Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
Mokuso is simply a term to describe "meditation." The term is from the Asian, Okinawan and Japanese, practices of karate while it is found in other martial practices as well. It's kanji characters are, "黙想." They are translated into English to mean, "meditation; silent contemplation." Nothing more and nothing less so the term as a stand alone means one silently meditates. How they meditate depends.
When you do a bit of research you will find sources that explain, some in-depth, what mokuso is and does and what it benefits to the practitioner and with close scrutiny you find those explanations to embrace in the term other methodologies and symbolic representations encompassing other things and not just mokuso. In short many disparate things are lumped under the title of, "Mokuso."
In truth, you can meditate in many different ways from sitting a certain way to how you clear your mind for present moment mindfulness while moving be it walking in a quiet park to the graceful smooth rhythmic movement of Tai Chi in the Park.
To truly understand mokuso, especially in the dojo, you really do have to perform research, data-mining, on the term along with Sensei's definitions because it matters when you practice it in order to achieve your objectives in the discipline of meditation. Because when you bring together all the disparate and then properly define and explain all those individual parts then you can synthesize and practice it accordingly - that is the true goal and objective and practice of the discipline of mokuso.
In a separate article I have brought my perceptions, beliefs and experiences into one wholehearted effort to define not just mokuso in the dojo but those disciplines I feel are meant to teach us the true results we seek often termed as mindfulness, present moment and "mushin, zanshin, isshin, etc.," to properly achieve the set results and concepts necessary to make our martial disciplines work in our individual intent, i.e., for me in self-protection with a smidgeon of "the way".
Read also: Mokuso [黙想] (Zazen 坐禅) in the Dojo
Read also: When Buddhists Attack by Jeffrey K. Mann
For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)
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