マインドフルネス瞑想(仏教瞑想)には,二側面あるいは二段階ある。それは止観,つまり,止行と観行のことであり,前者が集中瞑想(サマタ瞑想),後者が観察瞑想(ヴィパッサナー瞑想)に当たる。瞑想によって気づきを得ることが仏道の核心だとすれば,止と観をひたすら実践することが修行となる。このとき,まずは止行によって集中力を養う。具体的には呼吸に意識を向け続ける。この集中力を基盤として,呼吸のみならず身体全体へと意識を拡げていく。このとき,どこにも意識を止めることなく,身体全体を観察する。これが観行である。沢庵の言う「敬」とはまさに止行における心構えのことであり,いわば仏教瞑想の前半,あるいは基盤といえる。本質はさらにそこから観行へと移っていかなければならない。集中力は必要不可欠である。しかし,集中力だけでは世界を正しく捉えることはできない。バイアスのない観察力をもって世界を眺めてこそ,気づきを得ることができる。
Mindfulness meditation (Buddhism meditation) consists of two aspects or two steps. These are shikan; shi-gyo and kan-gyo, the former is focused attention meditation (samatha) and the latter open monitoring meditation (vipassana). Attaining awareness through meditation is the essence of Buddhism, and then their practice means executing shi and kan continuously. Here, the first thing they do is to develop concentration by shi-gyo. Concretely speaking, what they do is to continue directing consciousness on breathing. Based on this concentration, they would extend their consciousness to not only breathing but also all over the body. At this time, they should not be attached to anywhere, but monitor the whole body openly. This is kan-gyo. "Kei" stated by Takuan is just an attitude in shi-gyo, that is to say, the first half or the base of Buddhism meditation. Essentially, then they need to transfer from shi-gyo to kan-gyo. Concentration is indispensable. But, we can not understand the world in a right way only by concentration. Just observing the world with no bias enables us to attain awareness.
A Japanese psychologist and mindful martial artist, SHINTARO YUKAWA's personal essays on martial arts and ways as well as mindfulness, Zen and Tao, written both in Japanese and English. I will explore here the truth and quintessence of martial arts and ways, and hope you will know and share them. マインドフル・マーシャル・アーツ:禅とタオ (湯川進太郎・身体心理学)
January 25, 2019
January 08, 2019
After Reading Takuan: Part 20 不動智神妙録を読んで20
我々は普段,何かをしようと思って何かをする。例えば,手を上げようと思って手を上げる。戦いの場面であれば,敵を突こうと思って突く。切ろうと思って切る。しかし,沢庵はこれを戒める。何かをするとき,しようとさえ思わず,すでにしているその人こそその道の達人名人なのだと説く。しようという思いそれ自体が引っかかりとなって,自然で滑らかな動きを妨げることになる。実際,相手を強く突こうと思えば思うほど力みが出て,かえって強く突けない。だから,「突く」という作為的な意思なく突けていることが理想である。実は我々の身体も,本当は意思を必要としていない。手を上げようと思うごくわずか前に,すでに脳は手を上げる信号を発していることが,実験的に証明されている。我々は,自分自身の自由な意思のもとで手を動かしていると錯覚しているだけなのである。しようと思う意思(私)を手放していく。それが武道の目指すところであり,仏道の目指すところである。
We usually do something with the intention of doing it. For example, we raise our hand with the intention of raising it. In a case of fighting, we punch the enemy by the intention of punching him/her. We cut the enemy down by the intention of cutting him/her down. But, Takuan cautioned against this. He explained, it is a master or expert in the way who have done something with no intention when he/she must do it. The thought to intend to do itself is an obstacle, and prevents us from moving naturally and smoothly. Actually, the more strongly we want to punch an opponent, the more tense we become, and then we can not punch him/her strongly. Therefore, it is ideal to have punched him/her without an intentional thought to "punch." in reality, such intentional thought is not necessary for our soma. Researchers has found experimentally that our brain has generated a signal to raise the hand immediately before we have the thought to do it. We just have an illusion to make ourselves think that we move our hand of our own free will. Let go of the will (or "I") to intend to do something. That is the aim of Budo as well as Buddhism.
