The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho and William Scott Wilson

Summary

Letters and essays from a 17th-century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk. Easy to read, difficult to grasp what Soho was aiming for – as is the case with most Zen texts. I recommend Zen in the Art of Archery and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind over this book.

Key Takeaways

• We say that the highest and the lowest come to resemble each other.
• There is such a thing as training in principle, and such a thing as training in technique. Technique and principle are just like the two wheels of a cart.
• One is not likely to achieve understanding from the explanation of another. The enlightening of one’s mind depends on the depths of one’s efforts.
• In not remaining in one place, the Right Mind is like water. The Confused Mind is like ice, and ice is unable to wash hands or head.
• Grasping one’s mind and not letting it become confused is the discipline of the novice just beginning to learn. This practice, when applied for a long period of time, leads, to advancement to the level of freedom in which one can let the mind go in any direction. The level mentioned above of “engendering the mind with no place to abide” is the highest level of all.
• To be pleased once with an ignorant man, to take a liking to him, and to give him an appointment while not using the good man that is there, is the same as having no good men at all.
• If we observe phenomena closely, it cannot be thought that anything between heaven and earth is really different. If we see differences, it is due to the narrowness of our vision.

What I got out of it

The Unfettered Mind is a difficult book to recommend. It’s a real Zen Buddhism book: difficult to penetrate and grasp the meaning behind the words. Whether this is because of the writing or simply me not being ready is anybody’s guess.

I’ll revisit the first two parts of the book in the future but will skip “Annals of the Sword Taia.” I found Zen in the Art of Archery and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind to provide more value and be more enjoyable Zen Buddhism reads than The Unfettered Mind.

If interested in the Japanese spirit and ethos from this time, I’d recommend Hagakure over The Unfettered Mind.

Summary & Quotes

Introduction

Fudochishinmyoroku (“The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom”) deals not only with technique, but with how the self is related to the Self during confrontation and how an individual may become a unified whole. 

Taiaki (“Annals of the Sword Taia”) on the other hand, deals more with the psychological aspects of the relationship between the self and the other.

Between these, Reiroshu, “The Clear Sound of Jewels,” deals with the fundamental nature of the human being, with how a swordsman, daimyo – or any person, for that matter – can know the difference between what is right and what is mere selfishness, and can understand the basic question of knowing when and how to die.

The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom 

The Affliction of Abiding in Ignorance

Abiding place means the place where the mind stops.

In the practice of Buddhism, there are said to be fifty-two stages, and within these fifty-two, the place where the mind stops at one thing is called the abiding place. Abiding signifies stopping, and stopping means the mind is being detained by some matter, which may be any matter at all.

To speak in terms of your own martial art, when you first notice the sword that is moving to strike you, if you think of meeting that sword just as it is, your mind will stop at the sword in just that position, your own movements will be undone, and you will be cut down by your opponent. This is what stopping means.

Although you see the sword that moves to strike you, if your mind is not detained by it and you meet the rhythm of the advancing sword; if you do not think of striking your opponent and no thoughts or judgments remain; if the instant you see the swinging sword your mind is not the least bit detained and you move straight in and wrench the sword away from him; the sword that was going to cut you down will become your own, and, contrarily, will be the sword that cuts down your opponent.

If you place yourself before your opponent, your mind will be taken by him. You should not place your mind within yourself. Bracing the mind in the body is something done only at the inception of training, when one is a beginner.

The Immovable Wisdom Of All Buddhas 

We say that the highest and the lowest come to resemble each other.

Buddhism, when you reach its very depths, is like the man who knows nothing of either the Buddha or the Buddhist Law. It has neither adornment nor anything else that would draw men’s attention to it.

The ignorance and afflictions of the beginning, abiding place and the immovable wisdom that comes later become one. The function of the intellect disappears, and one ends in a state of No-Mind-No-Thought. If one reaches the deepest point, arms, legs and body remember what to do, but the mind does not enter into this at all.

There is such a thing as training in principle, and such a thing as training in technique.

Principle is as I have already explained above: when you arrive, nothing is noticed. It is simply as though you had discarded all concentration. I have written at length about this above.

If you do not train in technique, but only fill your breast with principle, your body and your hands will not function. Training in technique, if put into terms of your own martial art, is in the training that if practised over and over again makes the five body postures one.

Even though you know principle, you must make yourself perfectly free in the use of technique. And even though you may wield the sword that you carry with you well, if you are unclear on the deepest aspects of principle, you will likely fall short of proficiency.

