This document discusses the Japanese concept of "ki" which is difficult to translate but relates to spontaneity, intention, and feeling. It provides examples of common Japanese phrases that use the word "ki" and explains that ki belongs to the realm of feeling rather than knowledge. The document also contrasts the Western focus on logic and results with the Japanese emphasis on intention, spontaneity, and concentration during any act. It provides examples to illustrate differences in Western and Japanese mentalities.

1. CHAPTER 2: THE FOLKLORE OF SPONTANEITY
The mountain is mountain.
The mountain is not mountain.
Thus it is we call it mountain.
WANSHI, 12th century
Chinese Zen patriarch
The late Father S. Candau was a Jesuit missionary,
and a very rare European in that he not only understood
and spoke Japanese, but could also read it, write it, and
give lectures in this language so foreign to his own. He
once wrote in a magazine article, "The word ki is the
most difficult thing to understand in the whole Japanese
language."
It is true that the Japanese use the word many
hundreds of times a day, without thinking, yet it is prac-
tically, and I would also say theoretically, impossible to
find its equivalent among the European languages.
While the word itself, taken out of context, remains
untranslatable, it is nevertheless possible to translate the
current expressions of which it forms a part. Here are a
few examples.
ki ga chiisai -literally, his (her) ki is small; he
(she) worries too much about
nothing.
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2. ki ga okii -his (her) ki is big; he (she) does re tires to his workshop with his assistant. There is no
not worry about little things. co ~tact with the ~utsi~e world , not even with his family,
ki ga shinai -I do not have the ki to do . .. ; I wh1le the sword Is bemg made. The sword is the soul
do not want to , it is too much for and spirit of the samurai warrior. It commands respect.
me. kimochi no mondai -it is conditioned by the state
ki ga suru -there is ki for doing (something); of ki; it is not the object,
I have a hunch , a feeling, I sense in-
the tangible result, that
tuitively. counts, but the action the
warugi wa nai -he (she) does not have bad ki ; he intention. '
(she) is not a bad person or does not
have evil intentions . Whether we execute an act with pleasure in a spon-
- the condition of ki is good ; I feel tane~:ms way, or do it calculatingly and unwillingly in a
kimochi ga ii
comfortable . routme ma~ne~, ~he _result is the same, yet the feeling
ki ni naru -it attracts my ki; I cannot get it that goes with 1t IS different. On many occasions I have
out of my head; something strange se~n Japanese people become angry at the way some-
has "hooked" my attention. thmg was done;i~ ?ur modern societies we are becoming
ki ga au -our ki matches; we are on the less ~nd less sens1t1ve to these different modes of doing.
same wavelength . To give an example of this, the Japanese word kimochi
ki o komeru -to concentrate ki. In the matter has now become synonymous with a gift. Giving the gift
of concentration , nowhere else have ~e sa~ , "This is my kimochi" , which means the present
I seen it taken to such lengths (or Itself IS very small and is just a symbol of my deep
heights) as in Japan . The Japanese gratitude.
have their faults , it is true, yet I am I could give examples of several hundred more ex-
grateful to be able to appreciate the pressions which use the word ki. Most Japanese them-
Japanese tradition of sustaining selves _ inc~pable of explaining what ki is , yet they
are.
concentration during the accomp- know mstmctlvely when to use the word.
lishment of every act.
Ki belongs to the realm of feeling, not of knowl-
Among Westerners, however, concentration usually edge . Knowledge can be defined and passed on to
creates a mortal boredom, for they are only interested so~eone else. Feeling, though, is a primary experience
in the product, in the novelty of gadgets, in the tangible which precedes any intellectual effort. No explanation
result of an action. can adequately transmit it to someone who has not
One can better appreciate the degree of concentra- shared the same experience.
tion if one sees a beautiful Japanese sword, say, in a The primordial question in the West is the one that
museum. The Japanese swordsmith takes a long time to begins with "why". The "why" leads us to a wider
arrive at the concept of the sword he will make. Once he knowledge of the problem. It can help us to resolve it·
has decided he purifies himself for several days, then but it can also mislead us. '
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3. Talking of thieves, let me quote a Japanese proverb
Two Japanese writers, Rymosuke Akutagawa and
that means the opposite to the previous story: even for
Naoya Shiga, were invited to lmch one day. Akutagawa
a thief, out of ten arguments there are three which are
is the author of a short novel from which the famous
film "Rashomon" was made, drected by Kurosawa. He true.
was a highly intelligent man lut his end was a tragic The magic of words has always been a weapon for
one: running out of vitality ant inspiration he sought a Man. A good orator can convince us that black is white
way to die without suffering. H took drugs which even- and white is black.
