Likes Likes:  7
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Heijoshin, or what is a normal mind

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Posts
    271
    Likes (received)
    139

    Default Heijoshin, or what is a normal mind

    A friend asked me to research and write about the concept of heijoshin 平常心. It took a little longer than I had expected, but this blog is the result.

    http://budobum.blogspot.com/2015/11/...heijoshin.html

    Heijoshin is literally "normal mind" but it doesn't seem very normal to me. What do you think?
    Peter Boylan
    Mugendo Budogu LLC
    Fine Budo Books, Videos, Clothes and Equipment Direct from Japan
    http://www.budogu.com

    Find my Budo Blog at http://budobum.blogspot.com/

  2. Likes mkrueger liked this post
  3. #2
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1,190
    Likes (received)
    350

    Default

    Yes. What you said.

  4. Likes pboylan, mkrueger liked this post
  5. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    1,394
    Likes (received)
    84

    Default

    Interesting read.
    Chris Thomas

    "While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."

    "Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
    Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.

  6. Likes pboylan liked this post
  7. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    19
    Likes (received)
    4

    Default What I think . . . Good Blogging . . .

    Quote Originally Posted by pboylan View Post
    A friend asked me to research and write about the concept of heijoshin 平常心. It took a little longer than I had expected, but this blog is the result.

    http://budobum.blogspot.com/2015/11/...heijoshin.html

    Heijoshin is literally "normal mind" but it doesn't seem very normal to me. What do you think?
    1. I think you give good blog; good enough to make me think first and open my big maw later . . . er . . . now. (Actually I'm typing this . . . SEMANTIC ARGUMENTS ALWAYS HINGE ON LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE MEANINGS and HOW those are established and maintained. Buddhist or Budo or whatever . . .)
    2. I think all us Budo Bums might knuckle under and look (just a little, just now and then; no harm will come to you) to Western thought to enhance our brains and brawns. I suggest Antonio Damasio in the realm of current brain science and Baruch Spinoza in philosophy . . .
    3. I see what the spaghetti metaphor is getting at, but I do not think it particularly apt. The "mind" as currently viewed in neuroscientfic circles as a lot better organized than that; out on the edge between me and the cosmos is my whole peripheral nervous system and that is the source of feelings which are indentified as emotions and are, in fact, the concrete upon which "mind" is built and maintained. Your point, though, is well taken: it is all one process and the old Cartesian silliness shown to be illusion at best and delusion at worst. That last is important to restate, IMHO: self is a useful illusion, built out of my brain's capacity to construct images . . . BUT it is USEFUL even if limited, contingent, impermanent, passing away . . . it is adaptive evolutionarily even if it can be the source of pathology.
    4. It is interesting that we think of ordinary, normal, everyday, etc. "minds" as goals of attainment, no? It is helpful to me to recall that self is an illusion built in mind which is a function of brain . . . there are no true or false minds or selves in the first place, then. Not two. The no, ordinary ("everyday" is my preferred term-notion-idea), original, etc. minds are ways of looking at lived experience and STATES of mind which rest upon . . . just and only . . . . mind-brain. Again, affirm please that self is a USEFUL illusion and "real" in my everyday experience.
    5. You know Otake Risuke's TSKSR use of the saying "Heiho wa heiho nari" (兵法は平法なり)? I have always taken this visual punning to suggest that martial study is no different than everyday study and that everyday study is no different than budo study--budo is an mundane as properly charging the toilet paper roll in a way pleasing to one's spouse . . . er. . . .sorry.
    6. This also leads me back to the Heart Sutra . . . wherever you go, there you are . . . whatever mind you have (mu, hei, whaddever) it is your everyday mind . . . drop the goals and get on with practice. It is NOTHING SPECIAL and yet . . . maybe: the universe doesn't give two ryo about your fracking budo . . . but go ahead . . . just in case.

    Thanks, thanks, thanks . . . you do give good blog.

  8. Likes pboylan, pgsmith, mkrueger liked this post

Similar Threads

  1. Zen Mind, Beginners Mind
    By Prince Loeffler in forum Meditation
    Replies: 37
    Last Post: 16th October 2017, 14:09
  2. How much do you really want Heijoshin?
    By Ade in forum Shorinji Kempo
    Replies: 37
    Last Post: 19th January 2016, 17:46
  3. Is this normal?
    By risingsun in forum Meditation
    Replies: 23
    Last Post: 1st July 2008, 20:00
  4. Do you ever train wih "normal clothes", shoes, etc?
    By Tripitaka of AA in forum Shorinji Kempo
    Replies: 28
    Last Post: 14th March 2008, 12:13
  5. The Mind
    By luar in forum Meditation
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 17th October 2001, 22:56

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •