Essays From The Master

Just as the self can be seen as a tower with nine levels, each having five chambers so does the humanoid form have nine openings that are all tied to the five base senses, the five themselves being joined in a sixth sense. The nine openings of the body can be seen in the eyes, nose, ears, anus, mouth and the sexual organ; the five sensory ranges can also be related to the five pulse points of the pineal gland, the two wrists and the two ankles. Symbolically speaking the tower of the self is surrounded by a sevenfold maze that is open on both ends with a gate at each opening. The sevenfold maze relates to the seven paths to the Kokoro which also relate to the first seven of the nine elements. The two gates relate to the Yo-Nin and In-Nin or sunlit and shadow secret forms of the Silent Way which relate to the elements of matter and energy in the cosmos. The nine mudra of the Komuso Ryu are the keys to levels of the tower and the same are keyed to aspects of the tower’s defensive maze. The maze is symbolic of the aura of an individual and that individual has power over the gates and paths of the maze i.e. it is a matter of personal power and to choice as to what one allows into one’s aura.

The paths of the maze are peopled with creatures that are manifestations of ideas, complexes and projections that guard or attack the tower of the self. Through meditation and ritual the individual can build those constructs that guard his sanctum and drive out those that attack it. Likewise with meditation and ritual an adept can enter the maze and then the tower of another which is a part of the Way of the Mind Gate in the Komuso Ryu. Likewise one can by closing over a path in one’s maze withdraw energy from an aspect of one’s self such as feeling pain of any of the various kinds of pain though to do so take energy away from other parts of the self. In a similar manner one can channel energies from the Kokoro through the tower into and out of the maze and into the mundane world producing objective results such as dulling pain in others or stunning a target. Each of the nine levels of the tower are reflected in a part of the maze around the tower, the maze being symbolic of the “Wa” or personal harmony, the aura. One builds the aura by understanding one’s complexes and making them work for one and not against as well as well focusing the senses on what builds and does not drain one’s energy.

The five base senses are tied to the maze via the fact that sights can evoke emotions, scent and sound can evoke or distort memory while touch or sensation can enhance or weaken desire or will to give but a few examples. Seeing something can draw its scent, sound or texture to mind which the senses create within the body. By hearing something one’s other senses start to seek what is thought to have been heard; this is facility that animals have but one that socialization has robbed most humanoids of. With training and practice one can learn to harness the gates of the senses as well as control what comes through those gates along with awakening the facilities of the sixth sense that socialization has robbed most of. While being a method of self control and self definition the work of the inner maze is a work of learning to be in harmony with nature by being selective as to how one relates to nature. Learning to define one’s personal harmony or aura and the inner maze through training of the outer senses is a return to the primal state while having no loss of logic or reason.