Be in Emotion — or in Detachment

Gosh, it’s exactly a year from the Earth Quake

and the Tsunami in Japan.

After I caught a first short news, it took another

5 hours to know what has happened there in the Japanese

News site. The rest was, I don’t think I need to repeat here.

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Having one year anniversary, one of the literally left over

of the iconic land scape of the Tsunami = a Bus body left

stranded on the 10m roof top of the local town hall has

been removed. ( The photo left from the Jiji news.com site )

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There has been two opposing opinions among the local

people.  One was, as a historical, iconic monument,

the Bus should be preserved as it is.

But, the other opinion, as it recalls horrible memories = Don’t want to see it any longer, hence

it should be removed, was over whelming.

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Everybody has Emotion. It is the basic judgmental response to the stimulus, instantly created in

the old part of the brain, limbic system.   As limbic system also controls the physiological

reaction, an Emotion triggers the seclusion of the Hormone, Neuro Transmitter etc.

Unlike Nerve Signal which is an instantaneous electrical pulse, those chemical Hormone remain the body

system, so that, unlike a momentary come and go Thinking process, Emotion affects a person’s mental

condition and the physiology pretty long time, some time long enough to make a person fallen ill.

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This is the reason why and how the Buddhism invented the way to curve the Emotion by its

practice to enable a person to detach from it.

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While detached from the Emotion of the disaster —– to see the Bus stranded high-up on the top of the building,

must be really an amazing, unusual experience. —– Hence came to a thought to make it as a historical

monument, could be a good idea = can be only such a monument in the world.

Though, to the vast majority of the local people who have had literally run for the life or lost their family member,

close friend, the memories of the disaster were still too real.   And its memory re-creates the same Emotion,

hence the seclusion of the same Hormone = same reaction of the body, heart beat, blood pressure increase and

even having nightmare, and so on.

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In order to keep the compassion to the deceased and the fellow victims, it should be better to keep the memory

afresh, is the one opinion.   Though, to live one’s life in full potential, to keep the memories and to

be imprisoned by the same emotion has to be distinguished.

Time is the best cure for a sad memory —– the old say.

The Buddhism practice is to accelerate this aging process, and make a person to see its memory in a perspective,

in another word, in distance = detached = in Zen Buddhist’s term  Mushin ( Mind of No-Mind ).

By detached eyes, a person can see the situation and the possibility or the alternative, in much

liberated perspectives.   Hence able to make much better judgement in the life.

After all what local people needed was not a reminescence of the disaster, but the mind to look forward to

rebuilt the town and their life.   When a mountain of tasks on front, the emotion is nothing but the obstacle.

[]

How to learn one’s mind detached,  hence able to have turmoil-free calm mind-set is

what I’m talking about in this whole blog.

___/\___

PS : Further reading, how Buddhist’s practice works to achieve  Detachment > >>   http://bit.ly/yG6rph

(This post could be the most crucial post among the others in my blog )

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ダルマ／法と仏教の構造—Structure of Dharma

これは禅を学んでいる人にダルマ／法とは何かを説明して送った手紙の一節ですが，

実に明解，言い得て妙だと自分で笑ってしまった程で，これはここに再録せむとなった次第。

( In here, I’m explaining  [What is the Structure of the Dharma] )

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喩えが悪いケシカランと思う人が居たら，アナタ流の説明をコメントに入れてくれるよう。

－－－奇抜な喩えで，一気に理解させるというのは

釈尊以来，仏教，禅の伝統になっている。

もし，仏教は，禅は高貴なる神秘と信じているとしたらそれはアナタのロマンと高慢。

とまれ，悟りとは犬の糞。

[]

－－－－－－－－－－－

ダルマとは，この全宇宙，物理的全存在とそれを存在させている全法則，その総体のことです。　

解り易い例えで言えば，ダルマ／法とは宇宙サイズの機械仕掛けで，支配原理は神秘的形而上学

でも宗教理念でもなく，合理主義に立った物理学，材料工学，分子生物学，生理学，ｅｔｃ，科学

の総体です。

当然そのサブシステムのである我々もその微小部分の一つであり同一の原理で作動している（ダルマ

を内包する）訳です。

（機械に心は無く（＝無心），黙々と作動してその機能を完遂するのが役目）

このシステムがジャンクのよせ集めではなく，システムであるのは個々のサブシステム間，総システム

との間に整合が保たれ（ほぼ）完璧に機能し破綻が起らないという事です。

[]

