How to teach No-Self and Void

No-self,  Mind of No-mind = Mushin,  Void etc etc —– in fact it’s all same state 

of the mind or brain though, a trouble is, it can not be explained —– because,

if it was explained, its action, and the words themselves destroy the notion of

No-self or Void and in effect, it is to prove that “You have your own Self”.    🙂

It is the same to a duty of silence, you can’t tell or declare that “I am in silence”

= if you tell that you are in a practice of silence = you fail the duty.

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In the Buddhist scripture it was “explained” in the relation to the 5 aggregates

= in fact the relation between the sense and the object =  “sensed” —–

such as a sense of vision and the object what you thought that you have seen,

and likewise sense of hearing etc etc = 5 senses and effectively all the existences.

===> Its core is,  you never be sure whether you actually seen it,  or what you

thought that you’ve seen, was true or not, that’s because the subject, you and the

object were existing in the relation to the others in moment to moment, hence

they couldn’t be defined as a reliable solid existence therefore nothing, include

yourself is real —– in another word, Void.    (It’s shame though,  to understand

what was written there doesn’t mean “able to get Selfless or see the Void” ! )

—– (The expression in a typical Mahayana scripture “Exists as Not-exists” was

an excuse of the autoer “I didn’t say neither exists or not exists” )   🙂

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Because of you, yourself is Void, you can’t explain it’s situation because the

situation in any moment is keep changing hence any static description could

be a false = in fact any such notion is nothing but a delusion.

So, this is the fundamental trouble to teach, let alone to explain the Selfless or Void.

Lord Buddha had this trouble too, of cause.   And his answer was “Not answer” —–

because, there is no problem to continue the life without having the SELF, far from

it, we were born and naturally living in Selfless, in other words, having and clinging 

to the Self, or believing that the world, or all the existences are really existing, is

nothing but the delusion.    So, what

Lord Buddha did was just show the practice he does in Selfless state (Mushin) = 

and he instructed to do the the same, exactly like him. = and everybody followed =

automatically following him exactly the same manner IS nothing but the practice 

of the Selflessness.    (Please read [Test of Selflessness])

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It is impossible to explain what the Selflessness or Void is, still in practice 

anything can be done in completely Selfless manner and it is in deed a

demonstration and the proof of the Void.

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And this was the reason why the scriptures are in haywire still the teachings of

Buddhism and it’s tradition has been maintained in the Zen practice.

—– if you can do the same, again and again without conceive a question, you are

in the Selfless state.    And you can extend this state to do any other work, even a

thinking process.   (It may sound funny as it is the same brain though, the thinking

part of the brain is not necessary involving the emotional region where the feeling

of Me = Self was created.  —– So, the mental practice of Detachment will work.)

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釈尊の教え — その原形

釈尊の教えの原形を考える上で最も決定的な鍵となるのはその僧伽（サンガ）にカーストは

存在しなかったという事実です。何故カーストという概念が生れたのか？－－－実は

それこそがヒンズー教の根底である輪廻再生の観念で，カーストはその個人の前生の反映，

その結果に外ならないという理屈であったのです。

釈尊の時代はちょうどこのヒンズー思想の勃興期で，儀式的なバラモン教から陰惨な宿命論ヘの

移行期であった訳です。  これはかつて日本にあった『天中殺』の流行のようなもので，

それを真に受けて信じ込んだ人間は恐怖のパニックに陥った。

当時の新興宗教のグルが説く輪廻再生，カーストのくびき説におびえる人々に

“心配するには及ばない，そもそもベーダやヒンズー教で言うような不滅の魂（アートマン）など

と言うものは無い。人の肉体が死ねばそこに宿っていた魂，我と言うものも消滅する。これが

涅槃であり，そもそも我（セルフ）などと言うものは当人の思い込み，妄想以外の何物でもない”

