ZEN Practice ?

Following the discovery of my old climbing boots, I found something amazing (to you)

out of packed up boxes I’ve stashed, may be 25 years ago.  🙂

Some of  readers, even a keen Zen practitioner may be horrified to see this 😀

Then, some might ask, What this to do with Zen.   Or, to be a Zennist, does it necessary to do it

in this extent ? —– There is no rules or requirement.   All up to the person. —– Some might

be taking easy to sitting or could be walking, even cutting a lemon.   Why not stitching.  🙂

But, I didn’t do this thinking of Zen.  (It was long before I even become aware of

the meaning and the effects of repeating practice in the Buddhism) = I just did it

as I got too much time in a winter mountain shelter or in a tent while imprisoned by the snow

blizzard.   What else to do then ?   (Other than this, I curved fire log into such as a spoon.)  

Still, it was only me doing like this and I never seen anybody else

did the same, then and ever since.

(And many years later, I realized that it WAS effectively a Zen practice.)

[] []

Mountain woolly socks couldn’t last for ever, of cause.   Soon or later, thread would be getting

thinner and break.  But if we threading it with another woolen thread to reinforce

the part, it extend the life = pretty obvious = So, I did. 😀

(The socks photographed here had been worn, I think more than 8 years or more while using

it about 100 days a year.   The heel part seemed to have ^3rd ~ 4^th generation of the

thread, and 40 years later, it is still usable !)

—– If you don’t know how to do the same, just look at how knitted thread runs.

Then just follow the existing thread, go through the loop alongside.  And keep doing it to cover

all the part necessary to reinforce.  (Use the thread partly doubled to make it even stronger.)

(My mother was very good making Kimono (of cause by hand stitching) hence by watching

her to do the work, I learned some sewing technique though, when my mother and sister saw

my re-threaded socks,  it frightened them = so, it was not a common practice, and out of

imagination even to the Zen monk’s family.  🙂 )

[]

If this is a practice for Zen, provably this is the most humble yet easy to do

practice you ever heard of,  still not such a labour than to sweep the street.

And on top of it,  it would save some expense on your pocket too.

= You must be very grateful.  So, have a try, when you are not too busy. 😀

[]

The kernel of the Buddhism is to do and to live unconditionally.

(So, if there is a thinning hole appeared on a heel of socks,  just mend it.

= simple and straight.  No need to think at all.  🙂 )

Therefore, Buddhism is not to search or ask something but just live.

Anyway there isn’t any answer. —– Hence,

Lord Buddha ignored the question, on this reason.

Since living and doing unconditionally in the first place, there couldn’t be

any hindrance or doubt.  (Doubt was CREATED in the mind)

Hence, even going through the sufferings, it will be passing away without

causing any mind to buckle, even without taking notice.  Therefore, even

when the death is arriving, there couldn’t be any stir in the mind. 

This is the Nirvana.  And this is what

Lord Buddha has taught.

___/\___

[]

Enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree

Lord Buddha’s enlightenment was in its effect, the emancipation from the

wrong teachings he had.

Wrong though, the effects of those teachings has been over sighted —–

without them, there was no enlightenment = that is what emancipation mean

= because it WAS wrong, there was a discovery  and the revelation of the truth

was made, and it was the very enlightenment.

Heavy practices as an austere — or what ever, of which once he believed that it would lead

him to the enlightenment, hence, he practiced it again and again —– those mind-set and

long continuous practice and its effects has to be counted as a part of the pathway.

= In other words, meditation alone has little effect. Practice and the dairy

experiences (and its observation) play the more role to see the Dharma.

[]

Visiting the very tree where Lord Buddha has said to have reached to his enlightenment, and

try sitting under, while hoping any good effects could occur, is in fact a silly wishful thinking =

Lord Buddha himself prohibited to worship him like an idle, because of his teachings were to

see the Dharma not to believe his words, and as there is no mambo-jumbo exist in this world,

there couldn’t be any super natural effect from the tree (let alone, any possibility of that the

same tree could remain 2500 years :-))   Mimicking the surface and expecting to

have any benefit is no different from buying a costume of  Superman and

expecting become able to fly. —– As there is no magic in the Buddhism,

mimic the posture of sitting under the Bodhi-tree, and get enlightened like

Lord Buddha had, is an illusion.  (If it comes, on front of a Bonsai tree would be fanciful, or

sitting next to an empty pot is even better, as it is more economical.  Ha ha ha  😀 )

[]

What Lord Buddha did under the Bodhi-tree was a stock-taking of the past,

the experiences he learned from so-called Guru and what he observed in

the nature (or the Dharma) —– hence he came to the conclusion that there couldn’t

be any supernatural power which was often associated with a religion exists,  but

very rational mechanism of the Dharma as the Rules.    So, he returned to

the daily nature of  the mankind which is a manifestation of the Dharma =

hence, he ate the milk porridge offered by a woman of the village.

