禅仏教とは What is the Buddhism
This is the shortest explanation of What is the BUDDHISM, which I made to my friend in Japan.
——————–
これは日本の友人に送ったメールで、仏教とは何かを説明した部分ですが改めて読んでみると、
極度に簡略化した割に要点はちゃんと収まっている。
これは皆に読んでもらうのに手頃では？と、ポストに加えました。
—-
仏教的倫理観では、人間も含めた全存在は実は無限に広がり断え間なくつながった
「法（ダルマ）」であると理解しています。 個人が個人と見え、当人もそう考えているがそれは単なる
見かけで実体の無いもの。 （ましてその当人のエゴだ欲だといったものは当人の幻想、雑念以外
の何物でもない）－－－で、当人は実は全体のー部分、他の人ともつながっているから、ちょうど怪我をした
手の痛みが全身に伝わるように、仙台の痛みが大阪のヤクザにさえ伝わりトラックを駆って現地の救援にと
かり立てる。 それも坊主が説教してかり出した訳ではなく、全く自発的な行動です。
ーーーという事は別に仏教に依らずとも、元々これが人間のモラル、「法」として存在していたという事実です。
当然、救援に向ったトラックで石コロを運んだような馬鹿は居ない。自発こそは「法」であり、英知です。
例の倫理構造図式の、実在、真、正、英知、さらにそこから抽象された倫理意識や、具体的に
何をすべきかは人に言われるまでもなく、まして坊主に説教されるまでもなく誰もが解っている事です。
釈尊はこれを指摘して「法」がいかに全てをカバーし有効に機能しているかを説明しただけで、別に
[法]やモラルを発明して人類に与えた訳ではありません。（僕は単にそれを図式化して説明しただけです）
元々「法」の中に無我も慈善も含まれているのですが人間、我や欲、執着があって素直に「法」を
見る事、従う事ができない。 で、小乗仏教では細かく禁忌義務を列記して、
形の上だけでも「法」に従った、つまり悟りを開いたとされる人間を生産しようとした訳です。
しかし何百もの禁忌を記憶しそれにこだわりつつ生きる事自体が雑念ではないか？となった。
ここから大乗ヘの進化が始まった訳です。
—
「法」は全ての人間に（実は虫けらにも）元々備っていて雑念がそれをマスクしているだけだから
要は無心になれば良いーーーとは言うものの、それ程簡単ではない。
「精々努力しなさい。しかしムリしなさんな」というのが「中道」と言うもの。
極端に執着したり固定観念でタメにするのは別として人が人として自然に着想してやっていく事は
「法」の内と見るのが大乗です。 しかし、それならー流の職人が寝食を忘れて完璧を追求するのは何か？
あるいは連続強姦魔はどうなのか？ーーーなどというタメにする質問が出たら、
質問者をー発ドツケば即解決する。禅は明解です。
—–
面白いのは長年黙々と手作業をやって来た人、全く空しく水面を見つめて来た釣り帥などの中に
しばしば「ムッ、お主できるな」という人物がいる事です。ーーーで、この効果を意図的に再現するように
考えたのが、それぞれの宗派の「行」で、全く何の足しにもならない事を延々と繰り返させる。
初めは疑問や不平があってもいずれ思念を放棄し黙々とやるようになる。意図的に与えられたものでも
無心に遂行する心理、行動様式が定着すると余計な思考や逡巡なく物事を処理できるようになる。
ーーーーー（僕はこれを仏教の持つ第３のアスぺクト＝心理工学と呼んだ訳ですが）
（思念のマスクが取除かれると潜在意識の中にプログラムされていたものが反射的に出る。.しかし、
本人すら自覚していないものが何故そこに在るのか？ーーーだからそれが「法」なのだ、と説明する）
無心とは、一切の構えなく心を開く事でもありますから自由な発想を持つには最適ーーーで、
それをテストする為に僕は色々変なものを発想しては、それを作っている訳です。
実験心理学、実験仏教学と言う所以です。
ーーーーーーーーーー
___/\___ Yoshizen 拝
—–
SELF again ? ! ! !
One of my friend who is a believer of the Brahmanism sent me a link to the site showing a (long )
conversation between a Guru and a follower.
—– www.krishnamurthys.com/profvk/advaitadialoguepage1.html
—————
Gosh ! Is it going on to 1008 lines ?
It’s a good sample of 3~4000 years argument.
My blog having strange conflict about this. And 2000 years still no answer was found 😀
The argument is time-consuming and on the end no answer —– so,
Buddha cut off the time-waster “No such things like the Self ”
—–Though, the obvious trouble is — I’m still here, Who Am I ?