tually put him into a deep slep from which he never I rem em bef a true story which happened in the
awoke. United States. A young man was accused of a crime and
Shiga, on the other hand, was an intuitive type. brought to trial. The judge, an old , experienced man ,
l11ere was no theory or oratoryfrom him ; yet he would saw at once tP.at the accused was innocent, but of
make apparently very casual remarks which had a course it was n<)t for him to say anything for or against
powerful impact on the people vho heard them because until after the r.ormal procedure . In America they have
they realized that they were pofoundly true. Coming a jury system, a§ in England.
from the meal to which they lnd been invited , Akuta- The public prosecutor began his brief. The job of
gawa said disdainfully, "They nvited us and served us the prosecutor iS to accuse; to say not only that black is
herring!" In Japan , as in othercountries of the world black, but also that white is black, too. He was more-
herring is considered a very conmon fish. Akutagaw~ over noted for 11is eloquence and to listen to him was to
was indignant at the idea of invting people to eat such decide that then~ was no hope of the young man's being
an ignoble dish. Whereupon Shi1a remarked, "Yet of all innocent. He requested a severe punishment for the
the dishes which they served, tht grilled herring was still accused. The jurY , after a brief discussion, voted the
the best." accm;ed not guilty, to the great astonishment of the
It is said that after the literay conversations which public prosecutor.
they often had together, Akttagawa would emerge To explain this story , I should mention another in-
exhausted, pale, and crushed b1 the little remarks of cident which rari parallel to the main action . During the
this kind which Shiga made . hearing the judg~ had brought out a very long cigar and
Discussions intoxicate us witt words, and prevent us begarJ to smoke. At first no one paid him any attention
from seeing what is actually haJPening under our very and the assemblY went on listening to the report. As
noses. time passed , the ash on the cigar became longer and
longe:r until it w·as positively disturbing : it was bound
There is a Japanese story of :t thief and his son who to faU off, and ctttention was instinctively drawn to it.
burgled a house while the ownfts were absent. On the But the ash did nPt fall.
way back, a sack full of stolen ~bjects on his back, he
In the end it became really worrying; the ash con-
asked his son, "No one has seen us, have they?" "No,"
tinued to get lon.ger without falling. Had it fallen there
replied his son, "but o-Tsuki san the honourable moon)
would have been a sense of relief and everyone's atten-
is watching us." Hearing this :he thief took fright,
tion would have returned to the speech. The fact is that
dropped his sack and ran off.
31
30

4. the jury's attention was distracted from the speech by the gesture, the intention , what we call the kimochi
the ash which never fell. in J apa nese. Once you have rendered him a service in
After the trial the judge revealed his secret: a small good faith he will not dare to protest even if there is
length of wire pushed through the cigar. some mistake.
A few years ago I was asked to give a course of Japa- In 1945, after the war, a young lieutenant in the
nese lessons to the cabin crew of an airline company . American Occupation Force often came to visit us and
Hostesses, stewards, and other cabin staff were assigned we liked to chat with him . One evening he said, " I no-
for three months to the area serving Tokyo, and they ticed a very strange thing from an American point of
needed to know the basics of the language in order to view : Japanese don't seem to be able to say no . We have
better look after the passengers who were increasing in a Japanese lady in our lodging house, and we often
number every clay . invite her to drink sake. She accepts. Another cup? Yes.
I thought about the matter deeply . Is it possible to Another one? Yes . And so it goes until finally she's
teach Japanese in ten lessons to a crew of Europeans? roll ing on the ground completely drunk . She's nice;
Especially to a group of people who would be re- we can sense very easily she doesn't want to say no. We
assigned to a different area afterwards, and who would think her reaction is very funny."
probably never again use what they had learned? Think- The poor lady was the victim of the American sol-
ing about the demands and circumstances of the job I diers' curiosity. They in turn got a free lesson in socio-
decided there was something more important and logy.
useful than the knowledge of some rudimentary Japan- Well , l said to the students, it is perhaps awkward
ese. So l incorporated , in addition to the language class, for you to know that there is a difference of mentality
a class called" Knowl edge of Japan ." between the Japanese and the Westerners, but we
Th e first question I asked the crews was, "While ca nnot do anything about it. We must accept the fact ;
giving the usual service to passengers on board , have you yo u are there to serve the passengers, not to educate
noticed a fundamental difference between th e general them. The Japanese say yes out of their kimochi and
attitude of the Japan ese and Western passengers ? "The when they say no it is also from their kimochi.
answer was surprisingly unanimous : "Yes, but I can't
But it would be wrong of me to say that this behav-
explain why they are so different."