—– And that was his enlightenment. 

( This understanding opened the way to the Mahayana Buddhism later.)

[]

It is easy to guess, those so-called Guru whom

Lord Buddha has met were no different from today’s dubious Guru, talking big with

conjuring trick to show off a [supernatural] power. 😀

( Incidentally, the former USSR, Russia spent millions of Rubles to find usable supernatural

power such as Clairvoyance to spy and Psycho-kinetic power to cause havoc to the enemy etc.

without any success = even a Totalitarian super power couldn’t find any.

And the former Yugoslavia has had thousand of registered Supernatural-power practitioners

though, there has been no single report of such as coming bomb had ever successfully

deflected even in a life or death situation) 

(Spiritualism is not the same to believe Para-physics or Mambo-jumbo  😀 )

[]

Since having his scientific rationalism,

Lord Buddha has come to a conclusion that there couldn’t be any super natural

phenomena such as a perpetual soul (against the widely accepted Vedic

belief of Atman) and anything beyond of our rational comprehension is

[Unknowable and no use to know] (therefore, he ignored the question).

And with this rationalism, which should be comprehensible to any person, he

ordered to his disciples to think by themselves not blindly believe what was said

or taught. It means his teachings were comprehensible to a normal brain i.e. not

a kind of Religious dogma, such as ” if you believe, it exists”  kind of Metaphysics.

(Unlike other religion, rational nature of the Dharma is a comprehensible fact,

therefore it is not a matter of belief but just become aware and to see it —– this

was a reason why he was given a title [ BUDDHA = Enlightened one] not a

Divine status or to be seen as a Prophet )

[]

The stories of the Devils visited him etc. while he was sitting under the tree, were all later

invention to glorify him. —– only certain was that, he must be very hungry then, by which he

must be convinced that to torture the body lead nowhere, let alone to the enlightenment, still,

without having those stock takings, he couldn’t have figured out  the Truth in

the Dharma and the Karma.

[]

—– It is strange to think, as a fact that the time

Lord Buddha spent under the tree, seven days has changed the world since.

And we have to be grateful to him as the greatest teacher we had in the history,

not as an idle,  but as the greatest fellow human.

Being as a human, he knew what the problem we have, and the solution !

So that, he gave the answer, not the commandments.

___/\___

PS:

As the Dharma is a fact on front of us, even within us = so easy to see.  But so

difficult to see it because of our deluded mind, hence all about the teachings of

Lord Buddha was how to clear our mind and the eyes to see it.

[]

Folded Bag

I got notoriously bad (or very good = depend on how you see it) habit to picking-up something

interesting on the street or from a rubbish-dump.   It could be a discarded electric device or a

part of machine of which I’ve been looking for years, or something useful in my future projects.

(Sculpture featured in this blog, [Buddha 2009] was made by the discarded aluminum pipes,

kinetic piece [Cupidon] in my Youtube (kinetorori) is powered by a motor from a cooling-fan

I found road side and the motors rotating [Virtual Woman] came from Micro-wave Cooker, not

to mention a nude figure [Suppon-pon]  😀  😀

Virtually everything, but few exceptions were such as Chinese Toys I bought for £1  :-))

In order to carry it back, I always have some spare bag stashed in my pocket or

in my back-pack. —– may be three bags in the back-pack, one or two in my jacket’s pocket.

It’s the same idea to a motto of the Boy Scout “ Be Prepared” 😀

[]

To stash a plastic bag, they got to be neatly folded like the one in the photo.

In one occasion, when we Japanese friends went to a park and try sitting there, we noticed that

the ground was a bit wet.   So I handed my bags to those friends to sit on it.

Among those friends there were young women and one of them screamed

“Oh dear, it’s folded”.