Technique and principle are just like the two wheels of a cart.

The Action Of Spark And Stone

It is immovable wisdom when one is called and answers ‘Yes?” immediately.

When one is called, to hesitate over the why and wherefore of the request is the affliction of the abiding place. The mind that stops or is moved by something and sent into confusion – this is the affliction of the abiding place, and this is the common man. To be called, to respond without interval, is the wisdom of all Buddhas.

Although there are many Ways – the Way of the Gods, the Way of Poetry, the Way of Confucius – they all share the clarity of this one mind.

Without touching real water and real fire, one will not know these things. Even explaining a book will not make it understood. Food may be concisely defined, but that alone will not relieve one’s hunger. One is not likely to achieve understanding from the explanation of another.

It must be said that the enlightening of one’s mind depends on the depths of one’s efforts.

Where One Puts The Mind 

If you consider putting your mind below your navel and not letting it wander, your mind will be taken by the mind that thinks of this plan. You will have no ability to move ahead and will be exceptionally unfree.

Putting the mind in one place is called falling into onesidedness. Onesidedness is said to be bias in one place. Correctness is in moving about anywhere. The Correct Mind shows itself by extending the mind throughout the body. It not biased in any one place.

The effort not to stop the mind in just one place-this is discipline. Not stopping the mind is object and essence. Put nowhere, it will be everywhere.

Even in moving the mind outside the body, if it is sent in one direction, it will be lacking in nine others. If the mind is not restricted to just one direction, it will be in all ten.

The Right Mind And The Confused Mind

The Right Mind is the mind that does not remain in one place. It is the mind that stretches throughout the entire body and self. The Confused Mind is the mind that, thinking something over, congeals in one place.

In not remaining in one place, the Right Mind is like water. The Confused Mind is like ice, and ice is unable to wash hands or head. When ice is melted, it becomes water and flows everywhere, and it can wash the hands, the feet or anything else.

The Mind Of The Existent Mind And The Mind Of No-Mind 

The Existent Mind is the same as the Confused Mind and is literally read as the “mind that exists.” It is the mind that thinks in one direction, regardless of subject. When there is an object of thought in the mind, discrimination and thoughts will arise. Thus it is known as the Existent Mind.

The No-Mind is the same as the Right Mind. It neither congeals nor fixes itself in one place. It is called No-Mind when the mind has neither discrimination nor thought but wanders about the entire body and extends throughout the entire self.

The mind that thinks about removing what is within it will by the very act be occupied. If one will not think about it, the mind will remove these thoughts by itself and of itself become No-Mind. If one always approaches his mind in this way, at a later date it will suddenly come to this condition by itself. If one tries to achieve this suddenly, it will never get there.

An old poem says:
To think, “I will not think” –
This, too, is something in one’s thoughts.

Simply do not think
About not thinking at all.

Engender The Mind With No Place To Abide 

The mind of attachment arises from the stopping mind. So does the cycle of transmigration. This stopping becomes the bonds of life and death.

The word seriousness is elaborated on by the saying, “One aim with no distractions.’‘ The mind is settled in one place and is not allowed elsewhere.

In Buddhism the mentality of seriousness is not the deepest level. Grasping one’s mind and not letting it become confused is the discipline of the novice just beginning to learn. This practice, when applied for a long period of time, leads, to advancement to the level of freedom in which one can let the mind go in any direction. The level mentioned above of “engendering the mind with no place to abide” is the highest level of all.

This is like a baby sparrow being caught by a cat. To prevent a recurrence, a string is then always tightened around the cat, and it is never let go. If my mind is treated like a tied-up cat, it will not be free and will likely not be able to function as it should. If the cat is well trained, the string is untied, and it is allowed to go wherever it pleases. Then, even if the two are together, the cat will not seize the sparrow.

Letting go of my mind and ignoring it like the cat, though it may go where it pleases, this will be using the mind in the way of not having it stop.

Completely forget about the mind and you will do all things well.

Seek The Lost Mind 

When one is in training, it is good to keep Mencius‘ saying, “Seek the lost mind,” in mind. The ultimate, however, is within Shao K’ang-chieh’s, “It is essential to lose the mind.”

Sever The Edge Between Before And After 

There is a saying, “Sever the edge between before and after.” Not ridding the mind of previous moments, allowing traces of the present mind to remain – both are bad. This means one should cut right through the interval between previous and present. Its significance is in cutting off the edge between before and after, between now and then. It means not detaining the mind.

