*Status: in progress - Integrate other notes - Last edit: 250405* # Unite in Kokoro, a connection at the level of truth – the truth that mind, matter, heart and spirit are not separate territories but a single, dynamic, interwoven consciousness. It is the quiet power of meeting, being to being, in a set state of synchronicities, aware of an ever-evolving layered reality experienced in the here and now. The Japanese concept of *kokoro* (心) defies simple translation, encapsulating a dynamic unity of body, heart, and mind that has shaped Japan’s cultural landscapes. Unlike Western paradigms that compartmentalize physical, emotional, and cognitive domains, *kokoro* operates as an integrative force, harmonizing these dimensions into a singular, holographic field of experience. kokoro is a Japanese word that is central to understanding the Japanese perception of the inner world and human experience. It is described as difficult to explain in English because it conceptually unites the notions of heart, mind, and spirit as being indivisible from one another. As Yoshikawa Sakiko states, if someone is described as having "a good kokoro," it implies "heart and spirit and soul and mind all together". One of the challenges in discussing kokoro in English is that linking words like "and" imply divisions that do not exist in Japanese; in Eastern culture, these elements are not intrinsically linked as one, they are one. This broader and more inclusive concept is seen as useful for understanding how humans think and feel, going beyond familiar Western concepts like mind, heart, spirit, will, consciousness, and soul. The term kokoro is considered a Japanese cultural key word. Semantically, it covers the thinking, spiritual, and emotional element of a (Japanese) person and is key to referring to their inner world. Czech Japanologist Zdeňka Švarcová suggests it can be understood as "a mental space in which cognitive processes of a Japanese person take place". However, its usage extends to similar dispositions in animals or abstract objects through metaphorical projection. It also has close connections to the Japanese socio-cultural environment and traditional cultural values, as seen in expressions like "wa no kokoro" ('kokoro of harmony') or "Nippon/Nihon no kokoro" ('kokoro of Japan'). Japanese dictionaries provide further insight. The Kōjien dictionary defines kokoro as "the source of/prerequisite for a person’s mental processes, or mental processes themselves," encompassing the complex of knowledge, feeling, and will. The Nihon kokugo daijiten defines it as "the organ controlling rational (intellectual) and mental (emotional) processes in a human being, or these processes themselves," often used in opposition to body (karada) and thing (mono), and metaphorically to describe things or phenomena corresponding to the person’s soul/mind/heart. Synonyms listed include seishin ('soul/psyche') and tamashii ('soul'). In modern Japanese, native speakers tend to collocate kokoro with the verb 'feel' (kanjiru) and 'head' (atama) with the verb 'think' (kangaeru), suggesting that the Japanese 'feel with kokoro and think with head'. Japanese researcher Nakano Shigeru notes that "kokoro leans more toward the emotional sense of heart rather than the ‘rational’ sense of mind". However, in scholarly discourse such as psychology and philosophy, kokoro functions as an equivalent for 'mind', defined as a complex of feeling, thinking, reasoning, remembering, will, and interest. When translated into English, kokoro has various equivalents depending on the context, including heart, feeling, emotions, mentality, psyche, soul, mind, the way people feel, spirit, psychology, way of thinking, sentiment(s), personality, thought, attention, will, and mood. Despite this range, no single English expression fully incorporates all aspects of the meaning of kokoro simultaneously. In the discourse of modern Japanese moral education (kokoro no kyōiku), kokoro is a key word. The Ministry of Education's study materials, Kokoro no nōto, aim to foster a "rich kokoro" (yutaka na kokoro) in students, which encompasses introspection, kindness, being touched by beauty, and altruism. The textbooks encourage the development of a "beautiful kokoro" (utsukushii kokoro). In this context, kokoro refers to the individual’s inner state, their attitude towards themselves, others, nature, and their community, as well as their character and personality. The concept is consistently linked to positive values. It's also important to note that unlike the Chinese word xin, kokoro does not include the meaning of the heart as a physical organ, which is exclusively referred to by the Sino-Japanese word shinzō. Overall, kokoro represents a holistic understanding of the inner self, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and spiritual dimensions in a way that is deeply embedded in Japanese culture and thought. --- Further reading: - [Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture Journals](https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journals) - [Kokoro in the Apparatus of Physical/Psychological and Distributed/Central](https://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/record/2000399/files/HMCB_9_05.pdf) by Maki Sato - [The Japanese concept KOKORO and its axiological aspects in the discourse of moral education](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333978299_The_Japanese_concept_KOKORO_and_its_axiological_aspects_in_the_discourse_of_moral_education) by Teresa Nakaya