the mysterious record of immovable wisdom

It must be said that the enlightening of one's mind depends on the depths of one's efforts. A person in this state can see us just as he did when living, but people do not know this. Moreover, there is no way to teach or learn through doctrine what kind of stance to take or where to strike. This body has been solidified and produced by desire. As I was saying such things half to myself while passing a long spring day, a certain man came up and said something like this: "While wealth truly pleases our hearts, having life is the greatest wealth of all. Observing this, it is clear that plants know what is harmful to them, although they do not have eyes. It is not a matter of selecting an answer either good or bad. Ashura). Whether something is sentient or insentient is calculated roughly. For the person who is clearly enlightened concerning his Original Face, there is nothing in the universe that obscures or obstructs his vision. Water is cold, and this is said to be its nature. So when it comes to the moment of reckoning, a man will throw away his wealth to keep his life intact. [12], Kokushi said, "Something's wrong with the last couple of lines, don't you think?". With no thoughts in the mind, one will run neither to the right nor to the left, will climb neither up nor down, but will go only straight ahead. Because the works of the ordinary man all come from his consciousness, they are all actions of the world of created phenomena, and are involved with suffering. In speaking of unknown lords, one simply says, "the lord," without mentioning his name. But when he slanders another and, the slander being given back in kind, cuts off the man's head and dies himself, this is desire. Let us say that snow and ice are Function, and that water is Embodiment. Not relying on the written word and transmission without instruction are two points especially stressed in Zen. When we speak of worshipping and revering the gods, we do not make distinctions among the names of Sumiyoshi, Tamatsushima, Hirano and Kitano. Putting the mind in one place is called falling into one-sidedness. Because it reacts to the Ten Thousand Things in the external world, it is drawn back by the Six Desires, and submerges beneath them.[5]. When the mind stops, it will be grasped by the opponent. He showed this to eighty thousand monks and everyone of them remained silent. Among all martial artists of every discipline, there is not one in one hundred thousand who has grasped the purport of "holding the flower. If you place your mind in your own sword, your mind can be taken by your own sword. I do not see the enemy. They muster up great strength of faith, speak with those who have wisdom, and disregard adversity and suffering. He should have love and sympathy deep in his heart, should not make distinctions between newcomers and old-timers, and should act with great charity towards all. As this Zen Master was incarnated a bodhisattva, from this time the Buddhist Law flourished in China, spreading its leaves and branches, quickly promulgating the Five Houses and Seven Sects, and finally being transmitted to the Japanese priests Daio and Daito, through the priest Nai Chih Hsu T'ang. ", 9. Not knowing it, they have doubts, and foolishness is added to foolishness. The Confused Mind is the mind that, thinking something over, congeals in one place. Like the joints in bamboo, amusement, for the most part, should have limits. What this means is that no matter how much you try to figure or calculate by means of impressions or knowledge, it will not prove the least bit useful. Fire is not able to burn it, nor is water able to dampen it. A Single Spark. It means that one should seek out the lost mind and return it to himself. "Raising the one and understanding the other three, distinguishing subtle differences in weight with the unaided eye--these are the ordinary tea and rice of the Buddhist monk.". You will receive wisdom without a teacher and will generate mysterious ability without trying to do so. Being insulted by others, one should realize that he had lost his own right-mindedness prior to the offense.". All men put on the face of right-mindedness, but they do not truly think about it. It is said, however, that "In public, not even a needle can enter, but in private, both horse and cart pass right through. Pulled by these thoughts, this body of form is received and produced. 18. It is he who will quickly cut you into three parts before the one has been raised, the three understood, or before any indication whatsoever appears. The essay "The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom" by Takuan Sōhō was a letter written from Sōhō to Munenori. 15. If the mind congeals in one place and remains with one thing, it is like frozen water and is unable to be used freely: ice that can wash neither hands nor feet. He lets it go where it wishes. 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. This means that the flower gives off its fragrance with No-mind, while I stare at it, my mind going no further. One looks at cherry blossoms or autumn leaves, and while engendering the mind that is looking at them, it is essential not to stop with them. Although this figure has absolutely no mind, if the deer become frightened and run away, insofar as it has fulfilled its function, it has not been created in vain. There are people who accomplish notable feats, attract fame and come up in the world. Only Kashyapa smiled. Kogaku Osho (1465-1548): A Rinzai monk who taught Zen to the Emperor Go-Nara. For those who study this, let them not be thoughtless. One of the Five Wisdom Deities, in Zen Buddhism he is considered to manifest the true nature of all living things. Long ago it was said that "a wise retainer does not serve two lords." When we see this and awake, not a trace remains. It should now be clear that concentrate on might be used in the text as an alternative to put the mind. For the true martial artist, there is no way to pass this on by words. 