Water Scorches Heaven, Fire Cleanses Clouds 

Total loyalty is first in making your mind correct, disciplining your body, not splitting your thoughts concerning your lord by even a hairsbreadth, and in neither resenting or blaming others. Do not be neglectful of your daily work. 

At home, be filial, let nothing indecent occur between husband and wife, be correct in formality, do not love mistresses, sever yourself from the path of sensuality, be austere as a parent, and act according to the Way. 

In employing underlings, do not make distinctions on the basis of personal feelings. Employ men who are good and bind them to you, reflect on your own deficiencies, conduct the government of your province correctly, and put men who are not good at a distance.

In this way, good men will advance daily, and those who are not will naturally be influenced when they see their lord loving the good. Thus they will leave off evil and turn toward the good themselves.

In this way, both lord and retainer, upper and lower, will be good men, and when personal desire becomes thin and pride is abandoned, the province’s wealth will be plenty, the people will be well ruled, children will commune with their parents, and superior and menial will work together as hands and feet. The province should then become peaceful on its own. This is the beginning of loyalty.

Knowing what is evil but not refraining from it is a sickness of one’s own desires. Whether it be from a love of sensuality or self-indulgence, it is a matter of the mind desiring something. Then, even if a good man were present, his good would not be put to use if it didn’t strike one’s fancy.

To be pleased once with an ignorant man, to take a liking to him, and to give him an appointment while not using the good man that is there, is the same as having no good men at all.

If the lord is not correct, none of his retainers and friends will be correct.

It is said that a good man is regarded as a jewel by the province. You should make this your own personal experience.

The Clear Sound Of Jewels 

If one’s rightmindedness is correct when he is associating with others, he will not be insulted by them. Being insulted by others, one should realize that he had lost his own rightmindedness prior to the offense.

What is called desire is not simply attaching oneself to wealth, or thinking only about one’s fancies for silver and gold.

• When the eye sees colors, this is desire.
• When the ear hears sounds, this is desire.
• When the nose smells fragrances, this is desire.
• When a single thought simply germinates, this is called desire.

This body has been solidified and produced by desire, and it is in the nature of things that all men have a strong sense of it. Although there is a desireless nature confined within this desire-firmed and produced body, it is always hidden by hot-bloodedness, and its virtue is difficult to sow. This nature is not protected easily. Because it reacts to the Ten Thousand Things in the external world, it is drawn back by the Six Desires, and submerges beneath them.

This body is composed of the Five Skandhas: form, feeling, conception, volition and consciousness.

• Form is the carnal body.
• Feeling is the carnal body’s sensing of good and evil, right and wrong, sorrow and joy, and pain and pleasure.
• Conception means predilections. It is hating evil, desiring good, fleeing from sorrow, hoping for joy, avoiding pain and desiring pleasure.
• Volition means operating the body on the basis of feeling and perception. This means hating pain and so obtaining pleasure, or hating evil and so doing things that are good for oneself.
• Consciousness is discriminating the good and evil, right and wrong, pain and pleasure, and joy and sorrow of the above feeling, conception and volition. Through consciousness, evil is known to be evil, good to be good, pain to be pain, and pleasure to be pleasure.

The Way of Confucius is said to be that of sincerity and sympathy.

• Sincerity is the same as “the core of the mind.” 
• Sympathy is the same as “like mind” or “oneness.” 
• If the core of the mind and like-mindedness are achieved, not one in ten thousand affairs will ever turn out poorly.

The Ten Essential Qualities: 

• Form
• Nature
• Embodiment
• Power
• Function
• Latent Cause
• External Cause
• Latent Effect
• Manifest Effect
• Total Inseparability of one from the others. 

The Ten Worlds are those of Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humankind, Heaven, Learning, Realization, Bodhisattvahood and Buddhahood. The Ten Essential Qualities are like these. Generally, from the Worlds of Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humankind and Heaven to the Worlds of Learning, Realization, Bodhisattvahood and Buddhahood, all are possessed of the Ten Essential Qualities.

If something has Form, it will also have a Nature. Although the Buddha-nature is always the same, Form follows whatever receives it, and thus changes.

Let us say that snow and ice are Function, and that water is Embodiment. When water solidifies, it becomes ice, but then melts again and becomes the original water. Consider water as Embodiment.

The ordinary man is unable to see beyond Form. He is unable to see Embodiment. When something is produced, he says it has manifested itself. From the standpoint of enlightenment, we say it has manifested itself when it has returned to Embodiment and can no longer be seen.

