|
ANJÔDAZA
It is difficult and possibly inappropriate
to translate words from the oriental tradition into western
languages. Arrived to us from the distant past by the passage
over the centuries from people to people, these words which
attempted to express realities in themselves ineffable at
present are sometimes used in the daily or colloquial context
but certainly lacking their pristine meaning. Nevertheless,
sometimes it is necessary to submit to the exercise of translation,
when this serves at least to provide orientation in the search
for a meaning that would otherwise be totally impenetrable.
 |
AN
|
to be at one’s ease; in a
state of rest and calm, quiet
|
 |
JÔ
|
to establish, establish oneself;
calm oneself, level oneself
|
 |
DA
|
an attack, a blow; to imprint,
to temper (a sword); -emphatic verbal prefix-
|
 |
ZA
|
being seated; a seat; throne, pedestal;
position
|
We can therefore translate the term anjôdaza
as "sitting stable and quiet" or again "to
sit down (take a position in the broad sense) stably at one’s
ease".
One immediately understands that such a generic definition
offers multiple possibilities of interpretation. Furthermore,
if one thinks about strong words of Zen Buddhism
such as mushin, munen, muga which in
the almost annihilating breadth of the interpretation horizon
offered, oblige the student who is unwilling to be contented
with merely intellectual definitions to a direct, experiential
understanding.
In the educational context proposed by Master
Tada Hiroshi, anjôdaza expresses a mental state
free of attachments, a stable but relaxed psychophysical attitude,
a sort of concentrated quiet of the mind in which there is
no trace of a conscious production of thought, since all that
can favour the state of mind in which "techniques are
generated and transformed without resting, like water spouting
from a fountain".
And so anjôdaza is a state of mind, an ineffable
but real state of being that Master Tada Hiroshi often describes
"listening to the sound of the void with the ears
of the spirit".
 |
|
ANJÔDAZA - Calligraphy
of master Nagayama Norio
|
<<
back
|
