Sato Tsuji: The Teaching of the Human Body

Introduction

The Self that has fully attained to itself is shown by an autonomous denial or resistance to the gravitational pull of the earth. A thing is completely dominated by the force of gravity. The animal body automatically overcomes the domination of the force of gravity. The human-self-body in its denial of the gravitational pull of earth is the expression of an autonomous will. The nature of this self-body is shown by its freedom of movement and by the uprightness of the trunk.

If the true mark of the human being is the uprightness of his body, then the character of man must be expressed by an intentional actualization of this posture. To maintain it the tension of will-power is necessary. When this slackens, the loins become weak and man falls into a posture in which the region of the stomach and abdomen are compressed. Thus it is absolutely necessary to maintain the lumbar vertebrae upright by will otherwise they give way and bend under the weight of the upper body. This posture indicates that the lowest, most material mode has prevailed and the active self has become passive.

The most important, the strongest and also the most sensitive part of the body and hence of the body-soul (body- Self) unity is called the kyusho. It lies in the whole of the trunk below the level of the navel. This region is called the koshi. Hence the self-supporting principle is rooted in the koshi. If the koshi is not filled with force the body no longer contains a centre of strength in itself and it will then be drawn downwards by a force exterior to itself, ie, by the gravitational pull of the earth. The limbs then cease to coordinate. The body loses its significance as an independent, self-enclosed life.

A strong upright koshi is an affirmation of the active bodily constitution of the human being. If the upper body is heavy and the lower body (weak) it shows that materiality predominates shows that the lower over the higher. Contrariwise, a heavy lower body connected with a light upper body indicates a life of individual character which yet comprises the lower materiality. Only this corresponds to the true logic of life. And the physiological norm accords with it. If one keeps the trunk erect and allows the koshi to be heavy the circulation of the blood in the lower body is stimulated and one is warm. Cool head, warm feet-from olden times these were considered signs of good health, whereas hot head and cold feet, cold loins and a cold bottom were always signs of poor health. Hakuin Zenshi says, 'The way to care for the living consists of keeping the upper body cool and fresh, the lower body warm.

To achieve the right posture one must first fill the lower belly with the strength of the whole body. To fill the koshi with strength means also to tense the abdominal muscles a little. If one tenses the abdominal muscles in the right way there appears, as a result of this tension, a point of concentration below the navel. This point is the centre of man as a human-body-unity. It is called the tanden. The art of activating it is to release the strength of all the other parts of the body and to concentrate it there. This art since ancient times has been cultivated in budo, the way of the knight, in gedo, the way of the artist and in sado, the way of sitting.

The point which is the seat of the subject in the human body, must be realized inwardly. Just as the subject cannot be seen from outside this point cannt be recognized as something anatomical. A subject can never be made the object of recognition. Thus the centre of gravity of the earth, understood as a living being which is the seat of the 'One', and through which the earth becomes the One, can, insofar as this centre of gravity reflects the subject of the earth, never be made the object of recognition.

The method of looking inward which Hakuin Zenshi taught consists in the aspirant lying down, stretching his legs straight out, holding them firmly close together and in gathering the strength of the whole body into the middle. This method of Hakuin is very well calculated to put the whole body 'into one'. If one stretches the knee muscles and puts strength into the legs and into the koshi, one feels with delight how the whole body is filled with strength. Then one should withdraw the strength from the legs and take it back into the koshi, and, in this way, practice feeling the strength in the koshi alone.

As soon as the man gets to his feet his centre of gravity comes into evidence. Now the art of looking inward must be practised in the upright posture. First it is necessary to place the feet firmly on the ground and let the soles be, so to speak, glued to it. At the same time one must stretch the knee-muscles and put one's strength into the legs. Then the legs become firm as a tree-trunk and the koshi of itself will fill with strength. Then the strength must be with- drawn from the legs and taken back into the koshi. Then when all the strength is gathered into the koshi one places the feet on the ground by the strength of the koshi.