ごく一般的，かつ楽天的に見れば，この機械システムは一応恒常性を保ち，全生物は間違いなく

進化して来ている。　人類も一応発展しながら無事命脈を保っている事から見て，性善と考えられ

ている訳ですが，別に人間に好意的とは限らず，むしろシステムの利益，つまり宇宙や地球の

安定的バランスに価値基準が置かれているらしい。　

つまり，個人の利益幸福よりは社会正義，特定社会の都合よりは地球環境の安定の方が重要。

－－－とは言えこのシステムはあまりに巨大かつ複雑な為に大部分は未知であり，

おそらく人間如きにその全容は不可知でしょう。

[]

人間は微小なサブシステムにも関らず，頭でっかちに進化し高度な思考能力，想念とか心を持つに

至った訳ですが，トラブルは，この想念（思い込み）が元々の設計仕様を覆い隠すだけでなく，

仕様からはずれたり（妄念），高すぎる期待値（我欲）を抱いたりする為に，本来の機能すら

全うできなくなる事です。

[]

つまり，元々の設計であるダルマと，思考想念との乖離矛盾が人間の苦の根源と喝破した

釈尊はそうした無要な思考，想念を断って（無我，無心）生きる事がダルマの回復，回帰（一如）

であり，矛盾の解消された悟りの境であるとの教え（仏教）を始めた訳です。　

[例えば季節は太陽の動きに一致し，植物が［規則］正しく芽を出し花を咲かせるように万物が［規

則］＝ダルマを持って存在するするという考えはごく自然に得られるものです。

釈尊もこの伝統的理解を踏襲した訳ですが，彼独特かつ画期的アイデアは，ダルマ理解の中に

カーマ（カルマ，縁，因果＝原因〜結果）の視点を加えた事です。つまり万物は因果の連鎖を

持って存在し，原因なくしては結果も無い。素粒子が無ければ原子は存在し得ず，光が無ければ色

は無いし水が枯渇すれば作物は育たない。－－－この考え方はさらに飢えがあるから，欲があるから

盗みが起るなど，心理や思考／その傾向にまで拡張されていった訳です。

[]　

しかもこの因果の連鎖は網の目のように広がっているから，繋がりのどこかで生起する物事は次々と

連鎖していく。従って万物は依存する条件の恒常的変化（万物流転）の中にあり不変のものは無

い。(諸行無常)

[]

もっとも，どこまでをダルマ（法）とするかは宗派によって異り，禅宗では全存在を　含めて法とするが，

現象の背後にある法則（例えば合理性）だけを法とする考え方，スリランカなどの南方仏教のように，

信者の守るベき戒律だけを法と呼ぶ場合もある。（最も重要な点は

釈尊はこのダルマを概念や抽象的観念としてではなくその存在を客観的に実感し得る実在（全存

在）として把握していたと言う事です　＝　だからこそ他人の言葉（言語化された概念）を信じる

な、己れの直感で体得せよと教えたのです　＝　例えば、事実として己れが無私であるのを経験

する事。

（あなた自身これを読みながら、実は自分が読んでいる、まして眼が文字を拾っているなどと言う

自覚はまったく無かったでしょう　＝　全て無意識の内に処理される）　己れの認知にかか

わらずダルマは存在し無言で機能しているのを知る事。　ところがそれらは直感（潜在意識）で

把えたものであるから、在るとも見えるし無いとも見える　＝　つまりダルマさえも実は無私（空）

であるのに外ならない。）

ーーーーー　

[果たしてダルマに宇宙意志とか，人間界で言うような意図があるのかは議論の分れる所ですが，

僕の個人的経験から言うとやっぱりあるようです。

何故か，ぼこっと幸運に恵まれたり，逆に前述したような思い込みや妄念でストレスを高め己れで墓穴

を掘ってしまうような［極めて理に叶った例］だけでなく，｢これは死ぬだろうな」と言えるような事をやった

人が，突然ころっと死んだり癌になって苦しんだりするのは，やはり運命（ダルマの意図）の配剤らしい。

[]運命というのは，ほとんどがシステムの合理性として説明できるダルマの原理の中に残された不可知

の領域ですが，それでも直観的にピンと来る所が面白い。

しかし運命は運命，無心に（感情的になって嘆き悲しむのではなく）受止めるしかない＝不可知を

知ったからと言って何のたしにもならないという訳で，それについて質問された

釈尊はそれを無視して黙っていた。(無記)　（とのことです＝僕が目撃した訳ではない　笑）

___/\___

 

－－－必読：無着無住とは？　（リンク）

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Mushin / Peace of Mind – How To ?