In my Blog, I’m saying True Self is in our subconsciousness but it is not the self but the Dharma.
And the apparent self — Self-conscious is false or self-conceived illusion.
Still, leaving murkiness — When enlightened man sees the ” Dharma let this hand move” and created
something ( by himself ) — whose hands did the work. Undeniably it was the same, very man —– though,
he was working in deep concentration (abandon himself / he was not even aware his eyes were watching
his work )—–there was no Self, as he was in Mushin, state of the Mind of No-mind ).
———- Your Brahmanism, your Guru is talking about abstract definition of the Self —– but
Buddha was talking about mental-state / neurophysiology.
Because, Life is not in your abstract imagination —– but you actually need to DO and LIVE.
And when you can achieve much better result “ Do it in Mushin ” why you need to have
conscious of Self / notion of Self.
When a Bank rend you a good money, you don’t need to think about the financial system behind the banking
operation —– you just invest the money into your business and work hard.
—– Buddhism is the pragmatic answer, the best answer applicable to the real life.
Not for a philosopher. Buddha didn’t need to save the Philosopher / Brahman.
He wanted to save the real people.
—
By the way, those conversation is the long tradition of which even Buddha did it with his disciples, and
the origin of the Rinzai-Zen though, as you too might have found, it’s hard to read 1008 lines without
fallen asleep 😀
That’s why I’m suggesting ” Cut a lemon—> and learn Mushin ” 😀
———- Convinced ? 😀
—–
There is a story of Buddha attending to a man wounded by an arrow.
His disciples were wondering from where the arrow could have been shot, the material it is made of, who
could have shot it etc etc, while the man was dying !
Buddha said ” Gentlemen ! STOP !!! Attend to the man first, before he dies !!!”
This is Buddha’s revolution with respect to Hindu philosophy 😀
—-
I’m well aware except few differences, there is little distance between Buddhism Dharma and
the Brahman / Atman. —– Yet its argument wouldn’t help much to the human life.
So, I would concentrate pragmatic implication ” Just Do It ” 😀
Because we can’t create our life just by imagining it. We have to LIVE, while we LIVE.
___/\___
—-
SOCIETY
In the media reports of Japanese Disasters, a peculiarity of Japanese society was shocked the world.
“Why Japanese can keep calm and not express their grief ? “
I explained a back-ground —– their deep embedded Ethos / Fatalism originated from the
Buddhism —– in the previous post.
—–
But there is the another aspect which is even deeper and common to all the human-being.
We human-being is a social animal , we live, and have to live as a member of a society.
We are definitely a descendant of the packed animal like monkey, chimpanzee, not a lone panther.
Hence it is written in our gene, and so-called instincts are programmed accordingly such as the
gripping hand of a baby is to cringe to a mother.
To be a social animal, there is the order of the society and its rules. Any member who couldn’t
comply the rules, will be excluded from its society —– and slow death is the fate.
Where those rules were posted ? Ethos and those social code are not written but kept by the
member, the member themselves are the role-model / manifestation of the rules.
As society is operated by their member who possess the same Ethos and the Rules, and it is
almost the same even generation after generation, all the social activity, social systems are coherent
with the same Ethos. Everything shows the same manifestation and follow the same rules.
This exact coherency can be observed by even a small baby and learned by them and written
down into their subconscious memory. In fact this is the so-called Collective Unconscious.
But this is the case when the society is having universal, coherent system and the Ethos.
Among the member, some might become rebel though, the person is only temporally rebelling
or just behaving the reverse of existing rule —– nothing new just a reverse.
But when the population who is possessing fundamentally different Ethos, moved into other society,
it start to show completely different situation.
In metaphor, when non-thieving society received considerable size of thieving group, the Ethos of
both societies break down. ( Even thieving society and their way of life having their own strict rules,
taboo, who to steal or who is the senior thieves and the violent punishment who break its rules )
A kids of Non-thieving society learn the thieving, and a kids of Thieving society learn to
escape a punishment claiming his Human right 😀
Everything break down and only Ego exposed.
A baby start to see two conflicting systems and the rules, hence unable to figure out what is the Ethos of
the Society —– there couldn’t be a Collective Unconscious but just an attitude of
convenient cherry picking of excuse and the knowledge of “How to avoid “ —– it’s mean avoid
to be a member of the society. In fact there is no longer a society and its integrity exists.
—–
Fortunately ( or unfortunately ? ) Japanese society still maintain themselves as a society,
as foreign element is still negligible, even an outcast group Yakuza responded to the disaster, with
hundreds of truck load of relief supply delivered to the evacuated people.
