LET YOUR MIND TURN ALONG WITH MYRIAD SITUATIONS

So many of our problems arise---and stick---because we get stuck in the moment and refuse to move on. But things can be different. We can change.

The Reverend Manora (Manorhita), was the twenty-second Zen patriarch in India. He is perhaps most famous for having written this gem of wisdom:

Mind turns along with myriad situations;
Its turning point is truly recondite.
When you recognize nature and accord with its flow,
There is no more elation,
And no more sorrow.

The first line may, to some of you, suggest the exact opposite of what you might think to be the ‘way to go.’ Why let your mind ‘turn along with myriad situations’?

Well, a mind that is truly aware, that is focused on the action of each moment as it quickly becomes the next moment, and then the next, and then the next, is a mind that moves with that action. It does not get stuck in the moment, unable to move on to the next. Such a mind-set does not even start to analyse, criticise, react to, or recoil from, the action of the moment. That, my friends, is the way to go.

In The Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War, by Yagyū Munenori (pictured left), we get this helpful interpretation of Manora’s advice:

In the context of martial arts, 'myriad conditions' means all the actions of adversaries; the mind turns with each and every action. For example, when an opponent raises his sword, your mind turns to the sword. If he whirls to the right, your mind turns to the right; if he whirls to the left, your mind turns to the left. This is called 'turning along with myriad situations.'

‘The turning point is truly recondite.’ This is the eye of martial arts. When the mind does not leave any traces in any particular place, but turns to what lies ahead, with the past dying out like the wake of a boat, not lingering at all, this should be understood as the turning point being truly recondite.

To be recondite is to be subtle and imperceptible; this means the mind not lingering on any particular point. If your mind stops and stays somewhere, you will be defeated in martial arts. If you linger where you turn, you will be crushed.

Needless to say, this is not just good advice as respects the martial arts. Whether we engage in the martial arts or not doesn’t matter---although there is much to be gained from such an involvement. The way to ‘ride the waves,’ and respond to one’s inner ‘adversaries,’ is to let---note that word ‘let’---the mind turn with each and every action, whether that action be internal (eg in the form of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, etc) or external. Let your mind turn to whatever be the action of the moment, and then turn to the action of the next moment, and so on, but don’t let the mind ‘stop,’ so to speak, let alone ‘cling.’ Instead, turn along with myriad situations.  

That’s not the end of the matter. We are to let the turning point be ‘truly recondite.’ The turning point is ‘recondite’---that word means, among other things, hidden from sight or virtually imperceptible---when the mind leaves no ‘traces’ in any particular place. We leave no ‘traces’ when there is a soft focus sort of awareness, when we refuse to analyse or judge the content of any action or occurrence. We note, and immediately move on. We turn to ‘what lies ahead, with the past dying out like the wake of a boat.’ We do not linger at all---not at any particular point. If we let the mind ‘stop’ and ‘stay somewhere,’ we will be  defeated, even crushed, by life in the sense that events will overtake and overwhelm us.

It’s all about mastery, especially mastery of self, but true inner mastery occurs when we let things unfold as they will, when we resist not, when we cling not and linger not, when we go with the flow.

That is the way to go.

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MINDFULNESS AND THE ART OF JAPANESE SWORDSMANSHIP

'You can only fight the way you practise.'
- Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings.

The classic 370-year old text Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings), by the Japanese swordsman and rōnin Miyamoto Musashi, is one of my all-time favourite books. It is so much more than a treatise on Japanese swordsmanship (kenjutsu) and the martial arts in general, although it certainly is that.

And yes, like that other grand opus The Art of War, the work contains much useful information for business executives, political leaders and strategists of all kinds on conflict resolution, decision-making, strategy and tactics.

I have several different translations of the text, and whenever I go to Japan I return home with yet another seemingly better translation. In this post I’ll be using several different translations rather indiscriminately, so please forgive me.  

Those into meditation would be aware that The Book of Five Rings also contains much useful, insightful advice on the subject, and, in particular, on what is known as mindfulness. For example, in 'The Water Scroll' we get this solid advice:

·         Let the mind be ‘open and direct, neither tense nor lax, centering the mind so that there is no imbalance’

·         ‘Calmly relax your mind, and savour this moment of ease thoroughly so that the relaxation does not stop its relaxation for even an instant’

·         ‘Let there be neither insufficiency nor excess in your mind’

·         Keep your mind ‘free from subjective biases’

·         Let your inner mind be ‘unclouded and open.’

