BRAIN WAVE

Some days ago,  I saw a bizarre demonstration which purported to be an electronic display of the

Buddhist Meditation,  consisting a video image said to be controlled by the Brain Wave.

Loads of scientific buzz words such as Quantum Mechanics, Sinusoidal Alpha Wave etc etc were spoken.

———- Yet strangely, a demonstrator  who got a shaven head said ” I’m not an electronics expert,

so,  I don’t know the details of the technology here “—— Oh, I’m, sure Brain Wave is not Sinusoidal at all.

——————–

How bizarre this one was —– to begin with,  Alpha Brain Wave is nothing to do with the Meditation.

EEG  Brain Wave was picked up on the surface of the head and showing the summed up electric signal

of the inside Cerebrum Cortex’s activity.   Therefore,  the Brain Wave is the reflection of the vigorous

activity of the brain —— sound opposite of the calm Meditation.   (Of cause, even under the deepest

meditative state, certain physiological function is fully active, hence creating so-called  Artefact ( back

ground noise ) is always there.

Any how, the activity of inner part of the brain such as Limbic System is not possible to observe by the EEG,

unless a hole was cut to the skull and put through a probe deep inside.  ( Very risky operation )

——————–

More than 40 years ago, when a meditating monk was wired up and the EEG / Brain Wave was recorded

first time, the relation between Alpha Wave and the Meditation was discovered.  So, a  Myth  was created.

Though, ironically, some years later, the true nature of the Alpha Wave became clear —— it was the

indication of the ” Eyes are Closed ” —— its mean, the visual cortex in the back of the head is in idle state.

Nothing to do with meditation.    (Well, see nothing was indicated.  At least   😀  )

(  In the Zen, Eyes wide open and seeing, but take NO NOTICE is the key technique —– Thus able to

either Detach or Concentrate to any subject,  any time,  by will )

Yet still, the Myth or idiosyncratic misunderstanding was kept and worshiped by the people who doesn’t

know the Buddhism neither Medical science or Electronics.

And this kind of bizarre gimmick industry is flourishing.

How amazing  !!!

When Mankind didn’t have the knowledge of electric activity,  lightning was believed

to be an act of angry God.

The Brain still remaining in the mystery is,  nothing to do with  the mystery of the Buddhism.

Mind is not just a matter of  Brain cell and  Electric pulse.

—

PS: Half year later, I bumped a man who demonstrated aforesaid  Electronical Meditation, at an art

gallery and found that the man is (despite his shaven head  🙂 ) just a novel art performer, not a monk

or to do anything with Buddhist’s meditation.  So, he must had a lots of fun for doing it. 😀

COMPASSION — WHAT ?

Bizarre, but even comical story is —– in three occasions, I was asked to procure the chemical to help

the person to commit suicide.

But I saw the real agenda was just the money at once,  I told him  ” Don’t involve me.  If you like to do it,

just go to the rail way and jump under a train.  Without my help, your trouble will disappear at once ”

Obviously the man was so disappointed and started to blame me  ” I thought you are a compassionate Buddhist

—-blah  blah  blah “——- ” Yes I am,  but not stupid one ”

( He might have expected me to say  ” If the situation is so serious,  this money should bail you out ” )

——————–

To confused person, ( in lots of the case )  I gave a harsh words  ” Go to the Hell ” —– it works far better.

It chill the person’s blood and cool down the head,  and  make to see the reality, as if there is no tomorrow.

And make able to sort own mess out. ( In comparison, anything in the life is easier than to die. When

the one faced to the death,  there is no way else,  but to  fully concentrate = fully minded,  thus able

to see  what should be done, as the one is not idiot and Just Do It.

Strangely,  when the one is seriously concentrating and working hard,  then a help appears.

—– In other words,  as long as the one is expecting and  waiting the help,  it never comes.

—– This Paradox is True.      Believe me  /  This is the way how the Dharma works )

So, it seemed ( as I heard from distance ) the one sold his expensive car and down-sized his life style, and

the another got full-time job,  another  started  moonlighting and gave up drag taking.

They may not remember me as a nice friend, until  10 , 20 years later to  realize it by himself.

Though,  did I need my own comfort, to be misunderstood as a  nice person with sweet words ?

What is the real Help ?

———- You might have encountered to this kind,  haven’t you ?

What was your choice ?

12 + 1 —– JURY ?

Since latest research exposed a fundamental flaw in the Jury System which is only 30% of the

Jury Members understood the meaning of the Judge’s direction in the Summing-up speech, it became a

hot talking piece in the media.