Even though Yakuza were branded as the criminal organization, they are undoubtedly nobody else of
Japanese, and a part of the same society, hence share the same compassion and the sense of duty.
—– simply because, they grown up in the same society ( Even Yakuza was once an innocent
small boy,as you know 😀 ) hence build up the same Ethos as a Japanese.
—-
In reality, to make a baby to a Japanese, other than the teachings in a school and the family and the
circulating popular culture, such as everybody should have the same gadget and ware same kind (well
some pre-classified types) of fashion, there is a hidden secret of social pressure to a person
to conform the social code.
It is more akin to the chorus of the hen in the Animal Farm. When this chorus starts, even a person
who has been saying different opinion suddenly changes the colour and join a chorus, the louder the better.
This is a moment to a person to assess what is the majority and join them.
When the majority is behaving in a certain way, just do the same. To remain within the same group
and the society is the imperative in Japan. Whether it is true or not, right or wrong, just go with them.
So that, when nobody is crying –its mean, no-one should cry. The unwritten code says “Mittomonai
( It looks disorderly, and embarrassing ) “ Anybody brake-off from here, there is a danger to be ostracised.
As a result, everybody looks calm on the TV.
—
Funny side-effect of this conformative society is, as the expectation and the imaginary eligibility
of a man is fixed, such as socially acceptable income and the status etc, under the stagnated
Japanese economy, most of the ordinary man is no longer regarded to fit to marry —– hence
so many people are forced to stay single. ( A research found that among the eligible age-group,
only 6 % of men were regarded to fit the expectation of the woman, its mean, if a woman marry
other than rare 6 % , she will face a humiliation, a chorus of “Mittomonai”.)
—
When no dominant voice led the chorus, hens couldn’t know what to do.
Strangely, they still knows when somebody start to show up with unconformative opinion, they
overwhelm the opinion with their noisy chorus and suppress it. Therefore no fresh innovative idea
(other than imaginative Manga story) nor strong decisive idea coming out of Japan.
This is the situation in Japanese politics too.
Therefore, when they faced a crisis of Nuclear accident, they only try to avoid the Japanese public
fallen into a “Mittomonai” panic, by pretending nothing serious happened, thus do-nothing —-take
an emergency measure itself looks “Mittomonai”—– until it’s actually exploded.
Then everything got too late to take any measure. —– though, a criticism like this will be seen by a Japanese
as an act to expose “Mittomonai”Japan, hence has to be suppressed —-> So that , there wouldn’t be any
“Mittomonai”situation, therefore, able to keep calm face. Face is more important than the safety.
Beautiful isn’t it ?
—-
DISASTER in Japan
–
–
–
–
——————————————————– Here Everything was lost
—————————————————–anything remains is the HOPE
————————————————–and the WILL to Re-build the LIFE.
–
–
–
–
Seeing the Earth Quake and the Tsunami report from Japan is nothing but a heart-braking to me.
To see a photo of a flatten muddy field which caption says, There used be a town, its empty span of
nothingness shocked and made me wordless. Emptiness of almost perfectly flushed-out field.
—
It seemed, the western reporter, photographer prefer to pick up dramatically or even funnily
piled-up devastation. An orgy of destruction. ——— but to Japanese, as I am, it is not funny at all
nor the object to be amazed.
—
Another cultural differences appeared in the western media is, all the report found it is even strange,
the reporters unanimously says ” how Japanese can keep emotion in check and stays calm ?”
The emotion is the default feeling of the human-being, hence it is more or less the same to any
culture. Though, emotional expression is not instinctive, in other words, it is cultural.
Whether it is emotional or not, expression is a way of the communication, therefore even
an emotional expression is dependent on the situation.
—– there was an interesting psychological study and the video images of the small children.
When a small child stumbled and fallen, having a pain the child started to cry. —– You will think it is
a natural emotional reaction.
Though when the same child stumbled and fallen on the empty street where nobody else is in sight
( except a hidden video camera ), child didn’t cry, and stand up by herself.
This is the true nature of the human-being. —– communication is to appeal to others.
Having emotion is one thing. To express is other.
If there is no other person to help, no need to express. —– even small child knows this
and behave accordingly.
AAAAA
In the western culture, where the Ethos and the psyche was shaped in the cast of Judia-Christian religion.
In there, the God is a humanized image or notion. And the relation of the believer to
the God is one-by-one base. You have to stand before the God in person. Hence you have to talk or express
to him — otherwise you can’t to be heard.
Therefore, unless you express and assert your Self, you are not exist. And under this understanding
even a word expressed by a person may not necessary enough. Hence, a written contract became essential.
