In the recent thread “let’s see you do that with shinken”, a lively debate was raged regarding the efficacy of pursuits such as Zen, Chado, etc. in developing the enigmatic state of mind known as Mushin. For the first ten of the twenty plus years that I have been practicing martial arts I firmly believed this as well. Then about ten years ago I joined the International Hoplology Society and started reading about combative behavior outside of martial arts literature. I have primarily read works that look at the roots of violent behavior in men, such as,
“The Two Faces of Combatives”, Hunter Armstrong
“Training the Use-of-Arms Professional: Effect-Not Display”, Hunter Armstrong
“Approach-Close-Enter”, Hunter Armstrong
“The Koryu Bujutsu Experience”, Hunter Armstrong
“The Professional Perspective: Thoughts on the Koryu Bujutsu from a United States Marine”, George Bristol
“Marishiten: Buddhist Influence on Combative Behavior”, David Hall
“Paleolithic Adaptive Traits and The Fighting Man”, Richard Hayes
Among The Thugs, Bill Buford
Ecological Imperialism, Alfred Crosby
The Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
The Dark Side of Man, Michael Ghilglieri
On Killing, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
The Western Way of War, Victor Hanson
Acts of War, Richard Holmes
The Biology of Peace and War, Irenaus Eibl-Elbesfeldt
War Before Civilization, Liam Keeley
Man the Hunter, ED. By Lee and Devore
Men Against Fire, S.L.A. Marshall
The Biology of Violence, Debra Niehoff
Demonic Males, Wrangham and Peterson
I have also played around with some close quarters combative training in the past few years, primarily Fairbairn’s Defendu. So my first hand, or emic, experience comes from the practice of koryu bujutsu and CQB classes. All of this reading has left me firmly convinced that the best way to develop the proper mindset for Budo is to partake in activities that simulate combative stress as closely as possible, mainly, koryu Bujutsu practice. I was also left thinking that 99% of what I had read in “martial arts” books about the “Warrior” mindset, or the Zen, Chado, etc. links to martial arts was utter rubbish.
But, in light of the current debate, I decided to re-examine my thoughts on the matter. Where did my early thoughts about Zen and the like come from? Well, I had remembered reading Zen in the Martial Arts, by Joe Hyams, and Herrrigal’s Zen and the Art of Archery, among other things. I also decided to read some books on Zen, including some of D.T. Suzuki’s stuff. He was really big on the Zen-Martial Arts connection, although he never was an acolyte of either. Looking back, these books are all total rubbish, but they romanticized the Samurai fiction that I firmly believed in at that time (I should add that I was an impressionable teenager when I started martial arts). But I ask my self now, is there more evidence to be had about an actual connection. Then it hit me, I had been overlooking a couple of major works, that are widely available in English, and actually arry some weight. .The first is William Scott Wilson’s translation of The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman, by Takuan Soho, and Wilson’s translation of Miyamoto Musashi’s “A Book of Five Rings”. Now, I don’t read Japanese so I am in no place to say whether or not these are accurate or decent translations of these works, but they are important pieces in the Zen mind/Budo mind puzzle. I also reread one of the Donn F. Draeger monographs that I have, entitled “Zen and the Japanese Warrior”. All of these works leads me to re-examine my position and to believe that there is a valid link between these arts. I am very curious to see what others here have to say about this.