In the past week or two, I’ve been heavily involved in talking to people who have trouble in mind.

(Hence, nothing new has been posted in this blog – I’m not by profession an agony-aunt.

I can’t mass-produce crap advice = one subject at a time = that’s as much as mindfulness can handle.)

(Total cop-out!)

One person beautifully described having a sort of escape-walk in the woods

and watching the flow of water in a small river.   She said, that this solitude seemed to

be only her escape = but, she knew of course that she had to go back to the mess of her life

disturbed by an agonizing regret.

Mmm ? ? ?

What a shame. The kind of the advice which so-called psychiatrists are giving nowadays would recommend

regressing to the source of the person’s trouble, hence re-experiencing the agony again and again.

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Unlike these so-called psychiatrists, Buddhism has been handling the matters of the mind for

thousands of years, so it is clear to Buddhist eyes that the solitude which this

woman found was, in fact nothing but the state of No-Mind = Mushin in the Zen term.

Unless this particular person was a botanist, knowledgeable as to the name of every plant, there wasn’t

much for her to think about in the woods and hence her environment out there was just an environment,

nothing more.   And the flow of the river with its faint song would have no meaning for her = outside of

any intellectual brain activity.

Let’s suppose this woodland had been visited many times by her = so that there was no new stimulation,

nothing to cause an alert of any kind.

If this had been the case this person could have had complete peace of mind in solitude without

any thinking-processes. Expecting nothing.  Projecting nothing. 

Her mind absolutely open, completely remote from any thought-disturbances.

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Well, as she had already found the state of No-Mind / Mushin, I advised her to follow a particular practice,

to just lightly shake her head, and at the same-time, visualize the scene of the woods with

the running water. 

And I instructed her that when she did this, her mind would become empty, distant from all useless thought.

Afterwards, when the simple practice was over, she could then start to do what ever she needed to do,

the work, the daily chores, even sitting on a toilet. 

And in daily life,  she should do this like a ritual, when ever she saw a sign of bad thoughts coming-up.

Shaking or wobbling the head once, visualizing the running water and emptying the mind does

actually work.  This is the right process to get rid of trouble-in-mind.
Following this advice, I sent her a few emails explaining how our mind works, describing the structure of the

brain etc etc = rather boring stuff = to make her fed-up of dealing with Mind-matter

and just concentrate on the work = Life.

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Just a week later, I received an email in which she explained that she was now free from useless thoughts,

or more precisely, she was fed-up with being bothered by such thoughts.

She felt that now she could just get on with her work; she has no time to waste on useless thoughts.

(Well done! )

This is a sample to apply state of Zen Mushin to the dairy life.  (and get rid of the useless thoughts)

Any practice by which a person can experience the Mushin, can be connected to this sample and

this was the reason why I’ve been writing about such as Lemon Zen, Walking Zen etc etc.

Like in this case, visualization and to shake the head was a trigger to go-into the state of Mushin

= conditioning of the mind.   Once this practice became a routine in the brain, actual action to

shake the head can be minimal (invisible).

In the Lord Buddha’s story, a woman called Kisa Gotami said to have achieved this, in one day.

Still, this person achieved this in one week ( plus priory walking in the woods) wasn’t too bad.

This person may not become knowledgeable to  Buddhism stories and its spiritual artifacts though,

what she needed was to get on her life without the disturbing thoughts = peace of mind.

___/\___

Note :  The photo = Magnolia Grandifloria —– from Wikimedia

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Aluminium-Panel Sculptures / Suppon-pon and O-Shiri

Even though many people still looking for the Dragon image, I rather like to put much more

warm-blooded human-like figure of which I just found an old photo of them when they were made.

( In fact, I’m getting bored with the Dragon images which has been requested by the readers. 😀 )

If you object its part of anatomies = it’s a sign of your mind has been stacked with it = it’s all

in your mind = relax, take easy and have a fun-loving mind, instead.   After all, it’s just a dented

aluminium panel, isn’t it ? —– Nothing more than that, and harmless.    Ha ha ha.  😀

In fact, Full-frontal figure named [Suppon-pon] (after Japanese slang) above was a challenge, how

simple drink can sculpture can be made realistic figure,  and the right, named [O-shiri] was made as

a kinetic sculpture which wobbles its bottom with motorized mechanism, though within a day, its metal

cracked and broken = it needs to be made by the good spring steel with a proper heat process.

