ZANSHIN: THE MOMENT AFTER

Zanshin, is considered to be the stillness after the technique has been executed.

It is in martial arts circles, considered as controlling the attacker after the attack. A cinematic example and favourite of mine is a sequence in the movie; The Last Samurai.

Tom Cruise has sided with a samurai clan and a political battle ensues eventually resulting in the hiring of assassins by the Meiji inspired politician. Their target is Cruise who leaves his hotel room and walks into the night unarmed. He is immediately surrounded by katana wielding attackers. A fight sequence (one of the better scenes I have yet seen filmed in which traditional martial arts are used) ensues ending with Cruise the lone survivor and in the state of Zanshin.

The scene continues and you watch as the fight is replayed in slow motion and black and white. Suddenly a “dead” guy moves and Cruise finishes him because he was able to react due to the state of stillness and mental clarity he maintained after the last technique was executed.

I think too often we jump from one subject to another in many conversations during our day-to-day lives. We don’t maintain the stillness, even for the briefest of moments to savour what has been said to us. We hear but we are not listening.

In Kime, we focus our mind to the task at hand and by using some form of meditation, guided or otherwise, we are able to intensify our mental focus. Seishin allows for us to direct that intense focus not only to the task at hand, but also to a specific part of that task. Mushin, born from receptive training, cultivating the habit of virtue, frees the mind from over stimulation allowing our response to be second nature.

Zanshin keeps our mind focused on the task for a moment after completion ensuring that we have been successful in our endeavour. We can employ zanshin in our daily lives by allowing time for our actions to sink in, to make their impact felt, just for the briefest of moments before rushing unthinking to the next task.

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ON THE CUSP OF A RADICAL PARADIGM SHIFT

It has been a long time since I last wrote in this blog. I have been busy with music projects and writing novels. In fact, I am writing my ninth novel right now and am just taking a break. I wanted to get back into keeping up with my blog but didn't want it to become a format for political rants. Let's be frank, the political landscape is abysmal and folks have never been so divided and so entrenched in their views. I am no exception! Rather than regurgitate the dogma and doctrine of one party over the other, I am guided by the tenets I have long adhered to: democracy, equality under the law, opportunity, justice and a strong social safety net. I welcome diversity in all forms. I believe we should all be accountable and responsible for our actions. Worker's rights, women's rights, these are important to me as basic human rights. Income inequality is a huge issue. Of course, captains of industry deserve the right to have the largest piece of the pie. T

POSTURE

It is acceptable in martial arts to adopt any particular kamae, or “posture,” as an expression of one’s self in an artistic or stylistic manner provided it is a sound stratagem in and of itself or that the individual is so adept at the posture it makes her effective in a self-defence scenario. In many cases, a particular kamae or posture signals the style of martial art the person has studied. The straight up posture, fists clenched, arms out and slightly bent, legs in a wide stance could indicate a karate practitioner. Arms up, away from the body, palms toward the opponent, might mean a Muay Thai fighter. The various forms of Kung Fu, indicating the Tiger, the Dragon or the Praying Mantis are distinguished by their exotic postures, and so on. How we present ourselves in daily life and in a non-martial context gives people hints about ourselves. Whatever way we present ourselves can be considered our kamae, our posture. This begs the questions, just how does the world perc

AESTHETIC DISTANCE

I love films. I have always loved films. In high school during the very early seventies, I was able to take a film arts course along with English courses, media and communications. I loved it. Film is art. The famous MGM logo with the lion’s roar that prefaces so many famous movies incorporates the Latin, “ARS GRATIA ARTIS” which means “art for art’s sake,” and was designed in 1916 by Howard Dietz. The saying is credited to the 19th century French philosopher, Victor Cousin and was written as “l’art pour l’art.” One of the basic lessons I learned in film arts was the concept of aesthetic distance. This concept originally applied to literature refers to the gap between the readers, or as in the case of film, the viewer’s conscious reality and the fictional reality constructed by an author of a book or the director of the film. Of course, in film there are so many more variables to be considered, actor’s craft, lighting, cinematography, music et cetera.

Not Yet Nirvana

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