Filling the koshi with strength goes naturally hand in hand with breathing out. While inhaling one must withdraw the strength from the belly but, at the same time, maintain the right condition of the koshi. Then the inhaled air enters by itself and fills the upper belly. At the end of the inhalation the lower Hara becomes strong by itself and one can then quite naturally and smoothly change over to exhaling. The change from inhaling to exhaling and vice versa must be completely smooth and one must not interrupt the breathing during the change over.

When all the muscles of the body attain their right balance the region of the stomach becomes concave during exhalation but the lower belly curves slightly outward. This does not mean that one should thrust it out purposely. The volume and contour of the lower part of the body seen from outside changes very little, but it fills out firmly. Thus the lower part of the body effects the change from emptiness to fullness although its volume alters only very slightly.

In this exercise inhalation is short, whereas exhalation is long, since the Hara is being reinforced. But this does not mean that one should economize with the air to be exhaled. One should pull the chin in slightly, open wide the floor of Hara and expel the air fully and strongly. This exhalation must, when nearing its end, become thicker, like a club. If the floor of Hara is devoid of strength exhalation is superficial and wheezy, but if one really breathes from it the breathing becomes powerful and flowing.

The lower belly and the buttocks complement each other as the front and back of the base of the trunk, and in this way they constitute a special unity. The strength of the koshi is one which makes a firm base of the trunk. Letting the strength flow into the koshi means, therefore, either to keep the buttocks heavy or to make the lower abdomen firm. If the buttocks are pressed back and the lower abdomen is tensed forward the base of the trunk is as firm as a rock. The hip bone then stands firm between the buttocks and the lower belly forming a true body perpendicular.

Letting strength flow into the tanden does not mean thrusting the weight of the upper body on to the lower body. When one lets the strength flow into the koshi, the lower body, carrying the upper part of the body, gains as were a 'nominative' character. It would therefore be a mistake to look for the source of strength in the koshi in the upper part of the body. If one were to press the strength actively into the tanden by 'squashing' it, the body would become bent and lose its natural form and the upper part of the body would still remain master of the body. The strength filling the koshi should in fact be a strength which acts as if the upper part of the body did not exist at all. Therefore one should gather the strength of the whole body into the base of the trunk as if the body-perpendicular grew straight up from the centre of the earth. The koshi carries the upper part of the body with a strength striving upward from below. When strength lies in the tanden the buttocks are also contracted.

In wrong postures the trunk is only apparently supported but actually the body tends to lean back and keeps upright only with difficulty. That means that the lower belly yields to (the domination of) the force of gravity while the upper part negates it. Here, man's 'positive' stand which goes against the force of gravity, is no longer effective. The act of 'straightening up', which denotes an autonomous character, has given way to y to passivity. This posture, which denies the autonomous character of man, is ugly. Since the human being is at the same time a divine being, his bodily form should be noble. To keep the koshi erect is indeed the most important outward expression of the soul-body.

Because through wrong posture the upper body must, as it were, sit on a crumpled lower body the muscles of the chest, shoulders, neck, face or head become cramped and it is only a makeshift remedy to loosen the cramp by kneading and massage. To obviate the source of this cramp completely one must straighten the spine and adopt the right posture.

This right posture, which permits the body to maintain its proper perpendicular position, is the only way of attaining that degree of form which demonstrates the unity of life beyond all dualism. One must escape from that imprisonment in the ego which causes cramp in various parts, and then a condition of ego-lessness will arise. But at the edge of the abyss life rushes in again. A posture in which the lower part of the body is heavy and the upper part light necessarily develops a body structure with a strong koshi and a protruding lower belly. If one adopts a right posture the koshi becomes as firm as a rock. Then one can do nothing other than put the strength quite naturally into the lower abdomen. This strength tenses the abdominal muscles in a pleasant way and gives vitality to the whole body. The tension of the lower belly is strongest in exhalation, so strong in fact that a fist struck against it will rebound. Hakuin Zenshi, in his book Yasenkawa, has compared such a belly with a 'ball that has not yet been hit with a bamboo stick', meaning a ball with unimpaired strength and elasticity.