Because, the matter in the Zen is, a Zen practice on practice ! —– Let’s Just Do It !

How Zen it is, you will see.  (and see the fun)

I’ve been telling the people, who asked me how those aluminium figures were made = I made them

by just pressing a thin metal, like Shiatsu. ( but, quite laborious endless pressing =

hence, it was a Zen practice ! ) as you can see the photos above, they were just a drink can.

Simply, if a thin metal was pressed, metal will be bent = to cut and bend the metal piece to a shape

wanted is, what all about the aluminium panel sculpture.

If you like to make it as a nude figure, make its shape as a nude figure, as simple as that.

So, when you got flat metal out of drink can, place it on a half soft surface and press it with something

round tipped stick or your finger = you can have  the effect. ( = here, you will see the result of

pressure = how unmistakably correct,  the Buddhism teachings are.   😀 😀 )

If the base was too soft, metal may not be bent but just sink all together. You need to try and find the

best suited material = I found, a cork place-mat has right softness. (and a Telephone book as well !)

The size of a round tipped stick to push the metal panel may need to have several different sizes

—– here the photo of the use of the tool I’ve improvised and made for this purpose.

Observe and use your common-sense and try and try again.  The solution can only be found by doing.

Thinking makes no result, but only the action does.   And only the result counts.

If the resulting shape was not what you wanted = make it from the scratch again (and again).

If you run-out of a can, you don’t need to drink another beer = look around the street, you will find

another can  (can be tons of them.   😀 )

(Obviously, this practice (Art ?) cost nothing = Zen and Spirituality is absolutely incompatible with money)

The more you try, the result you get will be the better.  Don’t be impatient.  And keep doing.

Just sweep the garden, Churi-pantak (Shuri-bantoku) needed 10 years of practice to get it perfect.

In fact, behind of my pieces (as the best so far, in the photo) I’ve made many failures which I’m not

showing to you. 😀 —– It was just a process to get it right = might be called as a Pathway.

To get the best out of one’s life is what the Buddhism was intended for, 

not for sitting idol and talking empty mambo-jumbo.

The tools had its own history of the evolution = from a round bottom of Fizzy drink CO2 Gas bomb

to a Bearing’s ball mounted shaft (for smoother fine movement).   And, the roller disks which would

make furrow or smooth curved line.  Utilize anything with the creative approach.

The better designed tool would give easier work and the better result.

—– Of cause, I know you would say “What all those fuss for ?”— nothing.    What’s wrong ?

Do you think, Do I needed to have a purpose,  such as to become famous and rich with those works ?

Oh, c’mon.  Don’t be greedy.  It’s just a beer can. = Utterly useless things.    ( Priceless ?  😀  )

I wouldn’t ask another technician to make Diamond studded Skull for greedy money-making scheme =

In here, to make it or its effort itself was the purpose.  Therefore, I’m making

everything myself, for myself.  = (Selfish ? —– I don’t think so.  I’m just dealing with this piece, which

is nothing to do with anybody else.  I was just seeing this piece of metal getting its own shape. = work for

something purposeless  for the sake of its own sake, is nothing but the selfless act = Act for act.

So, this is my Zen.   ( If you couldn’t understand why this is the Zen, think why

Master Boddhi Dharma opened Shaolin-Temple using martial art as a teaching tool,

and why the Tea-making is a Zen. —– Convinced  ? )

___/\___

—

Direct TRANSMISSION — a tiny Thought

A piece of cloth here has been with me in the past 37 years since I was given this from the Eihei-ji temple.

I have washed it may be 10 times or so —– and when ever I did, its color faded farther, so that I became

even more reluctant to wash.

I wrote about this in my old post [Life’s Domain] saying that it could be an intended teaching of

“Nothing stays the same,  nothing is Permanent”. —– ? ? ?    Was such big issue here ?

It’s just an old cotton cloth isn’t it, and it is nothing strange the color dye is fading.   ( Dye will be dissolved

and washed away by the water, and it degraded by the UV light as well)

—– Isn’t it thinking too much ?    Isn’t it a pointless delusion —– or the Truth ?

