Resources on Mushin-no-shin (the Mind of No Mind)

In the desire to improve in kendo and free the mind from limiting thoughts, I enjoy the practice of developing the mind and heart.  Here’s a compilation of some resources (below) in English on the subject of mushin-no-shin 無心の心 (the mind of no mind) or, in short, mushin 無心 (no mind). Among them, the book entitled The Unfettered Mind by the Zen Buddhist priest Takuan Soho seems particularly comprehensive and illuminating.

Float more.  Steer less.  – John H. Styn

The resources are categorized as follows:

• Mushin in General:
  • Books on Mushin – Openly Available On-line
    
  • Additional Books on Mushin
  • General Articles on Mushin
• Mushin for Particular Arts and Sports:
  • Articles on Mushin in Kendo
  • Articles on Mushin in Budo and Related Arts
  • Articles on Mushin in Sports
• On Potential Ways to Shift into Mushin
• Quotes on Mushin
• Articles on Related Topics:
  • Open Awareness, Open Monitoring Meditation (OMM), Open Mind
  • Choiceless Awareness and Mindfulness
  • “We are Not Our Thoughts”
  • Ways of Paying Attention

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Mushin in General

• Books on Mushin – Openly Available On-line
  • Takuan Soho (沢庵 宗彭):
    • The Unfettered Mind:  Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman, Translated by William Scott Wilson, Shambhala, 2012.
      • Online version (PDF, 48 pages).
      • Wikipedia on The Unfettered Mind.
    • “Undisturbed Wisdom,” Translated by Dennis E. Lshka (PDF, 5 pages).
    • Peter Haskel, Sword of Zen:  Master Takuan and His Writings on Immovable Wisdom and the Sword Taie, Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 2012 (PDF, 33 pages).
    • More resources on Takuan Soho.
  • Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, D. Litt., Manual of Zen Buddhism, 1935, (PDF, 122 pages)
    • The section on mushin is on PDF pp. 87-89 (hardcopy pages pp. 80-82) and in the context of letting go of mind-related attachments.
  • Kusumoto Bunyu, An Introduction to Zen Words and Phrases, Tokyo: Daihorin-kaku Co., 1982.  (久須本⽂雄, 禅語⼊門 Zengo Nyumon) (PDF, 449 pages)
    • The section on mushin is on PDF pp. 54-58.
  • Minoru Kiyota, Kendo: Philosphy, History and Means to Personal Growth, Shambhala, 2002 (Book).
    • Pages 2 to 5 in Section 2 of Chapter 1: “Mushin: An Altered State of Consciousness” (PDF, 17 pages).

• Additional Books on Mushin
  • Joe Hyams, Zen in the Martial Arts, Bantam, 1982.
    • The chapter “Mushin: Let Your Mind Flow” on pp. 81-88.
  • Some more books which I have not read:
    • Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Christmas Humphreys, The Zen Doctrine of No Mind, 1991.
    • Ernst Vaughn, Arnold and W. Dan Hausel, Mushin:  A Right-Brain State of Awareness that is the Artist within the Martial Artist, 2015.
    • Michael Veltri, The Mushin Way to Peak Performance: The Path to Productivity, Balance, and Success, Wiley, 2017.
    • Manaka Unsui, Robert R. Gray, Kakusei-mushin:  A Research Study on the Ideal Mental State in Martial Arts, 2017.
    • Kanthrisa and Ramakrishna A V, Notes of Mushin, 2015.

• General Articles on Mushin
  • Charles Muller, in the Section “The Meaning of No-Thought” of the Article “Innate Enlightenment and No-thought:  A Response to the Critical Buddhist Position on Zen,” Int’l Conf. on Sôn at Paekyang-sa, Kwangju, Korea, Aug. 1998.
  • “Mushin”, Iaido-Aiki Toho Iaiai (PDF, 3 pages).
    • Christopher Caile, “Mushin – The State of Mind,” FightingArts.com (the same article).
  • Wendell E. Wilson, “Mushin and Zanshin,” MinRec.org, 2010 (PDF, 4 pages).
  • “What is ‘Mushin’ Meditation and Why is it Important?” Japan Info, Jun 17, 2016.
  • “No-Form, No thought, No Mind,” A Fettered Mind, April 16, 2012.
  • Rahul Singh, “The State of No Thought,” LifeBeginner.com, Aug 5, 2016.
  • Wikipedia:  Mushin_(mental_state)
  • Wikipedia:  Flow (psychology)