[]

—– Now-a-day, statistics showed that about 20% of male population in Japan chooses not to

marry. —– Everything become very easy to carry-out the daily life without having a wife.

Just heat-up a pack of pre-cooked meal using a microwave-cooker in a Convenient-store.

—– Even a convenient Sex is available everywhere whether it was paid or not.

Those kind of conveniences may be more expensive though, on the end, the total cost would

be less than to have a wife, not mention able to avoid the troubles comes with marriage, hence

in average, the number of kids is less than two = reducing the population further.  (Of cause,

the life is not just a matter of cost. —– but this is the situation there.   Which caused the

other is a point of argument though, I don’t think Packed food was the cause of single man  :-D)

= in obvious consequence, the counter-part, women had to face this situation.

—– So that, there are lots of Magazine articles, Net advices, how to find a man to get marry

and what point to look at. = Good sign and the sign of the man, better avoid.

—– A kind of Psychological profile said, better not to chose a man who fuss about principles,

tidiness, cleanness etc. = “He would make your life in Hell while complaining your laziness”.

—– So that, a young woman cried (implying, I can’t take care of this sort) 😀

(So does, some can fold an umbrella neatly but others not, saying “Anyway it has to be open on

the next rain, why bother” = If this is the rhetoric, we don’t need to bother the life

or happiness because anyhow we will die soon or later. = it’s a choice)

[]

To folding a bag may not takes more than a minute and not much skill is needed

though, it need to have a certain mind-set. 

It’s a mind-set aiming it better or ultimately a perfection.

[]

A bag photographed here came from a Chinese Food-shop when I bought a bag of rice, may

be 6 months ago.   It’s mean this bag has been used to carry a shopping repeatedly 6 months

(and folded again.)   And it is an essential item needed to do a shopping such as in the Lidl who

doesn’t give a free bag. —– Financially, I may not be much rewarded to have own bag

though, the matter is not to save a couple of pounds in total but, I don’t like to carry their bag

which is showing too conspicuous logo 😀   Anyhow, we are getting too many bags on shopping

such as when we buy loose vegetables etc.   Too much already, and the situation is bad enough.

[]

To fold a bag is a way of  Zen.   Whether it has any merit or not, leave a bag in a

messy state is messy. Why not to make it a bit tidy.

Why spend a minutes ? —– if not, could we ever utilize that minute for

anything more productive in the life ? —– I quite doubt it.

A person, even wouldn’t bother to fold a bag couldn’t pay enough attention to the life.

(But, don’t ask me, “By folding the bag, why I didn’t become a millionaire or Prim-minister ?”

= it’s a matter of another mind-set.  Aiming to become millionaire need to take care of million

more factors, not just for one bag.   Folding a bag is only a start.  😀 )

[]

Zen only deals with its moment. = When see an empty bag => Do something = the best

is to fold and put it in a pocket. — When a moment which need to use a bag comes, just use it.

But not to walk on a street expecting to find something to pick-up.  When it comes, it has come.

—– though, no fixed obligation to pick it up. 

(But if you interested in, pick up at once = When you go back next day,  it’s gone already   🙂 )

= Zen decision has to be made on its each moment. (On its moment, the existence of

spare-bag was known to subconscious, hence to conceive [pick it up] was a viable choice. 

And why you were interested in was, because your subconscious knew that you need it.

= no need to dither like “I want to pick it up, but how to carry this back or not to pick up ?”

= ( having a bag increased the flexibility of this decision making  😀 )

[]

After awhile, the accumulated “Folded bags” became bag-full, and got to go for recycle =

recycling people might think “What a waste of the time. Why this guy didn’t just put them

straight to the bag ? Otherwise, he could have used the time more productively” 😀

—– It comes down to a mind-set of the Life. = To live tidy life is a life, still

live in a mess is also a life. = We can chose as we like. The matter is,

to know, which ever we chose, the consequence do comes accordingly.

(The troubled consequence of my habit is, the junk I’ve picked-up became a mountain =

“one day I’ll create something out of this junk” might be a wish-full thinking or

delusion = a curse to live as a kinetic sculptor.   Ha ha ha 😀 )

___/\___

[]

YOU or Potato ?

Have you ever seen a bean or maze seed dropped to the garden, sprout.