[]

To explain and prove a fact in the life = “Nothing stays the same” may need to have lot more than a word, yet

just a piece of cloth shows its truth far clearer.   This is what a Direct Transmission is.

—– Then, how about  “Should I wash more often” or,  in order to preserve its original state, I shouldn’t

have used it in the dairy life, let alone washing.

But, what’s the original state mean ?   Is that the color on the cloth and the name of the temple printed on ?

—– isn’t this, just a sentimental reminiscence ?   Clinging the past ?

There may not be such a value in its original state.   It may only be in the mind.

So, without having such THINKING,  just wash it = “Having no useless thinking and just do it”

might be more like the Mushin of Zen Buddhism. = and when the cloth become completely

white, it would be the enlightenment —– WHAT a beautiful metaphor ! ! !

Though, no such things could happen.

In reality, if you keep washing cotton cloth 30, 50 years, the cotton fiber would be disintegrated.

And, when we wash, intending to make the color disappear, ironically, color never disappear.

It is just like our DNA,  it would never disappear.

—– Does it mean, no white cloth, neither see the Enlightenment ?

[]

It was a good exercise of thinking = this is a practice of what

Lord Buddha said “ Think it by yourself”.  🙂

Just a small piece of cloth teach us all about the Buddhism.   This is very “Direct Transmission”.

—– strangely, some people having an illusion “There would be a mythical communication of the

Cosmic Wisdom (Panya Paramita) which suddenly come into the mind and enlighten the person” is what

the Direct Transmission meant. —– Ha ha ha, Don’t make me laugh.  😀

It is a worst delusion than a pretty picture of a spin-doctor’s medicine bottle.

If such magic could ever existed in this world, one of the highest enlightened man like

Dalai Lama could have received such wisdom, and the trouble of the Tibet could be solved long ago.

Though, there is no magic solution or escape,  hence this is the Samsara,

as Lord Buddha said.  —– We only able to become aware of the Truth by the observation with the clear eyes.

And the Truth is not our wishful thinking but the reality = face of the Dharma.

Direct Transmission is a trigger to make us to actually see it = it is not a mythical magic.

In the famous [Flower Summon], the flower was the trigger to realize “What the Dharma is”=

Dharma is not in the special place, but even in a mere small flower = that’s why even small

flower can broom beautifully.

So, why not us. = This is what the Enlightenment is.

___/\___

—

Higgs Boson and the Buddhism

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm[ Photo —- Peter  Higgs  / from  BBC News  ]

The scientific world was stirred by the news of the tale of the tail of a sub-atomic particle =

dubbed as the God Particle = Higgs Boson. —– Gotcha !

Higgs boson may not even a particle but just a remnant ripple in the invisible field.

—– Like a ripple on the still water gives off a signal, where the surface of water is, and you may notice

the existence of a clear glass panel, only when it shows a scratch mark.

—– Higgs boson is a tell-tale sign of the invisible, undetectable energy field = Higgs field which said to

give a mass to the existence.

—– When you stir a honey in a jar, you feel heavier resistance on the spoon than in a water = it would give you

heavier feeling of the same spoon. = this resistance or impedance effected on the particles (and its compound,

atoms) are called as a mass. (conventional expression of this mass in relation to the gravity is called weight =

less body weight on the Moon because of less gravity is there).

( But don’t ask me why a sub-atomic particle Neutrino can have no mass and able to move even

faster than the light. —– I don’t think even scientists does know this yet 😀 )

Still, we human seemed to discovering the relation and cause of the phenomena next by next.

[]

Those scientific stances are perfectly in line with the Buddhism.

In the Lord Buddha’s teachings, those relation and the cause behind of the phenomena and the existences

is the Karma, and they, all together is the Dharma.

(Hence, Dharma is all the Existences and its mechanism and the rules behind)

As the dynamics of the phenomena and its momentary appearances are time dependent, so that nothing can

stay the same or permanent. —– Therefore, no perpetual soul kind = Atman can not exist.  Hence no SELF.

The reason why Lord Buddha took this stance, instead to contributes the cause of occurrences

and existences to an imaginary supernatural power = Godly existence was, because of

Lord Buddha’s mind-set was more of the scientist not a man of religion.

Religion is the matter of the belief to a particular ideological myth = not necessary to the

factual truth, therefore,  he defined such Myth as a delusion.

—– This was why,  he was called Buddha = Enlightened man,  not a divine figure or prophet.

