Dear All
Gassho
In the new Tokuhon, as in the old Fukudokuhon, the topic of shin ryoku, (mental strength) is discussed.
It states
"It is important for a Shorinji Kempo practitioner to nourish daily the guts (courage) needed so that whatever the circumstances one is not disconcerted, one feels neither dread nor confusion, one's breathing and Ki are unaffected, and one can deal with anything while maintaining a natural state of calm (Heijoshin.)"
I was talking to my wife last night whilst watching some rubbish movie about Sandra Bullock, playing a cop, scouring a house for a murderer.
Emma bans me from reality comments during such tripe but it was too much and I started to pour scorn; "why isn't she looking scared/breathing hard/didn't she wait for backup/go back to her car and get a pump action shotgun/switch the lights on? etc."
Which started a conversation about what it's like to look for somebody in a dark building at night knowing that they could be dangerous if you catch them.
I'm not afraid to say, from personal experience, that it's frightening and your heart beats very fast and you're scared.
But I'm also of the opinion that adrenalin has a natural heightening effect on the senses and as long as you can go some way to harnessing its benefits you will be faster, more focused and better prepared to deal with whatever happens.
I believe that few people are impervious to fear, and I'm dubious as to any claim that it's a skill that all can acquire through any practice.
But there are some.
In a documentary shown on channel 4 as part of "The Sopranos" season finale last Sunday evening; there was an interview with a real Mafia hit man. The program, entitled, "The Iceman Confesses: Secrets of a Mafia Hit man" introduced Richard Kuklinski to the viewing public.
An account of a prison visit by a writer and Kuklinski's chilling biog can be found here or here
Interestingly at the end of the TV interview the interviewer, (a trick cyclist of distinction,) asked Kuklinski what he wanted to ask him.
Kuklinski paused then said “what do you think of me?” and the psychiatrist passed judgement about how he was born missing something that made him feel fear and horror like the rest of us, he used analogies of famous war heroes who he stated were similar, unlike the heroes; however; Kuklinski wasn't bound by any form of restraint and experimented with others suffering in a quest to provoke a reaction in himself, testing his own limits of humanity.
I had never seen anyone that wasn't capable of fear and thus beyond any reasonable constraint thus personifying evil, but at one point in the programme the psychiatrist annoyed Kuklinski, he recounts;
"Then without even knowing it, I triggered a response in him that chilled me to the bone. New Jersey State Supervising Investigator Paul Smith had warned me about the “shark look.” Smith, who was a key member of the task force that investigated, arrested, and successfully prosecuted the Iceman, refused to elaborate. “You’ll know it when you see it” was all he would say. Smith was right. I did know it when I saw it.
I had shown Kuklinski a note he had sent me along with a newspaper clipping regarding the recent sentencing of reputed Genovese crime family capo Louis “Streaky” Gatto.
I read the items he had written on the note out loud: “Blazing Bucks Ranch… Serrone Pastries… Rt. 46 W…. Howard Johnson… 10 pops… Hawaiian Moon….”
Suddenly his face contorted and froze, and his eyes rolled back. For a split second I could see only white in his eyes.
Sharks roll their eyes back this way in the instant before they attack.
The Iceman didn’t raise his hands or motion toward me in any way, but he didn’t have to.
If the Devil has a face, for a split second I saw it.
I immediately dropped that line of questioning and moved on to something else. (The “shark look” reappeared later in the interview when I asked Kuklinski about one of his children.)"
I believe that Kuklinski truly demonstrates Heijoshin; indeed he spoke about his dislike of killing people with a chain saw because it ruined his shirt and makes a big mess to clean up afterwards, but would you really want it, at such a cost?
Ade