"There is no enemy" (Neko No Myojutsu) the wonderful techniques of the Old Cat, a short work of 700, a text which became very popular among practitioners of Japanese martial arts. It speaks of Shoken swordsman, who had his house haunted by a huge rat. He tried to get rid of due to its domestic cat, with the skunks, using his sword. But always failed. Exasperated he turned to the old cat. Surprised at his appearance in a very ordinary cat and there with age, Shoken opted to give him a chance. Just Shoken free the old cat in his house, the rats froze immediately, so that the cat was able to grab it by the neck and present it to Shoken. All the other cats, amazed by the magnificent victory of the Old Cat, asked to be trained in his art. They explained to him their attack techniques of combat, but the Old Cat objected saying that the techniques are very important, discipline is necessary, training is never to be abandoned, but we must not only be based on them. It is essential to the mental approach:
"The thought hinders and obstructs the real nature. Do not think, act, follow the movements of nature and the self disappears. In absence of self will not have opponents in heaven or on earth. "As soon as is also shown a minimum of conscious thought, and the project will separate you from the natural way. See yourself and others as separate entities, as adversaries. I wonder what my technique: the answer is mushin (no mind). Mushin is to act in harmony with nature, nothing more.
Long ago, there was a cat in my neighborhood that seemed to do nothing but snooze all day. The cat seemed devoid of spirit, almost like a wooden cat. No one had ever seen a rat hunt, and yet everywhere he went, or is there was no rat dared to appear. I went to see the cat and asked him to explain why. I put the question four times, but the cat remained silent. Not that he did not want to answer: he did not know quite how to respond. The cat had forgotten himself and the objects to dwell in a state of lack of purpose. That cat became the embodiment of the divine martial art of no-kill. Still do not match of the cat. At one point Shoken, who was eavesdropping on the conversations of the old cats to other cats, came forward admitting its inability, even after so much training in the art of the sword, to grasp the true essence and ask the old man to reveal his Cat precious secrets. The Old Cat said
"It penetrates the principle of life and death, first of all, and keep that spirit. There will be no more doubts, no wandering thoughts, no calculations, no decisions. The Your spirit will remain calm and peaceful, smooth, free to respond to any eventuality. Conversely, if there is also the faintest object in your mind, there is an ego, there will be an enemy, there will be conflict, there will be loss of liberty. You come into the darkness of spiritual death and lose the brightness. How can you expect to face an opponent in such a state? Even if you win, a victory would be superficial and not real art of the sword. The lack of purpose is not a state of lack, is formless, not of objectives. What I call the absence of purpose does not pursue anything, does not rely on anything, has no enemies, not himself, and answers to everything in a natural way and leaves no trace.
"Shoken asked:" What is for there is no enemy, there is no self? ". The old Cat said:" Since there is a self, there is an enemy. If there is no self, there is no enemy. Enemy as it is in opposition. Each object has the form has an opposite. When the mind has no form, there is nothing that can be opposed. When there is no opposition, there is nothing to fight. This is called no enemy, no self. When the self and objects are both forgotten, are experiencing a natural state of non-activity, an absence of problems, of unity. The shape of the enemy is gone and you know nothing. It is like being unconscious, it means no computer and immediately thought natural response. This mind is free and allows the world to become your domain. Abstractions such as this, that, good and bad disappear. Pleasure and pain, gain and loss are other similar creations of the mind ".
There is really very little to say about this short piece. You can look at times tempted to vain words to add something is clear in itself. There is a Zen story that tells of a teacher who was about to start his sermon when a bird began to sing. The teacher spoke and listened to all the bird. Disappeared singing, the teacher said, "Well, the sermon is finished," and so went away. So what is there to say? Only very trivial things. Be normal, be natural, away from grenades, attitudes cuts; not claim to prove anything. Abandoning the tensions, let your energy and stop chasing anything. Open your eyes, look, see, wonder, rather than disguise, rather than attitudes, more than wish to distinguish, rather than wanting to weigh our presence with a thousand tricks that we are great teachers. Feeling the weight of all this, an intolerable burden, unnatural, highly polluting and ingabbiante, especially that alienates us from what our original nature. Decided to abandon once and for all the jack, losing your grip, losing your grip. Natural, clear, calm, accepting, fair-minded. Responding to the reality as it is, and that's it. If you must eat eat, If you need to urinate, urine, and if you need someone to listen, listen, if you're tired, sleep. In all, in all things. In other words, there's nothing. Nothing! This is not to move from a doctrine to another, it is not to learn any lessons. "We feel a bit 'what Zen says" but does not say anything! It is the absence of all: here is the great freedom. The rest is artifice, construction unlikely, theory in the head and then an additional filter that sits between you and reality.
"He does not seek" (from Shodoka)
The Shodoka (The Song of Awakening) to Yoka Daishi
"Dear friend, see wise man, who stopped with the doctrine and it is idle? He does not look more than suppress illusory thoughts, and seek the truth. The true nature of our ignorance is actually the Buddha nature, our body is empty and illusory body Dharma. When you understand the Dharma body, there is nothing in front of us. The original source, the source of our true nature is the Buddha. " Who clings to a doctrine can not be called wise, he is aware of this, seeking the truth in its doctrine
, the map of his life, the answers to his many questions. What should I do? Let's see what the doctrine says about it. Here, the wise man does not arise on this path. Exactly, that's the thing: the wise man does not arise in any path. His very walk along the path has become the path itself. He started, of course, and in fact it says that "stopped". If stopped, before it had to do with doctrine. It was necessary, but now abandoned. He had a role, but now it is useless, closed, sectarian, is risky: you think you're on the moon, but you are clinging to the finger that indicates, you're talking about free and instead act continuously with the handbook in the arm. Measure the reality through the yardstick that we have is from your teaching: you can not see the reality, the judge, the sections, you lost the benefit of the full enjoyment of it. The doctrine says: do this and do that. Even in some Zen texts there are many indications in this direction. Meditate in a certain way, behave according to certain rules, use your body with a certain discipline, etc.. But we must go further: we do not have to do with an instruction manual. For some it would be comforting to act on the suggestions of a handbook, but continue to live always in the usual cage. Maybe golden, but still a cage. The essay instead went beyond that: there is more exercise, there is no longer practical. Dire financial and practical dualism is to say: here's a year and here is the rest of life here and then practice this evening I go out with friends. What a terrible situation! That strenuous efforts! To think that there are things that are good and others that are to be eradicated, thoughts to think like soldiers! From fanatics. The wise man overcomes the dualism, the one between ignorance and wisdom, between illusion and truth. Seek the truth: this is the most dreaded disease of the mind of a "spiritual seeker". The name itself: researcher! But what 're looking for? Can not you see? Beggar! In this sense the essay is idle: not given their own penalty. There is no more objective to be pursued: it is present in the here and now, he is aware, is shiny. What would have to say? It is a fact: it can not be otherwise. You're looking for something we call truth, evidently believe that there is something that is not likely. And vice versa: if you see somewhere illusion or ignorance, will not be able to find some truth in other places. In any case, you're already crashed, six in dualism. The essay instead passed truth and delusion, and if there is no truth-illusion of the couple, there is only the Buddha. Even here, even now, in our thoughts illusory - the very people who would like to eliminate some naive - there is the nature of the Buddha. Ignorance is Buddha, dharma is illusion (the reality-truth). This is the (non-) natural way. And stark perchés anything but natural.