と説かれたのです。つまりこの教えは『輪廻再生を繰返す永遠の苦（娑婆，サムサラ）からの解放』

ではなく『“輪廻再生を繰返す永遠の苦”という誤ったヒンズー説からの解放を説いた訳だったのです。

古典的べーダ以来一般的に信じられていた不滅の魂（アートマン）を否定し，それが輪廻再生して

カーストが現れるとしたヒンズー教の流行思想を否定した

釈尊の説は実に革命的な教えであったと言えるでしょう。(この教えの根底に縁起，

因縁説（肉体と精神，我の相互依存）がありそもそも我などというものは存在し得ないという

考えが包括的空観に発展していった訳です。）  と言う史実を一見するだけで，仏教というものが

いかにヒンズーやタントラと混合され換骨奪胎されて来ていたかを窺い知る事ができます。

つまり人類は実に２０００年以上に渉って釈尊を冒涜し続けていたのです。

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Orange Peel

You may not guess what I’m going to talk about.   The photo here is Orange Peels.

Orange Peel (of its powder) has been used as a flavoring spice or even a 

Chinese herbal medicine. (= moderate stimulant to the stomach )

—– But I’m not going to use it in any form but I’m going to get lid of them.

Though, if you throw them into a rubbish bin in the kitchen, together with

carrot skin etc etc,  inevitably you’ll have a rotten wet bottom in the bin where

Fruits Fly thrives.  — Still, try to fight against them is the futile, impossible task.

A bin with lid didn’t work = they get inside when it was open = and lay eggs =

then come back in hundreds.   You can’t catch, you can’t hit = they fly so quick.

Throw a rubbish every day is the one  answer.  (Sounds quite paranoia isn’t it ?) 

And make them composted in a jar with tight lid, is the another answer,

though, when I tried, I realized that I don’t have a garden to use the compost. 

Anyhow, my rubbish for 2 weeks is not more than a super-market plastic bag.  

—– On the end, I got the answer = wet rubbish IS the root cause of trouble.

= Why not dry them ! = If no wet rubbish, no Fruits Fly would come, hence

= no trouble, no fight. —– isn’t this the Buddhist’s like answer !   🙂

(Same as, “No alcohol, no trouble. No woman, no trouble” kind of approach  !  

Save the joke of Mahayana Buddhism “Having trouble IS the Enlightenment”

though, Fruits Fly has no fun at all.)   😀

= So, I leave the Orange peel,  Vegetable skin etc to spread on the plastic tray

and let them dry. (Looks strange though, nobody would see it anyway.)  

—– When they are dry, put them into the bin.  

[]

Just a little bit more attention, then able to have a peaceful life !

Isn’t this a Zen ?  —– or do you think it’s a nuts or paranoid ?  

Ha ha ha ha  😀 —– Have a nice Friday 13th, and a fun-full weekend.

[]

 

 

 

Zen thinking — [Void] in the real life

After years or months I don’t remember still, I suddenly realized a significance

of the words in an episode in the Agama Sutra.

(= I described it in the post [Three times Buddha] )

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“Thinking without thinking” sound  Zen like approach you may think though,

it is nothing fancy at all = 90% of our thinking was actually done in this way.

With utter annoyance of the philosophers, this fact was revealed to the mankind

when a Brain Scanner was first introduced = after all, we, the most intelligent

creature on the planet is not necessary consciously carrying-out our

thinking process.  —– (We only conscious of it’s process after it was converted to

the lexical code on the last moment.)

The reality is, when we say “I think”, in fact, the most of the thinking has been

already done a moment ago without us noticing it.

 And in the almost all the case, so-called  “My Decision” was actually made

out of our conscious. 

So, “thinking without thinking” is in reality “thinking without noticing that

I was thinking” = we are in deed always keep thinking or our brain is always active

yet simply we are not aware of it.    So that, not only an obvious “work-out to solve

an arithmetic problem kind” of conscious thinking, even so-called meditation is

nothing but a practice of “latent thinking process”and often, our brain find a

connection, even an answer from completely unrelated matter. (Very creative !)

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There was not a significant issue I was facing, or even an important question =

therefore it was not “posted” in my mind = just there as one of the memory, yet,

a passage in the scripture was suddenly highlighted and gained the significance.