So that, express and express and make a claim is the basis of the psyche.
And as the relation to the God is one-by-one, when something happened, shout “ Why me “
AAAAA
In comparison, the Eastern God or the place of the mighty power is the Heaven,
or Buddhist’s explanation is the Dharma. The rules of the Universe.
Regardless, whether you face it or not, believe or express yourself or not, you are under the Dharma.
As all the occurrences and the existences are in this Dharma or under this Dharma, hence even a huge
natural disaster may produced by this same Dharma, hence you can’t argue with it.
Nor there is no use to complain or express your emotion. —– Shout and cry is no use. The matter is
just think what you can react to the situation. What you have to do the next.
And in the case of huge natural disaster, as the same fate has come to everybody, and as everybody
was created by the same Dharma, everybody has the same feeling and facing the same situation,
one crying wouldn’t make situation any better.
Thanks to Japan has very little foreign element in their psyche, everybody is sharing the same psyche
—– even to the people who was not affected by the disaster, they share the same pain,
hence the help started almost instantly. And no looting at all.
—
In the Buddhist’s explanation, this is the moment when the Dharma prevailed.
As everybody having the Dharma in them, when they sees the situation far beyond the human
comprehension, lost the word, hence lost any thinking, therefore the mind became
blank = blank open space = Mushin —> The Dharma, hence its nature of Charity and compassion prevailed.
And the Dharma is inside, whether the police is there or not, no looting occure. Since Dharma knows it.
—-
I only hope the people who had this disaster to recover and able to re-build their life.
( And in this given opportunity, Japanese can root out their rotten government and rotten policy in their
nuclear generating system )
___/\___
—
Self Denial — Self Sacrifice — Duty of Charity — MUSHIN ???
Self Denial – Self Sacrifice – Duty of Charity – MUSHIN ???
This is one of the most misconceived area in the Buddhist’s practice, hence I’ve been asked a
question again and again about the distinction.
Such as like a practice of one of the Buddhist’s sect in Japan, Ittou-en which I had mentioned some post ago,
which member is going around the town, asking household to let them clean their toilet.
This is the practice to learn Self Denial and the Self Sacrifice, and make people’s toilet clean may
seemed it is an act for other’s benefit hence it must be a charity. ( Though it seems quite patronizing )
I can see their point though, in the same time I would rather feel the intention with a pinch of salt.
If a practice to clean somebody else’s faeces could make a person humble and enlightened, the
people in India where particular job has been assigned to one particular cast ( or former cast ) should
have created thousands of enlightened holy man there. ( Never heard of it 😀 )
I’m sure, to clean somebody else’s faeces could destroy the person’s dignity still, not necessary it
destroys the person’s Ego. ( Ego is not dependent on the profession. Arrogance may be )
The more the required practice was dreadful, the more strong will and the determination is needed.
Unfortunately, this strong will, a belief of “ This practice should make ME higher noble person “
and “ I WANT to achieve it, I WANT TO ACHIEVE IT “ is nothing but an obsessive thinking.
Far from it, what Buddha taught was to DO the things without thinking, i.e; in Mushin.
The so-called practice is its formalized form of each sect.—– As everybody has unique grown-up and own
life history, even in the way of learning the same Buddhism, everybody takes different pathway and
as I described, there are three distinctive aspects how people related to the Buddhism, hence to learn
the Mushin, each person would take different approach and the steps.
Hence different expression, explanation were come up, such as Self Denial.
As a matter of fact, Buddha didn’t teach such things at all. What he taught was “ Self is not exist
from the beginning “ ( Since he took a stance against the Vedic idea of Atoman —– he saw it is the cause
of the trouble, as it is the delusion. That is why, he taught the MUSHIN / Mind of No-mind) —– though,
this is one of the hardest part in the Buddhism to understand. ( If anybody has able to achieve
the MUSHIN, it is almost the completion of the enlightenment. )
—–
History of the Buddhism clearly showed this fact, that even Buddha’s immediate disciples are not
necessary understood this. Hence the first few hundreds years, Buddhism have had the time
of Hinayana to Suppress the Self = Denial of the Self = Superficial mimicry of the MUSHIN.
To be in MUSHIN, of cause there is no SELF hence no EGO or Arrogance, Greed.
But try to achieve it from other way round, suppress the SELF first, not necessary works, because of
a thinking of “Deny the self, deny the ego” is there.
———- As you are reading this, only your visual cortex and the brain to configure the word and
their meanings are working = you are not aware the existence of your eyes and
the conscious “I am READING this”. ——- You are reading this in your MUSHIN ! ! !