To give an example of this difference, if a Westerner iour is exclusive to the Japanese and is due to the in-
asks for a glass of water and you bring him a whisky, sc rutab le nature which you tend to ascribe to the mysti-
what happens? He will say, no, I asked for water, not cal Eas t. Even Westerners have their kimochi, though
whisky. It is quite categorical. But a Japanese? It is they do not have a word flexible enough to express it.
never clear. He is not categorical. He will accept anyway, Let me give you a European example which actually
even if you bring him something other than what he happened.
asked for. Why? There was an important customer of an airline
As far as your job is concerned, the Westerner is co mpany, who had an RA TP card, a sort of season credit
interested only in obtaining the object of service which ca rd of the company which enabled him to fly fre-
he requested. But a Japanese will see something else: quently and to pay the cost in a lump sum every month.
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5. He WIS therefore a frequent passenger and client of the on board without bothering ourselves with the men-
compmy. tality of the passengers. Come on! No, thank you!"
Ote day the accountants discovered that the man She did not come again. One or two months later I
was m longer using his card, and yet it was known that happened to come across her name in an article about a
he w:s still alive and still travelling a lot. An inspector violent protest from passengers. She would turn all the
lights off at a fixed time without bothering to find out
was smt to investigate the reason for the sudden stop.
if any passengers were reading or writing.
Tle customer received him coldly and replied evas-
ively. With much tact and patience the inspector event- Every country has its flora and fauna and folklore.
If ki or kimochi were just a peculiarity of Japanese
ually von his trust and heard the explanation.
folklore, it would be of no interest except to a small
It seems that, one day while travelling, he felt very
group of Orientalists or amateurs of exotic things . But
thirst~ and asked for a glass of water as soon as he got
I firmly believe that this matter is of general interest,
on baud. He drained the glass and went to sit down. As and this is how it appears on a more, let us say, theor-
he wa; still thirsty he called a stewardess; she came and etical level.
said, 'What do you want now? " "No, nothing, thank When I look at European history from a distance
you!" he replied; and that was the last time he ever sufficient enough not to be entangled in all the details, I
flew vith that airline. think I can trace two main currents in the evolution of
You can see that there are two quite different ways thought : Platonic and Aristotelian.
of exJressing desire . One is logical, systematic, and
discunive . I feel a need. Hunger? No. Thirst? Yes. The Platonic one maintains that the world is a pro-
What do I need? Beer? No. Water? Yes . How much? jection of pre-existing ideas that is to say a projec-
tion of a noumenal existence onto a phenomenal back-
Three glasses? No. One glass? Yes, etc. Everything is
ground. The other, Aristotelian, begins with tangible
based on a binary system of yes or no. The need will be
reality and goes towards general ideas.
expresed in a clear language so as to be well understood
and you will simply have to execute the message. Historians would say such a simplification is ridicu-
Btt the other way is neither systematic nor logical. lous. Well, I am not a historian, and I am not insisting
It is a spontaneous expression of the person. It is not on the validity of my opinion. I hold these two currents
articuhted in a precise and knowledgeable way, but it is as representative, even today , of the mental tendency of
total, md it leads in a split second to an acceptance or a Western people.
refusa. There is no more discussion possible. That is It is tempting to say that ideas precede phenomena,
what the Japanese call kimochi. when one considers the simple and sublime formulas of
Tlis lesson ohtained quite good results. Attendance Newtonian physics. One can feel that it is not necessary
was rrore than 8(() % although the class was not corn- to study all the cases of a phenomenon to verify the for-
pulsar{. Even ye:ars later my students came to visit mulas. Gravity will work just as well in 17th century
me or ~ent me pos1 tcards from distant ports. England as in 20th century Japan, and regardless of
There were also some exceptions, like Miss X, an whatever stone, bottle, vase, or human body may
air hoS:ess: "Oh, lbut really! We've quite enough to do fall. When we talk of a tree, an animal, or a machine, it
34 35

6. is by teans of general ideas and concepts that we under-
the IV[arcel Gran~t studied the non-conceptual nature of
stand ~eh other. Science is always only of the general.
HcNever, I also notice another line Of thought no- (-.h. 1
~ mese anll-uage· and Masson-Oursel came to the
ticeablr different from the others and slightly to one concl · h t " '
usion t a the languages of India were also of the
side ofwestern thinking: it is one represe11ted by Plotin slame type. It ~;eems that the only truly conceptual
and Bctgson, which talks of spontaneity, l:lnd which fits angu · t
.ages are 1 ~ .he European group.
1 1945 ' JU~t after the war, I was walking in the
into nHher the category of noumenal ide:as nor that of 11
genera ideas. stree~s of Pusan in South Korea, waiting to be repatri-
Anold friend suddenly pays you a visit. It is a pleas- a~ed to Japan, then I noticed that the traffic lights at
ant SU1Jrise and you utter a cry of joy, q11ite spontane- t e ~:rossroads ere marked with "stop" and "go" in
ously. {et it would be false to say that the eternal law Englt_sh , and SLtsume and tomare in Japanese, but
of frieJdship is such that you always utter a cry of joy nothJ_ in Kore<ln. My Korean friends explained that in
ng
when nu meet an old friend. It would b~ equally false Korean there ar.e no such words. There are different
to say that the meeting of two old frienC]s is generally ~x~n~ssions for different purposes, for example, whether
accomJanied by cries of joy and that C<)nsequently I It IS a person o~ higher or lower status who is moving
should in such a case utter a cry of joy. It is clear that fro m here to th~re or from there to here · obviously all
of tr ·bl ' . ' .
sponta 1eity has nothing to do with routine or commer- . .tese possi 'e expressions cannot fit onto a traff1c
s1gna1.
cial geS:ures.
In he West people are highly skilful at manipulating ~eneral terrns or concepts are admittedly very
concer.s. This way of seeing the world has allowed use!UJ and even indispensable if one wishes to bring a
scienceand technology to progress. logJCql process of will into the confusion of reality so as
to krww it or t'o act upon it. The danger is to believe,
Insead of looking at the mountain whh a complex
and illdefined feeling, which is a primary experience,
f~o~ force of !ental habit , that the concepts have an
a so ute value 'md are unequivocally defined rigidly
we can translate it into the concept of mountain, which formed, constant and unchangeable; and then 'to con-
allows us to analyse it and observe it according to our
particuar needs : measure its height, desChbe its shape,
str~e parts of re~lity as unfortunate accidents hitting the
per ection of out rational conceptions.
study is geological structure, vegetation, etc. 1
have discsvered that such an attitude is very
Th only mistake is to believe in the <:tbsolute value com;non in France . 1 also remember that France has
of the concept. Already at the turn of' the century
~ ~Jced the ~ntithesis of this attitude in such as
0
linguis"lg began to discover the extraordinaty complexity
of the languages of so-called primitive societies. Con- 1 ° erlos de La~los, J.-J. Rousseau , Voltaire , and Napo-
~on. To theoretically place concepts in doubt is not dif-
trary t) what has been popularly believe~;:], that is that
ficult , and has been done often enough for half a cent-
ury; ~he diffic~lty lies in putting it into practice.
human language began with simple signs <md grew to a
more <eveloped and enriched form, it was discovered
Smce the mvention of the word "insomnia" many
that P:imitive languages possessed very specific and
concre1e terms without any generic or gen~ral ideas.
~eope believe in this illness and take pills. Whereas sleep
IS Slfhply a relaxing of the will people try and force
themselves to sl'eep. The body then becomes a battle-
36
37

7. ground between desire and counter-desire, and suffers. Faced then with human spontaneity, what do we
Someone who is not a prisoner of words will sleep when propose? If certain kinds of spontaneity are socially
tired and will not sleep when not tired. The simplest acceptable , even desirable, many of them are not. When
thing in the world becomes the most difficult. Man is they are not, society imposes sanctions which lead only
ravaged by the paradox, split between thesis and anti- to stagnation and the death of dynamism, without
thesis. successfully suppressing those acts which we are
The novelist Somerset Maugham studied medicine not supposed to produce. The threat of excommuni-
before becoming a writer. One day while performing an cation does not prevent people from killing them-
autopsy, he was unable to find an internal organ he was selves. The powerlessness of people of good will is fully
looking for. He asked an experienced colleague about shown up when faced with acts of determination
this and was told, "Oh , you know, in a human body whether they are good or bad. '
those kind of things are never in the same place." He In Choderlos de Laclos' literary expression of his
was thunderstruck by this reply, for until then he had solution, the author condemns Valmont, his double, to
had an ideally perfect image of man, drawn from the die in a duel. Napoleon's solution gave France a sense of
anatomy text book used by the students. His colleague's glory, but cost the lives of several million people. The
remark led him, not to the banal conclusion that acci- Japanese solution is quite different : it accepts spontan-
dents will happen, but to a shocking realization: each eity as a natural fact. The movement frees spontaneity
person is different. from suppression; Aikido directs it; and Zen transcends it.
This revelation brings the vibrancy to the people
in his novels, and gives them each such a lively and
spontaneous nature that the reader feels he has met
them somewhere before: and that is true even for the
marginal characters who figure only briefly in the vaga-
ries of the plot. Great writers may be able to see
through walls, Maugham wrote, but at least I can see
what is under my nose.
Now, in Japan, although we have created innumer-
able new terms to deal with the onrush of Western
science, we have not been able to conceptualize the lan-
guage nor to suppress that part of the folklore which
springs from spontaneity; witness these words ki and
kimochi, the importance of which I have tried to put
across. If the doubting of concepts is relatively recent in
France, with Bergson and the French School of Socio-
logy it is only the first step in the teaching of Zen, a
tradition which goes back several centuries in Japan.
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