8. Therefore, separate yourself from the discrimination of figuring things out. Especially in such matters as receiving commands from your lord, one should keep the word seriousness in the mind's eye. The concentration of a single thought is like a rock or tree. It is the kind of passion involved when a man gives someone a rock and, if the person gives him gold in return, becomes his friend; but if the other gives him a rock in return, cuts off his head. Some have alternate designations, as follows: Hunger: Hungry Ghost (Skt. [10] Heaven is not able to cover it. Among the gods, there are those who are famous and those who are unknown. Without looking at right and wrong, he is able to see right and wrong; without attempting to discriminate, he is able to discriminate well. We cannot say that anything is without its nature. For this reason, it is important not to lose it. Let’s get to it. You will receive wisdom without a teacher means that you will acquire this fundamental wisdom without its ever having been transmitted to you by a teacher. If people are to know what this mind is like, they will only be confused by it if there is no truly enlightened person to show them. Theirs is a hot-blooded death born of desire. The novice performs the form as they have been taught; the master understands the purpose of the form and every potential attack or defense that can spring from it. The four are representative of all the states in man, which are calculated to number eighty thousand. The world being in decline, retainers now employ themselves under this lord and that, in the end fitting the image of vagabond attendants while proclaiming their own merits. Ohmega Watts)by Tall Black Guy & Ozay Moore, Marlowe 2by Marlowe (L'Orange & Solemn Brigham), Restless As We Areby Tall Black Guy Productions, Ocean Bridgesby Damu the Fudgemunk, Archie Shepp & Raw Poetic, We Rollin' for You (Main/Remixes)by Tall Black Guy, Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp, Essential Releases: Industrial Techno, Synth Punk, Video Game-Inspired Ska and more, Essential Releases: Acoustic Pop, Neo-Plunderphonics, South African Jazz and More, Essential Releases: Vaporwave, Alt Metal, Lo-Fi Bedroom Pop and More. Since you are a master in the martial arts without equal in past or present, you are most resplendent in rank, stipend and reputation. In just the same way, if the mind stops with the sword with which a man is going to strike you, there will be an interval, and your own action will be lost. Right-mindedness is a matter of extreme importance. When this is acquired by the human body, it is called one's nature. Again, this is not something that does not exist. Among retainers as well, there are likely those who are famous and those who are not. When it enters your eye, it will realize the eye's function. Can it not be said that the action of stone and spark has the speed of a lightning flash? I have written at length about this above. Human-heartedness, right-mindedness, propriety, wisdom--the substance is the same, but the names are different. 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. THE MYSTERIOUS RECORD OF IMMOVABLE WISDOM THE AFFLICTION OF ABIDING IN IGNORANCE The term ignorance means the absence of enlightenment. Right-mindedness is considered to be the substance devoid of perversity that is the core of the human mind; and in using the straightness in that core of the mind as a plumb-line, everything produced will exhibit right-mindedness. The word seriousness is elaborated on by the saying, "One aim with no distractions. This pertains to the person who has been enlightened concerning the cause of the Buddha's appearance in the world. Lord and retainer are not words used for people below these in rank, but for the present we will use them in that way. Obtaining the state of Buddhahood is like planting pear trees and then watching them grow. Benevolence is its function. Iki Bay is in Ise. If she agreed to meet, she would take it inside. In Buddhism the mentality of seriousness is not the deepest level. When there is an object of thought in the mind, discrimination and thoughts will arise. Moreover, even if the existence of the body were not denied, it is so vague that it is difficult to see. At that time you will get your reward.". Let's say I know six or seven things out of a hundred. You should make this your own personal experience. In northeastern Japan there was once the custom of setting up a branch of honeysuckle at the entrance of the house of one's intended. Everyone, without exception, is equipped with it, it is inadequate for no one, and it is perfectly entire. Both ideas should be kept in mind. At the Bay of IkiOn branches grown thickWith pears that ripen,with pears that do not;Are they not faithfulEven in sleep? Thus I suppose that, in meeting someone like this, there is nothing that could be done. If the ingredients are weak, the broth will be weak. 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. 