One side saying ” This is an ancient long-established fundamental human light ” and others

” The facts are, now the cases are too complexed and the Law dealing with them are also too complicated

which is beyond the capability of an ordinary people on the street to understand.”

——————–

In fact, this is the epitome of the society today which is overwhelmed and dysfunctioned by the

contradicting ideas. ( Strangely, either people doesn’t understand the situation or pretending not to see it )

One side criticizing any social policy before 60th ” Such a brutal draconian measure ” but in the same time

” Ancient Tradition is important “. ( Human right didn’t exist before 60th, Political Correctness was born 90th )

Now,  the intellectually manufactured  Notion / Idea  started to show the clack.  We need to go back to

the Commonsense / the Judgement by the subconscious human sensibility.

——————–

When the origin of Jury system was started in the primitive hunter gatherer society, everything were

discussed and judged by all the members of the group.  As everybody having the life almost identical

to each other,  which hadn’t been changed hundreds of years.     Therefore there was no problem to assess

and  judge somebody’s crime by the ” Fellow Citizens ” as everybody know the situation and even the inside

psyche of the culprit.  But such social integrity / community has gone long since.

———- So, in this stone age,  do you have even slightest idea,  why the man next door listening

that old tune in his iPod,  what sort of social up-bringing or personal history behind of that music ?

We,  in this society share very little part of the life with any other people. How we can judge others ?

——————–

With desperate attempt to regain the community feeling,  some people resorted with social networking —–

though it will make the situation even worse, as each person got different Karma, try to follow them makes you

exhausted.  Don’t scratch somebody’s back while expecting to have your back scratched back.  Be contented.

Better live  with  Dharma. Your peace is inside of you.–—- and in the Grate Nature )

Unless we gain at least own integrity and find the firm stance in the field of the Darma, we would be alienated

and lost in the entangled notion of  buzz word, and the mountain of  techno product.

DELUSION — is it a Face ?

This is a funny photo.  It supposed to have a face there.

Can you see it ? —–( it is the pattern on the cushion )

It was one of the ” face” picked up by the Google Picasa,

Face Recognition Program.

——————–

As I’ve collected 20,000 photo of faces ( well, lots of them came

together with legs, boobs etc) and I’m sorting them by the

type of face and eyes, ears etc.

( Incidentally, to see the person changing  the face, body shape,

in spate of  4~5 (?) years,  giving me a chilling feeling of harsh reality,

Nothing stays the Same—— and think, what will they do next, after 5 years time  ? ? ? )

To have the Face Recognition Program was not my choice.  It came automatic as an up-date. Though, it is

using my CPU without my permission.  I’ve tried to remove it though, it is a part of Picasa 3 (and old version

had gone ) and I couldn’t pinpoint which part of program file is doing this.—– ( Google may planning to create

another  Social  Net-working  System to compete  with  Facebook  ( which I hate most )  in the near future ).

Anyhow,  as they cropped  faces and asking me to name the person,  I clicked (may be ) 30,000 times

” Ignore ” and deleted all of them except about 30 ” faces ” which is a sheer mistake such as the one here.

In certain extent, this program was well designed as it made only  0.1% mistakes.—– Beyond here, its

needs to have a human brain ——- though, wait a moment, our brain makes as much as mistakes.

——- When I was small, I was disturbed by a pattern of knot on a wooden panel of the ceiling, as it looks

a man’s fearsome face.    Once an image was registered in the brain as a face, it always looks as a face.

———- It is interesting to see, even an artificial digital image processing makes same kind of mistakes.

In Buddhist term, this is the Delusion and a cause of paranoia though, as it was a very useful brain function

of data integration / filling the gap of information by fuzzy logic —— not exact but somewhat likely

judgement —– this kind of mistakes are inevitable.

Most of the case, it is just ” Ha, Ha, Funny ” but time to time, it might led to a serious consequence.

Stay cool, stay objective is the secret to stay in Peace.

As the mater of fact, more than half of the personal trouble was caused by oneself and one’s mind.

WHAT is the BUDDHISM

Buddha didn’t find anything new. Didn’t show or prophesied anything fancy.

So that,  he was called as Buddha ( Enlightened  Man ) not a Devine figure or Shaman.

But he was the only person ever pointed out the mechanism and its Rules of the Karma and  Dharma.

Therefore,  only after him,  mankind got the knowledges to deal with this Karma.

Since almost all about the Buddhism is, about this Karma, even the most

fundamental  Noble Principals are still,  four different aspects of the Karma.