= A ha ! I found it’s here.

(Answer was always given when we are not intentionally seeking = When 

our mind was free — or in the state of Mushin or in the Void, suddenly

the connection was made.  —– some time in the bathroom.  😀 )

[]

Lord Buddha told the horse trainer “Stop speaking is the same to kill the person”

(Please read the post.) —– this is not just an action on the mouth, but the hole

mind-set = In the mind-set, the person became a landscape hence no longer

recognized as a person.    So, its existence is “Exists as not Exists” = this is

nothing but a state of “Void”. = In deed, this is the very core of what

Lord Buddha’s teaching was, and what all about the Zen Buddhism is.

To detach and free the Mind and see the Void and by freeing the mind,

it enables us to see the dynamism of Karma and the Dharma, hence enables

to live with Dharma moment to moment.

—– This is THE paradox, “By detaching the view and emotionally free from the

subject, thence the mind can see subject even more in it’s details”.

= Because, the mind is not stack in a small part of the subject or fixed view, but

it is seeing the subject in any point and from any angle.

= this is the very Clear Eyes to see the Truth.

And the way to gain the Enlightenment.

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Unanswered Questions 無記

Without doubt, the biggest problem in Buddhism is that against some questions why

Lord Buddha didn’t give an answer.  

This is an issue known as “10 (or 14) Unanswered questions” which was known in Japan and China [無記] = Muki or Wu-ji. —– With seeing all those questions, it is obvious, no answer was given to the matter of [Infinite] [Eternal] kind, the time and the space of the Universe, and the matter related to [I] or [Self].

—- obviously, like us, a small mortals fussing about the infinite eternal Universe kind of imaginary matter IS utterly waste of the time.    (Especially when Einstein was not born yet. 😀 )

And the matter of I or Self is not existing = Who can give an answer for “Non-existent phantom” = this was the very fundamental stance of what

Lord Buddha taught, strangely you may think, it was not elucidated in the scripture. —– Why ? Because, such matter was not existing = how to elucidate the Self which is not exists. —– After all, there was no teachings of abstract nor imaginary idea = its mean there was no “Spiritual kind of concept” in the Buddhism.

[]In fact, this is the question even bigger than the “Unanswered Question”.

Lord Buddha denying the existence of the Self / Atman was his fundamental stance therefore, the “matter of the existence of the Self” itself was not existed = because,his own Self was not there. = When he couldn’t see his own Self, in his own mind, how he could guess other’s mind and analyze “so-called Self”. 

(It may sound complicated though, IT’S simple — for instance, you may suffer from Alien fever symptom from the space though, actually no such illness ever existed = it was your imagination.   In such situation, what is the point to discuss the matter — only the remedy is you to open the eyes and become aware that no such fever exist and symptom was own delusion !)

Lord Buddha’s teaching of No-Self couldn’t have even an explanation because the word to deny the Self is, “in effect” recognize the existence of the Self.  It sound strange though, this teachings of Selflessness was not necessary understood even by his closest attendance, Ananda (he was a cousin of Lord Buddha) as he kept asking why not answer.)

When ever a kind of explanation of No-Self appeared in the scripture, it was a kind of metaphor, such as to explain what is Real Giving = “Giving without having a conscious of “I’m giving” is the Real Giving”.    Or even worse, “Giving as not Giving” — You can not understand this by reading or by thinking —- but only by DOING.

(I’m sure, if you DO the giving million times, you will become an expert of giving to hand-out the money to a needy, food for a hungry, a rope for a man to hung without need to think ! ) Like the teachings through Tea-making — after 10, 20 years of practice, when the person fully mastered and able to make a perfect Tea, even with the eyes closed, it’s mean all the procedure has been completely programmed into own subconscious and the motor-region of the brain, therefore all the process of Tea-making could be done without the Self or any thinking (= it has all been done in Mushin) — still, it doesn’t necessary the person did (intellectually) understood the Selflessness.  ( —– Ideally, the person can make a Tea without having any notion of Zen or Buddhism even Tea-making is the best, and it IS closest to be an Ichijo.)

