The Unfettered Mind

This book is unconventional but perfect for a hungry mind. The Unfettered Mind (不動智神妙録 fudōchi shinmyōroku?) is a three-part treatise on Buddhist philosophy and martial arts written by Takuan Sōhō, a Japanese monk of the Rinzai sect. The title translates roughly to "The Mysterious Records of Immovable Wisdom". Written for the laity, the book makes little use of Buddhist terminology, but instead focuses on describing situations followed by an interpretation. Its contents make an effort to apply Zen Buddhism to martial arts.

Of the three essays included in the treatise, two were letters: Fudochishinmyoroku, “The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom,” written to Yagyū Munenori, head of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of swordsmanship and teacher to two generations of shoguns; and Taiaki, “Annals of the Sword Taia,” (太阿記) written perhaps to Munenori or possibly to Ono Tadaaki, head of the Itto school of swordsmanship and also an official instructor to the shogun’s family and close retainers.

As a whole all three are addressed to the samurai class, and all three seek to unify the spirit of Zen with the spirit of the sword. Individually and broadly speaking, one could say that Fudochishinmyoroku deals not only with technique, but with how the self is related to the Self during confrontation and how an individual may become a unified whole. Taiaki, on the other hand, deals more with the psychological aspects of the relationship between the self and the other. Between these, Reiroshu, “The Clear Sound of Jewels,” deals with the fundamental nature of the human being, with how a swordsman, daimyo – or any person, for that matter – can know the difference between what is right and what is mere selfishness, and can understand the basic question of knowing when and how to die.