Buddha also against the practice to torture the mind and the body, therefore the Self Sacrifice is
not in his teachings. It was not the Self Sacrifice but as the ( Enlightened ) person doesn’t have
the Self, the person just react to the situation in the best way or necessary way —– it only happen to
be seen “ the person has sacrificed himself “—– but the person himself was Just Doing It, that’s all.
Same applies to a Charitable act —– “If the one is doing it with a conscious of I’m doing the
Charity, it is not the Charity “ —– so as the Enlightenment. Which occur only in Mushin.
This is the reason why, in the Mahayana Sutras, there are typical expression like “ Exists as not exist “
“Do as not do” hence, do the charity (or help others) without having the conscious of helpingothers.
Without conscious mean, without thinking, without having the
conscious of the Self = DO IT SUBCONSCIOUSLY / SPONTANEOUSLY.
—–
To re-discover the Buddha’s original teachings, Buddhists spent another five hundreds years until
the Mahayana was introduced. And with its new ( or original ) understandings, sacrifice the life
to get Enlightenment as an Arakan ( Arahat ) was rejected, since the matter is not a posture but to
be in MUSHIN, and to be in MUSHIN, anyone and any life-form can get enlightenment as the
Dharma itself is, in its nature. —– But the reason why Buddha remained as a Bhikku ( begger) was
very simple. He was not trained to be a farmer nor any profession, there was no way else to get food.
To have a simple humble life go round the town begging the food was enough for him (and to his followers
together ). It was his simple easiest life style. To live as a Bhikku he didn’t need to think neither. He just lived.
Therefore, to be a Bhikku is not a precondition to get enlightenment, it was just happened to be.
Buddha never accused to be wealthy and had no hesitation to receive their giving of good food and
he ate any food. A funny description in the Vimalakirti Sutra “ You have to mind to receive it from
the poor people as well, in order to give the same opportunity for them to offer the food ( Hence
let them to practice good deed —– for them to attain their Nirvana ) show the situation well. 😀
Buddha’s teaching to those wealthy people to stay modest ( Middle Way ) and the way of giving
in Mushin would lead them to have Nirvana without any danger to reborn to be animal ( Since no such things
of perpetual soul exist ) must be well received by them.
As it was the historical fact, the Buddhism spread and did grow having with the wide support of
the ordinary people. It is impossible to imagine that Buddha asked those people to endure a kind
of practice to sacrifice their life, let alone to clean the faeces in order for them to reach Nirvana,
as Buddha himself rejected the practice to torture the mind and the body.
Simply because Buddha knew, anything can be done in Mushin, and the Mushin has no Ego.
Anything can be done mean, the practice can be anything, hence it doesn’t need to be torturing practice nor
heavy self-denying act. Mushin can be achieved Not What the Practice IS or how to understand it,
but by the Mind-Set = Mind of Just Do It.
—
It is the easy practice, as easy as some late Masters described it as Dog Shit. And as difficult as
non of Buddha’s disciple could understand .
It seemed that Buddha did know the situation, hence he needed to order his disciples “Think yourself,
not just believe what you were taught” in his death-bed.
Its meaning of thinking is, not what the answer they would get, but the process and the effects of
thinking (and effort to figure out in practice) —– “Mushin has no Self, no Ego” was what they had
been taught. And they must have shown well copied practice what they learned from
Buddha. But it was just a copy of the movement, not necessary in Mushin. Buddha must be aware of this.
That was why he needed to give an order to his disciples. —– It was an inherent short-coming of
having the master near you. You can get the explanation easily from him, then you satisfied as you
could understand it (intellectually). The trouble of Mushin is —– you can’t get it with an
understandings or any thinkings. You have to DO it to discover.
—– therefore, many hundreds of years Buddhists monks just argued the definition of Dharma or try to prove
whether the Self is exists or not.
But the situation like this provoked the mind of free-thinker. “What a hell, what are they talking
about ?” which made them aware, that the matter is not whether the Self is exists or not, but it lies
in the phenomenon, that we can do the things without the conscious of the Self, and it can be
done by anybody. ( hence Mahayana ) ! ! ! ” This must be the core, what Buddha had taught.”
This kind of observations never came from the monks who is just sitting and thinking, but from the monks who
are under-taking the chores in the monastery or low-ranking monks walking and begging the food by himself.
That was the reason why, such observation became a noted idea and written-down to the Sutra took long time.
Yet still, they couldn’t go further than the description
of “Do the Charity without having the conscious of Charity” or “Do as not Do”.
Mahayana Buddhists only thought about the DOING side, not knowing how DO changes the mind.