Or did you ever planted vegetable such as potato, even a carrot in a soil and see them

shoot up. — Yes they are alive in deed.   Still, we do fly, boiled alive and eat them.

Don’t make an excuse, they don’t have a sense, intelligence or feel pain = who knows.

(Have you ever been a Potato to make a first-hand report of being cooked alive. 😀 )

[]

We are all living on a margin of thin blue line of compromise and

dependency.  We are just be here on borrowed time on probation.

So, don’t preach others with smug face, for conservation or environment what so ever.

= (Before preach, get rid of your cotton pants which was made by forcibly cultivated,

harvested and processed cotton flower,  and stop eating vegetable which was grown for

money in a field where tree has been uprooted. )  = Guilty party keeps mouth shat  😀

In other words, there couldn’t be any quiet peaceful life = life is inherently noisy and

filled with all sorts of bothersome trouble.  That’s what the life in Samsara is.

[]

Zen wouldn’t make you noble.

Zen teach you how to cut onion, potato (not mention Lemon :-)) efficiently without any

hesitation or wobble.  (So does to do the business.  Make you Just Do It.  🙂 )

And the Buddhism teachs you who you are = no different from a potato, yet still very

unique one.   (I didn’t say you ARE Potato if not very close — a man of half potato must

be genetically very very unique = I never seen one though.  :-D)

Therefore, Buddhism makes you absolutely humble and absolutely confident to be YOU.

(as one of guilty party which is natural.)  No one is perfect or innocent = What’s wrong?

Wrong is, to imagine you are right, while wearing cotton pants and live in this world

still believing that you are right,  is only in your imagination which is called delusion. 

—– By the way, I didn’t say if it was a sheen nylon French-nicker, it would be OK,

though I don’t mind to see one.  (As I’m one of the guilty)    Ha ha ha  😀

(To live in Samsara is heavy enough, yet still, how heavy unnecessary load called Pretense we are carrying.

Still, some people preaching, wearing a mask of Pretense is they called Decency, and keep Pretending it  😀 ))

Let all those heavy load to go, is what Buddhists call  [Enlightenment] !

(Its mean, if you are a Potato, DO live a life of proud POTATO

IS the Enlightenment ! ! !

= Even a Potato can get Enlightenment,

why not an ordinary man on the street.

___/\___

[]

Hut Albireo in YASHIGA-MINE

Gosh, I found the Web-site and a photo of the Hut Albireo （八子ヶ峰ヒュッテ，アルビレオ）

(When I searched in English before, I couldn’t find —– I got Japanese typing program only few years ago )

Hut Albireo (its name from a star in the Cygnus )  was a sister Hut of a mountain shelter Takami-ishi Goya (高見石小屋) in Kita-Yatsu-ga-take（北八ヶ岳）, in japan.

—– (Until now I didn’t reveal the name of the mountain shelter I talked, because of my stories often goes too far, I thought, unless the people can verify it with the first-hand independent source, I didn’t like to do name-dropping).

[]Both Takami-ishi Goya and Hut Albireo were originally built by Mr. Satta but later they were taken over by the another hotel, Honzawa-Onsen.  And the Hut Albireo was bought by one of keeper, Mr.Kaji who was the chief volunteer of us.  In fact it was in a financial mess  we keepers were involved in a nightmare as Mr.Satta lost a lots of money in betting.   (Not very mountain like peaceful stories  🙂 )

( So, I learned a man’s life’s up and down entwined with a silly money affair, rather early stages of my life, fortunately or unfortunately. —– Since I hate money and gamble  :-D)

[] To build the Hut Albireo, we keepers were also worked hard from digging the ground works, to carry-up the building materials  (all worked for free though  😀 )  —– coming to the age of stock takings of the life, and looking back to those life I spent in the mountain (from 15 years to 27 years), I convinced that it formed my base of  Zen Buddhism.