——————–

Since Karma operates in its own cause, not for the convenience of the person, it is often creates unexpected

havoc to the person, hence the life looks in trouble.

Also,  Karma works in relation to millions of factors, it keeps changing,  hence nothing stays the same

therefore even the person’s Self couldn’t be defined as a solid entity.

So that, to live the life in such condition,  the one shouldn’t expect too much,  better live in modesty.

(still, it’s open for us to try  to push it to the limit—-even if the one loose, still it is the Providence of the Dharma)

And when the one become able to see the Dharma, it is the Enlightenment which lead to the Nirvana

( I may not have the test report in time—- so, this is my guess.  But historically it was widely believed right. 🙂)

So,  this is the Wisdom to face the Truth of the Life where even the death was integrated into the

one’s Path Way.   It is not an abstract idea or fancy promise but the Actual Way to live along side

the Karma,  not fight against it.       Since the One was created by the Dharma on purpose, live

the life accordingly to its purpose,  is the Way to achieve the best Harmony with Dharma.

Since,  Karma is not necessary a restriction, but it can be the direction pointing the opportunity.

After all,  You to fulfill its purpose is what the Dharma intended and expected to see.

———- only a difficulty  is,  as the biggest cause in one’s Karma is the very person,  so that the person has

to deal with it in person, while observing the Real  Self  /  Who He (She) is, which only the person can find out.

So that,  we have to live with this Karma, by carefully observing it by our sensitive subconscious,

while avoiding the interference from the useless thought, which we can learn from

the Practice as the way of  MUSHIN.   And in the state of MUSHIN, one can see the Dharma.

This is what the Buddhism is.  (  According to Yoshizen ‘s  experience  )

Passive or Active

Somebody who has read my Blog questioned me  ” Hey Yoshi, So, you mean to live reactive,  Passive Life ?

Where is your independence or individuality and its own active choice ?”

The one’s own individuality or So-called Self is an imaginary notion.  It is an abstracted idea.

You have to see it in reality in clear eyes.

——————–

OK, so, if you want to create something new as an artistic creation (or new technological invention, what

so ever )—– what is the resources you got and the origin of the idea or imagination ?

Are they purely your own creation / invention ?

—– The seeds of the idea or concepts were given and placed long time ago, even unconsciously.

We are just picking  one or two of them and re-arranging (in what we believe) in our logics.

But those idea, logics themselves are also the result of the accumulated wisdom.  They are not our

invention.—— In fact, this is the way what we are processing our thinking, nothing new there.

When we suddenly struck by  !!! and get superb idea, it might be triggered by the particular

external situation or internal re-arrangement / configuration of the knowledges which  were

already there too.   And this is how we inspire.

So that,  re-configure all the resources in one’s unique way, we like to think

” It was my invention / creation ” —– though it was in fact, only a given opportunity.

———- And we Buddhist understand or interpret it,  It was given by the Dharma,  since those

mechanisms are almost invisible and beyond the human comprehension therefore it must be

placed by the supreme power, the wisdom of the Universe.

The one’s seemingly active creativity is nothing other than  passively receiving and accept the

Dharma’s suggestion and its rules.  (Divine inspiration works far better.  Have look around  😀  )

——————–

When I got the idea ” I should go west and listen organ music ” was not my idea but the order of the Dharma.

And I just accepted as an imperative and diligently followed it.

——— Do you think was that wrong ?     Did I wasted my time or lost anything ?

Far from it,  I learned and gained unmeasurable  value of experience.

Pay enough effort while expect nothing (by  Mushin ), would bring unexpected reword

I like this Paradox in Buddhism. This is the way, we can achieve the life’s maximum Potential.

Freedom — Restriction ?

Freedom under the strict restriction —– people may feel it is the contradiction.

Because they are thinking it in the word / notion but didn’t observe the reality.   In reality, there is

no such freedom ever exist like we conceived in the notion.   Even the most powerful rich person still has

to live in the oxygen rich air and soon or later has to die.   Restriction is the basis of our existence.

Ideally imagined condition,  or a story from another world may tell otherwise,  still a person was

bound to live within his or her restrictive  Karma.   But it doesn’t mean there is no freedom to the person.

——————–

If you think about music,  in the traditional folk music,  even  popular Blues,  they  were composed in the

Pentatonic which is the Natural Tonal System.   But its got only five notes ( well, octave higher etc, a bit

more ) ——- from those meager five +  notes,  how many tunes  we human being created in the history ?

Have you ever heard the same tune or melody  from different source ?     No such thing ever happened in

the isolated situation (culture)—–other than a copy.

