Deshi 3: Sensei, could you explain what Takuan Soho is speaking about in the quote and sentence below.  The quote is from page 38.

“’SEEK THE LOST MIND’ - This is a saying of Mencius.  It means that one should seek out the lost mind and return it to himself.”

 

Senshin Center:  Meng Tzu is one of two Chinese thinkers who had their name Latinized.  The other is Kung Tzu.  Individually then, in the West, these men are often known respectively as Mencius and Confucius.  The Latinization of their names is related to how “nicely” their ideas on morality, the nature of Man, the nature of the universe, and the nature of society, etc., corresponded with many of Europe’s own understandings on these things – especially within the Church’s point of view (particularly, the Jesuit point of view).  Jesuit missionaries Latinized the names of “Master Meng” (Mencius) and “Master Kung” (Confucius).

Meng Tzu was born in the area now known as China in the fourth century, around 370 BCE.  He came after Kung Tzu, and is greatly responsible for further developing the thought of Confucianism.  Today, many scholars hold that were it not for Meng Tzu, the Confucianism that we know today would be known as something completely different.  Many scholars say that Meng Tzu brought greater sophistication and depth to the thought of Kung Tzu.

The thinking of Meng Tzu is pivotal to nearly all East Asian traditions.  In China, and thus in countries that were greatly influenced by China, like Japan, classical learning involved the studying of four great works.  These four works were: “The Great Learning,” “The Doctrine of the Mean,” “The Analects” (which was said to be written by Kung Tzu), and “The Book of Mencius” (written by Meng Tzu).  Anybody who underwent a classical education, which for a great time meant, “anybody who was educated,” had to know these works inside and out - memorized.  This is why we see Takuan, a Japanese Zen monk, quoting Meng Tzu in his letter to Yagyu.  Interestingly, and I will come back to this later, Osensei, was also educated classically, and thus his own thinking is greatly influenced by Meng Tzu as well.  My point here: The thought of Meng Tzu is at the core of East Asian philosophy.  Thus, Meng Tzu finds his place firmly in both Budo and Aikido. 

Before I go on to elaborate upon the quote directly, I would like to give a bit more background information on the thought of Meng Tzu.  I think we will all find this quite relative to our own training and even to our reading of Takuan.  Although the warrior traditions of Japan are often solely associated with Zen and/or with various elements from the Shinto tradition, Meng Tzu’s thought, as all Confucianism, should really be understood to form much of the base of Bushido and Budo.  High-ranking warriors like Yagyu Munenori were undoubtedly educated in Confucianism – which as we will see is one possible reason why Takuan felt it necessary to address the thought of Meng Tzu.  As such, whatever physical skills and/or spiritual cultivations Yagyu was to nurture over his training life, he would, like nearly any other warrior of that time, ensure that he would not contradict or violate the thought of Master Kung and Master Meng.  This is how prominent a role Confucianism plays in the warrior traditions of Japan by the time Takuan was writing his letters. 

Meng Tzu lived during a time of transition in Chinese culture and civilization – as Osensei lived in one following Meiji and WWII.  During the fourth century BCE, various models of control – under which states were being divided into administrative districts - were gradually replacing the feudal systems of government in China.  Land could be sold and purchased, and taxes could be levied.  Though the thinking of Kung Tzu was known, Legalist philosophies were often adopted and aimed at producing centralized governments that were supported by highly productive agrarian economies.  Legalist philosophies stressed the submission of the individual to the state and emphasized the importance of law in maintaining state control.  Through such changes and through such policies, various states rose in unequal gain and power.  During the time of Meng Tzu, this all came to mean a time of frequent wars.  This period is known as “The Warring States Period.”  It was a time when regional warlords sought to annex the smaller states around them in an attempt to consolidate more power.  As a result, seven major states rose to political (i.e. military and economical) prominence.  A side note:  For those of you that have seen the movie “Hero,” that movie is said to be taking place during that time.  The Jet Li character is an assassin from one of the smaller states that had been taken over by the King of a larger state.  The King he is attempting to assassinate is the ruler of the state that that centralizes all of China under a single government. 

At that time, war and Legalist philosophies made it easy for cynicism to prosper when it came to considering the nature of Man.  In a time when Man was mostly understood by how his/her egotistic drives could be manipulated via various systems of reward and punishment, Meng Tzu further developed the thinking of Kung Tzu and said that Man was a moral creature.  In profound disagreement with what was all around him, Meng Tzu posited that Man held an innate capacity to be good, wise, moral, humble, honorable, and truthful.  For Meng Tzu, a human being was closet to his/her nature, was acting in harmony with his/her nature, when he/she acted morally and/or virtuous.  Meng Tzu also equated this with being in tune with Heaven – at a personal level.  What does it mean to be in tune with Heaven?