In fact, I’ve learned the Buddhism in hardest way in the harshest condition   😀 After all, the matter is just do the work regardless even if it is for others. =  No Ego required.  So, I’m very grateful I did it.  Ha ha ha  😀  —– (Such as a work in a building site in Okinawa while I was a drifter, the work in 30 m high was not too high for a rock climber, and the work was paid ! = In comparison to the unpaid work, such as carrying  the 50 kg of fire log 20 times everyday (its mean one ton everyday and continued one week ) any other work is easier =  who complains =only thankful to be alive = this must be the best lesson and the contemplation for one’s life.  Ha ha ha  😀 )

[] So that, to find the Hut Albireo is still there, and the same owner Mr.Kaji is still alive, was the greatest news to me.  (He was the keeper who carried 15 ton of log together every year. — the question is whether he became a Zen Buddhist or not  ? ) = I need to phone him ! —– Since then, what I found through phone was a bit spooky story that the volunteers, worked together with us (me and Mr.Kaji) around the same time, me and Mr.Kaji are the only surviving member now = rest of 5 were all dead.  What ? ? ? —– (I don’t miss them. Any how they didn’t work for cutting log, or carrying up the food staff = all the heavy work. — They did just disappeared.  😀 )

( Incidentally, when I had my wedding, the Ceremony was conducted in the Shinto Shirline  Suwa-taisha (諏訪大社) and we had wedding party in this very Hut = it was my biggest folly of my whole life.   😀 ) 

［］

Foreign Notion

 —————-          — Tsurugi-dake 剱岳（富山県) (2999 m high)in Winter.

Among the old members of our Alpine Club, since one of member lost 4 of her friends in

avalanche in the Tsurugi mountain —– some Email conversation has been taking place.

In there, famous words of George Mallory = “Why you go to mountain ?”

“ Because it’s there” quoted again.

Though, the nuance in Japanese is slightly different. = It has been treated somewhat

special philosophical words   🙂

[]

—– If there is a field near house, kids or whoever walk into the field. If a river running,

kids or adults alike may jump into and have a fun, swim or even fishing.

—– Is it anything special ? = Mallory meant exactly the same. He meant,

it is nothing special even goes to mountain is just another activity of the

daily life = why not   🙂

But, when it was translated into Japanese “何故なら,山がそこに在るからだ/ Naze-nara,

Yama ga soko-ni arukara da” it started to have (or misunderstood) something special.

(One of the reason was, as the translator configured the words in formal “Translation style”

and no Japanese says like it in a casual conversation = more likely they say

“Datte, soko-ni aru ja nai ?” or “Soko-ni arukara sa”

—– from its style and a heavy connotation (because, Mallory was a famous man = not

a man on the street) the people took “It should have something heavy extra meaning” 😀

[]

When I read the English translation of [Heart Mantra] in the first time, it

literally astonished me how it was simple and plain.

No ghost, no mambo-jumbo left there at all. —– In certain extent,

Buddhism seemed to have lost its mythical connotation to me.

Japanese read Buddhist’s mantras in Chinese written form (with a lots of unfamiliar

complicated characters :-)) therefore the word itself sound literally foreign, not

mention the vagueness of its meanings => giving very mythical connotation.

[]

The situation is the same in most of the foreign cultures, even in a cooking.

= Western people complains, when Japanese boils pasta, it was over boiled to too soft.

In the same time, eastern people complains “Why westerner cook noodle so soft and

make it soggy” —– as they didn’t know what it should be in the original form, they

tend to think “If it was still raw, it must be awful, so that it is safer to cook longer”

and end-up eating quite unlikely food   😀 

Mimic the action is easy though, to know where to stop the action needs

to be grown-up in its culture. 

(I’ve learned this while clapping the hand in the Flamenco-dance Music  😀 )

[]

On the time of Lord Buddha, I don’t think the most of his followers were literate. And

Lord Buddha didn’t teach them in sophisticated Sanskrit but in colloquial Pari.

And, I don’t think it was a complicated philosophical or mythical thought but more likely

plain wisdom in the daily life. —– it’s mean, when the teachings were written down

after 200 years lapse, it is easy to guess, the teachings were much more formalized and

glorified by the person who were well educated (hence familiar with Sanskrit = Vedic

notions) while following the Sanskrit literature and its notions as a model.

This must be the reason why even in the earliest scriptures still having many

contradictory descriptions especially in the point,

Lord Buddha has denied the existence of the perpetual soul (Atman in Vedic belief) why

the past or future life exists = Mix-up with Brahmanism (Hindu) occurred in very early stage.

[]

It happens even within the same culture, it would be inevitable between foreign culture.

