Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
“If anything, this (emptying of the mind) is the first 'real' fight you face when you start to learn karate. (‘Take out the garbage, as he poked his students forehead with his forefinger!’ - Socrates [my addition]) The notion of 'mushin' however, speaks less to having an 'empty mind' than it does to having a capacity for 'clear thought'; the subtle difference between the two revealing itself only through lengthy, mindful, practice.” - Michael Clarke Sensei, Shinseidokan Dojo Blog
The above quote came from an article written by Clarke Sensei that I felt strongly toward upon reading. It helped me, once again thanks to Clarke Sensei’s thoughts, to consider another way of thinking about and training the mind of no mind.
In truth, we humans cannot truly empty the mind even if we seem to go blank for there are thoughts and triggers and signals moving around the complex system we call the brain twenty-four hours a day from birth to death.
A precept and concept of martial arts and karate philosophy belief is a need to remove our ego’s from the equation in training and practice. Its goal is to achieve a mind-state and mind-set prepared for the rigors and dangers of combat, i.e., be it military or civil defense, etc. I don’t mean it is about becoming combat ready but rather a means to train the mind toward a goal of fighting, combat and/or self-fense. Yet, that thought is also kind of limited.
If we must engage an adversary regardless of the reasons and justifications we must first create a mind-state that promotes achieving the goals along with implementation of strategies and tactics geared toward those goals. Any true professional and veteran of conflicts of violent nature will say, if your mind is not conditioned and prepared for those very events and repercussions your success is at best questionable and at worst totally inept.
You have to first recognize those mental obstacles you will encounter and that means you have to study and understand all facets of the discipline and the conflicts of violence, etc. involved. Things like types of violence, how violence is used in communications and how our conditioning effects our minds toward such things. Then there are the mechanics and other aspects of such things. Once you learn as much as available then you have to come to understand all of it long before taking up the sword, metaphorically speaking, and trying to apply things.
Once you have the knowledge and have attained some semblance of understanding you then have to analyze everything and synthesize how you will use that to facilitate your actual hands on training, practice and, later, applications - especially since applications sit on the other side of the grand canyon of separation from training to the reality of conflict and violence.
No matter how hard and realistic you take training and practice it is not and never will be the experiences you will encounter and absorb when you are in the thick of it. You have to make the leap across that canyon and the processes and attitudes you develop in training and practice programs are about training the mind to move spurring the body to move and do what needs doing. It seems so simple yet it is in all probability the most difficult thing any professional encounters and it all depends on the mind, i.e., mind-state and mind-set.
So, with all that said, the concept of mind of no mind is not about blanking out all thoughts but rather accepting the challenge of emptying the mind of its garbage so the reality of it can creep in. You have to change pre-conceived notions, subjugate social conditioning and overcome your fears and misconceptions. It is a matter of clearing out the garbage so that you have room for those thoughts and such that allow you to act in accordance with principles as well as demands of social order of our society.
Most of us don’t even realize and often will not accept the two states of mind, i.e., a capacity for clear thought not muddled by inconsequential mind chatter and misconceptions and a emptying of the mind so room for more realistic logical survival thinking of the deep mind can flourish. It makes room for mindful practice and training and applications. It is a major process that leads to true mushin and zanshin, to mind of no mind and to emptying the mind of garbage.
Hat tip (Ritsu-rei) to <Shinseidokan Dojo Blog by Michael Clarke Sensei> as the inspiration for this post.
Bibliography (Click the link)
“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)
No comments:
Post a Comment