This is a page out of the Munen Mushin Combat Ju-jitsu book. Just thought I'd share it with y'all. Hope you enjoy and understand. The "Notebook" When you first start out in a martial art (in my case Ju-jitsu) your notebook is empty. All you have is a binder that has nothing in it, the things that you thought were viable… just throw them out because they are all useless garbage, if your cup is full nothing more can be put in it. All the “notebook” is learned techniques, remembered situations and body mechanics that can be used at a later date.( ect, ect, ect, ) To fill your notebook all you have to do is remember little things; a body movement, a technique, things not to do in a specific situation. Your notebook can consist of little post-it notes to pages upon pages of detailed batteries of attacks. The farther along you go in your studies the more the notebook fills up with techniques, body mechanics, atemi waza, ate waza, blocks, foot word, geri waza, nage waza, osae waza, shime waza, taisabaki waza, weapons, ect,ect,ect. After the first year or two your notebook starts to fill up with pages of things instead of post-its. The problem with the notebook at this early stage is your notebook can and usually will move faster than your body can move, which causes a major problem. Another problem is it can cause you to stop and think (or over think and analyze) about what can be done (actually consciously searching thru the notebook). After years and years of dedicated practice your notebook has pages upon pages of techniques, body mechanics and it starts to become second nature. Basically after years and years of practice your note book has upwards of 500,000 pages of information. Weather it is a note or a dedicated page to one specific technique or battery of techniques. So now you have your own super computer in your head. For an example to make it more tangible I will use this example; the attack begins and the pages flip and find 10 viable things to do at the onset of the attack. Since this is a fluid way of thinking and just as the attack is a fluid movement coming closer the notebook picks up an additional 10 techniques that fall in the parameter of the attackers scope, as he still closes ground the notebook finds 5 alternate tangents for each of the original 20. (So now the number is 120 possible things to do. (“Things to do” refers to an attack, throw, joint lock, body movement, a set-up or a combination of any to all.) Now from the original attackers’ position his hips are out of alignment comparatively to his hips & foot placement. Now the notebook flips through pages and pages, forward and back continuously scanning and changes the number to 45 “things to do” that will fit in but may only contain 15 of the original 120. So as you and the attacker continually close your distances the notebook is ever flipping to and fro thru the multitude of pages to find just the viable one(s) for the situation. Now contact is made and a technique is being performed the notebook is continually assessing the situation, refining and changing to fit that particular battery. This is all done mentally in a fraction of a second. If this sounds familiar it is Mushin – the mind of no mind. A mind unconscious of itself is a mind that is not at all disturbed by affects of any kind. It is the original mind and not the delusive one that is chock-full of affects. It is always flowing, it never halts. When Mushin or Munen is attained, the mind moves from one object to another, flowing like a stream of water, filling every possible corner. For this reason the mind fulfills every function required of it. But when the flowing is stopped at one point, all the other points will get nothing of it, and the result will be a general stiffness. Therefore, to have no mind is to have freedom. To reiterate … The beginner student knows nothing about technique, so when an opponent tries to strike him he instinctively moves. This is all he can do. But as soon as his training starts he learns all kinds of techniques and tricks – which makes his mind stop at various junctures. And when he tries to strike the attacker he usually feels hampered (he lost his original sense of innocence and freedom). As years pass by and he reaches “maturity” in his training his movement comes without thinking and is free from any technical stiffness; which resembles the state of mind he had at the very beginning of training when he knew nothing. The martial arts (budo) are not about trying to win, not about testing strength, or showing it. It’s not about moving one step forward or one step backwards. It’s about seeing without trying to see, moving without trying to move, being there without trying to be there. One, who has reached this level in training, does not need a weapon or strength, the attacker destroys himself. The notebook is a powerful thing where as it has no conscience or remorse. It is a machine of your own building; to keep you safe and destroy anything that intends to hurt or harm you or your own. It can be used with the intent; to embarrass, hurt, maim, destroy and/or kill or anything in between.
