There is another stage of training to achieve Bushi no Me (Eye of a Samurai) is known as Ken Shin Ichi Nyo ("Body and Mind as One"). In Shin-Ku-I (Action-Speech-Thought), we train our bodies to respond to our minds, so that our actions are the result of our principles and charac­ter. Ken Shin Ichi Nyo takes that process a step further and makes our mind and body act in unison.

Iai-jutsu is again an excellent training method to accomplish this unity of body and mind. Ken Shin Ichi Nyo is written like this:

This actually has the meaning "Sword and Mind as One," which is a train­ing objective of samurai swordsmanship. Rather than the body swinging the sword - wielding it as a tool - which is a beginner's level, the master's sword is merely an extension of his own body. As we train toward mastery, we even­tually reach a stage at which rather than the mind instructing our arm to swing` the sword, our mind merely instructs the sword to move. In actuality, our men­tal commands do not bypass our arm; instead, what we have accomplished is to train our mind and body to act as a single unit which in turn controls the sword.

In Japanese poetry, the word Ken ("Sword") often serves as an allusion to the body. Perhaps this has come about because diligent iaijutsu training cause, the literal "Sword and Mind as One," Ken Shin Ichi Nyo, to steadily evolve into the more profound "Body and Mind as One."

An interesting paradox to consider while you are progressing through Shin-Ku-I to achieve Ken Shin Ichi Nyo is the Japanese proverb: "Kokoro no shito wa narutomo, kokoro o shito sezare." - "Your Mind can't be your master you must master your Mind."

How are we to understand this axiom when we are training so that our mind controls our speech and action (Shin-Ku-I), and our body and mind act as one (Ken Shin Ichi Nyo)?

The answer is found in the fact that your mind is a complex mechanism in which your intellect, emotions, character, ideals, and motivations continu­ally interact to produce your speech and actions. Each of these areas of your mind has both strengths and weaknesses. And each of these elements is also constantly evolving, influenced not only by external forces and circumstances but by the development of the other parts of your mind as well.

Not only are these elements continuously struggling to control your con­duct, but you are relentlessly besieged by outside influences trying to shape your behavior. The most obvious of these are advertising, peer pressure, laws, social forces, financial pressures, and a variety of temptations. As if these were not enough, your own character adds stresses to this complex equation. For example, you might have a tendency toward laziness which is in constant con­flict with your desire to succeed, or perhaps it is a sweet tooth at odds with your plans to go on a diet right after you finish the next doughnut ... or the one after that. Each of our internal conflicts are different, both in nature and severity, but they plague every human being.

 The point made by the proverb is that the sum total of all these forces will control your mind, unless you make a conscious determination that they will not. Your mind will either react to the inundation of these influences, or you must instead take proactive steps to ensure that it will stand against the com­bined effect of this bombardment.

It is not enough merely to ensure that your mind is in control of your speech and actions, and that your mind and body act as one; you must also ensure that it is you - your character and principles and highest aspirations - who is in charge of that mind!

Transforming Warriorship

THE RENEWAL OF THE MIND

 Part.1

By

Rev. Vitold A. Jordan, Th.M.

"Within our impure mind the pure one is to be found [born, mine]".

-          HUI NENG

“All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousand of times;

But to make them truly ours we must think them over again honestly,

till they take root in our personal experience”.

- GOETHE

"For to be carnally minded (mind of a sinful man) is death; but to be spiritually minded (mind controlled by the Spirit) is life and peace".

- ROMANS 8.6
 

There’s an old parable about a foolish peasant who was sent to visit his master’s house. The master brought him into the study room and offered him some soup, but just as the peasant was about to drink it, he noticed a small snake in the bowl. Not wanting to offend his master he drank it anyway, and within a few days fell so ill that he was brought back to the house. The master again took him into his study and prepared some medicine in a small bowl which he then gave to the peasant. Just as the peasant was about to drink the medicine, he noticed another snake in the bowl. This time he pointed it out and loudly complained that this was the reason he was sick in the first place. Roaring with laughter, the master pointed to the ceiling where a large bow was hanging.

“It is the reflection of the bow you are seeing” he said. “There is no snake at all.”

The peasant looked again, and sure enough, there was no snake in his bowl, only a reflection. He left a house without taking medicine and regained his health within few hours.

Our mind has the life of its own, and when we accept limitations about ourselves, religion, peoples, and our world we have swallowed imaginary mental snakes. And they are always real… until we find out the truth.

The true meaning of training in martial arts, and especially in a Christian way is a challenge for us to create new, more supportive beliefs even if sometimes we do not believe them. Truly, once the mind has accepted a sort of belief or idea, whether true or not, it will continually feed your thoughts to support that belief. Our mind will distort our perception of reality to make it conform to our beliefs. So, when new and more challenging beliefs are accepted by the mind immediately the whole new realities will open up. That’s why during Yeshua-Do training and swordsmanship I am talking to my students about necessity of cleansing/releasing of the mind, or if you will – “mental house cleaning”.  Looks like there is no option here, either you allow limited concepts root down in your subconscious and thus control your life, or you can crowd them out by constructing new and more supportive beliefs, and practicing with vigor long enough until the old ideas have been replaced by the new ones. Here the Word of God offers same guidance.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God

- this is your spiritual (reasonable) act of worship.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is –

His good, pleasing and perfect will".

- ROMANS 12.1-2

"But we have the mind of Christ".

- 1 CORINTHIANS 2.16

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedience to Christ".

- 2 CORINTHIANS 10.5

A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe, "Who's that?” he asked.

"That's the eagle, the king of the birds", said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky, we belong to the earth - we all are chickens. Don't give it another thought. You and I are different from him".

So, the eagle never gave it another thought, he lived and died as a chicken. For that's what he thought he was.

People are very often unaware of their divine nature which (can be found) is in the Messiah. That's why I've designed as the symbol of Yeshua-Do the "Mon" of golden eagle soaring in the open sky. Everything we have to do is awakening from the slumber into the reality of our greatness, even the highest to which we are called. This process starts during our re-generations when the Divine Seed of Tao/Logos is placed in our hearts. Then throughout our lives the process of renewing of the mind and of reviving of the heart to genuine humanity and love continues.

To be continued…
The next part, Dethroning the Carnal Mind

 “The Way of the Warrior is to Stop Trouble Before it Starts”