And how this DO came out of one’s brain was completely out of their sight.
—–
To decipher what was the mechanism in the brain / to see the roles of the subconsciousness, took
another 2000 years. ( Until here )
I am well aware and confident, for you to read this post, this 10 minutes opened your eyes to
reach your enlightenment. ( You only need to open your eyes and the mind 🙂 )
___/\___
—–
Review of the Post
One of my friend gave me a review of latest post ” Third Aspect in Buddhism “ and said,
” You did a dissection of the Buddhism, not with a scalpel but using a machete, cut it open and
made its body visibly spread wide.” —– M m m, was it awful ?
Not necessary, but quite drastic, nobody had ever attempted it before kind of action.
But, as it showed the Buddhism graphically spread open, it made the people to position
where they are standing about, and made them to see which direction is the next step to take.
———- It must be true. As soon as I uploaded the post, many Links were made and the access
was just kept growing and growing, and so far made second highest hit among my posts.
And something amazesed me was, a day before I posted
” Burden ??? ” and ” Third Aspect –“, when I had bought top-up
voucher for my Inter-net connection, that notorious 8150 number
appeared in its top-up code. —– Its mean, Buddha did know what
I was going to do before hand, and telling me its importance.
I’m not a vegetated peace-loving Buddhist as I had no hesitation
to use a machete to cut open the confusion in the Buddhism.
But in the same time, I still retain the attitude to bow the mystery of
the Dharma who seemed to watching me.
This is the Aspect, Buddhism as a Religion, and I keep my faith there.
___/\___
—
Hidden burden in BUDDHISM
Hidden is not necessary appropriate word. To the people who is aware of it, it is nothing new but
because of it is not convenient or sound nice, it has been stashed away or intentionally ignored, hence
it was rarely talked about, —– YET, it is the most crucial element and the steps of which
a Buddhist had to take once in their pathway.
—–
Go back to the Kisa Gotami story, —– What was her Contemplation ?
Was that just an acceptance of the life’s reality and the surrender to a force of the Dharma ?.
What was the meaning “Surrender” to the Dharma ? —– obviously, it is silly to stand against the Dharma,
therefore, it is no point to talk about the general condition of human existence, as man’s
existence is a minute from the beginning.
Superficially the teaching in the story of Kisa Gotami is an acceptance of the life’s undeniable reality= Dharma.
Yet hidden in the story, was her Self Denial —– not just accept the Dharma, but there was much more
personal, strong feeling of the failure, as a mother and a wife.
In fact, it was a rigid patriarchal society where a wife’s role and the duty was to bear a son.
A woman can assert her status only as the mother of the heir. Having her son’s death, she was
facing not only the grief of her loved child but a crisis to be branded as a woman of failure.
—– To accept the emotional trauma of both grief and the feeling of failure in fully minded
depth was, in deed her contemplation.
Discovering the harsh reality and found no possibility to find the seeds to revive her dead child,
psychologically she was stripped naked, left alone in the void of blank space —– she became
a clean blank sheet of paper, well prepared to listen the teaching of Buddha.
And Buddha knew she will reach to this state of mind when she come back. ( That’s why he sent
her out for a journey ) So that, when Buddha saw her come back without carrying heavily deluded
expectation and clean calmed face, he gave her kind consolation and the words of wisdom.
—-
Often forgotten or rather intentionally ignored fact of the Buddha’s life is that,
once Buddha was a renegade of the ascetic holy man’s lank.
In order to soften the blow, this story was changed to rather positive description of that
Buddha found the better way to reach the truth, other than torturing the body and the mind —– though,
the eyes of the society then and to the mind of himself, he knew he was a renegade until
Buddha found his own answer —– real truth and the way to reach there.
In the man’s life, anything has happened was, in fact placed there to be happened.
Same apply to the Buddha’s life as well. —– If he didn’t join the holy man’s lank and learned among them
and then abandon its practice, the Buddhism today is not exists.
In other words, the elements and the experiences Buddha gained while he spent a time among
the ascetics, and above all, the contemplation he got when he became a renegade was a key
to reach the Buddhism.
When Buddha abandon and let such practice go, he was literally a broke. no margin to retain
any ego or arrogance left, and having the deep blank space in his mind —– the mind was
completely open. Buddha was ready to configure his understanding from the deep depth of
his subconsciousness. ——————-> (read again and have enough time to visualize those words)
And Buddha’s blank space in his mind, completely open subconscious inspiration was
able to see the invisible rules of the Dharma which we call Panya Paramita.
Here the Buddhism was born.
