The Unfettered Mind
By Takuan Soho
Translated by William Scott Wilson
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Shambhala Publications05/06/2012Pages: 128Size: 5.25 x 7.5ISBN: 9781590309865DetailsThis book is also included in our Reader's Guide on The Samurai and Zen where you will find other important Zen classics.
This classic samurai-era text fused Japanese swordsmanship with Zen and influenced the direction that the art has taken ever since. Written by the seventeenth-century Zen master Takuan Soho (1573–1645), The Unfettered Mind is a book of advice on swordsmanship and the cultivation of right mind and intention. It was written as a guide for the samurai Yagyu Munenori, who was a great swordsman and rival to the legendary Miyamoto Musashi.
Takuan was a giant in the history of Zen; he was also a gardener, calligrapher, poet, author, adviser to samurai and shoguns, and a pivotal figure in Zen painting. He was known for his brilliance and acerbic wit. In these succinct and pointed essays, Takuan is concerned primarily with understanding and refining the mind—both generally and when faced with conflict. The Unfettered Mind was a major influence on the classic manifestos on swordsmanship that came after it, including Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings and Yagyu Munenori's Life-Giving Sword.RelatedCheck items to add to the cart orAuthor BioTakuan Soho (1573–1645) was a Zen monk, calligrapher, painter, poet, and sword master. Like his friend and colleague Yagyu Munenori (author of The Life-Giving Sword), for whom he wrote The Unfettered Mind, his philosophy of the sword is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Zen.William Scott Wilson is the foremost translator into English of traditional Japanese texts on samurai culture. He received BA degrees from Dartmouth College and the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies, and an MA in Japanese literary studies from the University of Washington. His best-selling books include The Book of Five Rings, The Unfettered Mind, and The Lone Samurai, a biography of Miyamoto Musashi.Selected Reader Reviews