Any new tune can be created  even from very restricted five notes —- isn’t this  Freedom ?   Need  more ?

Full use of the tonal scale, 12 tone system, or even continuous frequency change of the electronic  music

the possibility and the freedom  to create new music should be much higher ——— though in  the result,

do you remember any of such contemporary music ? ——– It is the evidence of what the unrestricted

freedom had achieved.    Theoretically it might be new,  but in reality its a trash,  nobody give a sit kind.

In political correctness,  its free to express any new idea, it must be one’s freedom.  But in the same time

others got exactly same right of freedom not to give a damn to such idea.  It is the waste of the life.

——————–

There was a funny quote ( sorry I forgot who said this though) ” If the God wished the man to play Foot Ball

he wouldn’t have given the hands to us”  😀

If there was no hand from the beginning,  there is no notion of the hand or possibility to image them—-so,

there wouldn’t be any complaint of the restriction not having the hands.  Just ply Foot Ball. (no punch up :-))

The notion of the restriction is only a thought of excuse by a person who haven’t actually tried it.

When anybody try long enough,  and to know deep enough,  there is unlimited possibility and the freedom.

To contemplate ” Who you are”  and to build your life  in its maximum possibility, is the Zen.

And the Zen Master called this  Jizai. ——- Being as Itself.

( Sadly,  I noticed so many people stranded on front of the door, puzzling ” Who you are”—-misguided

by the wrong but looks elaborated  words, words, words. Look at the mirror, its you. Who  else )

———-In the history, J.S. Bach’s music is the best sample of the achievement of such  freedom.

You should try  listen his  ” Art of Fugue”,  which was composed from the four notes  B, A, C, H.

Its followed strict rule of the ” Counter Point”  in the Fugue, to make the variation of those four

note in different order and permutation.—— And created such a universe of mesmerizing

musical time and the space.

His achievement is one of the epoch in the human history.

J. S. Bach — Helmut Walcha

One morning,  when I was drifting, I heard a pipe organ music of  J.S. Bach, in the back of a TV drama.

Then,  I decided to go west to listen the sound of original instrument in the original acoustic environment.

Before, I was an enthusiast of  Baroque music, especially Bach’s organ Music.  So, I made a long list of the church and the name of the town where the recording was made for the German Gramophone Archive Record.

Then I took a ship to Siberia, Russia.  When the ship left Yokohama Port, I saw off  Japan  with my eyes getting fuzzier as it may be the last time to see her ever again.

——————–

After long journey through frozen land scape of Russia, I reached to  Helsinki, Finland.  The Helsinki Cathedral was my starting point of 100 of the church organ pilgrimage, covering many famous Alp Schnitger, Silbermann organs etc.    (The beauty of this plan was, if we go to the Church on  Sunday, there is the organ music played on, could be 300 years old original instrument, in the unique acoustic of the church. Free of charge.—- On top of this, many organ concerts, festivals held there)

——————–

Then I came across a charity concert of  Bach’s organ music to help restoration of old organ in Frankfurt.  The Organist was the most famous organist Prof; Helmut Walcha,  whose recording captured me into Bach’s organ music. (Prof; Walcha is a blind man, thus he played hundreds of organ music just from his memory)

Before concert start I was talking with a man sat next of me, about the different sound of each organ all over the Europe, since it was nearly the end of my journey,  I had covered most of the famous organs already.

The man was rather surprised of my journey, and he took me up  to organ booth and introduced me to the organist, Prof; Walcha  himself. ——- the man was the Manager of  Prof; Walcha.  ( Can you believe such a lucky coincidence.  ! )

Prof; Walcha talked about a tour of Japan and his friend, Musicologist Keisei Sakka.   And I had happened to attend a special  lecture by Prof; Sakka about the evolution of  Music Tonal System as a part of my Sociological study.  ( Tonal System evolved under the Christian monastic life and their Protestant Ethos of the devotion of the own life to perfect it — unlike a superficial glorification in the Catholic church, where how much gold was used to decorate the organ was the matter, but in the Protestant church, how three sounds of Trinity harmonize perfect was the matter. ) —– (I wrote about how Natural Tonal System was created.)

———-It was the incredibly lucky coincidence to fulfill my pilgrimage.

And it made one of the best moment of my whole life. What I could ask more.

——————–

Some ignorant criticize Bach’s music, saying that they are too abstract, even mechanical.   In fact it was the self confession of how he is ignorant and having no ear to appreciate the music.  Under the most strict rules of such as the Fugue, still able to create such soul-shaking striking music is the work of nothing but the genius. ——– Achieve  total freedom under the strict rules, is the Zen.