We usually do something with the intention of doing it. For example, we raise our hand with the intention of raising it. In a case of fighting, we punch the enemy by the intention of punching him/her. We cut the enemy down by the intention of cutting him/her down. But, Takuan cautioned against this. He explained, it is a master or expert in the way who have done something with no intention when he/she must do it. The thought to intend to do itself is an obstacle, and prevents us from moving naturally and smoothly. Actually, the more strongly we want to punch an opponent, the more tense we become, and then we can not punch him/her strongly. Therefore, it is ideal to have punched him/her without an intentional thought to "punch." in reality, such intentional thought is not necessary for our soma. Researchers has found experimentally that our brain has generated a signal to raise the hand immediately before we have the thought to do it. We just have an illusion to make ourselves think that we move our hand of our own free will. Let go of the will (or "I") to intend to do something. That is the aim of Budo as well as Buddhism.
December 27, 2018
After Reading Takuan: Part 19 不動智神妙録を読んで19
武術の達人と相対すれば,攻撃はすべて柔らかく吸収され,気がつけばすっかり制されてしまっていることだろう。それはまるで空気と戦っているかのようなものである。当てようと思っても当てられず,触れたかと思えばいなされ,投げられ,倒される。真に達人ともなれば,剛に対して剛で応ずることなく,柔でもって敵をさばく。それはまるで沢庵の言う,水の上の瓢箪のようである。押されればひらりと躱し,自在に動き,しかしいつまでもそこに在る。何とかしようとしても何ともならない。決して力任せに従わせることはできない。瓢箪を押す手とは,すなわち敵の攻撃である。敵の攻撃とは要するに,欲である。欲とは,私へのこだわりである。私へのこだわりが,私の自在な動きを止める。武術の達人が攻撃をふわりと避けるが如く,悟りへと辿り着いた人は私を含めた一切合切に囚われずマインドフルにただそこに在る。その自由自在な姿は,極めて武術的である。
If you confront a master of martial arts, all of your attacks will be absorbed softly, and you will become perfectly under the control of him/her in the blink of an eye. It is just as if you fight with the air. Whenever you try to hit him/her, you will not be able to do it. Immediately after you feel you touch him/her, you will be parried, thrown, and knocked down. True masters of martial arts would control enemies, who try to attack them by the hardness, by not the hardness but the softness. That is just like a gourd on the water, explained by Takuan. A master or gourd will parry and move freely whenever pushed, but remain there. Even if you try to make him/her obey, you can not exactly do that. You never enable him/her obey you forcibly. The hand to push a gourd is namely the attack of an enemy. The attack of an enemy is namely desires. Desires means attachment to the self. It makes you stop moving freely. As if a master of martial arts evade the attack softly, a person who have attained enlightenment would not be attached to everything including the self mindfully but remain there simply. That state with perfect freedom is completely like martial arts.
If you confront a master of martial arts, all of your attacks will be absorbed softly, and you will become perfectly under the control of him/her in the blink of an eye. It is just as if you fight with the air. Whenever you try to hit him/her, you will not be able to do it. Immediately after you feel you touch him/her, you will be parried, thrown, and knocked down. True masters of martial arts would control enemies, who try to attack them by the hardness, by not the hardness but the softness. That is just like a gourd on the water, explained by Takuan. A master or gourd will parry and move freely whenever pushed, but remain there. Even if you try to make him/her obey, you can not exactly do that. You never enable him/her obey you forcibly. The hand to push a gourd is namely the attack of an enemy. The attack of an enemy is namely desires. Desires means attachment to the self. It makes you stop moving freely. As if a master of martial arts evade the attack softly, a person who have attained enlightenment would not be attached to everything including the self mindfully but remain there simply. That state with perfect freedom is completely like martial arts.