—–
It must be clear, it sound not very pretty though, a defeated completely lost mind, or utterly
desperate feeling of failure, —– utterly denied and hopeless ego, utterly powerless feeling
and so on, —– is the key to gain a blank space or completely open humble mind.
Which can be bracketed as a Self Denial.
May be not, not pretty, but sound rather dreadful 😀
But this is the key step to start to receive the teachings. —– hidden and yet another unfortunate
aspect of the Buddhism.
Yet, even The Great Teacher Buddha went through this, how can we avoid to take this step ?
Sound too much ? —– OK, I leave the analysis to the next post 🙂
___/\___
—
Unfortunate History of BUDDHISM
In most of the case, study deep into the Buddhism, quest to the core of the Buddhism mean
read more books, another Sutra and then sitting 😀
Natural consequence, here, sitting mean, thinking about what was found in the book.
Strangely, you might have found a fine print saying ” Sitting has to be without thinking “ 😀
And somewhere, ” —– but most crucial teaching can not be taught by the word “.
———- What a hell, where to find the answer ? —– rightly you might say 😀
Unfortunately, ( especially in the west ) a so-called teacher or a master of a sect or group, did come
through same process. Simply he did it longer than you, hence read a bit more books, met another
master ( who studied in the same way ) and so on —– that’s all. In fact, non the wiser than you.
—–
Unfortunately Buddhism is not the matter of the knowledge nor what you learned.
But don’t become desperate and shout What a Hell, since you are not alone.
This is the inherent trouble of the Paradox in the Buddhism.
When Buddha was in this world and teaching his immediate followers, he showed the way how to live
how to see the things etc etc —– those were the practice, then time to time he took the rest —– rest mean
rest, hence give a break to the brain. Naturally, he was not thinking while sitting.
It looked like a meditation, or later people thought and called, it was a meditation.
When the brain was left completely blank, time to time suddenly new idea or
understanding comes out. ( Ref : Blank space —– somewhere in the another post )
Then, Buddha might have told something new understanding, even a joke to such as Shariputra —–. So that
the followers thought, Buddha, in his deep meditation he has been in touch with the unknown
truth / Panya Paramita —– though, Buddha was taking a rest and having a time of no thinking.
Of cause, even Buddha couldn’t show what’s going on in his brain nor disciples could seen it.
We only see the apparent outcome when it came out. Only the person with very good insight, who had
the same experience, could guess the process in the brain or in the mind.
So, the situation even among the immediate followers was like this ( —– how do I know ? Ok, tell me any
another possibility you can conceive )—– since, without having the proper understanding of the
Buddha’s teachings, Buddhism spent hundreds of years in the argument of such as AbiDharma.
And the superficial posture of ” Meditation ” became idiosyncratic synonym of the Buddhism.
Hence gave a misconception, With deep thinking process, you can get supreme wisdom.
Further trouble in the western Buddhism was emanated from the word MEDITATION which meaning
imply deep thinking ! — even though Buddha was just having a rest.—– It was a Kitkat time 😀
In practice, to practice ” To Do without Thinking ” the sitting is the hardest sample to try —– it’s mean
only few people who already reached to the advanced level could do it, still how do we know he could ?
Can the person sitting ( without thinking ) tell ” I’m not thinking ” —– How funny. 😀
It is the same to a man sitting, supposedly be in silence, declare ” Yes, I’m not speaking “.
Anyone can pretend and say, I can —– but those impostor tend to preach others, with his glorious story.
This was the history in its reality. The more glorious, needs to listen with the more sackful salt.
—-
When the crucial matter of the Buddhism is NOT THINKING / MUSHIN, cringing stereotypical posture
and its idea of sitting ( in fact it is very bad to the leg —– resulting wheel-chair in the later age —– all
the high priest in the Zen sect had end up in a wheel-chair ) because of it looks authentic, is
nothing but a vanity.
Throw away all those POSTURE. Throw away the IDEA of Buddhism. Let it go.
Take a break, relax —– in the deep breath, you may find yourself in the blank moment.
Then you are in the void of this mess of the life.
This VOID is the MUSHIN. You are in the true pathway of the Buddhism.
( When you let it go. Then you get it as the whole —— What a paradox ! ! ! )
___/\___
—
FACT and the Belief or a Delusion
In my posts about the story of Kisa Gotami, I’ve written,
” it showed the core of the Buddhism teachings”.
Kisa Gotami story has been accepted by all the Buddhist’s sects, simply it’s just a simple story
and showed no complicated mambo-jumbo, which was telling most likely happening situation
and a quite likely possible Buddha’s advise and its logical out-come.