Then there’s this advice. We are to maintain a ‘normal, everyday mental attitude at all times.’ More specifically, we are told that when we are physically calm we are to be ‘mentally alert’; conversely, when we are physically active, we are to maintain a ‘serene state of mind.’

Musashi urges us to be ‘attentive at all times to all things without being overly anxious’ and to ‘perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.’ The phrase ‘bare attention,’ in the context of mindfulness, means just that---just enough attention to stay alert and to be aware, but not so much attention as would inevitably lead on to analysis, judgment, labeling, and so forth. It is all about ‘effortless effort’ and ‘pure [choiceless] awareness.’ As respects the latter, Musashi speaks of an ‘all-seeing, imperturbable awareness’ such that ‘one should be able to see the distant like the near, and the near like the distant.’ He writes:

It is most important in the knightly arts to know your opponent’s sword, without looking at it at all. … It is also important to see either side without moving your pupils to the side at all. If you are taken up with the world, you cannot expect to learn the secret in a short time. Take to heart what I have written here, and always practice fixing the gaze in this way, so that it does not waver. …

We are told to ‘accept everything just the way it is,’ and ‘in all things [to] have no preferences.’ And here's a real gem:

There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.

Got that? Seek nothing outside of yourself. No god, guru, saviour, or teacher has anything of value to offer you, except perhaps this one piece of advice---look within. If a teacher tells you that, listen to him or her. Otherwise, tell them where to go.

And what are we to make of the many references in the text to one's 'opponent' or 'enemy'? Well, when it comes to the practice of mindfulness---and most things in life for that matter---one's most real and formidable opponent or enemy is within, that is, within one's own mind. We have many inner opponents and enemies, so to speak. One's many 'false selves' that wax and wane but constantly seek our attention, for starters. But we can be victorious. They are not us. Here's some really good advice from the book: 'If you wish to control others you must first control yourself.' The 'others' include the false selves (the innumerable 'I's' and 'me's') within us.

In the last section of the text, ‘The Scroll of Emptiness,’ we are given these pearls of wisdom:

·         We are to ‘diligently cultivate the spirit and the mind, as well as awareness and the physical eye, every day and every hour’

·         We are to make those things---wait for it---‘cloudless and free from all delusions.’

Writes Musashi, ‘then you may be sure that you have attained the spiritual state of true “emptiness”.’ Yes, ‘taking emptiness as the Way, you see the Way as emptiness’:

In emptiness there is good but no evil. Wisdom exists, logic exists, the Way exists, mind is empty.

Ah, the ancient wisdom again---emptiness!

I will finish with this. Do not try to be, or remain, alert, for if you think about being alert, or staying alert, you will not be. Let yourself---without conscious effort or any act of the will---be mindfully awake, and fully relaxed, ready to accept whatever arises. As Alan Watts used to say, we need to learn ‘how not to use the mind.’ Got it? Yes, it’s a paradox. Being mindful is, well, being ‘un-mindful’ of any thing in particular.

Here's an illustration that I've shared with you before. In Zen there is the story of the master who says to his pupil, ‘One must never think of the white monkey, if you want enlightenment.’ You can guess what happens. Thinking about not thinking about the white monkey is the same as thinking about the white monkey.

So, don’t try to be mindful---and don’t try to be un-mindful either.

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MINDFULNESS MARTIAL ARTS THERAPY

There is an old Samurai maxim, 'A person who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in their every action.' In other words, 'as within, so without.' So it is with martial arts. No surprise, then, to hear about something called 'mindfulness martial arts therapy.' In many ways, the so-called 'therapy' is in the actual doing of the particular martial art being practised.

Here’s an article regarding an integrated therapy that combines mindfulness and martial arts.

The therapy is called ‘mindfulness martial arts’ (MMA).

Child and family therapist Paul Badali designed MMA therapy for kids with learning disabilities in 2002.

What makes MMA potentially attractive to young people is the way MMA removes some of the supposed ‘mystique’ surrounding mindfulness (and meditation) by its inclusion in a socially-valued and ever-so-physical activity like martial arts.

Of course, Zen and associated matters ‘spiritual’ have always been an integral part of martial arts, which has always had, as one of its ‘aims’, the development of new and more effective ways of seeing, thinking and acting ... so it comes as no surprise to hear of this therapeutic combination.