It would be much clearer to see it in the case how to ride a Bicycle = there is no theory or explanation or understanding is necessary, but by actually master it by the body you can ride it. —– Then, when you ride it, you can do it without a conscious of that you ARE riding the bicycle = “You ARE riding it without your SELF” and more importantly, this selfless condition / situation IS NOT an imaginary / spiritual matter. = IT IS A HARD EXISTENCE. = And to become aware or grasp this condition as it IS (without the literal interpretation = without thinking) IS what all about the the teachings of Lord Buddha.  = Just to be riding, as to be Ichijo in riding, even without having the awareness of riding, of course, without the conscious of “Me riding this” = IS the situation becoming a part of the Dharma, or the Dharma itself. (= when you became able to glasp this Dharma, it is your Clear Eyes = So as the Dharma IS not an abstract idea neither imaginary existence = this HARD FACT is the Enlightenment though, in reality, what you ARE seeing IS the same existence and the same fact = this world (nothing new neither special) = hence, it’s a Dog Shit.

And this tradition = learn from the practice, only kept Zen Buddhism as Buddhism of No-Self —– not by the scripture which doesn’t contain the explanation of  [Selflessness]  anyway. —– Think, Selflessness IS NOT a spiritual matter at all.  It IS a fact “you can do it without your own conscious” and its physical, neuro-phisiological mechanism IS the Selflessness.

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Ghost — Buddha’s Psychological Profile

Can you describe the details of a Ghost ? — how it looks etc, etc. — CAN YOU ?

Imagine, it was a kind of public gathering and somebody started to talk about seeing

a ghost and some others responded and told their own experience or hear-say but

 most of the others didn’t say anything, other than murmuring their doubt.

—– I think this is the general situation and it wasn’t so different in 2,500 years ago

in India, even if more superstitious people was there, still, only very few could say

actually seen it. 

[]

Lord Buddha’s time, when out of Sanskrit / Vedic belief, a new religion, later known

to be the Hinduism was emerging.   Over the Sanskrit belief of perpetually remaining

soul, Hinduism put an emphasis on the reincarnation of each soul which reflect the

previous life = hence, the life in this world is the result of previous life, in other words,

every life was fixed which makes a person’s Cast.

—– This idea horrified the people then = the endless cycle of reincarnation traps the

person, if not make the worst to reborn to be a beast.

To against this idea of endless suffering of reincarnation, (called Samsara)

Lord Buddha was the one offering the rescue, saying “Don’t worry, no such things

like endless reincarnation, because the one supposed to be reincarnated = the Self or

so-called Atman is not existing, therefore when your body dies, it is the total end =

Nirvana” and offering the refuge where there is no notion of Cast or previous life.

[]

Lord Buddha’s this understanding came from the observation of the Karma and

the Dharma.    Everything depend and rely on others in every moment.

Without this inter-dependency, nothing could exists, so as our body and the mind.

It’s mean, when the body goes, the mind which has been imagining the self, also goes.

The self is mere illusion and the cause of all the troubles.     As it was clearly stated 

in the Four Noble Truth, the Life IS nothing but the suffering. —– In this respect,

Lord Buddha gave no illusion.   Very realistic and blunt.   To observe and give an

insight to the relation between the phenomena of the Karma, eyes and the brain has

to be as clear as a crystal or like a critical scientist.  

No illusion, not mention a delusion was in the mind of

Lord Buddha, it’s mean, there was no notion of Ghost existed.  = As such notion

was not exists in the first place, no such image, let alone the word exist there.

No ghost exist, and its source, the Self itself neither exist.   Therefore, not only the notion

of Self, but the attitude to recognize or mind it shouldn’t be there.    Hence, in this respect,

Lord Buddha was very strict, even harsh.   When somebody who couldn’t understand

the imprecation of No Self, made a question “What happens after the person’s death ?”

its question was completely ignored. —– (There was a description in the Agama Sutra

“Completely stop speaking is same as to kill the person” )

[]

To understand this post, please read “Test of Selflessness” as well.

