On 'No-Mind'

mu shin — No-Mind.

On the origin

A core term of Chan/Zen (Ch. wuxin), not tied to a single koan. Its named locus is the early Chan Treatise on No-Mind (Wuxin lun), preserved among the Dunhuang manuscripts; the term recurs across the later literature.

On the reading

Not the absence of mind, but a mind that no longer reaches to seize. It settles on nothing — not liking, not judging, not gain or loss. When the calculating drops away, things come of themselves, as they are.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo