Know that this [true] flower cannot be lost. The mind which penetrates this is the seed of the flower. Since this is the case, if you want to know the flower, first know its seed. The flower is the mind and its seed the performing techniques.37

　　   The reason that the "true flower" cannot be lost is that it is not dependent upon the performing techniques for its embodiment and expression. "For a true flower, the principle of both blossoming and withering away should be in accord with a person."38 What interests me at this point is Zeami's contention that "the flower is the mind" . What does this mean? Zeami seems to be saying here that, for the expression and embodiment of the "true flower" on stage, one has to acquire a certain modality of consciousness directly commensurate with the performing techniques expressive of the "true flower." Naturally, we must be clear about the fact that the modality of being a body which accompanies the expression of the "true flower" is not the same, in terms of its relative relationship with the mind, as the body which we experience in our everyday existence. It is the body that has become "lighter" as a result of the rigorous and cumulative training, in the sense that it follows freely along with the movements of the mind. What, then, is the relationship between the modality of the body and that of the mind at the time when an actor expresses and embodies the "true flower" on stage?

　　   This brings us to the discussion of the last stage of an actor's training in terms of his subjective attitude toward performance, wherein the distinction between subject and object is "unified" or "harmonized," to use Nishio Minoru's characterization.39 Zeami recognizes two levels in the last stage of the "training": one is "the easy rank" [an-i r] (or "the mind-at-ease" [an-shinu] and the other is the "matured rank" [ran-is] (or "no-mind" [mu-shint], the latter being attained only after "breaking through" the former. These two stages are developed, in terms of our previous discussion on "imitation," after an actor has achieved the "style without mastery." The "easy rank" is the state of artistic achievement wherein "all the performing techniques can be expressed in accordance with [the actor's] intention."40

"The easy rank" is further divided into "the skilled one" [tasshav] and "the masterful one" [jōzuw] Although both "the skilled one" and "the masterful one" are used to refer to an actor who has thoroughly mastered "dancing and
　

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singing," an attitude of mind taken toward a performance distinguishes the former from the latter. The former attends to the technical aspect of the body, while the latter the fullness of the inner state of mind. Zeami writes, "Noh that is performed through mind. knowing its attractive experience, deserves the name of the masterful one, even though its performing techniques may not excel the skilled one."42 Zeami characterizes a performance by "the masterful one" as "the full operation of the mind with seventy percent of the body."43 With "the full operation of the mind," "the masterful one" performs a dance, for example, in such a way that "the mind causes [the movements of the body] to be activated less than itself, stopping at the more interior."44 Such an actor, according to Yuasa's interpretation, "performs with a self-possessed mind, without, however, exaggerating the outward performative expression."45

Those at the level of "the easy rank" attend to either the technical aspect of the performance or the fullness of the mind. However, this attitude of mind is imbalanced, given the ultimate state of the "true flower" in which the identity of the body-mind in action is said to be obtained. The goal of "the matured rank," therefore, is precisely to eliminate this imbalanced attitude wherein the complete appropriation of both mind and body is accomplished. Zeami characterizes the difference between "the masterful one" and the one in "the matured rank" as follows;

A beginning actor may learn that an actor in the style of this art sometimes demonstrates an exotic style with the state of the matured mind after he has thoroughly mastered the skilled [rank of performance].46

An actor in "the matured rank" can "change the unacceptable [performance] to the acceptable with the efficacy of the skilled one's style."47 In other words, the performing techniques issuing from such a rank defies the evaluation of being good or bad, or right or wrong. It is a mark of creativity. Therefore, "the matured rank" is said to "synthesize that which is considered to be proper to Noh drama with that which is not considered to be so."48

In "the matured rank," the gap between the movements of the body and those of mind, which is clearly discernible in "the easy rank," is totally eliminated such that an actor's consciousness of performance disappears altogether. A modality of consciousness is no longer the source of sending an order to the body. Moreover, a modality of the body is completely autonomous such that it functions harmoniously with the working of consciousness. This is the state of "no-mind": the functions of both mind and body are fully "incarnated" in the actor.