To drink a tea with different mix of formula, such as in India, garlic in a tea believed to be

good to cure the cold.   Chinese treat the tea as a herbal drink, though to make it as a level

of Ceremony seems to be an over-boiled pasta 😀

So, I wouldn’t go to the idea if Mallory believed that the mountain has

a holy spirit.—– “It’s just there” 

(The reason why the Buddhists treat the Dharma mythical is because

the most of it is unknowable and invisible to our humble eyes.)

___/\___

[]

Being Natural or Be Artful Perfection — Which is Zen ?

—— Left Mug is the one I’m using now.  Right is the one I brought from Japan 33 years ago

and served me till 1992 and since it got hole on the bottom, it became a pen stand  🙂

Once, my tea drinking was a kind of Art = as I’ve been drinking 1.5 ~ 2 liters

(3 ~ 4 pints) of tea everyday, to make it, was not just a daily routine, it was

a refined flow of the action.

To begin with, the way to put a water into a kettle ~ ~ ~ to pour the tea into a cup then

drop one or two slices of the lemon etc etc.

As all the actions has been repeated everyday (I don’t know how many thousands times

I did ) naturally each action has been rationalized to the most efficient smooth manner.

So that, once a person who observed this process summed up, “It’s formalized to the

almost tea ceremony like process isn’t it”. Of cause, it was not intended to be a ceremony

but just doing it in quickest and smoothest way. As it is always the same action, it has

no dither or need any thinking, let alone any emotion.

May be this is the way what Master Dogen (道元 / Founder of the Soto-Zen)

has taught = to become perfect to be “who I am and what I’m doing”.

(= Nobody else.  Nothing else = this is what Mindfulness meant !)

[]

Sound so far so good isn’t it ?   But wait a moment —– ?

To be “WHO I am” = the very one who has been born under own Karma, hence grown-up

according to the occurrences given next by next.

The result is the only one, “me” = To be my own is nothing but to be Natural

(but not necessary perfect), still, “to be perfect” mean the person has to be

refined to be pure = eliminate all the imperfection and the foreign substance

(imported idea or pretense).

This is quite an artful existence isn’t it ? ? ?

[]

Making and drinking my tea, I’ve refined its process to the art level though, one-day in

the last Summer, I couldn’t bother to make a tea as I was too thirsty, instead

I just filled my cup with a tap-water and a slice of lemon. ————

Since then, I stop to make a tea but just drink a tap-water. (I don’t buy any bottled drink).

—- Am I lost an art and the mindfulness, while becoming lazy ?

OR, was that an Enlightenment ? —– Good, good question 🙂

To drink a water instead of tea —– It is obvious, which is simpler and natural.

[]

Tea-making started in the Rinzai Zen temple as Master Yousai (栄西) brought it from China.

Hence, Tea-making is a part of Zen teachings. In comparison, Soto Zen tend to remain much

humble and simple. ( = So that, I’m a simple poor man 😀 )

Therefore, isn’t it to drink water instead of Tea, is more Soto Zen ?

Not lazy isn’t it ?

[]

My answer is = I don’t care. As long as something to sip in the cup, it’s enough.

(with its consequence to drink 2 litres of water and going to a toilet every 2 hours =

flushing out any toxins in the body = no need to have doctor or any medicine

—– it may be true :-))

As I don’t need to bother buying tea any more, this is even more peaceful Life and the Mind.

(and cost less 😀 ) —– After all, I don’t think I was born for tea making.

This is my Zen as I’m nobody else of simple yoshizen 😀

[]

In fact, here lies very interesting question.

The ideal early Buddhists were the one who forsaken all the ordinary life to

pursuit Enlightenment, namely Bhikku and Arakhan though, the Buddhism

took the direction to more inclusive Mahayana = while living in the ordinary

life, still maintaining the Mind-set to be a Buddhist = more Natural life style.

My position is, the matter is not a superficial life style but the Mind-set since

the  Mind-set such as Mushin, Ichijo, Mindfulness , Selflessness are naturally

in our subconsciousness, in other words Natural Life-style is not a hindrance

to achieve its refinement, ultimately to reach Enlightenment.

(By the way, me doing something utterly useless, is for fun = Do something on

the hand and creating something new with good laugh is better than just

being passive, such as watching TV or Inter-netting.  😀 )

___/\___

[]

Ikkyu story (2)

Ikkyu Sojun (一休宗純) was the most famous Zen monk in Japanese history,

especially with his hundreds of quick witty stories to deal with the situations or gave an

answer though, as so many books has been written much later, we don’t know which story

was true and which one was a fanciful invention.