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Wash Grapes

Grape is one of the most ancient fruits recorded in the human history 

though, as it is the cousin of Ivy,  I guess,  in the ancient time its

fruits must be as small as Ivy’s berry.   (about 1/4″ — 6 mm big ?)

Any how, the matter here is not a big (or small) issue at all = the way to serve.

—– In my bad boy’s habit,  there is nothing but a pleasure to steal a fruits.

(Fortunately or unfortunately I didn’t grown up to acquire the pleasure to

steal a woman.   😀  —– before read such menu available

I’ve become a monk (?)  —– how shame,  what a boring life isn’t it ! )

[]

To pick  and eat a fruit in the (Somebody else’s) garden, I wouldn’t be bothered

to wash it while presuming that the dirt has been washed away by the rain, and

no human hand ever touched it anyway. 

Though, when I bought it from a shop, I suspect it has been handled rather

dusty condition hence they are not clean. —– So, how to wash it ?

Long before,  I was washing the bunch of grapes under a jet of water then later

changed to wash each individual fruits —– I mean one by one,  since when

I noticed some time, some of them were covered with quite stubborn film of dirt.

( Remember, we eat grapes with its skin !  —– Japanese grapes can be skinned !  )

And these days,  I separate each fruit from a bunch and wash them in a plastic

bawl under the running water while make them well rubbing each other.

[]

Considering the amount of dust we are inhaling and eating, which may consists

sand or dried soil, even dried dog shit etc etc, without  knowing,  some dirt on

the occasional grapes wouldn’t make any concern.  —– So,  is this a matter of

principal or most likely the personality ? —– A kind of contemplation such as

“Resisting the dirt would be useless” may have an effect still,  the sense of 

cleanliness came from one’s up-bringing, and IS the one’s second nature.

[]

So, as a practice, how about the point of  so-called “Mindfulness” or “Middle way”

= how can we be “single-minded” and in the same time “be tolerant”.

(Is it a funny question ? )

If you think this is a funny question,  your understanding of Buddhism was wrong.

Wrong in the “Thinking” of  both  “Mindfulness” and the ” Middle way”.

[]

We don’t need to think about how to wash or how to eat grapes.   We should just Do.

= Wash or not wash what so ever you Do, IS a reflection of WHO YOU ARE.   As you

are born to be under the own Karma,  to follow it,  is the most natural way to live.  

And to be natural, need no thinking = just to be the own.  

No thinking or no conscious mean no Self is there.  And no Self,  no conscious mean

no intentional thinking NOR being not natural,  hence no over doing = Middle way.  

Without the Self, still able to do what necessary to Do, IS the Mindful way.

In fact, all the teachings of Buddhism are [ To be done without conscious ].

= Live without a conscious of Self IS Selfless.  Do without thinking IS Mushin.

When you Do the thing, there are no other things in the mind IS Mindfulness.

And when you Do,  no intentional thinking is there, therefore

Do only naturally you need to Do,  IS  Middle way.

If you are Doing something special to be a Buddhist,  IS not Buddhism.

[ Buddhism is Do nothing special, Think nothing as Thinking.

This IS why, Buddhism mean the VOID.  —– And this was what

Lord Buddha taught though, it was not fully understood by even

the author of scripture. ]

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Why “Don’t Think” ? ? ?

 When you are walking, you never thought about how to move your foot.

Same as to read this blog.  You are using your brain and thinking “What a hell

this guy is talking about” still, it is about the meaning of “What was written”

but not about the action, [Reading] itself. = Your eyes automatically scan the

line and pick the pattern of Alphabet —– and in most of the case, you don’t need

to even think what I wrote here = as no sophisticated literacy or academic

knowledges were needed to read this.

So that, to read this, you don’t need to “Consciously” think anything.

