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MU
SHIN, MU
GAMAE
MUSHIN Empty
Mind, Not thinking, Without
Conscience, Without emotion
Mindless, Endless, No-mind-ness
MUGAMAE
Without posture, Without stance
No posture, No attitude-ness
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A
philosophical concept that lies in the heart of Tomiki's Budo,
"Mushin Mugamae." "Mushin" is a state in which the
mind lets go from itself, no longer seeing things as "this and
that, good and bad, right and wrong, gain and loss, life and death-all
which must be seen as a oneness." "Mushin" is a mind
undisturbed by effects of any kind from which proceeds a "flowing
mind and body" and making possible the performance of skilful
technique without "conscious efforts made to generate and sustain
it." Mushin is the Zen
concept of “no mindedness,” a state in which there is no
preconceived thought that interrupts the flow of physical action.
Mu means “nothing, empty, or no.”
Shin means “mind or heart” in both the physical and in the
spiritual sense. Thus in terms of Zen, there is no separation between
thought and emotion. To
feel it is to think it; to think it is to feel it.
The
corollary of "Mushin" is "Mugamae", the body
adopting the posture or stance appropriate to any situation without the
conscious direction of the mind.
With
no preconceived thought or emotion, action will be one with thought and
emotion. Thus to think it
and to feel it is to do it. A
circle is always balanced. There
is no distinguishing top or bottom, left or right.
It has no point or goal but to be a circle.
The planet Saturn represents the eternal rotation of the solar
system. Should the planet
cease to rotate, it will be destroyed, and harmony will cease in the
universe. The planets
affect the tides, the never-ending flow of water.
Should the oceans cease to flow, stagnation will occur.
Stagnation in the physical world and in our personal lives will
bring about defeat in martial arts and in life.
The planet Saturn is bound by its rings, which represent
constraint and control. The
planet Saturn in harmony with the universe and its own self-contained
cosmos, therefore, represents the mindless circle.
Training in martial arts is meaningless unless it leads to the
continual perfection of the practitioner, despite the outside forces of
negativity and darkness that constantly work in opposition to
spirituality and the light of hope.
Thus the way of Mushin Mugamae is “the way of the mindless
(endlessness) circle.” There
is not always a specific goal in a martial arts technique or in life.
In most martial arts systems, the techniques have an “end in
mind.” Too often the goal
is to hurt or maim an opponent. These
techniques can also be easily countered, leaving the practitioner with
no options. The circle
stops. But a technique
designed to be a means of achieving harmony with an opponent’s flow
has many options. Since the
technique has not been predetermined, it will be difficult to defend
against. Because the end is
not in the martial artist’s mind, it does not exist until created in
response to the flow of combat. Also
in reaction to an opponent’s attack, a strike can become a block; a
block can become a strike, with or without power.
A strike can even turn into a pat on a potential opponent’s
back should the moment of conflict be eliminated prior to a physical
confrontation. The correct
technique will occur when the martial artist is in the flow of the
mindless circle. A
momentary defeat is only a chance to create another artistic endeavour
based upon achieving the harmony contained in the mindless circle.
Even in defeat if a martial artist is in the flow of the endless
circle, the defeat can become a means to spiritual and physical
regeneration. The defeat
becomes a victory, and the circle is completed.
Even
in life’s every day endeavours, many individuals always look for ends
or achievements and often lose sight of the means necessary to attain
those goals. A missed
opportunity in life is merely a chance for those individuals to aspire
to another—perhaps more exciting—achievement that would never have
been realized had their original goals been attained.
Thus no antagonist and no political or social force can prevail
in an attempt to thwart their attainment.
But the problem is that many times those same individuals have
looked only forward to that far off goal, and they failed to create the
short-term means that would help them achieve that end.
Unless they develop the skills necessary to achieve that goal,
the goal will never come. If
the perfection of a particular martial arts technique is a goal, it is
first necessary to develop the timing, balance, speed, and power needed
for proper execution.
A
Zen proverb states something to this effect:
“Those who wish to attain certain goals must first become
certain men or women; once they have attained that state-- become those
certain men or women-- the attainment of that certain goal will no
longer concern them.”
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