Mind and Body Unification and Shodo
While not everyone wants to study Zen with shodo, most shodo practitioners can still benefit from the practice of meditation and vice versa. Shodo requires a unification of mind, body, and brush similar to the meditative condition.
While not everyone wants to study Zen with shodo, most shodo practitioners can still benefit from the practice of meditation and vice versa. Shodo requires a unification of mind, body, and brush similar to the meditative condition.
Many artistic principles and important mental states are universal for the various Japanese Ways. One of the most significant and basic principles that these arts share is the concept of mind and body coordination. While few of us are required to use a brush in daily life, most people are interested in realizing their full potential and enhancing their psychological condition as well as physical health. Since integrating mind and body allows us to accomplish these aims, the relationship between the mind and body, along with how to achieve mind-body harmony, is a main theme in classical Japanese art.
In the case of painting, some adherents speak of a "unity of mind and brush," and make statements, which indicate that "if the mind is correct, the brush is correct." In Japanese swordsmanship, it’s common to hear of a unity of mind, body, and sword. Likewise in Zen, students are encouraged to arrive at mind and body coordination, a state of "self-harmony." These assertions point to the necessity of integrating mind and body in action. Mental and physical harmony is also vital for realizing our potential in daily living, and it remains a central element needed for mastery of any classical Japanese Way.
Yet this concept has rarely been directly articulated in shodo or most other Japanese arts. Students learn it—if they learn it—through years of trial and error. Along similar lines, although teachers may indicate that they view shodo, budo, and other disciplines as equivalent to meditation, exactly how to integrate brush writing and meditation isn’t always explained. Again, students are encouraged to arrive at understanding through years of training and experimentation . . . experiments that don’t always produce results.
Shodo and Shin-shin-toitsu-do
Shin-shin-toitsu-do was created by Nakamura Tempu Sensei in the early 1900s. After living in India, he combined his training in Indian yoga and meditation with Japanese approaches to meditation to arrive at something entirely new and distinctive—an art featuring several methods of seated and moving meditation to help us realize our full potential in a wide variety of subjects. The emphasis is on unification of mind and body, and he logically called his creation Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “The Way of Mind and Body Unification.”
This meditative state of self-harmony is indispensable for producing high caliber fine art. As “proof” of the effectiveness of mind and body unification, after founding Shin-shin-toitsu-do, Nakamura Sensei began creating singular calligraphy and sumi-e painting that’s valued by collectors even now.
However, he was clear that Shin-shin-toitsu-do is not a religion, and he held that it’s not necessary to participate in organized religion to learn about and benefit from meditation. He additionally felt that sitting for long hours of sometimes painful meditation wasn’t always or invariably needed. And along the same lines, Nakamura Sensei explained that unification of mind and body in any activity could be realized through a rational process that uses concretely explained principles and simple experiments, and which is similar to scientific methods.
Because of the ease with which he explained how to immediately coordinate the mind and body, experts in a wide variety of classical arts attended his classes until he passed away in 1968. From martial arts like aikido to fine arts like shodo, students and teachers of traditional Japanese arts learned to simply explain what had been unexplained or hidden for centuries. Yet these teachings of mind and body unification are still little-known outside of Japan.
Integrated Shodo and Meditation
Hiseki Davey Sensei began studying meditation via Shin-shin-toitsu-do in childhood, and his practice continues to this day. His training in Japan and the USA has taken place under several top students of Nakamura Sensei, and Davey Sensei’s book on this subject, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, has been acclaimed in Japanese, European, and American reviews.
Integrated Shodo and Meditation
Hiseki Davey Sensei began studying meditation via Shin-shin-toitsu-do in childhood, and his practice continues to this day. His training in Japan and the USA has taken place under several top students of Nakamura Sensei, and Davey Sensei’s book on this subject, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation, has been acclaimed in Japanese, European, and American reviews.
He began studying shodo in the mid-1980s. By using principles of mind and body unification in shodo, he made rapid progress, achieving the top ranking in Ranseki Sho Juku calligraphy in 1993. It took him just seven years.
Since the 1960s, only a handful of people obtained this level of teaching certification, typically after around 15 years of study. Davey Sensei, despite his initial lack of fluency in Japanese, accomplished this in half the usual time. According to his teacher, the legendary and late Kobara Ranseki Sensei, he attained Shihan-dai teaching certification faster than any other student in the history of Ranseki Sho Juku shodo ever did. It is a feat that’s still unequalled.
Both Kobara Sensei and Davey Sensei attributed his rapid progress to his prior advanced meditation training in Shin-shin-toitsu-do. They both acknowledged the importance of coordinating mind and body. Without this ability, the mind may see a Japanese character to be copied and practiced, but the body can be unwilling to effectively reproduce what’s in the mind. It’s as if the mind and body are resisting each other.