Almost automatically your eyes gliding over the line.   (While unconsciously

feeling “nothing special = ignore this” 🙂 )

[]

Yet still, when the matter came to the famous theory of [Nut Macadam]

suddenly your brain awake and try to sort out “What this Nut Macadam is”

because you don’t know what this is, and you don’t want branded to be an

Ignorant = since this could be important and missing this might be

disadvantageous. = (Your Greed and Ego was alerted !)

So that, suddenly your thinking started to be in full swing. (Though,

no such Nut Macadam has a value more than a Peanut, this

thinking process would find nothing.)

[]

Like this experiment, you may become aware a fact that the thinking is

associated with the own ego and greed. In other words, your own “Self”.

“The Self” is so eager to defend the own interest and try to gain something

though, see the situation.    On the end what you gain ? = And in any way

you will loose all you have gained and die soon or later.

(So, Don’t think is in fact same as “To be Selfless”)

Or is it a game to make a life more fun ?

(Make a life more fun = this is in fact the way of the Mahayana, instead to

live sombre life with so-called “Contemplation”. 🙂 )

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Self-sacrifice — is it same to Selfless ? ? ?

Time to time, a search-term “Self-sacrifice” came to here. = It seems, the Self

is the main issue of Buddhism, Self-sacrifice and Self-denial is always taking

quite an attention.    And in deed I myself talked about this in the past.

= I wrote that to reach Zen or Buddhism understanding, it is necessary to

have a self-denial or a self-sacrifice in a certain stage of

the pathway to see who the own Self is.

Though, the Aim of Buddhism is not “Wrestling with the SELF”= try to

eliminate and struggle.   But Being Buddhist is simply being selfless,

since the Self is not exists in the first place.

[]

—– You might be confused. This is the same situation like a “Disease”

= say XYZ syndrome. People may talk about what that syndrome is,

how to treat or eradicate it.   Though the teaching of

Lord Buddha didn’t mention the existence of such disease.  Such disease exists

only in one’s mind = NOT exist mean no point to know about alleged symptom,

let alone how to deny or eradicate it. = In other words, to think Self-denial or

Self-sacrifice as if it was the essence of Buddhism is, utterly a misunderstanding

= Here is a man trying to find and use a fire-extinguisher —– shame, there

wasn’t a fire, he only thought it was.

Don’t mix-up “to know, Fire is not exists” with extinguish a Fire.

Deny the Self is not close or same to the Selfless. Deny mean, the Self has been

 defined  and confirmed of its existence !  = Wrong direction to start.

[]

In our daily life, fundamentally there isn’t a conscious of Self,

hence things were done Selflessly.

So that, while reading this blog, have you been aware that your eyes are tracing 

the line, not mention that YOU ARE reading this.   YOU are in deed, doing all those

unconsciously. = Since you were alerted, now you became conscious of YOU.

Otherwise you didn’t need to become conscious of yourself to read this — in fact to

do anything or to live.   Ironically, human got over-sized brain and so-called Mind,

even worse got Selfish Ego and Greed kind.   When ever you were alerted and

became conscious about your “right” or “gain or loss” this kind of “Mind” often gave

us the interruption — “Hey, it’s a chance” or “Don’t loose” kind.   🙂

Lord Buddha found that this “Imaginary products” is the cause of all the troubles

even though, we can have a life without it.    And found that the idea of SELF, the

generator of all those Mind is the root cause, despite it is nothing but an illusion.

So, he taught to have “Clear eyes and the Mind” to distinguish the illusion or delusion

and the Truth. —– Yet still, we poor human tend to cling own Self and accompanying

sense of Self-loving Emotion, so that, when we do something for ourselves, we can not

handle it in the detached clear eyes and the mind.   The emotion which bound

the integration of Self is always there.

[]

In contrast, when we needed to do something for somebody else, not all of us are

very keen = We just do it as an extra task = often with quite detached mind, no

pleasure, even no Self conviction there.

(Let the hands do the work. The mind is somewhere else. 🙂 )

You can see that to do something for others, we do it detached, Selfless manner.