[]

But, what made Lord Buddha different from just a physicist was his observation towards the

invisible depth of the  human psyche (now we call as subconsciousness) and found a way to

reprogram this subconsciousness through the practice.

Practice to make a person able to do the things or to live, without useless thinking (in Mushin /

Mind of No-mind) and ultimately able to see the invisible part of the Dharma. (and lives with it).

Even the most advanced science still having left quite large unknown part, we human still couldn’t able to know

what ourselves are. —– Yet, the Lord Buddha’s insight was reaching to this area.

[]

—– In the dawn of the cosmic science, scientists imagined a medium which should fill the space of the vacuum

by which the light-wave can travel,  was the Ether.

The existence of the Higgs field could be parallel to this idea of Ether, as Higgs field fill all the space = from cosmic

space down to the internal space of the material which spread between the sub-atomic particles.

Therefore, this ultimate universal field is the invisible part of the Dharma.

—– I suspect, there could be a possibility, — this universal medium = continuous energy field

( Higgs field ) was the very medium which is contributing the way of the psychic communication,

and this is the ultimate meaning of the Dharma, 

which Lord Buddha called [Panya Paramita].

If this is the case, of cause, the Dharma is everywhere and as it immerse all the existences

= “Everybody posses the Dharma within” !

—– This is what we Zennist are aiming to see, with our practice.

___/\___

—

WRONG ? — or Just don’t LIKE it ?

While fallen leaves are disappearing from the street and the trees are getting naked,

I encountered the Cherry blossoms in a small green space.

Since this unusually warm autumn, many reports saying the flowers are opening

as they mistook it as this is already a spring.

In a normal condition, when the flowers open, many honey bee etc. are there

to pollinate the flowers, hence the fruits and the seeds would be developed.

But this is a dark, cold November. Even a single creeping insect is not in sight.

It’s mean all the energy and the effort to produce the flowers would be wasted.

—– presuming, the flowers are there only for the reproduction of the species.

Is it true ?  In fact, many garden variety of the Cherry tree having their flower in the winter time.

In Japan, they are called  Kan-zakura (Winter cherry) and quite few famous tourist spot to see the blossoms

even in February.  As they don’t have cherry fruits, they are propagated by grafting.  It’s mean, they

couldn’t exist without having human intervention = not natural =  is it wrong ? —– I’m not sure.

[]

Value system is a human invention.  To appreciate cherry blossom in the winter is one view and judging

it unnatural is the another. —— Once we go into this area, it would open a can of worm = as we human created

so many [not necessary natural practice] —— such as sexuality, even a religious practice etc.

( Just think about the stance of the Afghan Tariban and the women’s right there)

Then give a thought or two —— [Normal] or not, is a matter of statistic = though, larger number doesn’t

mean they are right.  [Right] or wrong —– WHO said so and in WHAT context.  [Rational] or not, still having

uncertainty = even the science doesn’t know whole truth yet.

—– so, we settle most primitive and cheapest mean [Like or Not] = emotion and instinct based judgement.

This judgement is the most reliable judgement to the person though, in the same time it is

notoriously easily biased, and often confused with wishful thinking.

That is why, the Buddhists are saying [see it without the Self] = [eyes of Mushin] = absolutely

detached objective view though, if only you can do this.

(Trouble is HOW do others know and convinced,  that the person did it in Mushin )

If you are a Buddhist, try this and think ” Was it any different from Just Like it ? ” )

I myself is doing this, because it is easiest and quickest.  (I’m lazy to think too much,

hence giving no second thought though, others often complain   😀  )

___/\___

—

Run for a Bus

On the way to a weekly gathering of the Wireless Wednesday

(WiFi Net geek’s work shop) at Greenwich,

I saw a back of a bus just gone from the stop.   Then the bus was stopped on a traffic light.

Can I catch it at the next bus stop ? —– should I run or not ? —– In fact, I did and managed

to get on board. (otherwise, it could have been another quarter to half an hour wait, as this service is

rather poor) —– it may not be an old Buddhist’s like hassle.

Is it ? —– Seeing a back of a bus, therefore accept the bad timing = is this, a grown-ups decent

contemplation ?    Rush to the next bus stop instead and catch it, isn’t this an effort we should give ?

(Don’t laugh this, as a mediocre Bus story = take it as a metaphor as we are always facing

this kind of situation every day.)

[]

When we faced a difficult situation,  even impossible or  too late.

