Ki in Daily Life - 4 Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body

Koichi Tohei - Ki in Daily Life - 4 Basic Principles to Unify Mind and Body

Both the mind and body were born of the ki of the universal and were originally one. There is no dividing line between the mind and body in determining that this is the mind and that is the body. The mind is refined body, the body unrefined mind. The mind is refined and the body is coarse.
It is not really difficult to coordinate mind and body which were originally one. It seems so because people insist on thinking of the mind and the body as separate entities. Those who preach mind preach only mind, and those who preach body preach only body. Though born of the same mother, our hair and skin naturally function according to different rules. Similarly, even though the mind and the body were both born of the same ki of the universal, the mind naturally has the rule of mind, and the body, the rule of body. When both rules move together like the wheels of a car, for the first time we can truly coordinate mind and body in our daily life.

1. MIND MOVES BODY
We are not really conscious of using either our mind or our body, but exactly what connection exists between the two? Even if we grasp the importance of unity between mind and body, if we do not understand the relationship between them we cannot effect a unity. If when we are sitting quietly, not even thinking about our body, we manage to unify our mind, the mind and body both enter a state of unity. The reason, however, that the unity fails when we move about is that we do not understand the relationship between mind and body and are mistaken in the way we use them.
The mind is formless, colorless, and odorless, and flies from place to place at will. We may think it is here right now only to find that instantaneously it has flown a thousand miles ahead. On the contrary, the body has shape, color, and odor and its movements are restricted. Keeping these two disparate elements constantly unified is very difficult. We realize that we must make one the center of our efforts and unify it, but this leads us to the problem of which to make the center. Of course, it is impossible to separate the mind and the body, but functionally speaking we can ask ourselves is it the mind that moves the body or the body that moves the mind? Discipline methods will alter greatly depending on one's interpretation of this point.
First let us examine the view point that the body moves the mind. Can anyone bind a person to the point where the mind is immobile? Of course, not. When the body is confined, the mind moves all the more. A doctor's telling a patient that he must remain absolutely still only causes the patient's mind to become all the more agitated.
As anyone who has practiced seated Zen mediation knows, when you sit quietly with a composed spirit you are at first troubled by a multitude of things that come floating into your head. In a word, we remember things as trivial as the three measures of rice we lent a neighbor three years ago.
Fixing the mind in one place by confining the body is impossible.

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Koichi Tohei interview: http://www.seattlekisociety.org/documents/Tohei_Sensei_Interview.pdf