OK, this may seem a bit obsessive – and perhaps it is – but I really do enjoy Japanese MMA fighter-turned-J-pop-Star, Genki Sudo.  I revealed this interest to one of my students and she (thanks Mai!) graciously translated the lyrics to the tune, "Mind Shift."   The video can be seen here.  The lyrics are:

"Success, depress, ambition

Progress, regress, recognition"

I was awakened (or enlightened) and realized what I saw and felt were all illusion.

Forget and abandon the outside world, and instead seek and feel your inner world. Looking at the stars, the darkness in my heart disappears. 

Forget and abandon the outside world, and instead seek and feel your inner world. Continue the journey, and you will discover the world some day. 

The Buddhist resonances are obvious – life is an illusion – and these are further emphasized in the video, part of which takes place in a Buddhist temple.  But am I wrong to suggest that this is not inconsistent with certain Daoist ideas.  I'm thinking of the line: "foreget and abandon the outside world, and instead seek and feel your inner world."  Consider that in relation to this excerpt of  DDJ 16:

Inhabit the furthese peripheries of emptiness and abide in the tranquil center.

There the ten thousand things arise, and in them I watch the return: all things on and on each returning to its root.

Returning to the root is called tranquility, tranquility is called returning to the inevitable unfolding of things, returning to the inevitable unfolding of things is called constancy, and to understand constancy is called enlightenment.

The notions of the "tranquil center" and  "retuning to the root" could be understood as a kind of meditative practice, in which we seek out the particularity inside of each thing, our selves included, and resist external categorizations.

Just a thought…. it's a fun song, in any event….

Genkisudo

Sam Crane Avatar

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6 responses to “The Tao of Genki Sudo: Mind Shift lyrics”

  1. Koro Avatar
    Koro

    Thanks for the translation man. 🙂

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  2. Jason Cullen Avatar
    Jason Cullen

    I enjoyed the song, too. Do you think he and his group are supposed to look like Avalokiteshvara/观世音 at the end?

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  3. jenny Avatar
    jenny

    It’s so great to know that my favorite video has even a cooler meaning behind it!!! Five stars!. Your post made my day.

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  4. Kuma-chan Avatar

    Great post…Not obsessive at all…brings peace to my heart.

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  5. takuanzuke Avatar
    takuanzuke

    Of course these are Taoist ideas included. You could say that Buddhist thought in Japan was Taoism-influenced from the beginning – the Zen, Jōdo Shinshū, and to some extent Nichiren schools all have Taoist influences. Zen especially.

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  6.  Avatar

    I truly appreciate this article post.Really thank you! Want more.

    Like

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