—– I read this story in a cartoon comics when I was a child, so that it could be a nice

invention of comic writer, still, this story had such a drastic twist of rhetoric

therefore showing quite Zen like jump of wit, this one could be a real story,

if not, it might be written by another accomplished Zen monk.

[]

The Abbot of the temple where Ikkyu was staying, had a secret pleasure to lick a honey

kept in a jar.   When young novice asked him what is it, the Abbot told him that it is a

medicine of wisdom though, as it is so potent, only a learned elderly person can take.

Otherwise, it is deadly poisonous to a young brain. But novices, Ikkyu and others did know,

it was a lie and what in the jar was a honey.

[]

One day, when Abbot was out for a day, Ikkyu gave his drastic answer.

He took an old ceramic vase, which the Abbot was most treasured, and smashed it to the floor.

Then took the honey jar, and started licking honey with other novices.

Soon, the honey was emptied.

When Abbot came back in the evening, he found all the novices were in the crying state.

When he asked what has happened, Ikkyu replied that while cleaning the room,

they accidentally drop the vase and it was completely smashed.   As the vase

has such irreplaceable value, there was no way else to repay but with own life.

“So that, in order to commit suicide, all of us took that poison in your jar.

But, even after swallowed all the poison, we still couldn’t die and this is why

we are so ashamed and feel dreadful. ~ ~ ~ cry cry cry !”

—– Abbot had no word to return.

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😀 😀 this was the revolution. Face to face, asking the truth what is in the jar —– is

a democratic approach of dialogue   (provided if the Abbot treats them as equal and tell the

truth) though the Abbot was just a tyrant = there couldn’t be any fair negotiation => only

insurgence is the remedy = revolution, hence some casualties were unavoidable.

The ceramic vase could be worth million though, Ikkyu didn’t gave even a hint of hesitation.

= He just smashed it.   On the end, his revel exposed the fraud in the temple =

Abbot lost his credibility and the priceless ceramic vase —– even honey too 😀

But, what Ikkyu and the novices got — not much, just a taste of honey and a good laugh.

—– most of Ikkyu stories are for good laugh, not much else.

(Anyhow, they were aimed to the children )

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Still, real Ikkyu was a serious Zen monk.

As one of his Short-Poem (Kyoka 狂歌) for New-year said ;

門松は，冥土の旅の一里塚 (Kado-matsu wa, Meido no Tabi no Ichiri-zuka)　

馬，かごも無し,宿も無し(Uma, Kago mo nashi, Yado mo nashi)

New-year’s (Ever green) Pine branch is a mile-stone to the Nether world.

No Horse or Palanquin (for the journey), even no inn (to stay for a night).

= there is no celebratory mood at all.      Ha ha ha 😀

That was quite Ikkyu-san.   (He had no illusion to the life, neither to New-year,

though in reality unlike any other meek monk, he had very active eventful life,

all because of his completely liberated mind and the eyes. 

No illusion mean no emotional blockage neither  = This is the Zen )

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Funny Practice

A man who I met recently, and read this blog, gave me a response saying that

he was pretty impressed by Zappa photo and the camera I made though, he

couldn’t make any connection of them to the Zen.

And he wondered,

“You are not serious to the Zen don’t you, as you are making a fun of it

or even cynical”

—– Well said. So, I replied to him.

Yes, I can see you got certain idea of Zen though, I’m afraid to say it is mere

pretense or crèche.

I’m doing the Zen Buddhism not Parroting what the books say.

Lord Buddha taught how to alleviate the suffering in the life. He didn’t give a

false hope to escape from it by living in a fantasy world, but taught a practice

to gain the clear eyes and the mind how to see and deal with the matter.

Instead to tell a sweet story of heaven to such as a woman who just lost her

child, but her to running about the village.

Zen is the teachings of how to run 🙂

While running, the person will acquire the Mind and the eyes to see the suffering

in detached eyes, hence able to get rid of blinding emotion and the stacked mind.

—– Do you think, could the woman alleviate the sorrow by sitting all day

next to the dead body ?

It is the exactly the same situation.

You are stacked with an idea or crèche of so-called Zen.

So-called “Serious concentration of the Mind etc etc” so that you may see I’m

doing something useless to the Zen and not serious enough.