By the time the fourth century rolled around, a political rationale for the legitimacy of state was well in use in China.  This political rationale was called “The Mandate of Heaven.”  In very simplified terms, the Mandate of Heaven suggested that a given government could rule and/or had a right to rule because it had the support of Heaven, and it had the support of Heaven because it was ruling in accordance with Heaven.  Man knew Heaven’s accordance via his/her study of Nature, his/her application of Yin/Yang theory, his/her investigations into various forms of divination and shamanism, etc.  This position on how one knows the will of Heaven changes very little over the years – which is one reason why we still see such understandings in the thought and practices of Osensei.  This is also one reason why in both the thought of Meng Tzu and Osensei we see several appeals made to Nature and/or to various aspects of the natural world. 

A state was thought to have lost Heaven’s Mandate whenever it began to rule according to the self-centered desires of its rulers.  Hence, we can deduce, that natural order of things sought socially proactive aspects over egocentric proactive aspects.  Transitions in political power were thus understood as fluctuations between egocentric drives and drives to act in accordance with the (greater) natural world.  In a way, Meng Tzu took this political rationale and superimposed this philosophy of political legitimacy upon the individual.  Meng Tzu sought the “legitimacy,” or the “soundness” of the individual, and he grounded it in the workings of Nature and the greater Universe.  Osensei’s thinking rest greatly upon this idea.

For Meng Tzu, key Confucian virtues, such as benevolence and righteousness, etc., came to denote a distance from egotistic drives and thus proximity to Heaven and/or to Nature.  In the same way that a state could distance itself from egocentrism, and thus come into more accordance with Heaven, so too could an individual.  Because of the intimate relationships between Heaven, Nature, and Man, moral virtues, at least at the level of our potential to act thusly, came to be understood in a similar fashion.  Our potential for moral virtue was natural (i.e. innate); our accordance with moral virtue put us in accordance with Heaven and with our inner humanity.  Without these ideas, there would be no Aikido.

Meng Tzu suggested that the Confucian virtues (things that make one moral, wise, honorable, loyal, etc.) found their base in the heart/mind.  “Heat/Mind” is the word “kokoro” or the “shin” of “Senshin.”  As you can see, our dojo also has a connection to the thinking of Meng Tzu as well.  “Kokoro/Shin” is the word that Wilson has translated with the English word “mind” in your text.  For Takuan, this translation is not so bad, especially since Takuan goes on to discuss another aspect of the mind in the paragraphs that follow.  However, when discussing the ideas of Meng Tzu, it is important to imply that some measure of the English word “heart” is relevant.  For Meng Tzu, the natural potential for living a virtuous life, one in accordance with Heaven and/or with the Universe or Nature, can only blossom through the cultivation of one’s own heart/mind.  More specifically, our moral/human/spiritual potential, can only blossom as we cultivate within us the capacity to keep and/or maintain a heart/mind that is in accordance with Heaven.  For Meng Tzu, the purpose of training, of education, of learning, etc., is to increase our capacity to go after our heart/mind when it has strayed from Heaven or Nature’s course.  The “Book of Mencius” reads:

“Mencius said, 'The trees of the Ox mountain were once beautiful. Being situated, however, in the borders of a large State, they were hewn down with axes and bills.  Is it any wonder then that today they do not retain their beauty?  With the respite the trees get in the day and in the night, and the moistening by the rain and dew, there is certainly no lack of new shoots coming out, but then the cattle and sheep come to graze upon the mountain and thus even these young shoots disappear from the landscape.  This is why today the mountain is stripped and bare in its appearance.  People, seeing only its baldness, now think that the mountain was never finely wooded.  However, is this bareness the true nature of the mountain?  And so also of what properly belongs to man -- shall it be said that the heart/mind of any man was without benevolence and righteousness? The way in which a man loses his proper goodness of heart/mind is like the way in which the trees are denuded by axes and bills.  Hewn down day after day, can the heart/mind retain its beauty?  Though a man may get a “respite in the day and in the night” and though he may feel “nourished by the effect of the morning air” on him, and thus the heart/mind may come to feel those desires and aversions which are proper to humanity, if the feeling is not strong [but is instead like young shoots], virtues are fettered and destroyed by what “takes place during the day.”  If or when this takes place repeatedly, the restorative influence of the night or the morning fresh air will not be sufficient to preserve the proper goodness of the heart/mind…However, does this condition represent the feelings proper to humanity?  Hence, be it tree or man, given the proper nourishment, there is nothing that will not grow.  When the proper nourishment is deprived, there is nothing that will not decay away.  Kung Tzu said, ‘Hold it fast, and it remains with you.  Let it go, and you lose it.’  It is of the heart/mind of which this is said!'”

