“SHIN-SHIN ICHI-NYO”

“SHIN-SHIN ICHI-NYO” is a Japanese Buddhist phrase meaning “BODY and MIND as One” and that reminded me of ”Mens Sana in Corpore Sano”, the latin expression that translates as a healthy mind in a healthy body. This expression comes from the Roman poet Juvenal who used it to emphasize the importance of praying for and cultivating both mental and physical well-being. The Japanese Zen Buddhist concept takes it a step further to develop interconnectedness between both (you may have noticed they use the same word SHIN for both).

So Summer is over this weekend as we enter Autumn with its equinox on the 22nd. Chaos, inaptitudes to connect to our humanity, and disillusions seem to be in , as the world enter very sad and uncharacteristic moments.

What have we succumbed to? Power, money, status, ego feeds, AI beauty and dangers, most certainly a world where the powerful dictate, invade, steal kids, kill or starve to eliminate populations intentionally or not, masquerade intentions and create illusions in the name of God, the Almighty or the supreme authority of the Alien Intelligence. (cf my previous blogs).

I am just back from a week in Japan, invited after 10 years of service, by my Delta Airline client and friend, where I visited in Kyoto the Sennyu-Ji compound of temples. I learned that Shintoism and Buddhism lived side by side for centuries in their recognizable shrines and temples (in that rare complex that is visited by the Imperial family, because 39 Emperors are buried on these sacred grounds - and not visited by the invasion of tourists in Kyoto). Our guide, Yoko, explained that these two spiritual paths were milestones in building Japan’s history and culture. I was especially taken by two practices. One is to cleanse yourself with water on your hands and mouth when you enter a shrine, as if you were getting ready to wash away the old you and reignite yourself to become a new you. The other one was to have a conversation with the protectors in that shrine and make a declaration of intention, they call “Inori” or “I declare to be at my best and wait for the Heavens to answer. Which reminded me a lot of the concept I developed in Thriving with Co-inception Leadership, the book I wrote in 2017. (you can get an e-version if you donate even a tiny amount to Digital Bridges 4 Nepal by checking our foundation page here).

The 1860s Meiji era is when things started to separate and gave way to Japan’s rapid modernization as well as the adoration of the Emperor as a descendant of Amatera Su, the sun goddess, with the great and disastrous consequences we know.

Yoko our guide also built a gentle case saying that the Western religions all had been about a form of monopoly rejecting the others, from crusades to terrorists attacks in the name of one God. She referred to Shintoism as centered in the worship of Nature and ancestral spirits known as Kamis. (it does not have a central “being” you worship, or a book like the Bible or the Koran, and practices are passed from generation to generation orally). It is probably closer to the Native American ways or the indigenous Arhuaco’s of the Colombian Sierra Nevada, that looks at us as the “younger brothers” that, in our pursuit of progress and GDP, have forgotten to listen and feel the earth disintegrate itself. (some of you may remember I visited this area in Santa Marta a year ago). Yoko definitely raised my awareness that we are all connected somehow and also that we seriously need to reclaim our own humanity.

I felt that if we wish to increase our own awareness, we needed to start by applying the SHIN-SHIN ICHI-NYO concept of unity of the mind and body in a way that first cultivates a “mens sana in corpore sano”.

As I was spending the next week discovering Taiwan and its history, I travelled to the island of Penghu where the connection to nature and a luminous translucid sea made me coincidently swim like I never did. (yes that me on the introductory picture of the blog). As if I connected intentionally and instinctively to cultivating my “corpore sano”. I also visited some of the villages’ richly decorated temples that address different sources of support through their Protectors and Gods. I meditated on the beach and in these temples, and decided to make a few self declarations or “Inoris” as I call them now.

Then came a thought: could corporations and governments use the path of cleansing and “Inoris” before to step into new ways to help us get out of the destructive behaviors we keep producing? I doubt it, as we seem to be in a spiraling descent to the abysses of our capacities. Or may be out of this chaotic trickling down process, a few phoenix will rise?

But, at least, WE can do something about ourselves, and impact our local environments: families, friends, small close communities, and supporting the youth stand up for a better more equitable world. Thats a responsibility we bear no matter what.

IF we start by practicing a “corpore sano” in more natural settings, like for instance parks or mountain hiking, or rivers, lakes or sea swimming, we can start embodying the “SHIN-SHIN ICHI-NYO” the body and mind as one, and we might have a better chance to develop our Awareness. Then we could better engage in “Inoris” or declarations of our intentions.

May this Equinox time support the cleansing necessary to engage the changes you may envision, the visions you may declare as “Inoris” and the altruistic ways you may embrace yourself to initiate them.

I cannot finish without thanking enough my US based Japanese Friend, Mr SHIN (yes) Ono for his help in preparing my trip and enlightening me more in the concept of SHIN-SHIN ICHI-NYO. Also many thanks to Mr Jimmy LIAO for his help in preparing and enjoying my trip to TAIWAN. Jimmy is building a great concept of physical therapy called “Core Recharge” to open next year in New York.