On "The Unfettered Mind"

On "The Unfettered Mind"

Thought experiment on what religious scholar Jonathan Z. Smith's
take would be on Ven. Takuan Soho's "The Unfettered Mind"

by Bhikshu Tenzin Sherab
(a.k.a. Br. Sean Hillman)
University of Toronto
East Asian Studies
March 2007

Common to Zen writings, as well as non-Buddhist Chinese philosophical texts such as the Taoist “Chuang Tzu”, is the presentation of an ideal being, or state of being. This is typically starkly contrasted with the present state of the undeveloped, would-be or novice spiritual practitioner. Religious scholar Jonathan Z. Smith, in his essay “The Bare Facts of Ritual,” outlines a similar discrepancy between an ideal way of being and how things actually are in his description of the bear hunt in paleo-Siberian societies. His interest in the function of ritual, and his position that it is “to help overcome the contradiction between word and deed,” (p. 63) might suggest that his perspective on Zen monk Venerable Takuan Soho’s “The Unfettered Mind” would give emphasis to the gap that appears in this text between the goal and the ordinary practitioner’s current level of development. Additionally, Smith’s understanding of the “pivoting of the sacred,” which demonstrates a very close approximation to the reasoning that is used to stimulate an understanding of emptiness, would pique his interest in the Buddhist presentation of this view and the context in which it appears in Ven. Soho’s text.
Smith gives an elaborate account of the ritualised demarcation that is prescribed for the various stages of the hunt in a society that depends on such activity for survival. He is not only skeptical that such practices are followed, asking “can we believe that any animal would stand still while the hunter recited “dithyrambs,” (p. 60) but also provides many evidences that disprove such practices, such as the use of guns which precludes a bloodless and precisely targeted wound. There is great distance between the ideal hunt and actual hunting practices. Were he to open Venerable Soho’s text, he would assuredly be struck by his descriptions of the deity Fudo Myoo and the Bodhisattva of compassion Kannon, when placed beside the state of the ordinary man. Fudo Myoo’s “embodiment is that of immoveable wisdom” and the ideal practitioner is “able to physically practise…mental Dharma as well as Fudo Myoo.”(p.21) Kannon’s thousand-arm form is used to make clear to the one who strives for accomplishment, in this case the martial artist who is the recipient of Soho’s advice, “that if their immovable wisdom is let go, even if a body have a thousand arms, every one will be of use.” (p. 22) These high being’s attainments are in direct opposition to “the common man who has not found the path…[who] has had no wisdom” (p.26) and Ven. Soho continuously makes mention of the downfall of the untrained stopping the mind anywhere, in one’s own body or mind or on an external object, which brings about “an interval, and your own action will be lost.” (p.26) As in Smith’s presentation, there is great distance between these ideal figures and those struggling to achieve their level of ability. Another interesting parallel can be seen between the writings of two authors in their examples of protection from harm. To he who emulates Fudo Myoo, “”evil spirits will no longer proliferate.” (p. 21) Likewise, those who undergo the “kill” stage of the hunt properly will avoid the bear’s “posthumous revenge.” (p. 61)
Next we look at Smith’s analysis of sacred space, where he borrows Gennep’s term of “pivoting the sacred” which he describes as meaning “there is nothing that is inherently sacred or profane…but only…in relation.” (p. 55) Perhaps he has encountered the Buddhist philosophical presentation of ultimate reality, that self and phenomena are empty of inherent existence and, rather, exist in an interdependent relationship. Again, Smith would be enthusiastic to see Ven. Soho’s presentation of what resembles the ‘three spheres of emptiness’: “The opponent is Emptiness. I am Emptiness. The hand that holds the sword, the sword itself, is Emptiness.” (p.37) Usually one would find the actor, the acted upon and the action itself as the three-fold division of that which is empty. Here, the third emptiness is made to be the intermediary object between the players in this interaction. Regardless, even if emptiness is not explicitly explained by the Zen monk, it is implicitly shown to his student that the three empty objects are such due in part because they are in relation to one another. There is nothing that can be labelled ‘opponent’ without being in relation to another, and without a weapon! Remove one of the three, and there is no valid basis upon which one can superimpose the concept of “opponent.” This most powerful of resonings to get at the meaning of emptiness, the logic of interdependent origination, would surely impress and be intellectually understood by Smith.
It can be said that the two authors would agree that “although there occasionally are people who do understand, it does not often happen that they act accordingly.” (p. 28) It would be a lively meeting too, between scholar and monk, because they could discuss (over cups of Japanese tea!) the similarities between the Western academic and Buddhist presentations on lack of inherent existence.