To hold the heart/mind fast is to prioritize it in our lives.  The heart/mind is to be given priority over other aspects of our being because it is the heart/mind that marks us as human, and thus marks us as most in harmony with our true nature (i.e. Heaven’s accordance).  The “Book of Mencius” reads:

“Mencius said, ‘A man loves all parts of his being without discrimination.  As he loves them all without discrimination, he nurtures them all without discrimination.  This is inevitable.  There is not one foot or one inch of his skin that he does not love, and so there is not one foot or inch that he does not nurture.  However, in wishing to examine ourselves further, is there not a way to determine if we are wise in how and in what we decide to nourish?  The parts of our being differ in value and importance.  To be wise, we must never harm the parts of greater importance for the sake of those of smaller importance, or the more valuable for the sake of the less valuable.  He who nurtures the parts of smaller importance at the cost of the greater is a small man; he who nurtures the parts of greater importance is a great man.  Look at the gardener:  If he tends the common trees while neglecting the valuable ones, then he is a bad gardener – he is unskilled at his craft.  A man who takes care of one finger to the detriment of his shoulder and back, without realizing his mistake, is a man little above a rabid beast (i.e. a man that is not thinking).  A man who cares only about his appetites, only about food and drink, is despised by others because he takes care of the parts of smaller importance to the detriment of the parts of greater importance.  If a man who cares about food and drink can do so without neglecting any other part of his person, then his mouth and belly are much more than just a foot or an inch of his skin.’”

It is through the heart/mind that Man recognizes his/her distinction from the other natures of the Universe – such as the nature of animals.  The heart/mind marks Man’s nature by providing him/her with the capacity to experience and reflect, or think, or contemplate, etc., simultaneously.  It is because Man can think/reflect/contemplate, etc., that he can distance himself from egocentric drives, or from those drives that distance us from being in accordance with Heaven, or from those drives that have us at the mercy of the objects we desire (i.e. the material world).  The heart/mind, which is the source of our potential to act in accordance with Heaven, is the lifeline through which we can distance ourselves from the trappings of the material world.  The other aspects of being, such as our senses, we share with the animal world.  Beautiful sights attract the eyes; the ears are attracted by beautiful sounds; etc.  These organs cannot reflect/think, and thus they are pulled to the objects of their desire.  These aspects, but for Heaven’s gift of the heart/mind, are at the mercy of the objects they desire.  These aspects of our being are, but for the redeeming quality of the heart/mind, determined by the objects of our desire or by our desire.  The “Book of Mencius” reads:

“A disciple asked Mencius, ‘All are equally human, but some are great men and some are small men – how does this discrepancy occur?’

Mencius replied, ‘He who is guided by the interests of the parts of his being that are of greater importance is a great man; he who is guided by the interests of the parts of his being that are of smaller importance is a small man.’

The disciple pursued, ‘Though equally human, why are some men guided one way, toward that which is great, and other men guided another way, toward that which is small?’

Mencius replied, ‘The senses of hearing and sight are unable to think/reflect and can thus be misled by external things.  When one thing is exposed to another, as a matter of course, it leads it away.  However, the heart/mind can think/reflect and thus it need not be led astray as a matter of course.  Still, it should be noted, the heart/mind must be active in its capacity to think/reflect.  By thinking/reflecting, the heart/mind will come to realize the right view of things; by not thinking/reflecting, the right view of things will not come to be realized.  The capacity to think/reflect with the heart/mind, to realize the right view of all things, is what Heaven has given to Man.  Let a man stand fast and firmly in the parts of his being that are of greater importance (e.g. his heart/mind), and the inferior parts (i.e. aspects of his being unable to think/reflect) will not displace him from what is right and wise.  In this way, one cannot but be a great man.’”

As we have read, the potential of the heart/mind, the capacity of the heart/mind, and the priority of the heart/mind are all intimately linked with our humanity, Nature, and Heaven.  As such, the heart/mind is also linked with virtue, morality, and even the cultivation of the spirit – what we can call the “complete fulfillment of our being.”  In Meng Tzu’s thinking, the heart/mind is further divided into four incipient tendencies and/or aspects.  These are:  the heart/mind of compassion; the heart/mind of shame; the heart/mind of courtesy/modesty/servitude/complaisance; and the heart/mind of knowing right and wrong.  The heart/mind of compassion is the seed of the cultivated state of benevolence.  The heart/mind of shame is the seed of the cultivated state of righteousness.  The heart/mind of courtesy/modesty/servitude/complaisance is the seed of the cultivated state of propriety.  The heart/mind of knowing right and wrong is the seed of the cultivated state of wisdom.  For Meng Tzu, these virtues and their seeds mark our very humanity.  That is to say, they define what it is to be human. 

