Original language:
Japanese Translated from: English
Authors: Takuan Soho
Translated by: Samsonas, Kęstutis
Full translated source bibliographical description:
Soho, Takuan. The Unfettered Mind. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2002.
ISBN: 9789955700203
Published in: Kaunas
Published on: 2007
Publisher: Obuolys
Takuan Soho – a man who heavily influenced the unification of Zen Buddhism with the martial arts. He was a Zen Buddhist monk which in the XVI century wrote letters to a great swordsman of the time Yagyu Muennori. The sword, spiritual exercises and an unfettered mind – that‘s what this book is all about. All these different assets should be combined into one undivided whole through training of the mind, that is what Takuan believes. The book is divided intro three parts, all of them are …prescribed to the caste of the samurai. How to fight without letting the mind stop at any particular place? Is it possible to react without a gap? How to know what is right and what is selfish and how to keep a proper attitude in relation to oneself and to another? What are the five human skandhas and what is the relation between the ten essential qualities of a thing? To all these questions Takuan Soho answers in a language which is simple, vivid, rich in metaphors and quotations. Although the information is quite dense, the knowledge is accessible to anyone who is interested in the martial arts and self-knowing.
„If you are only following the rules of today‘s world, you are turning your back to the way, if you‘re turning your back to the way, you will not understand the world at all“.
It is the knowledge which is not conditioned by time and directed not only towards those who are interested in the way of fighting but also to those who want to understand themselves and the world, though, according to Zen, there‘s no you which want‘s to understand and there‘s no world which you can try to understand. Don‘t think or contemplate, but by seeing what is look directly forward – that‘s the esoteric knowledge passed to us by Takuan.