Bujinkan Kuden: 自然行雲流水 Shizen kōunryūsui

根津美術館庭園 photo by Michael Glenn

We have a Bujinkan kuden, 自然行雲流水 Shizen kōunryūsui. This is sometimes translated as going with the flow. It originates from an old Chinese poem. But in Japan it became an essential mindset for zen.

It is having a mind that is light and carefree like the journey of the clouds through the sky. No matter what wars are being fought on earth, or what pain and emotion is being expressed, the clouds just float by. What if your mind could be light like that?

But this saying also suggests we can flow along like the water in a river. No matter what obstacle it encounters, it just keeps going. It is ever changing and persistent. What if your mind could run deep like a river?

The river and the clouds are connected of course. The clouds drop rain and snow which feeds the river. Then the water might evaporate and rise back into the sky to become a cloud again.

In Bujinkan taijutsu, this mindset is expressed as natural and smooth movement. This kind of taijutsu is not an attack or a defense. When we are unattached to results, victory appears.

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