Unlike Romantic School’s sticky emotional melody,  Polyphonic Baroque Music, especially Bach’s music can eliminate the thought.  (Rather constant rhythm / no syncopation, and three-part polyphonic keeps waving complex tonal pictures,  which  refuses our own imagination —– makes us just listen the sound, not a story or any notion—– yet it gave us very comfortable relaxed feeling)

It’s suite to the Zenist.

.

East and West ( 2 )

To the people in the East,  the huge scale natural disaster is a part of the  Nature.

Even worse, they are coming every year like Hurricane, Typhoon, Earthquake, Land-slide etc.

So that, there is no possibility to conceive a God whose client is the human fork.

—– As far as the eyes can see,  was  their world.  And see the flood of Yellow River as far as the eyes can see,

must be the act of  Supreme Power above there. ———There is no possibility to imagine

any personally accountable,  human shaped  God.  (Who speaks same language !)

If the God created this world,  what is he doing with this devastation,  not once, not twice, but every year !

What is the purpose of this for ?   What a waste.  Isn’t he got a brain ?

—– (Eastern emvilonment is not very good to the Western God )

——————–

Biblical  Grate Flood which story was originated from a legend of a flood happened after the end

of last Ice Age and the rise of sea level,  (So that, such legend / myth exist all over the world.

The Biblical story is the word to word copy of the Gilgamesh Myth of Mesopotamia ) and the earthquake

which was the back ground of the story, demise of Sodom and Gomorrah, such disaster  were not

repeated again and again so, they could be construed as one-off punishment of the angry  God.

So that this God can be imagined as the one who is working together with human —– a friendly type,

speak same language,  hence he could answer your call.

Because of such convenient design, there is the free choice of   ” If this God wouldn’t give me a divorce,

I’ll go to another”  was possible.  ( Free choice is a Western Idea,  which is the basis of so-called

Democracy too,  and that is why a kind of Democracy in the west doesn’t necessary work in the East.)

(A dubious Leader who happen to be elected by a number game, can not to be respected in the Eastern

psyche, though in reality, a politician who managed to fool the people with false Charisma is in power.

Yet still, originally, the Ruler in East was expected to be able to communicate with Heaven,  that is why

the Emperor  was called as the Son of Heaven  in China and in Japan.)

——————-

Therefore,  the Eastern Belief System goes to the abstractic Order of Universe, the Rules of

the Dharma  or the Heaven ( note, Heaven  is not an idea of Paradise.  The Sky and the invisible Power

above there ) and  not a humanized God figure.  (Though, Pure Land Buddhists got different view )

In the same time, by observing the intricacy and the cohesion in the Nature gave the insight,  that is

the Order is perfect, beyond the human comprehension, ” If the power and the wisdom is such superior,

there is no competition,  we have to just accept and follow”.  This the God in the East.   ( The Hindu

idea of the Deity  and  its depiction, might be the Greek influence which came to India after

the Alexander the Grate. —— this must be an interesting field to study)

——- This Eastern God may not even be the religion, but the awareness, where we stand.

Because,even  a non-believer couldn’t escape from this Order.  When ship sunk under a Hurricane even

a Christian sunk too.  It is the Karma affecting everybody, who took that ship, on that Day.

Confidence to be here

Living as a Buddhist many years, what I found something peculiar was its

paradoxical psyche, the co-existence of the humbleness and the absolute

confidence.

If the cosmic creation was the creation of all the matters, we have to see,

ultimately it created myself as well, as I am the compound of those matters

which are ruled by all level of physics.

Buddha called those rules and entwined relations as Karma and the Dharma.

————

Whether it was by intention or natural consequence, I was created here and

others too.  Therefore, there is no superiority between me and any other

creatures.

————

But in the same time, there must be a certain will or reason or condition in

physics or bio-chemistry to create me as I am.

Whether myself here, is a solid existence or just a superficial phenomenon,

I have to see the peculiarity of me as I am.

This peculiarity includes my charactor and my role in the life as well.

——- to use a metaphor,  Me to exist here and to perform my role,

might be expected and designed by the Dharma, unless otherwise

Dharma must have created somebody else

In other words, there was a needs or rationale of me to exist here and

me to fulfill my expected duty in my life.

This is the ultimate confidence of the Buddhists, which you can have

the same too, as you are.

( This is the reason why the Buddhism asking the people to have

self-awareness, and find one’s own peculiarity and the role to play.)