single body is found in the various disciplines of the martial arts E.g. in Judo, Aikido, Kendo, Naginata-do and so forth.  And beyond that in such arts as "the Way of Tea (sado), "the Way of the Flower (arranging) (kado), etc.

Finally, it might be noted that like many words, whether it be "Zen" or "Faith" or even a locale such as "Hawaii", intellectual understanding of the word "Do", while crucial, would be regretfully incomplete. As the poet W.B. Yates once noted, "a truth cannot be known; it can only be embodied".  That is, for an authentic understanding of any "Do", that "Do" must be fully experienced and made a part of one's being.

And from there, learning from Zen (specifically from their ox-herding pictures), after the embodiment, one must then share the psychological, moral, spiritual, and even physical benefits that accrue together with one's fellow beings.  And this, in an inconspicuous, spontaneous, and ego-free manner.

--- by Rev. Tetsuo Unno; Shin Buddhism

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