The Zen expression 'mushin' is an important and valuable idea worthy of understanding for those who wish to attain balance and excellence in life and art. The term 'mushin' translated to English means 'no mind.' Many martial artists work hard to attain this magical state where the mind is no longer thinking on the ordinary level, where the mind is, in fact, functioning at such a high level that it is essentially not thinking at all. When a martial artist enters this state, he is able to fight with absolute power and magnificence because his mind is not conscious of itself and the body and the mind function together in the absolute fighting power of 'mushin' or 'no mind.'
Artists and athletes also work hard to obtain this delicious state of consciousness and often refer to it as "being in the flow." When in the flow state, the athlete can go beyond his or her limitations to achieve great feats of physical prowess by shutting off the mind to external ideas and having no mind at all. The mind becomes subordinate to the body and follows its instinctive lead. A writer is able to achieve this sometimes too, if the writer is very lucky, when the words are being written in a state of consciousness that defies normal explanation. You are able to perfect your craft in ways formerly unprecedented by turning off the mind to everything except the writing and finally turning it off even to the thoughts involved and leting the writing 'flow.'
The Buddha spoke a great deal about the importance of non-thought. He once asked, "How can you know what you believe, if you are thinking all the time?" This makes perfect sense to me because if your brain is constanty churning over everything, you can't stop long enough just to be and to believe.
The magical secret to living well, to performing well, is mushin. Thinking less and acting more.
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