ZANSHIN AS THE PRESENTATION OF SELF

Zanshin 残心 is the relaxed state of awareness visibly displayed by the practitioner’s posture at the end of the technique.

Often instructors hide behind foreign lexicon to slather a mystic veneer on the martial arts. I am a pragmatic American and for me the terms need a better explanation and translation.

I crib the title from Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956). Goffman explains our face to face interactions are a bit of theater, a performance.[1] (Clifford Geertz later expanded the concept to entire cultures.)

Zanshin is an active state and we need to cultivate the theatrical components that reflect active awareness.

Active awareness is a two-part state. First and foremost, it means situational awareness. Constantly be aware of your surroundings: head on a swivel son! Earlier posts address Cooper’s Color Codes and situational awareness. Once active awareness is part of your habit, next deepen its internalization so that it becomes hidden. We do not want to be skittish coneys and do not always want to show others that we are aware of their hostile intentions (keep your skills secret and surprise your foe).

The second part of active awareness is being aware of your internal state, both emotionally (how are you reacting to the stimulus?) and physically (are your mechanics correct?). And here we have to incorporate an actor’s awareness. Understand that conveying zanshin is an act of display.

What are the key characteristics of that display?

Calm, sangfroid, aristocratic disdain: I group these as an aspirational attitude.

Explicating that thought. During his Silat Suffian workshops, Brian Pike shares that Maul Mornie is from an aristocratic family and that hierarchical position in society informs the body mechanics of the art. The motions are short and controlled, not exaggerated, to visibly demonstrate the higher skill. The very mechanics emphasize the superiority: I am above you socially, morally, and physically.

The postural set is vertical, spine erect, the footwork precisely controlling the distance of the encounter.

In Aikido, Yamaguchi sensei emphasized the same postural set and aristocratic poise in demonstrating his Aikido. His best exemplar, Tissier sensei also shows the same haughty equilibrium.

How do we cultivate that presentation of self?

The simple answer is train constantly so that your body contains the skills necessary to merit that level of aristocratic distance: a high level of competency. But specifically, the postures will best be inculcated through weapon work. There is a beauty in precision and that precision comes from weapons. The angles of approach are specific because the edge must hit just so and just there. Aim small miss small is a maxim from the firearms community.

Specifically what are the key characteristics?

Calm. Clarity of focus and concentrating on the basics results in what others will perceive as a calm demeanor. The best summation is:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Reacting quickly and snappily to any stimulus might be effective, but indicates you were behind on your reactionary curve (OODA loop). If you are attentive and ahead on the initiative, or playing mental chess well, then your movements will be smooth and your body will display a calm assurance.

I cannot find the original source, but an often reproduced interview with Wyatt Earp highlights the lesson that the calm execution of technique during the frenetic energy of the fight is key to prevailing. “Take your time in a hurry” is a quip that is attributed to both Wyatt and Doc Holliday depending on what source you search. This is the calm, cool and collected attitude in the midst of frenetic fire.

Sangfroid. French for “cold blood” and often with a negative connotation (a ‘cold blooded killer’) but the positive sense is being self-possessed, displaying imperturbability especially under strain.

From the exterior, both sangfroid and calm may appear the same, but the nuance is that we can calm ourselves but sangfroid is a constant state. In Frank Herbert’s Dune, the Bene Gesserit litany against fear is used to create internal calm:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Contrast being calm (learning to calm oneself, settle your nerves, etc.) as a reactionary state with a more constant disengagement from external stimulus even while being aware of it. In Le Samourai (1967) the simple act of stealing a car shows a methodical precision that is beyond calm. Okamoto sensei introduced me to this film and I hope the connection is self-evident.

There is a detachment from the material flotsam and noise of the daily mundane – being in the world but not of the world. This does not necessarily indicate enlightenment (although the more zen influenced will point to martial training as a means to this end). Rather, it can also result from the deep internalization of confidence in superior skill: the lion does not concern itself with the bleating of sheep.

Aristocratic disdain. The internalization of confidence and resulting detachment can culminate in that aristocratic disdain. A scornful pride that barely acknowledges the presence of the opponent. Others are beneath your level of concern because they are insignificant.

Formalism and ritual rigorously circumscribe behavior – “Manners maketh man,” as re-popularized in the Kingsman (2015)

Why this focus on haughty negativity?

I use these examples as descriptive references to provide examples of the external show and the internal attitudes that one may need to adopt to bolster the act. I am not dilating on the prescriptive or normative behavior one should be cultivating when learning the martial arts. I am coaching the presentation.

Is it all an act then?

Emphatically, no! But acting is a component. How you comport yourself should be a question you reflect upon and refine continuously. Acting will always be a consideration: do you hide your skill to actively deceive (ninjutsu) or do you parade it with Spartan pride and thumos – testicular fortitude incarnate?

Either presentations of self may be necessary as dictated by the situation.

But ultimately true skill will be required to back your presentation.

Virtūs et Honos