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. Treading on water is just like treading on land, and treading on land is just like treading on water. How much more so where you meet him face to face? "Interval" is when two things come one upon another, and not even a hairsbreadth can be slipped in between them. This is because when the mind stops at something, as the breast is filled with various judgments, there are various movements within it. Buddhahood (Bukka), lit. For the human being, too, earth is mother and heaven is father, and the phenomenon that becomes the child is something brought in and lodged from another place. This is something that nobody knows: from some offbeat inclination, one may be pulled along into bad habits and fall into evil. Saigyo (1118-90): A Shingon priest of the late Heian period famous for his wanderings and highly admired as a poet. immediately. If the core of the mind and like-mindedness are achieved, not one in ten thousand affairs will ever turn out poorly. Besides being homonyms, the characters for ka (effect) and ka (fruit) resemble each other, providing opportunities in the following pages for some untranslatable punning. Namu Amida Butsu, "Homage to the Buddha Amitabha," is the liturgical and meditative formula of faith of, particularly, the Pure Land Buddhists. This form is made with the intent of pointing out to men that if their immovable wisdom is let go, even if a body have a thousand arms, everyone will be of use. That you enjoy ranbu, that you are prideful of your own ability in No, and that you push yourself in among the provincial lords showing off this ability, I earnestly believe to be a sickness. 1. Without touching real water and real fire, one will not know these things. For the man who can make his immovable wisdom apparent and who is able to physically practice this mental dharma as well as Fudo Myoo, the evil spirits will no longer proliferate. Ships from and sold by … Consciousness (Skt. This is a matter of shame. ", 16. The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom (不動智神妙録, fudōchishinmyōroku) was a letter written to Yagyū Munenori by the Japanese Buddhist monk Takuan Sōhō. The Correct Mind shows itself by extending the mind throughout the body. Glancing at something and not stopping the mind is called immovable. The ordinary man is unable to see beyond Form. But there are also occasions of a present Latent Cause accompanied by a present Manifest Effect, a Latent Cause in the past followed by a present Manifest Effect, and a Latent Cause in the present followed by a Manifest Effect in the future. From the Golden Light Sutra: "The Absolute Body of the Buddha is like Emptiness. Distinguishing...with the unaided eye means the eye's function, or measurement by the eye . It indicates the time when one receives wisdom without a teacher and generates mysterious ability without trying to do so. If the lord is not correct, none of his retainers and friends will be correct. Neither advance a step nor retreat a step means taking neither one step forward nor one step to the rear. Is not this the Way of Lord and Retainer? See here … Always go straight ahead, considering what is right to be right, and what is wrong tobe wrong, while observing this principle in all things. Push it to a place where there can be failure, and there will be failure. This religion, that religion, there are various kinds but at their deepest points they are all settled in one conclusion. And for this reason, he suffers insult. The title translates roughly to The Mysterious Records of Immovable Wisdom. It goes from one world to the next, appearing sooner or later, and is something that cannot be avoided. 23. Because there is Power, Function accords performance to all things. Even though one may say such things, if a man has not been enlightened, you may explain for a hundred days and he may listen for a hundred days, but he is little likely to gain the Way. Thus I say, "The enemy does not see me.". He will damage his own blade or injure his own hand, and will fall short of adroitness means that he will definitely break off the tip of his own sword, will cut his own hand, and is unlikely ever to be called skillful. Its significance is in warning us not to search for the lost mind or to tie it down in one place. What is called meta-existence is not the least bit different from thinking of things in this present existence. Mugaku meant that in wielding the sword, in the infinitesimal time it takes lightning to strike, there is neither mind nor thought. Ship This Item — Temporarily Out of Stock Online. It is very nearly the body's center of gravity and is referred to often in martial arts' literature. THE MYSTERIOUS RECORD OF IMMOVABLE WISDOMTHE AFFLICTION OF ABIDING IN IGNORANCE. We go on thinking that the tree is concealing Mount Fuji. Being like a rock or tree, one is not likely to act with right-mindedness for his master's sake. T o be able to see the one without seeing the other is a singular thing. Not departing from desire, but realizing a desireless right-mindedness--this is the Way .". [22] But because it has the faculties of seeing and hearing, in the middle of a dream while the physical eyes and ears do not help out, a different form is produced and seeing and hearing take place. Those who receive a kind word from their lord and devote their lives to him also die a death of right-mindedness. How regrettable, that the mind has so impaled me. It is called right-mindedness. If you took the latter part of this verse, "I can only hope/your mind be not detained..." it could be cited as hitting the very essence of the martial arts. His form being weak and not clearly seen, we do not see a person in meta-existence. Even though the mud exists, we are not to be distressed by this. If this is the case, he will be despised by all and the neighboring provinces will hold him in contempt. In this one sees the sense of the beginning being the same as the