Mind Tenets
Mind tenets are laws contained within the domain of Mind to encourage fulfillment on the path of Mind. You must create your own tenets and renounce tenets that do not aid your path. Tenets create freedom; they do not restrict it.
Mushin無心)mind
“if your mind is diverted in any way, your actions will falter, and this can mean that you will be cut down.”
Takuan Soho | The Unfettered Mind
Takuan Soto described the Mushin mind as fluid and unattached, like water.
The mind is a glass of water with sediment at the bottom. When the mind is calm, the sediment rests at the bottom of the glass, and the water is pure. When the mind is uncontrolled, or racing with thought, the sediment swirls chaotically, taking the entire form of the water, making the water dirty and impure.
An inherent mastery of the mind domain is pursuing purity of mind at all times. This begins when you wake up and continues until you give your mind to the void.
If you observe that your water(mind) is dirty, you must purify it. Always be here. Always be pure.
The mind is a tool to be put away
The mind is a tool that should be put away when not needed. Stay out of your thoughts unless you need to think. You can stay in your breath when you do not need your mind.
The mind plans. The breath executes.
Use the mind for strategy and the breath for execution.
Your thinking mind is not useful in all situations. Use your mind when it is advantageous and put it away when it is not.
Thoughts before words
Think before you speak. Become comfortable with silence so you are comfortable with pausing to think. Avoid creating problems for yourself by considering action before taking action.
The mind that makes the self
The mind makes the self because the mind domain is where perception lives. You can perceive everything however you want to perceive it.
If you choose strength and positivity, you will progress. If you default to weakness and negativity, you will regress. Alpha and omega; creation and destruction.
Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 15 | Do not act following customary beliefs
If you believe you can do great things, you will.
The unreliable mind
Don’t believe everything you think. Do not tolerate destructive, omega-oriented thoughts in the mind.
You need to control your mind in all circumstances. Do not allow your mind to control you, because it is unreliable, making the mind an ineffective leader but a useful tool.
Letting your thoughts run is letting your mind run wild. Sometimes this can be productive, like for generating ideas, but often it defaults to destructive thought, which is not allowed. Swirling the sediment of your mind can be productive if you control it, but you must control it. And when you are done, you must purify your water.
Uncontrolled thought defaults to negativity because it is more important for your mind to protect you from threats than to look for rewards, like avoiding a fruit tree because a tiger is underneath when you are hungry. You must override default programming with optimal programming.
We default to, and pay attention to the negative more than the positive—but we don’t have to.
Be aware of actors who wish to take advantage of the default to negativity to influence and control.
The mind admits no negativity
Negativity of any kind is not allowed in the mind of the wanderer. Mind domain self-sabotaging thoughts is a virus that can infect the domains of body and spirit—it must be killed where it lives using counterpositivity.
Even when bad things happen to you, you do not need to be negative. Being negative and experiencing negativity are different. Experiencing negativity is human; being negative is self-sabotage. Self-sabotage is forbidden.
Do not tolerate thoughts of self-doubt in the mind. Kill these thoughts with counterpositivity or purify the mind to the Mushin(無心) state. Let the world decide if you are ready or good enough. You do not decide. You simply do your best with your self-belief. Doubting yourself is taking responsibility from the muse who guides your destiny. Do not take responsibility away from destiny.
The mind is like a stream. Take out the trash as it floats by so it does not pollute farther down.
If you fail, you learn. Failure is only defeat if you quit or do not learn.
If you keep a positive mental attitude, you can get through anything.
Accept everything just the way it is
Accept everything the way it is, so you do not desire to change what cannot be. If something can be changed, and you believe it needs changing, change it. Otherwise, accept what is, the way it is.
Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 1 | Accept everything just the way it is
Accepting the way things are is crucial for being a wanderer on the path, both for accepting negative things as they are, as well as the positive.
Emotions arising from what cannot be changed distract the wanderer from their paths.
