is a state of mind that is cultivated in Zen and the Zen-influenced arts. In
mushin, the mind is open to everything but not distracted by delusive
thoughts—they come and go but the mind does not dwell upon them. The
mind in a state of mushin is often likened to a mirror—reflecting every-
thing. This is important in true combat, because if a warrior centers only
on one opponent, another will cut him down. Mushin, in the West, is of-
ten mistaken for impersonal, amoral, automatic reactions. Speed is not nec-
essarily spontaneity, and, in real combat, timing is more important than
speed. Conditioned reflexes and fluid awareness are not the same. Fu-
doshin(which follows from the cultivation of mushin) means “immovable
heart” or “spirit,” which means that one understands what an opponent is
going to do before the attack. When attacked, one is never surprised, the
mind and nerves are calm, and what is appropriate to the situation is done.
Even the feeling “This is the enemy” means that the mind is moving.
“Empty mind” gives rise to fudochi(immovable wisdom).
Today in the United States, the majority of books, articles, and adver-
tisements dealing with the martial arts at least pay lip service to the idea
that some kind of “self-control” or “mental discipline” is a by-product of
the training. Often Yellow Pages ads list meditation and spiritual growth as
some of the benefits of training in a particular discipline. In fact, however,
the majority of martial artists practice sport karate and spend little or no
time in meditation. In many classes, meditation is defined as a few short
seconds at the beginning of a class to relax and get the mind ready for the
physical workout to follow. Most martial arts teachers do not have any for-
mal meditative training. However, they often retain the short period of
“meditation” because that was the way their teachers did it, or perhaps for
marketing purposes, to lend a vague flavor of Eastern culture and mystery.
Practicing the modern sport martial arts is no guarantee either of being able
to fight effectively without rules or of spiritual accomplishment.
Ronald L. Holt
See alsoBaguazhang (Pa Kua Ch’uan); Ki/Qi; Medicine, Traditional
Chinese; Religion and Spiritual Development: China; Religion and
Spiritual Development: India; Religion and Spiritual Development: Japan;
Taijiquan (Tai Chi Ch’uan); Written Texts: China; Written Texts: India;
Written Texts: Japan; Xingyiquan (Hsing I Ch’uan)
References
Austin, James H. 1998. Zen and the Brain.Cambridge: MIT Press.
Friday, Karl, with Seki Humitake. 1997. Legacies of the Sword: The
Kashima-Shinryû and Samurai Martial Culture.Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press.
Kauz, Herman. 1992. A Path to Liberation: A Spiritual and Philosophical
Approach to the Martial Arts. Woodstock: Overlook Press.
Keenan, John P. 1989. “Spontaneity in Western Martial Arts: A Yogacara
Critique of MuShin.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies16: 285–298.Meditation 337