“Wu” meaning negation, “Hsin” meaning heart, mind, feeling. Often translated (confusingly) as “no mind.” A Zen term referring to that state of mental clarity and enhanced perception (sensory and intuitive) known as pure mind, produced by the absence of conscious thought, ideas, judgments, emotion (fear and anxiety), pre-conception, or self-consciousness. A product of Zen meditative training. For the warrior, meditation (towards Wu-Hsin) was an important compliment to technical training. Through Wu-Hsin the mind is not absent, but instead is freed. No longer inhibited, slowed, distracted, or clogged the mind was free to fully perceive, respond and commit to action. The mind is not fixed on anything and is open to everything; a mind expanded through the whole body with total awareness of and focus on everything. The concept was developed by Hui-Neng (Wei lang in Chinese), the sixth Patriarch, or successor to Bodhidharma, who brought to China (and the Shaolin Monastery from India) meditative Buddhism and the concept that all the world comes from the mind and meditation should be used to attain a state of pure mind without stain or dust. The concept is closely akin to the Taoist concept of stillness (inside) within motion. Lao-Tsu said “The stillness within stillness is not the true stillness (as in meditation), the true stillness is within motion.”
Wu-Hsin Tao™ (Woo Shin Dow)
Dedicated to the spreading of functional martial arts, martial morality and integrity, Wu-Hsin Tao (Way of Stillness in Motion) is focused on teaching the essence of traditional martial arts in a contemporary setting. We do so in “village style” with a focus on developing deep skills and attributes that are critical to highly functional movement, adaptability, and spontaneity with a major emphasis on awareness and mindset.
Additionally, Wu-Hsin Tao is a simply structured and easy to learn presentation of those principles, positions, and movements or mechanics that best exemplify the most common and useful aspects of martial arts. Those elements that are taught include: Evasions, Entries, Catches, Joint Locking, Takedowns, Destructions, Grappling, Weapons, Spiritual, Psychological, and Healing elements.
In short, Wu-Hsin Tao is founded on a martial structure of principles, positions, and mechanics that are enhanced through the addition of personal expression and exploration as well as the mixing of the various aspects of the art to create new expressions of the same material.
To continue, Wu-Hsin Tao contains elements and precepts from the following martial art traditions: Western Boxing & Grappling, Dutch-Indonesian, Chinese, Malaysian, Korean, Japanese, and Filipino.
It is my goal to bring Wu-Hsin Tao into greater recognition and reflect well the teachings of those who have shared with me.
Peace & Respect,
Matthew Dyck
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