Takuan Soho

The practice of martial arts is an art form that has been around for thousands of years. It spans dynasties and civilizations, ranging from traditional Japanese Jiu Jitsu to the dance-like Brazilian Capoeira to modern medleys of dozens of styles and techniques. Yet in every martial art, there is, in some incarnation or another, a sort of meditation. It may not be conscious, or even directly taught. It may appear as a simple breathing exercise, an endless repetition of a single kick, a finely-tuned kata, or a practiced, seated emptying of the mind. Regardless of the martial arts style, if one looks closely enough, meditation can be found. Not only does every martial art include meditation, but every art needs meditation. It has countless

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “to focus one's thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over.” Personally, I prefer the definition given by Takuan Soho in his book of three essays on the philosophies of Samurai sword-handling, The Unfettered Mind, written in the 1600’s. Soho describes mediation as “The place at which the mind stops.” He elaborates on this definition throughout the first essay in the book, titled Fudochishinmyoroku, or, in English, “The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom.” The translator’s decision to put this essay first is telling. It represents how fundamental mediation is to any kind of combat, and how highly the Samurai regarded mindfulness and

He writes that when looking at a tree, if a person is focused entirely on one leaf, they cannot see the whole tree. However, when the mind is not set on any leaf in particular, any number of leaves can become visible. Similarly, if a samurai wishes to strike an opponent, he cannot focus solely on his stance, his grip on the sword, the direction in which he will swing, or his opponent. If he allows his mind to stop at any one of these places, he will forget the existence of the others. Instead, he must allow his mind to become immovable by any one factor and float between all of them. In that way, he can focus on the tree as a whole instead of just one