Tensing the chest, drawing up the muscles, flattening the lower belly-all this shifts the centre of gravity upwards and thus produces instability. The chest should be absolutely empty. One should take care to open and soften and ease the chest, and never to tense it. The whole body-strength should lie exclusively in the koshi as the root of the trunk; the muscles of the whole body should naturally tend towards the koshi-region. When this region is filled with strength, and when the upper body and the neck are quite free, the movement of any of the limbs-any effort what- soever-expresses the wholeness and unity centred in the tanden and produces no strain or distortion at any point. Thus every particular movement, which is always somewhere, becomes existentially, a wonderful entity in the nowhere.

When withdrawing the strength from the chest one should at the same time let the pit of the stomach cave in. The pit of the stomach is the concave region below the breastbone and above the navel and the part which is called the upper belly in contrast to the lower belly. If one bends the koshi this region caves in. One can, however, gather the strength of the whole body in the tanden only when this goes in, even when one holds the koshi erect and tenses the lower belly while exhaling. When inhaling one should breathe in with an empty relaxed chest. Then the air fills the upper belly and swells the region above the navel naturally. When exhaling, the muscle power is concentrated in the lower belly. Then the upper belly caves in naturally as if it were being sucked into a vacuum.

If the koshi is the most important region for acquiring right posture, then one could say that the next most important part is the neck. The koshi and the neck are the most unstable parts of the body. Therefore, to achieve the right posture, one must keep these two parts in order. The head Bojoined to the trunk by means of a thin and flexible neck which forms its base. If one holds one's head in the wrong way the actual stem of the whole body will be divided into head and trunk, so that each possesses a separate centre of gravity. This would represent dualism. To achieve the unity of the whole body, one must take care that the centre of gravity of the head is exactly in line with the body-stem. The lower jaw of many people drops forward in a slack way. One must pull the chin in slightly and keep the ear lobes in a straight line with the shoulders. So the masters taught that one should keep the cervical vertebrae straight and put strength into the neck, in fact to pull the chin in so far that it hurts behind the ears'. In the right posture the strength one puts into the koshi and the strength which pulls in the chin are closely connected. If one loses the strength of the koshi the chin falls too far forward.

To put the strength into the neck and to pull in the chin does not mean that one should put the same amount of strength into the latter as into the koshi but that one should keep the neck muscles under control. 'If one tries only to pull in the chin paying no attention to the koshi and to the pit of the stomach, the chest will involuntarily spring forward' (Okada). When the chest protrudes, the belly muscles are drawn up and the whole musculature of the body is displaced. The strength in the koshi dwindles. In this bad posture it is unhealthy to put strength into the lower belly by force. Because the koshi, as the base of the trunk is also the seat of the body-whole, the strength put in the neck muscles must combined without difficulty with the strength put into the koshi, or to express it differently, one must create from the koshi the strength which keeps the neck muscles in order.

Because in the condition wherein the neck and the trunk are truly one, the cervical muscles undergo neither distortion nor cramp, the head seems almost as if it were 'exploded' from the trunk, as if it hung suspended in empty space. The head is heaven, the trunk is earth. Only where heaven and earth, which are actually one, are divided into a duality within the frame of the one, does a great well- ordered cosmos appear. When the strength of the neck enters that of the tanden and when the head is at one with the whole musculature of the body the head feels as if it were lightly floating no matter which way it moves. The shoulders are the most mobile part of the trunk.

