Originally Posted by
pboylan
Ah, the usage you are suggesting may be special to Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. Ushin in standard Japanese means something like "having discretion" or "having good judgement" which is certainly not the antithesis of mushin. Thanks for teaching me about this word. I missed it my first time through the dictionary.
It's not so much special to YSR as special to Zen. Note that the definition also includes, "attachment, distraction". The Japanese dictionary includes such things as 物にとらわれた心 "a mind captured by things" and 妄念 mounen "distracting idea, irrelevant thoughts".
Incidentally, the Goo.ne.jp Japanese dictionary sets up the Buddhist meanings as antonyms of each other. The mushin definition "mind free of all distracting thoughts (mounen)" points to ushin, while the ushin definition quoted above points back to mushin.
Of course, inasmuch as ushin has both Zen meanings and non-Zen meanings, so does mushin. It can mean both "innocent" and "insentient". Perhaps not directly relevant to the budo/Zen/YSR concepts of mushin, but IMO highly of reference!
Josh Reyer
Swa sceal man don, žonne he ęt guše gengan ženceš longsumne lof, na ymb his lif cearaš. - The Beowulf Poet