泰然自若
Taizenjijaku
Having an imperturbable and calm mind.
A good martial artist never gets distracted. Kiutsuri (氣移り) and meutsuri (目移り) both mean “distraction” but they literally mean that our energy or our eyes become “moved.” Thus, to be distracted is to allow our mind, energy, or eyes to lose focus. When we lose focus, it can create a mental or physical opening called a “suki” (隙). When an opening is created, our opponent might be able to seize upon that gap and defeat us. In training, we are often told not to look directly into our opponent’s eyes. One old school reason for this was that it was thought that a deft warrior could supposedly distract us or hypnotize us with their eyes and then seize the moment and attack. If you have ever had a niramekura (睨め競) or “staring contest” you might understand this. When we stare too long, our eyes dry out and this causes us to blink. Likewise, when we focus too strongly on not blinking, then we get mentally distracted and might miss our opponent moving in on us. Perhaps this could be the origin of warriors being able to “attack in a blink of an eye.” To guard against being hypnotized or distracted, we are told to soften our eyes and focus our relaxed gaze at our opponent’s shoulder line or to blur their face with our vision. This way of “looking” allows us to not get distracted and catch the smallest movements in our opponent’s bodies and then capitalize on the openings that they create and defeat them. Samurai, Adachi Masahiro said, “The imperturbable mind is the secret of warfare.” To have an imperturbable mind is to have a calm mind which is not easily swayed by distractions. In life and in the martial arts, we need to know which fights need to be fought and which wars have to be won. Martial artists train themselves to have an imperturbable mind and that is why a good martial artist never gets distracted.
Today’s goal: In everything that you do, ask yourself, “Is this a distraction?”
Watch this video to better understand distractions.