One attitude is to give up, forget it, and just get on the life. This is one of the way to

keep one’s peace of mind.   As it accept the situation and follow the fate, it is quite

Buddhist’s like contemplation, some might say. —– is it ?

—– In reality, this is all about what we call [Decision making] in our life.

To see a possibility or feasibility (in comparison to one’s ability) and challenge it to do.

How important and how big the possibility = expectation to succeed.

Don’t expect too much. Know the one’s limit and the size, is the wise man’s advice,

hence, to [know who you are], and to have [humble life] is in fact, a kind of safe bet.

[]

In the early time, Buddhism took this approach, hence hundreds of rules of [Don’t do this]

of which some sect even calls them as Dharma (to call man’s words as Dharma is nothing but a

preposterous arrogance though) —– normally, do nothing would cause fewer possibilities of

making mistakes.

It looks true, as it would give a kind of peace at least  😀

Therefore, abandon the ordinary life, cessation of relation, complete detachment to the mess of

human life, not to do this and that etc etc —– then a question arose, what for we are here ?

—– is this what the Dharma created us for ?

What Buddha denied was the ego and the useless thinking. But those so-called rules are

nothing other than an artificially composed man’s idea remote from the human nature.

This was the beginning of the Mahayana Buddhism.

Exactly same logic to deny the ego / self was used to deny the idea to deny the human nature.

Hence the Mahayana approach was established = do what you need to do, suffer as you

have to suffer = this is what the Dharma is.

But when the one does something, what extent the person should go ?

What is within the limit of the Dharma, which isn’t go into the ego and the greed, obsession

—– then, the idea of  [Middle-way]  was developed.

[]

So, the real Buddhism wouldn’t impose you “not to run for a bus” 😀

Far from it, Dharma will count the effort of a person.

Since the Dharma is not for the degeneration, but for evolution and active development

= unless otherwise we are not here today as us, and being extinct long ago.

Run for the bus = the reason why the bus showed its back and halted on the traffic light was = it gave

an opportunity for me to run.    Take a risk.   Challenge the project which you conceived = you to

have conceived the idea was for you to challenge it task = otherwise the Dharma wouldn’t

have chosen you to conceive its idea in the first place.

Do your best. Just do it.

___/\___

—

Cognition – Expectation – Speculation

When I wrote my thesis for the Sociology degree (gosh, 40 years ago), my theme was

“Lion was made with the seven deer he ate” = Our lives were based on the intake of not only the food

but also depend on the intake of the information. This pattern is common from the simplest mono-cell

organism to highly evolved animal like us and even a huge social organization or corporate.

What makes the difference of their degree of evolution is, how far the objective / projection is,

in the time perspective = instant reaction to many years long-term development project.

[]

Until a mono-cell organism actually bumped a food or danger, they couldn’t react.

But the elephants may go to a water-hole they had seen 40 years ago when they got severe drought.

They expect to find it even beyond the weeks of walk.

And we (well, some of us) are experimenting about how Neutrino behave, for any possible

application of its use or knowledges for an unknown future. —– all depend on how much we

have the data to make a judgment and a decision-making.

For my thesis, I made a frame-work to analyze the decision-making of the people, analyze the

[Information sphere] of the people (in its group or social cluster) by their use of the words in comparison to

the use of the same words in the media —– such as the words “social class” were more often used by the people

who is reading the left-wing media = hence they are most likely to respond according to what media was suggesting.

(And this is what Google is doing now by picking the key-word in our Email !)

[]

Zen is suggesting to eliminate the useless thinking when we react or for decision-making. —– though, even when

our hand picks up a tea-cup, the position of the cup has been coordinated in the 3D sphere, hence our hand, each

bones and muscles are able to move correct direction and proper distance.

Our brain is projecting, if the hand moves in such way and so much, it would reaches to the cup, with an

assumption of the visual information from the eyes is correct.

Simply they has been done without we are noticing that we are processing the data.

—– So, the matter is how much is too much.   (Too much thinking read you to nowhere, yet if

literally no thinking at all,  our hand may not able to pick a teacup).

In comparison to the expectation and speculation, cognition is mostly passive, but expectation

is inflated with a wishful thinking or even a delusion.  This is where its trouble starts.

[]

Our human lives are based on the projected expectation.   Even when we were the hunter-gatherer, to go to

the beach was to pick the sea food. = they knew it’s there from the experiences or other’s direction.