When you do, you do it dispassionate as it was seen objectively in quite rational

manner. = Because, it belong to the others, there is no attachment, still has to do

the job, job would be handled dispassionately as a given task. —– this situation

can be seen as the Self-sacrifice. And the dispassionate detached mind was

mixed-up with the selflessness.

= This was how and why the misinterpretation has occurred.

—– Self-denial or Self-sacrifice is not an idea of Buddhism.   Still, if there was a

situation to DO, real Buddhist would just DO without any question, since

there was no Self, therefore no wrangling Mind but the Karma put him to DO.

Though, by the eyes of others, it could be seen as if it was a self-sacrifice because

of it was not his own needs, and it was interpreted that he was forced to obey the

situation while denying his own will, himself.

[]

But, to see “Do something to others” only in the view of Self-denial or Self-sacrifice

is in deed the most Un-Buddhist like view.

It is nothing but an Egotistic, stingy, small “mind”.  —– Do something could be

a good exercise, do somebody’s work could be new experience — etc etc.

Don’t waste the time clinging with useless mind.      Just DO.

___/\___

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Mind-set of the Medallist

Now the news from Sochi Winter Olympic is the regular feature in the media.

So, naturally I read quite number of the words from the Medallists “How he

(or she) came to this point”. Such as the one from the first Gold Medallist

of Japan, Yuzuru Hanyu (羽生結弦) the Figure Skater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoqHZH6KE1c

—– (Unfortunately I couldn’t find a proper video from Sochi in Youtube =

most of them are either old clips or the clip only using his name with

crap contents. = this one from last year’s competition.)

Yuzuru grown up in Sendai, Japan the place received that earthquake and

tsunami few years ago. So, even he had a part of the same fate, couldn’t

practice for 6 months, as a local ice-rink was destroyed, on top of all sorts

of life’s ups and downs. —– still, in his word on an interview, he said

“On the end I came to the point to realize that I couldn’t be anybody

more than myself or anybody less than myself, and understood, there

couldn’t be anything else but to go the life to be a skater.”

= No pretence of special pride carrying the top name or the feeling carrying

the duty to the country.   (Yet still, when he won, he carried Japanese Flag

on his shoulder. = He was thank-full to the people who supported him

back in Japan. —– He was a nice 19 years old boy !)

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This is in fact quite common feeling among the athletes who became

top medallist. = Non boasted the words like “I came to the Olympic to win

for my country”—– but “Just did my best and it happened to be an Olympic”.

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It is a common misconception = “To achieve such highest goal, it must need

to have highest concentration of the Will and the strong Mindset”.

—– strangely you might think, the stronger the will or higher the aim or

desire kind, it fails to achieve the goal. —– We human was not designed to

withstand to maintain such hard will, and our fate is not providing plain

sailing. = The higher the aim, the stronger the disappointment when the ship

hit an obstacle, then the person brake down.

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Athletes compete physical game though, it is in fact a very heavy mental game.

Minute fear or negative doubt would hinder the moment of judgement.

After thousands, tens of thousands of practices, the body got accustomed to

perform routine = let the body to perform.  = No “Will, Aim, Pride, Pretence,

Desire, Show-off, Sense of Obligation, Duty, Fear, Doubt, Arrogance or Shame”

= in other words ANY MIND was not required here.  = Just Do it.

Any how, in the moment when the athlete is competing, there couldn’t be

a margin to haggle any thought.

—– ? ? ? —– Don’t you think it’s sound familiar ?

Yes. This is exactly the same mental state to Mushin and Ichijo of the Zen.

Or, the Selflessness of the Buddhism. —– are they Buddhist ?  Not necessary.

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Lord Buddha’s teachings = Buddhism, was the wisdom learned from the

human nature, and been applied to the general aspects of the life.

Wisdom in the human nature which was prevailed in the process of extreme

practice was in fact the wisdom held by the universe = Rules of the Universe,

which is in the Buddhist’s term Dharma.

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And the contemplation those athletes has gained, is nothing but

their Enlightenment = Being nobody else of the Self, who is in fact Selfless.

= This selflessness is in deed, the Dharma.

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