The “Book of Mencius” tells us, “…whoever is devoid of the heart of compassion is not human, whoever is devoid of the heart of shame is not human, whoever is devoid of the heart of complaisance is not human, and whoever is devoid of the heart of right and wrong is not human.”  Meng Tzu posits that Man indeed has these four seeds as he does indeed have four limbs.  What is not given is whether a man or a woman will indeed opt to cultivate him/herself accordingly – whether or not he/she will instead choose to “deny his/her own potentialities and cripple him/herself.”

The following notions from Meng Tzu have a firm place in Budo and in Aikido praxis:

1.  The notion that the perfected Self is a cultivated state of being.

2.  The notion that Man has the innate potential to be cultivated.

3.  The notion that the perfected Self marks the true nature of Man.

4.  The notion that the true nature of Man should be prioritized above anything else.

5.  The notion that the perfected Self, or Man’s true Nature, is in correspondence with Heaven (or the Universe or the Larger Nature). 

Moreover, these ideas are common to nearly every spiritual tradition.  For example, these notions are shared by various traditions within the Christian faith – though the terminology may change.  It is for this reason why the Jesuits offered to Latinize the name of Meng Tzu.  Those missionaries saw their own spiritual exercises, those founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, in the writings of Master Meng.  In the “Book of Mencius,” they saw similarities in their own efforts to individually develop a practice whereby one could to discover and/or discern the will of God, and to gain the energy and courage necessary to follow that will – without being swayed by the ego or the material world.  For example, as Meng Tzu spoke of the relationship between the proximity to Heaven and the distance from one’s own egocentric desires, so too did St. Ignatius.  Here the founder of the “Company of Jesus” (as the Jesuits are known) writes:

“Let each one remember that he will make progress in all spiritual things only insofar as he rids himself of self-love, self-will, and self-interest.” 

As another example marking similarity, here in a prayer recommended to penitents, we can also see the saint sharing the position that Heaven’s way (which he noted with the word/concept, “God”) should be prioritized above all else:

“Receive, Lord, all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.  You have given me all that I have, all that I am, and I surrender all to your divine will, so that you dispose of me. Give me only your love and your grace. With this I am rich enough, and I have no more to ask.” 

Such a prayer is very different from the usual “genie-wishing” we today often associate with the act of praying.  It is, as Merton says, “something much more than uttering petitions for good things external to our own deepest concerns.”  Lastly, in the following quote by St. Ignatius, we see the correspondence that Meng Tzu felt existed between moral or virtuous behavior and Heaven’s mandate.  The saint writes: 

“The more universal the good, the more it is divine.” 

In Osensei, we also see such similarities.  In the following quote, we see Osensei repeating Meng Tzu’s notions that Man has a potential to be cultivated, that Man’s perfection marks his/her true nature, and that Man’s true nature is in correspondence with Heaven.  Osensei is quoted as saying: 

“Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow.  You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment.” 

Here the Founder touches upon Meng Tzu’s caveat against following our ego at the cost of Heaven’s Way.  We can also note the primacy or the prioritizing that affords primacy to Heaven/God.  Osensei is quoted as saying:

“Aikido is medicine for a sick world.  There is evil and disorder in the world because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one source – from God.  Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty desires, and anger.” 

Here Osensei again touches upon Meng Tzu’s caveat against egocentric behavior: 

“Aikido is not easy.  It is a fight to the finish, the slaying of evil desires and all falsehood within.” 

Here Osensei makes use of Meng Tzu’s ideas on the relationship between the heart/mind and the other senses.  He writes: 

“The only cure for materialism is the cleansing of the six senses (i.e. eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and heart/mind).  If the senses are impure, one's perception is stifled.  The more one’s perception is stifled, the more contaminated the senses become.  This creates disorder in the world, and that is the greatest evil of all.  Purify the heart/mind, free the six senses and let them function without obstruction, and your entire body and soul will glow.”

Lastly, here we see Meng Tzu’s notions that to abandon the cultivation of our potential to follow Heaven’s Way is to abandon our humanity.  We can also see Meng Tzu’s notion of corresponding Man and Heaven.  Osensei writes:

“Life is growth.  If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.  Aikido is a celebration of the bonding of Heaven, Earth, and humankind.”