So as the economic activities and its decision-makings are.  In here, the greed inflated wishful thinking comes in.

Spanish has expected, the English holiday maker and the retired rich would buy their holiday villa. = Hence they

invested so much money to build the holiday villa,  hotels etc. —– though, after Lehman shock,  all those

speculation busted. = trouble was, the money they invested was not their own money but the money

borrowed from the bank.   Not only the people working in the building industry and their supply chain but

whole economy collapsed, end up with 20% unemployment.

When the developer decided to build, it was the firm anticipation to expect pretty reasonable return of which

the bankers had the same anticipation, hence they rent the money.

Though, it was regarded to be a careless speculation, mistake they made. = therefore inevitable

consequence they are suffering now.

[]

So, a funny question is, what makes the difference between anticipation / expectation and the

speculation ? —– if it was right in the hind-sight, it was the expectation, and if it was wrong,

was it the speculation ? ———- the trouble is, a famous speculator who made huge, huge money with

his speculation,  like George Soros,  his speculation was proved to be right, hence he made money.

—– was his speculation,  made by days of thinking / analysis,  or unknown kind of sheer hunch ?

So far I haven’t heard a story of Zen meditation made any money-making good speculation 😀

And even though, my mother was so accurate to see the future,  still all the prediction about herself was not

correct (she expected her life may end 50 something though,  she lived much longer in her 80s)

What she taught me was, even the Chinese I-chin, it wouldn’t work when the matter is related to the

own ego or greed. = Spiritualism and money-making can not go together.

[]

In the cyber space, the information sphere is almost completely open.

We are no longer limited to a single view of the TYPE of media = theoretically, we can seek any information,

and to have free thinking and own judgment —– really ?

Yet, the last barrier seems to be, our own EGO and the GREED.   Ego and the greed makes the

one’s view to very narrow scope, limiting it just to a money game, dropping all the view for the

social implication.   Open mind is not only for new idea, but to see the world in every aspects.

( If there was not such blind greed in the bankers or speculators, the economical mayhem which the world is

now facing, wouldn’t be there in the first place)

—

Dead Leaves ?

By seeing this, what you perceive about it ?

Is this a representation of the Fall and the indication of the end of era or even a shadow of death ?

Or you think, this is their loudest final fanfare, show-off the completion of their duty = their

most glorious moment,  hence it got brighter golden color ?

If you are a type of the person to feel the former, you may need to chin-up —– or are you indulging a

self-consoling emotional memories or rather sentimental [soul-searching] !

If you are the type to see it like the later, you are a person most likely to reach to the Nirvana.

[]

In the medieval time, Japanese are pretty sombre Buddhists.

Like the plague ravaged European medieval time, japan was in the constant battle between warlords.

People thought this is the end of the world, hence Pureland Buddhism with their longing to reborn in

the Heaven became very popular.

As peaceful life was out of question, people’s mind was focused to how to die.

So that they appreciated even a cherry blossom in its moment of the end of flower, when their

flower petals are fallen like a snow is the best.   (It got a dedicated word Hana-fubuki / 花吹雪)

(Hence, cherry blossoms are connoted as the symbol of the Samurai and the Kamikaze fighters, because of

their beauty in its moment of the death — I mean their mind, not a bloody scene.   😀 )

—– since then, in Japan, Buddhism was assigned to deal with the death. —– With this misconception,

Buddhism became a formality to take care of the funeral, and not a guiding light to live positive life.

Yet still at least, it made them the most docile, decent people in the world.   😀

(But, with their suppressed psych, some time it erupt to utterly crazy creation of Manga or Cos-play kind

of culture — and it became another tradition called Kabuki / 傾き then 歌舞伎)

[]

In reality, the tree has no such mind = when the sun light dropped below the productive level and the air

temperature become too low, the green color = Chlorophyle became redundant = then another chemical such

as Carotene which happen to have red or orange color which has been masked by the green color become

visible = hence the leaf looks changed its color, and then they fall.

It is nothing to do with the life or death to them as they got the buds of yet another leaves

prepared for the next spring = it is just their cycle of the life.

[]

—– still, we give plenty thought when we see the  Autumn leaves in its red color.

Lots of thoughts, memories, regrets etc etc —– all just in the mind.

To the clear eyes, they are just the Fallen Leaves.   (Zen often spoil the fun.   Sorry guys.   :-D)

___/\___

 —