December 22, 2018
After Reading Takuan: Part 18 不動智神妙録を読んで18
何か気になることや心配なことがあると,我々はついそれに注意が向いてしまい,他の物事に眼が行かなくなってしまう。仕事やスポーツのように,一点に集中すべきときにすべての意識をそこに注ぎ込むのは良い。しかし,そうでないときに何かに心が囚われていると,注意を即座に転換できず,何かが起きたときにすぐ対応できない。また,我々人間はそもそも,周囲の物事に対して,自分の興味関心に従って選択的に注意を向けている。なぜなら,認知的な処理資源には容量,つまり限界があるからである。気になることや心配なことは,注意をそこに固着してしまうのと同時に,この限られた認知的資源を消費してしまう。だから気にしないでおこうと心に思うのだが,その思い自体,認知的資源を使っていることになる。沢庵は,それにさえも使わないようにせよと助言する。そうすれば,限られた認知資源をフル活用できる。それこそが本当の意味での,無心の状態である。
When we are concerned or worried about something, we unintentionally pay attention to it, and become blind to the other things. It is not problematic to devote all of our attention to a point we should concentrate on, like jobs and sports. But otherwise, if we are attached to something, we could not switch our attention quickly and cope with happenings rapidly. In addition, we human beings primarily pay selective attention to things around us according to our own interests. It is because there is a capacity or limitation in our cognitive processing resources. Something concerned or worried makes us not only stuck to it but also expend the limited cognitive resources on it. So, we have an idea that we should not be concerned or worried, but the idea itself consumes the cognitive resources. Takuan advised not expending the cognitive resources on even the idea. If so, we can make full use of the limited resources. That is the true meaning of the state of mushin (no-mindedness).
December 12, 2018
After Reading Takuan: Part 17 不動智神妙録を読んで17
よく「無心になって」とか「無我の境地で」と言うが,我々人間は生きている限り無(ゼロ)になることはない。沢庵は,石や木のように心や私が無いわけではない,と例える。心の中では常に何かが巡り,私は私として厳然とここに在ると感じることに変わりはない。しかし,その心の中に巡る何かに囚われないことを無心と言い,私に囚われないことを無我と言う。囚われないとは,こだわらないことである。こだわらなければ,自在に動くことができる。そうやって何かへのこだわりを一切捨てることがマインドフルな状態であり,禅の目指すところである。それはまさに無為自然な状態と言えよう。作為なく自在に動くことができれば,千変万化する状況の中,水のごとく臨機応変に振る舞うことができるようになる。一方で,あらゆるこだわりを捨てていくことで,やがて欲が減り,結果的に苦も減っていく。つまりストレスが低減していく。これがブッダの示した方法である。
We often hear "have no-mindedness" or "be in a state of selflessness," but we human beings cannot become nothing (zero) as long as we are alive. Takuan used a metaphor that we are not like a stone or tree which has no mind or no self. There are always some things wandering in our mind, while we constantly feel that we clearly exist here as ourselves. But, to be free from things wandering in our mind is called mu-shin (no-mind), and to be free from ourselves is called mu-ga (no-self). To be free is to be not attached. Non-attachment allows us to move freely. In this way, to leave all what we are attached to is to be mindful, or the aim of Zen. It can be exactly said to be unintentional and natural. If we can move unintentionally and freely, we could behave flexibly like water in ever-changing situations. On the other hand, throwing all of attachments away leads to decrease of desires, which results in decrease of sufferings. That is to say, reduction of stress. This is the method Buddha presented.
We often hear "have no-mindedness" or "be in a state of selflessness," but we human beings cannot become nothing (zero) as long as we are alive. Takuan used a metaphor that we are not like a stone or tree which has no mind or no self. There are always some things wandering in our mind, while we constantly feel that we clearly exist here as ourselves. But, to be free from things wandering in our mind is called mu-shin (no-mind), and to be free from ourselves is called mu-ga (no-self). To be free is to be not attached. Non-attachment allows us to move freely. In this way, to leave all what we are attached to is to be mindful, or the aim of Zen. It can be exactly said to be unintentional and natural. If we can move unintentionally and freely, we could behave flexibly like water in ever-changing situations. On the other hand, throwing all of attachments away leads to decrease of desires, which results in decrease of sufferings. That is to say, reduction of stress. This is the method Buddha presented.
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