Power is the strength to be able to function efficaciously; it is the strength behind the achievement of all phenomena. Concerning all things, what achieves effect is Power.

The constancy of the always green pine in the midst of luxuriantly green leaves on the summer mountain is especially well known in song. This is because it does not change its color in either frost or in late autumn showers.

Because there is Power, Function accords performance to all things. If one goes on without slackening his efforts, learning one Chinese character today and another tomorrow, he should be able to achieve anything. The meaning of Function should be understood through the saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Given Form, Nature, Embodiment, Power and Function no matter what is done, it can be done at will. This is Latent Cause. If something is not done, it is to one’s own detriment and there is nothing that cannot be done. Without both Latent Cause and External Cause, one will not likely get as far as the state of Buddhahood. The Chinese character for Latent Cause, for instance, is also read as “to depend on.” This means that “depending on” one thing, various other things are obtained.

Planting the seed in the ground in spring is said to be the Latent Cause. And, though one has planted it firmly, if there is no help from the rain and dew, nothing will grow. The help of the rain and dew is said to be the External Cause. Depending on the help of the rain and dew, the plant will grow and there will be fruit in the fall. This is Latent Effect.

Obtaining the state of Buddhahood is like planting pear trees and then watching them grow.

You do good in this life, you will be rewarded with good in the next. If you do evil, you will be rewarded with evil. This is Manifest Effect. If the Latent Cause is good, the Latent Effect will be good. If the Latent Cause is evil, the Latent Effect will be evil. It is like an echo responding to a voice, or a shadow accompanying a form.

There is also such a thing as simultaneous Latent Cause and Effect. We can make an example with the flower as the Latent Cause and the fruit as the Manifest Effect. On a melon, the flower and fruit grow at the same time. With the rice plant, the fruit – or rather grain – grows, and the flower blossoms on its crown. Such things can be taken as examples.

Total Inseparability. From the Essential Quality of Form to the Essential Quality of Manifest Effect, there is no violation of Beginning to End. They go around and around from Root to Branch and are called the Ten Points. The Very Extremity means going to the very ultimate. This is, of course, the Ten Worlds. All living things – even the little worms – are possessed of these Ten Essential Qualities. Even the inanimate are not different from this.

The appearance of pain in grasses and trees is no different from the countenance of suffering among human beings. When they are watered and the like, they grow and appear happy. When they are cut and fall, the withering of their leaves is no different from the death of a human being. Their pain and sadness are not known to human beings. And when grasses and trees look at the sadness of human beings, it is just like human beings looking at them, and they probably think we have no pain or sadness either. Simply, it seems that we do not know the affairs of grasses and trees, nor do they know ours.

When there are fences or roofed mud walls on the north side of growing plants, those plants will lean towards the south. Observing this, it is clear that plants know what is harmful to them, although they do not have eyes. Sleeping at night and opening during the day, the lily is another example we could use. However, it is not the lily alone, but all grasses and trees that do not lack this nature.

If we observe phenomena closely, it cannot be thought that anything between heaven and earth is really different. If we see differences, it is due to the narrowness of our vision.

What is called meta-existence is not the least bit different from thinking of things in this present existence. For this reason, this present existence is also called “an existence.” When this present existence comes to an end, there is what is called meta-existence. Then, meta-existence is altered and there is later-existence, or reincarnation. In any of these, there is absolutely no change in the mind that is in this present body. Although there is a body even in meta-existence, it cannot be seen by human eyes because of its dimness.

A man who is extremely foolish should come to know something in the end because of his faith. On the other hand, isn’t it said that “A half-baked martial art is the foundation of great injury”?

When a bird flies through an empty sky, it becomes less clear as it gets farther away, and we come to think of it as having disappeared. Although we have lost sight of the form, it is not a matter of the bird’s form vanishing and no longer existing. We do not see it because it has become too dim. His form being weak and not clearly seen, we do not see a person in meta-existence. A person in this state can see us just as he did when living, but people do not know this.

Annals Of The Sword Taia 

Presumably, as a martial artist, I do not fight for gain or loss, am not concerned with strength or weakness, and neither advance a step nor retreat a step. The enemy does not see me. I do not see the enemy.

Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet divided, where Ying and Yang have not yet arrived, I quickly and necessarily gain effect.

Those who study the Way are absolutely diligent for ten to twenty, twenty-four hours a day. They muster up great strength of faith, speak with those who have wisdom, and disregard adversity and suffering. Like a parent who has lost a child, they do not retreat a scintilla from their established resolution. They think deeply, adding inquiry to inquiry. In the end, they arrive at the place where even Buddhist doctrine and Buddhist Law melt away, and are naturally able to see “This”.

Well then, the accomplished man uses the sword but does not kill others. He uses the sword and give other life. When it is necessary to kill, he kills. When it is necessary to give life, he gives life. When killing, he kills in complete concentration; when giving life, he gives life in complete concentration. Without looking at right and wrong, he is able to see right and wrong; without attempting to discriminate, he is able to discriminate well. Treading on water is just like treading on land, and treading on land is just like treading on water. If he is able to gain this freedom, he will not be perplexed by anyone on earth. In all things, he will be beyond companions.

He uses the sword and gives others life means that while he deals with his opponents with a sword, he leaves everything to the movements of the other man, and is able to observe him just as he pleases.

Do you want to obtain this? Walking, stopping, sitting or lying down, in speaking and in remaining quiet, during tea and during rice, you must never neglect exertion, you must quickly set your eye on the goal, and investigate thoroughly, both coming and going. Thus should you look straight into things. As months pile up and years pass by, it should seem like a light appearing on its own in the dark. You will receive wisdom without a teacher and will generate mysterious ability without trying to do so. At just such a time, this does not depart from the ordinary, yet it transcends it. By name, I call it “Taia”.

Taia is the name of an [ancient Chinese] sword that has no equal under heaven. This famous jewelled sword can freely cut anything, from rigid metal and tempered steel to dense and hardened gems and stones. Under heaven there is nothing that can parry this blade.

All men are equipped with this sharp Sword Taia, and in each one it is perfectly complete. Those for whom this is clear are feared even by the Maras, but those for whom this is obscure are deceived even by the heretics. On the one hand, when two of equal skill meet at swords’ point, there is no conclusion to the match; it is like Shakyamuni’s holding the flower and Kashyapa’s subtle smile. On the other hand, raising the one and understanding the other three, or distinguishing subtle differences in weight with the unaided eye are examples of ordinary cleverness. If anyone has mastered this, he will quickly cut you into three pieces even before the one has been raised and the three understood. How much more so when you meet him face to face?

In the end, a man like this never exposes the tip of his sword. Its speed – even lightning cannot keep up with it. Its brevity – it is gone even before the quick wind of the storm. Not having such a tactic, if one, in the end, becomes entangled or confused, he will damage his own blade or injure his own hand, and will fall short of adroitness. One does not divine this by impressions or knowledge. There is no transmitting it by words or speech, no learning it by any doctrine. This is the law of the special transmission beyond instruction.

Separate yourself from the discrimination of figuring things out.

For the true martial artist, there is no way to pass this on by words. Moreover, there is no way to teach or learn through doctrine what kind of stance to take or where to strike.

There is no established rule for manifesting this great ability. Orderly action, contrary action – even heaven does not determine this. So what is the nature of this thing? The ancients said, “When a house does not have a painting of a Pai Che, it is like having no ghosts at all.” If a man has tempered himself and arrived at this principle, he will control everything under heaven with a single sword. For those who study this, let them not be thoughtless.

The man who manifests this great ability, whether he would act in an orderly way or a contrary way, is free and without obstacles.

In intently continuing their own efforts, they should not be negligent, not even for a moment.

Footnotes 

The tanden, a point three finger widths below the navel, is considered by some Taoists to be the proper residing place of the mind. It is very nearly the body’s center of gravity and is referred to often in martial arts’ literature.

Right-mindedness is the term finally chosen to represent the Japanese gi, although it falls short of being an exact equivalent. Among alternatives considered, righteousness was rejected because, at one extreme at least, the Westerner self-satisfied in his own righteousness is apt to embark on the task of correcting others. Probity (“unimpeachable integrity”) is closer and should be kept in mind. The emphasis lies in the individual’s first setting himself right, through self-reflection, training and discipline. This does not automatically, or even eventually, lead to proselytism, and many, in fact, are the stories in Zen and the martial arts of would-be students going to great lengths to receive the instruction of the master.

The Twelve Links in the Chain of Existence: ignorance, action, consciousness, name and form, the six sense organs, contact, sensation, desire, attachment, existence, birth, old age and death. Starting with ignorance, each causes the next in the chain, so if ignorance is eliminated, old age and death will not occur. This is also referred to as the Chain of Causation.

Not relying on the written word and transmission without instruction are two points especially stressed in Zen. They underscore the principle that one is to look into his own nature rather than rely on texts or the teachings of others.