Still Life

I suggested in the previous instalment of this series, that I would show you a way to incorporate Zen Buddhism or at least aspects of it into a 21^st century lifestyle.  First I need to give a brief introduction into the small part of Buddhism that you will need to adopt in order to allow you to grow.  I also need to demonstrate how the current Western culture may be holding you back in this regard too. Before I start, I am not that arrogant to presume that I can enlighten you in any manner whatsoever, all I am doing is giving an indication of some of the tools at our disposal so that we may begin to unlock the doors to our potential.

Zen Buddhism is split into two main philosophies, the Rinzai or Warrior Sect, and the Soto or Farmers Sect, although if you look into the history of Zen there are many more expressions. Both Sects train to reach a state they call Mushin, which sort of translates as ‘mind in no mind’. This is a state that is not exclusive to Zen Buddhists, in fact you may have seen it many, many times before, but not realised.  If you watch any top international sportsmen perform at their very best, they are likely to be in a state of Mushin.

To reach a mastery in any sport takes around 10-15 years of constant, concerted and very hard practice.  The very best have practiced their sport so much, that the movements, and strategies or tactics, become automatic or second nature.  That is, the sportsmen allow the movements to occur as needed without conscious hindrance. Conscious thought at this level, no matter how fast you believe you can think, becomes an anchor or serves as a handbrake.

Conscious thought not only serves as a handbrake in sports performance, but also in everyday life. However, 21^st Century living has got to a point where this busy mind is the norm, and we feel uncomfortable when we don’t keep our minds in this state. Don’t believe me? Many of you are reading this on Facebook, don’t get me wrong I think Facebook is a wonderful tool, but…how many people do you know who have to constantly check Facebook? It’s got to a point where people, especially since the advent of smart phones, check the updates every few minutes, even during meal times with loved ones. This is not limited to Facebook, but I wanted to give a current example of how we as a society crave external distractions in an attempt to fill the emptiness. It’s in the emptiness that the magic happens.

If you take my example above, of the sports champions, it is at moments of stillness in the mind that the awesome potential of humankind is realised, not during times of frantic occupation.  How many times have you been stumped for an answer to a question that you know, but for the life of you can’t recall from the recesses of your mind, but then later on that day or many days later, the answer pops into your mind? This is the same process. The busy-ness of your mind was preventing the connections to be made, as soon as you allowed the mind to be still, it did what it is more than capable of and provided the solution.

To begin to attain the ability to enter Mushin, we need to use a method that introduces the stillness that our current life lacks. At first you may need to create an artificial situation so that you can allow yourself to develop the idea.  I say ‘allow’ and not ‘try’ because entering a state of Mushin requires a passive approach, not one that you can make happen, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the harder you try, the further you will be from attainment.

The method we use to develop this state is meditation. You may feel a little foolish at first, as I said before we are not used to; in this culture at least, stillness. To begin with, you will probably need to set aside a regular time to practice, probably about 10-15 minutes at first, then a little longer as you develop. Although, you could split this into smaller segments of five minutes and practice a few times every day, this will help with the application of meditation later.

At first it will help to use a quiet, calm place, with little external noise or motion that may distract you, again, at later stages, the distractions will be part of the environment we will choose to utilise the state of Mushin. But to begin to learn, a peaceful, natural place helps.

A comfortable posture is helpful, so use something similar to the lotus pose from yoga, although you don’t have to cross your legs as far, as this may cause discomfort to your ankles and knees, an unnecessary distraction. In this pose you can close your eyes, to remove visual distractions, but as you get better, you may want to practice with eyes open. A good intermediate step is to use a candle and focus on the flickering flame.

Breathing is very important as it modulates your nervous system, I’ll write a separate piece on breathing, but for the time being simply allow your belly to swell when breathing in, and allow it to return to flat when breathing out.

You can also use a mantra to filter out distractions.  Some people use the word Aum (Om) as they are exhaling, you don’t have to, you could quite easily repeat a line from one of your favourite music tracks. It’s just a way of keeping your mind centred.

This artificial setup is the first step to utilising Zen in your daily life, so that growth may occur.  In the next article I’ll show you the steps to dropping the artificial cues above; so that we can incorporate and increase the frequency and duration of the time we spend in a state of Mushin. This, as explained above, is the key to physical and mental performance.  When you take the brakes off of your potential, you can see what your engine is really capable of. 禪