Let’s take a look at how the Mindfield can be used as a framework to understand anything.
Friends who are currently promoting Kochi Prefecture sent me a proposal for this purpose, and I’ll apply aspects of the Mindfield to it.
I’ll use a simplified version of the Mindfield. Here it is.
We’re always on some kind of path to change. I use different words for the different icons in different contexts, but it will be helpful if the icons have names that offer a sense of how I use each icon to engage with the “now” that I want to think about “how” to engage with efficiently and effectively. So…
And let’s get started.
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. For many people, the mention of “Shikoku” brings to mind a walking tour of 88 Buddhist temples dotted around Shikoku’s four prefectures: Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime, and Kagawa.
Visit Shikoku and from time to time you will see a person, maybe dressed in a white costume, walking along the road. Pilgrims like this will be making their way to one of the 88 temples on the Shikoku circuit.
Anyone can go on this pilgrimage, and you can tackle it any way you like (on foot, in a car, visiting just a few temples, doing the whole circuit, etc.), but one orthodox approach is to start in Tokushima and then go to the temples in Kochi, Ehime, and Kagawa.
Each part of the journey is associated with an aspect of enlightenment. The part in Tokushima is called “hosshin”, which means something like activation of the heart (“yes!” icon).
Earlier on this NowHow journey I mentioned the Zen insight that “everything is created by the heart”. So we seem to be off to a good start.
Our destination is Nirvana, but Nirvana awaits in Kagawa and that’s miles away. Before that, in Ehime, we’ll be hitting our stride (“bodai”, which refers to something like the right path: “progress” icon).
And now we are entering Kochi, regarded by some as the toughest part of the journey, with many miles between some of the temples. The focus of this part of the pilgrimage is “shugyo”. That’s written with two Canjeez. The first one is about mastery. The second one is 行. This Canjeez can have various meanings: go, or undertake, for example. But here, it refers to spiritual discipline, or practice (“process” icon).
The Canjeez 行 was originally a picture of a crossroads. At every moment in your life, you stand at a crossroads. Will you keep going? Will you stop? Will you head in a different direction?
You can’t be conscious of what you’re doing at every single moment in your life. But the present moment is the only time in your life when you can be conscious of the choices open to you.
That’s why NowHow is so important. I see a big advantage in knowing how best to use now. I’m trying to make the “how” clear.
A very long walk, exposed to the elements on the beautiful coast of Kochi, must offer many opportunities to think about “now”.
Did I make the right decision in coming on this pilgrimage? Do I really want to be doing this? I feel exhausted. Can I really keep going? What’s the point of all this? Why don’t I just quit?
But even as I think these thoughts, I am taking another step, and then another step, in the direction of the next temple. My heart has been activated and my legs are responding. I am engaged in a process. A discipline.
Will reaching the next temple represent a significant reward? The temple itself may be interesting, but will the visit actually constitute another step in the direction of enlightenment? This is another opportunity for me to reflect (“feedback” icon) and listen to my inner voice (“input” icon).
As the journey continues, maybe it will begin to dawn on me that the process itself is the reward. I may have started out with a vision of spiritual growth, an “elephantasy” (“aha!” icon) of an enlightened me. Maybe my heart (“yes!”) wanted to grasp that new image of myself. Maybe I thought it would change my identity in a good way (“feedback” — the zone of the mirror of memory).
But now, here I am walking along a road in Kochi, wondering if I even know what “good” is (“power” icon).
Another step, and then another step.
This post was brought to you by the Canjeez 行.