As you can see, Meng Tzu was a very powerful and influential thinker.  It is perhaps mostly for this reason why Takuan feels he needs to address a famous passage from the “Book of Mencius.”  It would not be presuming too much to suggest that while writing to Yagyu of discarding the mind, as he does in the immediately preceding paragraph on page 38, knowing that Yagyu was classically educated, Takuan felt his letter up to now would raise Meng Tzu’s dictum in the mind of his reader.  Trying to head Yagyu off, Takuan interrupts his classic Zen stance on the nature of the Mind and its relationship to spontaneity, and speaks briefly of Meng Tzu’s Book VI Part A-11.  The whole of this passage by Meng-Tzu reads as follows:

“Mencius said, ‘Benevolence is the heart/mind of Man, and righteousness is the path of Man.  Sad it is indeed when a man gives up the right road instead of following it and allows his heart/mind to stray without enough sense to go after it.  When his chickens and dogs stray, a man has sense enough to go after them, but when his heart/mind strays, he often do not seek for it.  The sole concern of learning (education/practice) is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.’”

In order to appease the “classical” Confucian critiques Takuan felt Yagyu might raise and/or might be concerned with, he acknowledges that he agrees with Meng Tzu.  Thus, Takuan writes, “This (i.e. seeking the lost mind) is certainly most reasonable.”  In a way, Takuan is saying, “Yes, when the heart/mind, the ‘master of the body,’ the master of the other senses, has strayed from the path of Heaven, has ‘gone off on a wicked path,’ we must ‘seek after it and restore it to ourselves.’  That makes sense and I agree with that.”  In order to further appease the reader of any other Confucian critiques he might want to hold against Zen’s position on the heart/mind, Takuan goes on to cite the Neo-Confucian thinker, Shao K’ang-chieh.  In Shao K’ang-chieh, Takuan finds a similar position to the one he is presenting when Shao K’ang-chieh writes, “It is essential to lose the mind.”  On page 39, Takuan goes on to suggest how these two Confucian thinkers can actually be in agreement with each other – and thus how his own position can be in agreement with the classic one offered by Meng Tzu.   

In doing so, Takuan offers the classic Zen rebuttal to such counter arguments by suggesting that the controlling (or the restoring) of the heart/mind is something you do in the beginning levels of training and that the losing or discarding of the mind is something you do in the latter stages of training.  Hence, he writes, “When one is in training, it is good to keep Mencius’ saying, ‘Seek the lost mind,’ in mind.  The ultimate, however, is within Shao K’ang-chieh’s, ‘It is essential to lose the mind.”  This is how one should understand the mentioning of Mencius on pages 38 and 39.

Personally, I do not agree here with Takuan’s understanding of Meng Tzu’s thinking.  I believe the two are speaking about different aspects of the heart/mind altogether – particularly when it comes to how those aspects are dealt with via our own practice and/or training.  While we can indeed point to the fact that beginning levels of training do indeed include notions of restriction, form, control, etc., as in Shu training and/or as in the beginning stages of zazen practice, and while we can indeed mark more advanced stages of our training or practice by the presence of various degrees of spontaneity, it does not follow that Meng Tzu was referring to such matters at all.  Takuan’s understanding of Meng Tzu here is more fueled by the polemics of his day than by accurate comprehension. 

If one were to apply Meng Tzu position to Takuan’s position, one would not posit it as merely dealing with the initial stages of training.  Rather, if Takuan were suggesting that the true nature of the mind is unfettered, then Meng Tzu’s statement would direct us to seek out the unfettered mind.  Nothing more, nothing less.  To be sure, Meng Tzu can, as St. Igantius can, recognize the need for imposed and/or artificial restraints in the beginning of one’s practice.  These “restraints” however are not imposed upon us so that we can finally come into some sort of accord with Heaven or God.  Rather they are the negative energy that is often necessary in Man’s quest to spiritually mature.  It is not by these artificial constructs that we are able to co-opt some sort of existence that in essence remains foreign to us, but rather it is by these types of negative energy that we can free ourselves from the obstructions that keep us from obtaining and experiencing what is most natural in us.  That is a huge difference; one I feel Takuan has missed entirely here.   Osensei is a lot closer in his application of Meng Tzu’s thought regarding this difference, especially when he suggests things like the following:

“Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life.”

Though Meng Tzu is compassionate enough to feel sorrow over the man or woman that will look for his/her livestock but fail to seek their most inner humanity, he does not suggest that our inner humanity is something that is forever foreign to us and thus beyond true spontaneous action.  If Takuan is opting to use non-form as an ideal over and above the form he sides with Meng-Tzu, then even according to Zen tradition, Meng Tzu shows more awareness that ultimately there should be no difference between form and non-form.