Whether this was a historical fact or not, nobody dear to start such argument.
Simply because there is no point to argue. It must be the true FACT.
And why I wrote ” It is the core of the Buddhism” is, without any glorious mumbo-jumbo,
no part of the story needed your belief or elaborated deep understanding of the Buddhism, yet
anybody can see the logic, how Kisa Gotami reached to her contemplation as a FACT.
( Of cause, I can make a fun out of this story ” If there happen to be a house of which new comer
just settled in, hence so far having no funeral had taken place, and Kisa Gotami was able to bring
back the seeds —— what Lord Buddha could have done ? ? ? Forgive me
Lord Buddha, I’m just kidding 😀 )
[]
As it is clear, there is no need to have elaborated mambo-jumbo, no complicated
belief, just as she did, get lid of a delusion ” The dead child can be revived ” and
open the eyes to see the reality which is on front of her which is
no other than the Dharma.
If anybody still couldn’t see such simple fact is, In fact, it is a sign of having a delusion.
Such as arrogantly believing ” My Buddhism is more elaborated and better than other’s”
If there is such things in the Buddhism, the story could have been changed to such as
” Kisa Gotami met Brahman on the way, who told her to go back to Buddha, brah brah ” —–.
Simply it didn’t happened. Simply because the past masters who even got the authority to
rewrite the story saw, this is the true Fact and this is what the Buddha’s teachings.
___/\___
_—-
PS: Of cause, you can say that, it was just the beginning of her pathway, thus
she still needed to practice many more years to get enlightened.
( Hence she became a bhikkuni and joined the Sangya though, —– the question is,
what she could find beyond of that.
What is, what she found then ? —– What lies beyond the Dharma.
Spirituality means, to believe and follow invisible phenomena or to believe it is exist though,
Lord Buddha himself refused to elucidate what they are. No one can reach to the hight of what
Lord Buddha did able to see. To imagining you can, is nothing but an arrogance and
the contempt of Lord Buddha.
Yet ironically, when the past great Masters got enlightenment, all of them
described it as Dog Shit. —– Why ? Simply because,
it is just the Dharma, only one but ubiquitous ( because, everything exist is The Dharma )
—– only the obstacle is, to see it as it is. —–> Need to have clear eyes and a
state of the mind / Mind of No-Mind / Mushin.
Non of the teachings of Lord Buddha having any enigma, everything is clearly comprehensible
and logical ( to reasonably intelligent person ) —– All the Eight Fold Right Pathway contain
nothing but the good common sense. Only the obstacle is actuary Do it.
Right vision, Right thinking etc = everything is Right, in the understanding in the brain.
To know and understand it is one thing, actuary able to do, is the other animal.
So, What makes Lord Buddha’s teachings so unique is, he was the only one to find
the way to make people able to DO it by means of Repeating Practice.
Reading the stories in the Sutra or Reciting the words of Eight Fold Right Path are
just a process to familiarize with them.
But to Do the obligatory Practice everyday customize you to follow
the Duty unconditionally. (it’s mean you surrender your Ego )
And as you do it everyday, can be years long, your body learn to
Do it without conscious, in other word automatic.
This is nothing but the state of Mushin.
State of Mushin is in fact Dispassionate state of the mind hence it doesn’t have any
specially intended mind, such as do something evil to someone (or fucking around)
In this state of Mushin, you can see the Dharma as it is.
And the Mushin is ( strangely 😀 ) same to embrace the Void.
And this Void contains the Whole. —– Dharma is whole but void.
( To reach to this Mushin, some may need to do the practice many years, but to
the others, it occurred in instant by the direct transmission )
The holy Ark, the establishment said to have, may be containing just the empty void.
Funny you may think, but this void, great emptiness is the Enlightenment and the
Dharma. —– But to see this Void, you don’t need to have mysticism.
It’s there everywhere and in fact everything IS. —– This is why, it’s a Dog Shit.
And this is the Buddhism.
[]
My personal view is, if Kisa Gotami didn’t became bhikkuni and made another
child, it was more in line with Mahayana. (To take care of the child needs to have
unconditional endless work. It can be a good practice to gain the Mushin.
And on the end, Kisa Gotami could have had both, good grown up child and
the Enlightenment as well 🙂 )
—– To cringing the idea of Pathway and following the idea of Arahatship was
not Mahayana at all.
Crucially, Lord Buddha established his teachings, away from the idea of ascetic
monks, in order to save the suffering of ordinary people on the street,
Lord Buddha would not have given the unachievable incomprehensible tasks to
those people then.
And this is the fundamental base of the Mahayana Buddhism.
___/\___
—
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