I was watching a Hong Kong movie named ‘Throw Down’ yesterday on the television about a former judo champion where one was given a glimpse of an age old Chinese metaphor written on the dojo doors which triggered a train of thoughts in my mind. The metaphor only contains two simple words, ‘yi hsin’ (literally one heart/mind). To the Chinese the word ‘hsin’ can refer to the heart, the mind or both. Why then would this metaphor apply to a judoka too? It will if a martial artist wants to reach the highest level of his or her art that is the ability to manifest the spirit within and to perform his or her movements in the respective martial arts with effortless grace, skill and power.
Only through contemplation, meditation, cultivation of virtues and hard work with intensive training can one achieve the one heart/mind. This truism pervades the inner alchemy texts of Taoist, Buddhist, or Zen schools.
Uniting the heart and the mind takes ages as control of the mind is easier than controlling the heart less the heart gets stifled. Quieting the mind is difficult but quieting the heart is even more so. Only the qi (breath/energy) can unite the heart and the mind. Qi from the heart is used to clean the resting place for the spirit. When the heart ‘dies’ the spirit will live. Only when there is purity in the heart/mind can the spirit resides in the mind. When the spirit resides in the mind, the martial artist may have achieved unity of the one heart/mind. Meanwhile the inner alchemist continues on his far journey none the wiser.
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