What Is the Imperturbable Mind?
In absolute silence, there is music that floats like a gentle breeze kissing your cheeks. In absolute silence, the heart eases from pain by drifting with the energy that moves through the entire physical form. In absolute silence, I find peace and comfort—an inner alignment of body, mind, and spirit.
When all is in alignment and perfectly balanced, the middle way opens:
The Way of the Imperturbable Mind.
What is the Imperturbable Mind, you ask?
A good question—one I’ve been circling for a very long time. And it still dances just beyond reach.
This was the first Zen koan given to me by my first Zen Master, Junpo Dennis Kelly, now an abbot of a Rinzai Zen lineage. I remember him turning to me with that serious gaze and asking the question repeatedly as we drove toward Green Gulch Zen Center in his black BMW.
“What is the Imperturbable Mind?”
I understood the question. But I had no answer. No clue how to even begin.
I thought: Is this guy for real?
Junpo had just been ordained at Daibosatsu Zendo in New York and was setting up a Zen center in Corte Madera, California. His mother, Rossela Kelly, had asked me to join him—for his sake, and mine. She believed I needed to change course before I was pulled too deep into Maya. She was right. That woman, in her own quiet way, saved my life.
My sketch of "The Illusion" - The reluctant Messiah. by Rchard Bach
And so, Dennis and I began anew.
His path was sharp, clean—packaged like a Zen warrior's blade. Mine was a little more frayed at the edges. But the wheels were turning.
When the Zendo at 20 Magnolia Blvd. was finally officiated, our close relationship came to an abrupt end. Another koan in itself.
Back to the question. That koan, dropped into my lap like a stone in still water while we were just enjoying a scenic drive down Star Route 1 toward Muir Beach in a BMW.
Imperturbable?
What’s this guy been smoking?
I couldn’t shake it. That question became a burning ember in my gut. A weight I carried through time. Every time I tried to answer it—lost. Just the act of answering threw me out of the silence.
But just for the sake of reflection, here’s what stirs in me now. Not the answer. But a scent on the wind.
Words that circle the essence:
Immovable. Transcendental. Indestructible. Impeccable. Buddha Mind.
But these are just words.
And words are like fingers pointing at the moon—not the moon.
To experience the imperturbable state, it takes more than intellect.
It happens in that moment when body, mind, and spirit enter perfect equanimity.
There, the Imperturbable Mind rests in absolute silence—a state of utter bliss.
Aches vanish. Thoughts dissolve.
Only the clear sky remains.
No more I. I am no more.
But this kind of poetic meandering?
In the Rinzai tradition, it’s seen as a child’s game—a weak mind still tangled in thoughts.
Rinzai demands fire.
Rinzai shocks you into now.
A Zen master’s shout. A stick across your back. A lightning bolt to the ego.
It’s the way of the warrior.
It’s sharp and cold and absolute.
The Mask behind the Mask.
Zen of the sword—when blade and hand are one.
Stillness holds.
Then—crack!
A butterfly flaps its wings, and the universe moves.
This, too, is meditation in action.
This, too, is the Imperturbable Mind—the still point before time.
It is the awareness before birth.
The silence after death.
The clear eye that sees but does not grasp.
The unshakable mountain within
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