But Zen is also free the person from those stereotypical fixed idea

include the Zen itself.

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In any eye point, in any scope, the life is a troublesome matter.

If this is the nature of the matter, complaining it would be useless because

it is inescapable anyway.  

But, in the same time while billions of the people struggling, it is an awesome view and may

have quite funny moment, especially if we can see it in bird’s eye view.

I’m serious enough to the life and I’m dealing with it, as nothing else is on the board.

It’s mean, I have no false dream believing another world such as a heaven etc rubbish.

And as I have nothing else to see, I could see even the minute detail of the subject of which

most of the people wouldn’t bother.  —– So, I could see lots more funny side of the situation

as my eyes are above the water, as I, at least know how I can avoid drowning in the water.

—– So, I’m not drowned in the Zen.

(Anyhow, Zen is an extremely funny practice.   😀 )

Convinced ?

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PARADOX in seeking the ZEN

 

I wrote in previous post, to reach Zen, how it is crucial to block the Emotion.

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Though, Zen or Buddhism in general, it is a strange maze of the Paradox =

the more you try to see it, you can’t see.   The harder you put the effort,

you can’t achieve. (—– I think, I wrote the same subject before, while using a metaphor

“You can’t run, as long as you got legs” 😀 )

This trouble is, all comes down to the existence of the Emotion or Emotional thinking.

Because of the strong intention or will is always accompanied by the strong

Emotion. The more you are serious, the more your mind is stack to the subject

though, ironically, the art of Zen is how to make you detached from the subject.

—– You can’t detach yourself from the subject when you are studying it —–

you may say.

(If you ever read the book of Zen Mondo / Koan, then if you read it again while this paradox

in mind, you will see the point, or it will make sense in each answer.

= They are in the matter of this paradox.)

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So that, there is a trouble to understand such as “what the Mindfulness is” =

the harder you try to be Mindful = you are falling into a Clu-de-sak or strays away to nowhere

because of your mind = Emotion is just stack to the subject. Emotion blinding You !

—– There is nothing else but the subject, and you can see it clear detached eyes.

= This IS Mindfulness. = because of your eyes are detached from your Emotion, there

couldn’t be any wishful thinking or a greed to succeed etc kind of destructive rubbish = you can

see the true nature of the subject. = therefore you can do the perfect job, hence you will succeed.

This state of mind, detached from the subject, = as there is no Emotional

attachment, hence the mind is blank but only eyes are gazing at =

This is Mushin and in Selflessness = This IS Mindfulness.

Why Selfless here ?  Because, only eyes and the subject are here.  Not your Mind.

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Sound easy ? —– or you may utterly bemused, how to do ? How far to be detached 😀

Because of this confusion, ancient Buddhists invented [Middle Way] 2,000 years ago.

While saying “Not too close, still not too far” — Because, they themselves haven’t experienced

real Mushin 😀

= It seems, the vast number of Mantra Authors are not necessary understood the Buddhism.

= That was why so many fancy stories of it was added to the original teachings to cover-up  😀

(Good in writing is not necessary knowing the subject 😀 = The Monks are familiar with sitting

in the temple, but they may not be any expert of DOING something — this is a reason why the

Zen was invented = Zen put an emphasis to DO something and prohibit Thinking)

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When you DO something, subject is very front of your eyes.

If it was cutting a lemon, lemon and a knife are there. —– So, just cut it. You don’t need to think

anything else.  After cutting 10 lemons, 100 lemons, (what to do those mountain of lemon slices =

may be better make Marmalade and use one or two for a cup of tea 😀   Or if you are short of

money, cut potatoes instead and make crisps ? —– though, I don’t like to use oil )  you will

run-out anything to think about (NO Thinking) = you will cut it almost like an

automatic machine (NO Emotion),  hence your eyes sees nothing else of Lemon

and the Knife = this is the Mindfulness.   And the brain is in the state of Mushin.

Then, applying this eyes and the Mind-set to see other things in the Life.

By actually DO something, there is NO PARADOX (Paradox is created in the

Emotional Thinking = such as Intention, Will, Gain / Loss Calculation, etc etc =

not exists in Doing )  —– This is the ZEN.

( So, it is a great mystery, what the people is doing while sitting and doing

so-called meditation ?  😀  😀 ) 

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