“’What Is the Self?’ — Tracing the Philosophy of Tempu“　

In this issue, I would like to take up the theme shown in the title from the book Nihonjin yo, Hahagokoro ni Kaere (“Japanese People, Return to a Mother’s Heart”) by Master Masando Sasaki,* a great Aikido teacher and chief priest of the Yamakage Shinto tradition.

Words by Mr. Sasaki are quoted in “ ” below.

 

Master Sasaki deeply shocked by the death of a close friend and he devoted himself to years of spiritual training, during which he encountered Tempu Nakamura, a legendary philosopher. Referring to Tempu’s work as something that “greatly helped me to deeply and profoundly contemplate the workings of the mind,” master Sasaki introduces a passage from Tempu Nakamura’s book The Realization of Success (published by the Japan Management Association / Rationalization Association Publishing Bureau).

What follows is a quotation from a work by Tempu Nakamura:

“What, after all, is this Tempu philosophy? What is the self?”

Tempu explores this question through his dialogues with Master Cariappa.

He then explains his answer to this question through the following three concepts:

 

 

 

By carefully unraveling Tempu Nakamura’s own words on each of these concepts, I would like to reflect on them in turn.

 

１. The Body

“One day, as I asked to cancel our mountain training because I had a fever, Master Cariappa asked,

‘Why?’

‘My head feels heavy, and I seem to have a fever.’

‘Whose head?’

‘Mine.’

‘You say you have a headache and a fever?’

‘Yes.’

‘Hmm. So you have a head?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘And that—is that you?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you are that?’

‘Yes.’

‘I see. As long as you think that way, it’s no wonder your illness never heals.’

‘Isn’t this me?’

‘Well, as long as you believe that to be you, you will never know who the real you truly are.’”

 

My Commentary

I believe this passage touches on an extremely important theme.

It inevitably leads us to ask: why do we, as human beings, possess a physical body at all?

Recently, I watched a drama depicting a disturbing scene in which a wife commits acts of domestic violence against her husband. The wife says, “As long as he is feeling pain, I know—at least then—that he is not lying.”

I have also heard that when a person faces death due to a severe physical shock, such as in a major accident, some substance is released in the body that numbs the sensation of pain—though my recollection of the details may be imprecise.

When viewed this way, the physical body begins to appear not as the self itself, but as something like an essential tool—a crucial instrument connected to the mind.

We often speak of the Three Sacred Treasures under Shintoism. In that sense, the physical body itself begins to feel very much like one of those sacred instruments.

 

２. The Mind

Quotation from a Work by Tempu Nakamura

“‘Oh, very good, very good. Then tell me—what are you?’

‘The mind.’

‘The mind? Hmm. And what is the mind?’

(omitted)

‘What is the mind? Well… I don’t know.’

Do you understand, everyone? If you are asked what the mind is, can you answer? I could not.

We casually speak of the mind, or of one’s state of mind, but when we are asked, what exactly is that mind?—we suddenly find ourselves unable to answer.

Even I, a philosopher, living within a discipline that is meant to contemplate such questions, could not explain it. So it is only natural that you, too, would not know.

What, then, is the mind?”

 

My Commentary

I, too, once believed that when we ask ourselves what the self truly is, its essence must surely be the mind.

However, as I have studied psychology, the workings of the subconscious, and concepts such as mental blocks—and as I have reflected on my own life and the events I have experienced—I have come to feel that while the mind and the subconscious do guide our actions and give them direction, they are not the true essence of what we call the self.

The famous phrase “I think, therefore I am” seems to rest on the assumption that the essence of the self lies in the mind.

Yet if we consider the mind as the command center that moves the body, we inevitably arrive at another question: what, then, is it that moves the mind itself?

I believe that this question leads directly to what comes next.

 

３. Ki (the soul or vital spirit)

Quotation from a Work by Tempu Nakamura

“‘Now you’ve understood it. Yes, yes—that which has understood is you.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Yes. That which has understood is you.’

I realized then that this single, invisible Ki—this is what I truly am.

When this invisible, singular Ki seeks to express its life within the phenomenal world, it is given the body and the mind as the necessary tools for that purpose.

Therefore, when the body has been used to its full extent, this Ki can no longer use the body as its instrument, and it simply departs from it.

The Ki that has used the body until then never disappears. It exists eternally.

This is the true nature of the human being.

In religion, this is called the soul.

So, for the sake of convenience, it is enough to think of that soul as the self.

This invisible, singular form of Ki—this is who you are.

The body that you have believed to be yourself until now is not the self at all.

It is merely a tool used by this Ki—the self—to carry out the work necessary for life.

The same is true of the mind.”

 

My Commentary

Some people describe this Ki as light.

In Buddhism, it is perhaps what is referred to as the true self.

Since this is a phenomenon within the universe, it seems to me that the Ki flowing through the universe and the true self are essentially the same in nature.

I cannot say that I have yet reached a complete, visceral understanding of this Ki or of the soul.

However, when I consider that the source from which the mind arises is Ki, the idea feels intuitively right.

 

Today’s reflection has been a very profound one: what is the self?

 

 

*Master Masando Sasaki

Born in 1929 in Nagai City, Yamagata Prefecture.

After overcoming many hardships in his youth, he graduated from the Faculty of Economics and the Advanced Course of the Faculty of Law at Chuo University.

After resigning from his post at the Defense Agency, he encountered Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, and devoted himself to martial arts and the cultivation of the human spirit, eventually becoming an Aikido instructor.

While seeking the true path of life, he practiced waterfall austerities, zazen, and trained in groups such as “Ichiku-kai” and “Itsui-kai.”

He later met his life mentor, Nakamura Tempu, and studied under him.

Through a fortunate connection, he became associated with Yamakage Motoo and was ordained as a priest of the Yamakage Shinto tradition, serving as the chief priest of Kamifukuoka Nishimiya Shrine.

In 1977, he was invited by the French Ministry of Culture to Paris as a Shinto instructor at the “Dojo for the Restoration of Human Nature,” and he visited France again in 1985.

Alongside teaching Aikido, he traveled throughout Japan delivering “Sasaki Dharma Talks,” expounding on the traditional Japanese cultural arts—such as martial arts, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement—and on the true path of being human.

 

Further queries or doubts, please email to ytomizuka@abrilsjp.com

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