NO-MIND

"No-mind," in Zen, is a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything.  The word for this in Japanese is "mushin," short for "mushin no shin," meaning mind without mind.  Such a mind is compared to a still pond, which is able to reflect the moon and trees without distortion.

Highly trained martial artists are said to enter into this state of mind during combat.  They rely, in this way, not on what they "think" should be their next move, but on what their trained natural reaction is or on what they feel intuitively is the next move.  No-mind is not, however, a state of relaxed, near-sleepfulness. Rather, the mind could be said to be working at a high rate of speed but with no intentions, plans or direction. 

A demonstration of mushin or no-mind that is well known among martial artists is when a master stands on one side of a stage and a student of his stands on the other side of the stage.  The student shoots an arrow at the master's chest and the master catches the speeding arrow, in one hand, inches from the arrow's destination.  The master does not think about when he should reach for the arrow.  He just reaches.