by Phillip Starr
*Excerpted from “Martial Maneuvers” by the author. If you don't already have a copy, use some of your beer money to get one now!
STAGE FOUR
THE STAGE OF EMPTINESS
The fourth stage is the “Stage of Emptiness.” Your mind is free of thoughts about an opponent and simply acts like a mirror, which accurately reflects his movements and thoughts. You no longer concern yourself with the fact that there even IS an opponent. When he approaches, you join with him and become one.
When you practice by yourself, your mind is more involved in the training than your body. This isn't to say that your body doesn't move or sweat. It does but but you are unconcerned with it because you know within your heart that what it does is correct and you don't have to concern yourself with it any longer. Your mind and body have become one. At the instant that the mind orders it, the body is already there. This is the stage of “empty mind” and most martial arts practitioners don't even know that it exists. Body, mind, and energy have become one entity. Everything is effortless, and when the enemy tries to strike you, it is as if he is trying to hit his own shadow...
STAGE FIVE
BEGINNER'S MIND
The fifth stage is that of the “Beginner's Mind”, which is also called “Ordinary Mind” or “Original Mind.” Technique has been forgotten and the mind returns to its original condition, as it was before you started learning (martial arts). It sees and acts clearly and you are in perfect harmony with the universe, it's laws, and the laws of God; you adhere to them without effort and without concern for them. By doing nothing everything is achieved naturally and without conscious effort.
Knowing these five stages is actually the first stage towards mastery. You have to know where you're going if you're ever going to arrive there.
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