I have always loved these words from the great Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu):  'The mind of a perfect person is like a mirror. It grasps nothing. It expects nothing. It reflects but does not hold. Therefore, the perfect person can act without effort.' There is no better way to live than that. That is the essence of mindfulness in a nutshell. It is also what one can hope to expect from a combination of mindfulness and the martial arts ... or even just from the practice of martial arts if approached from a spiritual or psychological perspective. It's all about respect, both for oneself and for the other person ... indeed for all persons. It's also all about the power of wakeful non-resistance and effortless effort.

‘It’s exercise, meditation, present moment awareness in being healthy, and being aware of healthy practices,’ says Badali who runs the MMA at Integra Children’s Mental Health Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Early studies show that MMA for kids with learning disabilities is beneficial.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

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BRUCE LEE ON MINDFULNESS

'Freedom lies in understanding yourself
from moment to moment.' - Bruce Lee.

For those as ‘old’ as myself, it doesn’t seem like 38 years since martial arts expert and actor Bruce Lee returned to the ‘universal source’.

I must confess I have never been a Bruce Lee fan, as such, although he is rightly feted as the first Oriental superstar. In my ignorance I had no idea that he was wise in matters spiritual as well as physical. Of course, the two are connected, especially in disciples such as the martial arts.

In recent times I have read some of Lee’s writings on Zen, mindfulness, choiceless awareness, ‘no-mindedness’ and other spiritual topics, and it is demonstrably clear that the man had read very widely ... and deeply. He is also rightly feted as a philosopher. (He had studied, among other subjects, both philosophy and psychology at the University of Washington but he majored in drama.)

Anyone who has ever read any Krishnamurti will immediately recognise his influence on Lee’s philosophy. Here are just a few pieces from Lee’s writings on matters pertaining to the art and science of mindfulness:

A concentrated mind is not an attentive mind, but a mind that is in the state of awareness can concentrate. Awareness is never exclusive, it includes everything.

A mind must be wide open to function freely in thought.

... Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame ...

In almost every blog I refer to the all-important concept of ‘choiceless awareness’. It is a very special type of perception. It is, in the words of Lee, ‘simply “pure seeing,” beyond subject and object, and therefore “no seeing”.’

Lee has much to say about choiceless awareness:

To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. Die continually to every newly gained experience – be in a state of choiceless awareness of what is.

Not conviction, not method, but perception is the way of truth. It is a state of effortless awareness, pliable awareness, choiceless awareness.

There is no condemnation, no demand for a pattern of action in understanding. You are merely observing – just look at it and watch it.

The perceiving mind is living, moving, full of energy, and only such a mind can understand what truth is.

Choiceless awareness: non-duality and reconciliation = TOTAL understanding. The choiceless awareness of a single and undivided mind.

Lee’s sound advice is to ‘just watch choicelessly’:

Be a calm beholder of what is happening around you.

There is an awareness without choice, without any demand, an awareness in which there is no anxiety; and in that state of mind there is perception. It is the perception alone that will resolve all our problems.

So, what, exactly, is ‘choiceless awareness’ – words which come straight from Krishnamurti?

Choiceless awareness – do not condemn, do not justify. Awareness works only if it’s allowed free play without interference.

To understand, surely, there must be a state of choiceless awareness in which there is no sense of comparison or condemnation, no waiting for a further development of the thing we are talking about in order to agree or disagree – don’t start from a conclusion above all.

Conclusions! Conclusions are beliefs. Beliefs are conclusions. A spiritually enlightened person doesn’t ‘believe’. Forget about belief-systems. Beliefs are for spiritual cripples ... for those who can’t, or won’t, think for themselves. Choose a religion or philosophy that doesn’t require you to believe anything. Life is truth, and life is forever open-ended. There are no final revelations. Listen to what Lee has to say:

An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. It is not satisfied with explanations, with conclusions; nor is it a mind that believes. Because belief is again another form of conclusion.

We are always in a process of becoming and nothing is fixed. Have no rigid system in you, and you’ll be flexible to change with the ever changing.

If you are interested in reading more of Lee’s remarkable wisdom, a good starting point is the reasonably inexpensive, and ever so readable, book Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living, which is edited by John Little who is the world's foremost authority on the life and works of Bruce Lee.

Finally, here is a short YouTube video on Lee which I found idiosyncratically quaint:

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