Our physical bodies have their own intelligence.
In Zen, they have the term "Mu Shen", which is often translated as being “no mind”. This term impressed upon Zen students to stop using the intellect in situations, problems, or their lives in general and that something other than rational, logical thought and human cunning is required to overcome these obstacles.
This is a real conundrum as we are taught from birth to engage our monkey mind all the time. As if it is the highest accolade of human existence. But in reality, the pursuit of the magnificence of what our brains can achieve is ego. It has, in many instances, led us away from ‘nature’ and "true virtue" and toward a chaotic fragmented existence equal to the collective extent of our own chaotic monkey-mind society.
But what Zen points to is that there is something greater than our human cognition. An intelligence within our body. And whilst our cognitive mind is great, it does not hold the answers to all our human or Earthly problems and can often just make them worse and more confusing. For evidence of this, just reflect on the state of our modern lifestyle and its ever-increasing confusion and segmentation and how far from embodied instinct we live.
Is there a simply more connected, more natural path we could take while still having many of the benefits of modern technology?
It would seem that we are caught in the hierarchical trap of placing our cognition and its cunning above our ability to be nature. Trying to escape its harsh but beautiful realness for placating comfort while missing its simplicity and the innate pleasure of resting in nature itself.
So in my understanding, the Japanese Zen term Mu Shen, “Mu” does not actually translate to mean “No”. But instead, it means “the answer is bigger than (or other to/or outside) your question”.
Therefore, perhaps we can think of Mu Shen meaning "No Mind", as it is often translated. However, I believe that what it means is "other than our cognitive mind" or something greater than your mind can grasp or can answer.
So Zen is really about helping us rediscover that aspect of our human being-ness. That part that does not engage in reckless thought for the sake of thinking. A part of us that is not contrived and to leave all our cunning behind to simply be “nature”.
In this state, we are not dumb but instead, have the natural radiance and seemingly natural intelligence which is often seen in highly advanced spiritual teachers who answer questions regarding the human condition with uncanny ease and grace but cutting right to the core of the human condition and helping those around see through their madness with effortless simplicity.
You know, the type of uncanny ease that makes your brain hurt with its simplicity and usual need for complexity, but that clears away the BS and our need to control and dominate situations for those moments of clarity and radiant connectedness.
The biggest thing to take us away from this concept of Mu Shen is our addiction to pleasure and aversion to displeasure. A state that our entire modern civilization is caught in as we insanely clamper around desperately looking for an intellectual way out of the snare of the harsh reality of the pleasure/pain trap - all the while not seeing our cognitive mind IS the trap. We ensnare ourselves.
This is the beauty that Taijiquan and Qigong have given me. A way to relinquish (temporarily anyway) my human cognition and cunning and soften into the natural mind of my body. After all, this state was a state the Samurai trained for, as in the height of battle, the body does the work, and the mind switches off.
A warrior must rely on his ability to become greater than their foolish cognitive mind and extend themselves into that which surrounds them without being caught up, tricky by or missing important information. They must move with nature, not against it.
So I am by no means some exulted enlightened master (did I just hear a roar of laughter from those who know me ), but the moments in Qigong and Taijiquan whereby my body takes over the driver's seat and I can just sit back and observe what my body is teaching me, the space whereby I become nature, dissolving into the environment, dissolving back into nature is nothing short of humbling.
In these states, I find that I have no desire. I have no need to want things. It is a surrender to everything and longing for nothing, maybe because I seem to have everything I need within me. Dunno, honestly, I don’t think about it too much, I just generally find somewhere to sit down and just "be".
Becoming that which surrounds you, becoming nature itself, and not that which you think.
This is Mu Shen. This is healing.
So, go listen to your body. Don’t seek pleasure. Be with nature. And most of all…get some Qigong into you! It does change something deeply profound within us!