Mushin thus implies a state of mental clarity, awareness and enhanced perception (sensory and intuitive) known as pure mind, produced by the absence of conscious thought, ideas, judgments, emotion (fear and anxiety), pre-conception, or self-consciousness. It is a state of total awareness and reaction not impeded by higher mental function or emotion, a mind more open and reactive to subtle sensory input, intuition and spontaneous action. It is a mind that is totally calm -- a mind not influenced or caught up in events or others emotion, thus a mind more able to freely perceive and respond.
In Zen this mind state is achieved through the process of meditative training. The goal is to enhance awareness (zanshin) and sensitivity, while reducing thought and emotion to allow intuitive and spontaneous action - to let the body, not the thinking or emotional mind, to take charge.
Mushin is prevalent throughout all Japanese arts, from flower arrangement (Ikebana) to calligraphy (Shodo) to modern martial arts. A friend who studied Japanese flower arrangement once told me that the state of mind was the biggest difference between Western flower arrangement and what she had learned in Japan: That in Japan her arrangements were intuitive and seemed to flow outward from her non-conscious mind.
For the Japanese classical warrior (Samurai or Bushi), or the 20th century soldier equivalent, as well as modern martial artists, mushin or clear mind is equally important. On the battlefield it could mean the difference between life and death. The Samurai recognized that the state of mind was an equal partner to technical weapons training. When potential death faces you from multiple directions, awareness had to be encompassing. Recognition of danger and response needed to be instantaneous, the body and weapon fully committed in powerful action without concern for the self or hesitation of thought.
This required the non-conscious mind and the instinctive trained body to be free. No longer inhibited, slowed, distracted, or clogged, the mind was free to fully perceive, respond and commit to action. The mind is not fixed on anything and is open to everything; a mind expanded through the whole body with total awareness of and focus on everything. (1)