end, as when one counts from one to ten, and the first and last numbers become adjacent. Starting with ignorance, each causes the next in the chain, so if ignorance is eliminated, old age and death will not occur. Certainly the cuckoos in the mountains and the nightingales of the valley recite their own songs. From the Pi Yen Lu: "There is no set way for manifesting this great ability. So much of the built landscape of the Australian bush stinks of what might have been, even some areas quite close to major cities. The Mysterious record of immovable wisdom --The clear sound of jewels --Annals of the Sword Taia. But there are none who value right-mindedness even though it is what should be valued most. Its speed--even lightning cannot keep up with it. Within this body solidified by desire is concealed the absolutely desireless and upright core of the mind. While hands, feet and body may move, the mind does not stop any lace at all, and one does not know where it is. Bodhidharma: The first patriarch of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism in China, he is said to have arrived in that country from India in either A.D. 470 or 520. This is certainly most reasonable. The earth is a mother and heaven a father. Thus should you look straight into things. "Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. This means that if one disciplines himself in this way, exhaustively tempering this pure metal a thousand times over, and becomes instantly free like the quick unsheathing of a sword, he should be like the founder of the Han Dynasty, controlling all under heaven with a single sword. When this present existence comes to an end, there is what is called meta-existence. THE MIND OF THE EXISTENT MIND AND THE MIND OF NO-MIND. As a desired state of mind, it contains a certain sense of meditation as well. Admitting this, we should not dispose of each and every case as either one or the other. 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.[1]. When the foot is called for, one should use the mind that is in the foot. Buy Fudochi Shin Myoroku: The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom by Soho, Takuan, Manaka, Fumio, shahan, eric (ISBN: 9781536952957) from Amazon's Book Store. In the end, they starved to death. Since this is something that is out of the ordinary, people doubt these events and either blame them on the transformations of foxes and raccoon dogs, or explain them as illusory visions of the dead. When the mind is melted and is used like water, extending throughout the body, it can be sent wherever one wants to send it. He responded, "There are many people in this world who cannot abide being insulted and who will quickly, along with their foes of the moment, throw away their lives in a fight. This is because there is something in your mind. One does not divine this by impressions or knowledge. The meaning of this is that the setting up of the honeysuckle is the Latent Cause of getting married. Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. When we speak of the gods, we do not limit them, one god to one place. The No-Mind is placed nowhere. Because of that, I place my mind just below my navel and do not let it wander. If there were one person in a thousand, then there would be a hundred in a hundred thousand, and for any eventuality there would be a hundred thousand men available. At this level there is a tightening up of the mind and not an iota of negligence is allowed. ", The latter part of the sentence is from Pi Yen Lu, a collection of Zen problems, sayings and stories of the patriarchs. It we speak thusly and there be those who deny what we say, it would be best to look at the innermost thoughts and actions of the people who lecture and listen to the Confucian Classics. Depictions in film. Heaven: Realm of the Devas. Achala.) 6. The monk then asked T'ou-tze, "What does it mean, 'Throw a ball into a swift current?'" Shakyamuni's holding the flower and Kashyapa's subtle smile. The spear is a weapon. The original pages from an Edo Era book are reproduced followed by a transliteration of the script, followed by a modern Japanese translation as well as an English translation. The mind that thinks about removing what is within it will by the very act be occupied. One may expound fully on the nature of fire, but the mouth will not become hot. Because consciousness discriminates and forms prejudices, it abhors the ugly and adheres to the beautiful, and according to its attachments, the carnal body moves. Ch'eng Ying and Ch'u Chiu died together for the sake of right-mindedness. Something that jumped out at me about Takuan’s writings is his reference to the mind of the beginner as something close to the mind of the master. It is like pushing down the gourd in the water. The quotation is from Mencius (Bk 6, pt. But when you think that a man will not hesitate to throw away the life he so values for the sake of right-mindedness, the value of right-mindedness is greater than life itself. It has neither adornment nor anything else that would draw men's attention to it. Concerning this matter, the man who forgets about both land and water should arrive at this principle for the first time. This self is the self within me, the birds and the beasts, the grasses and the trees and all phenomena. If you put your mind in the eye, it will be taken by the eye, and your body will lack its functioning. one should raise a clenched fist. The first and third are letters addressed to the swordmasters of two different schools, and the second is an essay according to Takuan’s thoughts on the subject of right …

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