Wei Wu Wei

Also known as “Wu Wei”

cf. Chapter 63 of the Tao Te Ching

THE UNFETTERED MIND

WRITINGS OF THE ZEN MASTER TO THE SWORD MASTER

link: https://www.yama-dojo.ca/resources/Zen%20-%20Takuan%20Soho%20-%20The%20Unfettered%20Mind.pdf

The Buddhist priest Bukkoku wrote:

Although it does not mindfully keep guard,

In the small mountain fields

the scarecrow does not stand in vain.

Again, we can speak with reference to your own martial art. As the beginner knows

nothing about either his body posture or the positioning of his sword, neither does his

mind stop anywhere within him.

If a man strikes at him with the sword, he simply meets

the attack without anything in mind.

As he studies various things and is taught the diverse ways of how to take a stance, the

manner of grasping his sword and where to put his mind, his mind stops in many places.

Now if he wants to strike at an opponent, he is extraordinarily discomforted. Later, as

days pass and time piles up, in accordance with his practice, neither the postures of his

body nor the ways of grasping the sword are weighed in his mind.

His mind simply becomes as it was in the beginning when he knew nothing and had yet to be taught

anything at all.

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.