They also distort the whole body most easily. For the practice of right posture the shoulders are the most important part of the body. It is essential to let the shoulders drop. As the head represents Heaven and the trunk Earth the true form of the human body can be represented only when the shoulders are loose and when one drops oneself into the basic centre thus actualizing the true emptiness of Heaven and the fullness of Earth. To draw in the neck and to hunch the shoulders up is to clump the two together thus making them a mere thing, and so falling into a lower dimension of life. Most weak people hold their shoulders hunched-up. When one is frightened or startled one involuntarily jerks up the shoulders. Anyone not thrusting up his shoulders when startled but gathering his strength in his lower belly must certainly have 'practised' in some way.

The cardinal point in relaxing the shoulders is to let them droop gently, as if one were letting a soutane slip off. But if one puts one's consciousness into the shoulders in order to drop them, they will be cramped rather than relaxed. Any part of the body will become tense if one deliberately puts one's consciousness into it. So nothing remains but to put consciousness into the tanden. There one's whole attention can be centred without causing any harm. Therefore, when dropping the shoulders, it is better to have the feeling that one is dropping both arms rather than intending to drop the shoulders. If one puts no strength into the arms whatsoever and feels as if the arms were separated from the shoulders, the shoulder muscles at once become calmer. The calmer the shoulder muscles the calmer the whole body. When the legs also extend calmly down- wards and the shoulders are quiet, the chin is then drawn in of its own accord. One can say, therefore, that the most effective approach to correct posture lies in the right dropping of both arms.

Both shoulders must be level and form a straight line when seen from above. In most people, however, the roots of the arms tend backwards at the shoulders. Then one must not only drop the shoulders but, in so doing also arch them forward a little. This is the posture of a Noh dancer as he begins his dance, with arms hanging naturally, the fan in his right hand. The shoulders of a master of archery also form a straight line when he looses his arrow. If in archery one does not let the shoulders sink and does not drop the arms slightly forward the root of the left arm rises and one cannot make the bow-arm strong enough.

The art of a sculptor consists, it is said, in chiselling out of the wood an already existent image. Similarly, to achieve right posture, to extricate man's inherent posture, means to clear away the confused accumulations of misdoing. Therefore one should not be caught by anxious effort to arch forward the lower belly, to drop the shoulders, etc. Rather should one turn one's mind directly to the unity of the whole body, purifying this feeling of oneness from all dross, extinguishing all forces which negate the 'one', and, in this way, actualize the tanden as the 'seat' of unity. But the two efforts, to keep the koshi erect and secondly to drop the arms are different from all the other efforts as they do not divide the mind but are good ways of achieving the overall unity of the body.

When standing upright the force of gravity of the body falls in a plumb line from the crown of the head through its centre down through the trunk emerging between the legs. If one opens the legs at a moderate angle the seat of gravity widens and the degree of stability is increased.

With the koshi not erect the weight of gravity falls on the heels and in this posture a man can easily be pushed over.

If one walks with ease, the body-stem upright, the koshi filled with strength, the leg muscles stretched naturally, the body knows no faltering, to the right or to the left. Then one walks parallel to the surface of the earth as though on a water mirror. Such is the gait of a Noh player. The Noh player learns to walk with a basin of water on his head. That is the right way of walking.

Right sitting reveals the true form of man. As it is said in the Fugen Sutra, 'Right sitting and meditating the true form' constitutes the proto-image of any 'practice' of man. Right sitting is itself the true form of man and the full accomplishment of it a primary human experience. The bodily act of right sitting in free self-consciousness is, like other good things, the practice of one among several possible good things as well as in itself a realization of the absolute Unity which transcends all the relative unities. Thus the perfection of a state ultimately possible to man can be brought about merely by the right practice of sitting.

Philosophical thinking practised by a person who has degenerated into a mere brain and whose posture resembles that of a jelly-fish-such thinking remains ultimately in the sphere of illusion and vague phantasies however profound it may appear. Only because the wondrous teaching proclaimed from the golden mouth of the Shaka was spoken from his noble physical body is its truth the expression of experience grounded in Reality.