From this state of "no-mind," Zeami contends, is produced the state of mind such as "seeing with a detached seeing" [riken no ken x] and "seeing with the same mind as the one seeing from the audience" [kensho dōshiny].49 A "detached seeing" is contrasted with the "ego's seeing" [gakenz] and hence it is an elimination of the ego-consciousness. It becomes a "seeing with the same
　

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mind as the one seeing from the audience." What is seen, or observed, is an" actor's performing figure, his moving body in a regulated sequence of meta-morphosizing configurations that is the expression of beauty on stage. It is a full expression of beauty in action. And yet, the regulated sequence of his -movements is spontaneous, independent of the striving consciousness of the actor. The actor, now in gentle gracefulness, is totally appropriated in that both his body and mind are a genuine agent of expressing freedom. Moreover, his performance is a controlled spontaneity, because it springs from the various "forms" that are achieved through appropriating qua imitation. It is spontaneous because his performance goes beyond the prescription of the performing techniques. The controlled spontaneity becomes of itself an expression of creativity. However, this is not revealed to the eye of an uninformed "seer." Those who can discern these features are those who know the maximum limitation of what the performing techniques can bring forth. Beyond the threshold of this limitation lies freedom of action and of mind par excellence.

An actor who is observing his own performance is a "detached" seer in the mode of being "outside of himself." His state of consciousness is "detached" precisely because his mind, though admittedly a crude term to use, is no longer a master of his action. It is a witnessing consciousness, free of the noetic positing of intentionality and the constitution of a meaning that accompanies it. Hence, "the matured rank" is also called "no-mind." It is not that there is (literally) no mind,' but the mode of its being is such that there is absolutely no need to posit a noematic content for it to be.

That "no-mind," peculiar to the state of "the matured rank" and which does not require a positing noematic content, may be symbolically understood • by the emphasis Zeami placed on the notion of "nonperformance rank" [senu-i aa], which he came to consider in his later years the highest achievement of Noh.50 What Zeami means by " nonperformance" is an attitude of mind taken toward the pause between performing movements. "It is a mindful inner state [of an actor] without discarding his mind between pauses."51 Zeami warns that this inner state should not be observed from the outside, for it would turn into a "performing technique." It is an efficacy of mind that is capable of uniting every Noh [drama] into one mind [ishinab]. In expressing such an efficacy, "one should make a connection between pauses in [the state of] 'no-mind" rank with the mind-at-ease so as not to disclose one's mind to oneself."52 Although the achievement of such an inner state presupposes a rigorous, cumulative training, that is, a self-cultivation, Zeami says that "it should not be restricted [to an actor] on stage. Being mindful night and day of this [attitude of] mind, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, one should maintain it in everyday life."53 This description is analogous to an ideal state of mind that is often talked about in Zen.

We can now spell out the characteristics essential to the phenomenon of freedom as it emerges out of our reconstruction and analysis of Zeami's
　

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teaching. According to our interpretation, the phenomenon of freedom cannot announce itself except through the progressive ascending movements by means of appropriation qua imitation, which reaches the zenith of "the matured rank.'* Henceforth, freedom can be regarded as an achieved quality of a person, whose horizon is revealed to us only through the process of "training." The uniqueness of this conclusion lies in the fact that one's body takes a practical precedence over one's mind in achieving it. Moreover, freedom, insofar as it is an ability to express a "flower" of the art of Noh, in its particular and ideal sense, admits of degrees relative to the acquisition of performing techniques, as well as the restoration of the primordial unity of a person. This was seen most clearly when we discussed "the easy rank" and "the matured rank." Freedom that obtains at "the easy rank" is concerned with its aspect of action, its process of attaining to this rank also revealing varying degrees of expression of freedom. On the other hand, freedom that is expressive of "the matured rank" is concerned not only with freedom of action, since this rank is temporally preceded by "the easy rank," but also with freedom of mind, perhaps the most genuine sense of freedom. We have seen that freedom in those two aspects contains as its constitutive elements u controlled spontaneity and creativity. Moreover, a qualitative aspect of both freedom of action and that of mind has been discerned when we discussed the relative perfection of performing techniques and various attitudes of mind taken towards them.