The Philosophy of No-Mind: Experience without Self

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Nishihira Tadashi, one of Japan's leading philosophers, introduces the deeply experiential philosophy of losing yourself in the reality of the present, guiding us through a concept found at the centre of Eastern spiritual thought. Translated into English for the first time, Tadashi defines no-mind, Mushin, as something arising after something is extinguished. He addresses each of the tension points that give the term its vitality: is it attained by waiting or by practice Can it ever be reconciled with social ethics Is it self-affirmation or self-negation, stillness or activity His thorough account of the Japanese philosophy of no-mind pulls together the historical and philosophical threads and covers the history of Zen Buddhism, the philosophy of D.T. Suzuki and Takuans treatise on swordsmanship. He discusses its everyday usage in Japanese and its old usage as an insult, following its transformation into a positive meaning via Zen. Alive to the complexities of translating no-mind into English, Tadashi's introduction makes the essential connection of no-mind to the paradoxical task of becoming human.

Author Bio

Nishihira Tadashi is a Japanese philosopher of education who holds the chair of education in Kyoto University, Japan. He has authored books (in Japanese) on The Philosophy and Psychology of E.H. Erikson (1993), The Spiritual Lifecycle in the Works of Jung, Wilber, and Steiner (1997), Philosophical Investigations into Zeami's Teaching of Exercise and Expertise (2009); Mysteries of Death and Birth in Childhood (2015), Lifecycle Philosophy (2019); The Wisdom of Keiko: Practice and Exercise (2019), among others. He also translated several of E.H. Eriksons works into Japanese. Anton Sevilla-Liu is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Kyushu University, Japan. He is the author of Watsuji Tetsurs Global Ethics of Emptiness: A Contemporary Look at a Modern Japanese Philosopher (2017) and the translator of Sueki Fumihikos Religion and Ethics at Odds: A Buddhist Counter-Position (2016). He is also one of the editors of the Journal of Japanese Philosophy. Catherine Sevilla-Liu is a translator and artist based in Kyushu, Japan.