Accept what is difficult as a challenge to overcome. Accept what is rewarding as a gift from the universe, or the Gods, but do not count on the help of anyone other than help from the internal relationship.
Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 19 | Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help
Priority chain
Respect the priority of the path and of tasks that must be completed off the path. If off-path tasks have more priority than what is on the path, step off and return promptly. Avoid making or becoming involved with problems that take you off the path.
Move forward effectively by attacking the obstacles that require the most energy first. Low-effort tasks of any domain can be completed after high-effort tasks. You need to ensure you operate with respect to the priority chain pertaining to scheduling inputs.
Hard things first. Easier things after. No effort last. So everything gets done.
Do not think too far ahead on the path or you will not move forward in the present.
Do not try and solve problems you perceive will exist in the future that do not pertain to challenges you are facing now. This is a form of procrastination.
Input Responsibility
You are responsible for controlling and filtering the information you let into your mind. Encourage letting information into the mind that encourages mastery down your many paths. Discourage letting information in that takes you off the path.
Before you let a piece of information into the domain of mind, consider asking yourself, how will this improve my life? How will this strengthen the sanctuary of my mind? You don’t have to consider this every time, but sometimes.
The mindless consumption of content is the pursuit of pleasure which cannot be fulfilling.
The mind is the inner sanctum of the individual. The body is the castle exterior and the spirit is the throne. You must be discerning in who you let inside. Do not let anyone or anything sit on your throne.
The content you consume should encourage mastery, not discourage it.
Input responsibility is staying in your lane, staying on your path. Avoid taking in gossip at any level—the news is impersonal gossip at a large scale, and it doesn’t affect you.
Pay attention to news on your path, not the world off your path of paths(TPP).
Output responsibility
You have a responsibility to control the information you let out of your mind—AKA your communication.
Avoid over and undersharing.
Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world
The world is the path. The self is the mind that wants to be seen in the spotlight. The mind often thrives as an audience member while letting the spirit and the body be actors on the stage.
Musashi Dokkōdō Precept 4 | Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world
By focusing on the self, you no longer focus on the path ahead of you, so you do not progress your mastery, so you do not find fulfillment; this is the root cause of many mental ailments—an over-focus on the self.
Information Assimilation
You must find and assimilate new information during all chapters of life.
This can be through reading, watching, listening, taking courses, any means.
Diversifying the mediums of information you consume is recommended. Active learning must precede passive learning unless passive learning is the only option.
Mastery is built upon development and understanding.
The mind assimilates information more effectively when the mind is in the Mushin(無心)state.
It isn’t enough to consume new information, it must be assimilated.
Situational awareness
Use your mind to be aware of the situation you are in at all times. Neglecting situational awareness can be fatal.
Pursuing mastery of situational awareness is how the wanderer develops a sophisticated instinct for self-preservation.
A book a month
Aim to read at least one book a month. Reading is still one of the best ways to assimilate information. A book a month is 60 books read every 5 years. More is better.
The possibilities of the mind expand when you increase the landscape of the mind through information assimilation.
Understand Your Fears
Approach life to learn and not to fear. Understanding is always more powerful than being afraid. What is understood is no longer feared.
Understand your enemies and your other difficulties, and you will no longer fear them, but become prepared to face them.
Active before passive learning
Active learning should always come before passive learning. This relates to the priority chain—active learning requires more energy than passive learning, and is more effective than passive learning, as with all things active and passive.
Passive learning is opportunistic learning, like listening to a podcast when you are driving. But you must never place passive learning before active learning if you can actively learn.
Learn Math
All wanderers benefit from an understanding of math because math is the language of nature and logic. Understanding the nature and logic of the world is crucial for the wanderer.
No wanderer can learn a level of math where it reduces their ability to pursue mastery.
Second solving
When you find a difficult problem for your mind, and you solve it, stay in that moment and solve it again and again until it flows like mastery in your mind. Make the development of mastery concrete by solving the same problem multiple times until it sticks. Do not let something be partially understood when you can fully understand it. These opportunities for permanent growth can be uncommon.