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Mushin for Particular Arts and Sports

• Articles on Mushin in Kendo
  • Geoff Salmon, “Getting lost in the moment,” KendoInfo.net, May 2004.
  • George McCall, “Pursuing the spirit of and modern kendo” (five-part series), kenshi247.net, 2011 (Sections 4 and 5 mention mushin).
  • Hafiz, “Mushin,” KendoMushin.Blogspot.com, Jan 2008.
  • “Mushin = Non-Abiding Mind = No Mind,” ShoshinRyu.org

• Articles on Mushin in Budo and Related Martial Arts
  • “Mushin:  The Mind without Mind,” Aikido-no-Sekai, Mar 23, 2014.
  • Norm Robitza, “Mushin: Empty Mind,” Senshin: The Enlightened Mind, Nov 27, 2012.
  • Richard L. Light, “Mushin and learning in and beyond budo,” Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology, 2014.
  • Austin Ormonde, “Mushin – No Mind,” gojubudo.com, Jan 10, 2015.

• Articles on Mushin in Sports
  • Taylor Spalding, “Mushin at the Masters,” GoldenGolf.com.
  • “Mushin and flow,” YSCSportsMentalEdge.com, Aug 2, 2012.

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On Potential Ways to Shift into Mushin

• Tim Rosanelli, “Two Easy Steps to Achieve a Mushin State of Mind,” Everyday Sensei, – Ancient Karate Secrets to Modern Success, Sept. 30, 2011.
• “Open-Focus, Mushin and Kendo,” KendoNotes.com, May 3, 2016.
• “‘Soft Eyes,’ A Way of Seeing and Being – Resources and Quotes,” KendoNotes.com, Dec. 21, 2018.
• “The Zen of No Mind (or How to Live Happily in the Present),” NeuroAlchemist.com, Mar 20, 2016.
• Acharya Shree Shankar, “How to Stop Thinking & Achieve No-Mind.”
  • To help clarify the intent, there may be a potential typo in Paragraph 3, line 4 “Neither trytries to stop…”

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Quotes on Mushin

• Quotes related to “Mushin” can be found in Quotes on Mushin, Flow and Open-Focus.

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Articles on Related Topics:

• Open Awareness, Open Monitoring Meditation (OMM), Open Mind
  
  • These approaches to meditation (in contrast to that of Focused Attention Meditation) seems quite related to mushin.
    • Articles on OMM can be found in “Ways to Meditate” under the “Articles” section of Resources on Meditation (黙想 mokusou).
    • An Open Mind vs. Focused Mind is described in Bodhipaksa, “Open mind: focused mind,” WildMind Meditation, December 19, 2013.
    • Open Awareness, Focused Attenion and “Effortless Presence” is described in:  Alfred James, “Focused Attention Vs. Open Awareness Meditation – What’s the Difference?” PocketMindfulness.com
• The “Gap” Between Thoughts
  • Chetan More, “Mindfulness: Awareness in (the) Gap Between Thoughts or Gap Between Breaths,”  TheChoicelessAwareness.com, November 19, 2017.
• Choiceless Awareness and Mindfulness
  • This state of being seems quite related to mushin and is described in the sub-section “Beyond Thoughts and Feelings: Choice Awareness” in the section entitled “Mark Williams, John Teasdale,…” in Quotes on Meditation and Mindfulness – Related to Thoughts and Thinking.
• “We are Not Our Thoughts”
  • Nancy Colier, “Why Our Thoughts Are Not Real – One physical world, but billions of different internal worlds.”  Psychology Today, Aug, 23, 2013.
  • Eckhart Tolle, “You Are Not Your Mind,” SoulFullLiving.com
  • Heather Stone, “Look:  You are Not Your Mind,” DrHeatherStone.com (PDF, 4 pages)
  • Michael Jeffreys, “Want Peace?  Stop Identifying with Your Thoughts,” Collective-Evolution, April 24, 2014.
• Ways of Paying Attention
  • William Reed, “Concentration and the Martial Arts,” an Interview with Dr. Robert M. Nideffer (PDF, 10 pages).  (On the very related topics of: broad vs. narrow and external vs. internal ways of paying attention and being “in the zone” or “choking under pressure”)
  • Robert M. Nideffer, PhD, “Getting into the Optimal Performance State,” Enhanced-Performance.com (PDF, 20 pages)