Yet when the mind and body work in harmony, images in the mind and ink images on paper match. No skill is possible until this state of harmony is attained.
Realizing the effectiveness of using mind and body coordination principles in art, and with the acknowledgement of his teachers of Shin-shin-toitsu-do and shodo, in 1993 Davey Sensei began linking Shin-shin-toitsu-do principles and Japanese calligraphy. He calls this instructional approach Integrated Shodo & Meditation. It emphasizes group classes in Shin-shin-toitsu-do, combined with private lessons in Japanese calligraphy and ink painting, in which he logically explains how to unite mind, body, and brush. Previous knowledge of shodo, meditation, and/or Japanese language isn’t needed. (Although students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, this can take place as they study shodo.)
Realizing the effectiveness of using mind and body coordination principles in art, and with the acknowledgement of his teachers of Shin-shin-toitsu-do and shodo, in 1993 Davey Sensei began linking Shin-shin-toitsu-do principles and Japanese calligraphy. He calls this instructional approach Integrated Shodo & Meditation. It emphasizes group classes in Shin-shin-toitsu-do, combined with private lessons in Japanese calligraphy and ink painting, in which he logically explains how to unite mind, body, and brush. Previous knowledge of shodo, meditation, and/or Japanese language isn’t needed. (Although students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, this can take place as they study shodo.)
His instruction in meditation and shodo is spiritual in nature, but it has no direct connection to any organized religion. Meditation in his classes can take place in various postures, depending on which position is most comfortable for the student, and prolonged hours of seated meditation are not emphasized. Instead, students discover meditation in action—with a brush—and how to integrate the meditative state into daily activities. Davey Sensei also makes no claims of “elevated consciousness” or “Master” status and practices alongside his students.
Using simple concepts, he shows how mind and body unification can be utilized in many different endeavors to increase effectiveness. Borrowing from Shin-shin-toitsu-do, his training centers on fundamental principles of mind and body coordination:
Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body
1. Use the mind positively.
2. Use the mind with full concentration.
3. Use the body obeying the laws of nature.
4. Train the body progressively, systematically, and regularly.
In 1999, to further spread shodo, and to help fellow artists understand how to unify mind and body for greater efficiency, Davey Sensei authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony. In it, he outlined five concepts used in Integrated Shodo & Meditation:
Primary Principles for Brush Control & Meditation
1. Grip the brush gently and focus your ki (“life energy”) through the brush tip.
2. Before touching the paper, the tip of the brush must be calm.
3. Relax to let the brush move naturally and with rhythm.
4. The brush follows the movement of ki.
5. Do not cut off your stream of attention.
Despite the new and ground-breaking nature of Integrated Shodo & Meditation, Davey Sensei maintains its connection to classical Japanese aesthetics and philosophy as well as orthodox shodo as it has been handed down for generations in China and later Japan. His use of meditation and mind-body unification concepts makes shodo easier to learn and more appealing to Westerners, but it doesn’t remove it from the realm of traditional Japanese art. Indeed, the idea of mind and body coordination in art is very old in Japan, if not inevitably simply explained.
Four Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body
1. Use the mind positively.
2. Use the mind with full concentration.
3. Use the body obeying the laws of nature.
4. Train the body progressively, systematically, and regularly.
In 1999, to further spread shodo, and to help fellow artists understand how to unify mind and body for greater efficiency, Davey Sensei authored Brush Meditation: A Japanese Way to Mind & Body Harmony. In it, he outlined five concepts used in Integrated Shodo & Meditation:
Primary Principles for Brush Control & Meditation
1. Grip the brush gently and focus your ki (“life energy”) through the brush tip.
2. Before touching the paper, the tip of the brush must be calm.
3. Relax to let the brush move naturally and with rhythm.
4. The brush follows the movement of ki.
5. Do not cut off your stream of attention.
Despite the new and ground-breaking nature of Integrated Shodo & Meditation, Davey Sensei maintains its connection to classical Japanese aesthetics and philosophy as well as orthodox shodo as it has been handed down for generations in China and later Japan. His use of meditation and mind-body unification concepts makes shodo easier to learn and more appealing to Westerners, but it doesn’t remove it from the realm of traditional Japanese art. Indeed, the idea of mind and body coordination in art is very old in Japan, if not inevitably simply explained.
To further explain shodo to the West, in 2008 the Art of Shodo Blog was launched. If you are interested in studying Japanese calligraphy, you can find out how to learn Integrated Shodo & Meditation at http://www.senninfoundation.com/.
