MOON and FINGER

Used as a metaphor in the Buddhism, the story of a Finger pointing the Moon is too well-known.

This metaphor is about the explanation of—— Not the mean / Finger,  but

the subject / Moon —– Satori (Enlightenment)or  The Dharma (Rules of the Universe)

Even though the Zen Sect has the most critical,  precise analysis of the Buddhism,  still when its came to the

point to elucidate the core of the teachings / Satori,  Zen says  “Furyu-monji” (Not explainable in the words) or

“Kyogai-bechiden” (Not possible to teach)——- hence only the possibility is by mean of Direct Transmission.

———- Yet still,  funnily enough,  when the one did managed to find it out,  it is just ubiquitous,

natural things, hence  it was described such as a  Dog sit.  (Very very Funny  !!! )

——————

I’m not a master,  even not a monk, so I can’t tell you what it is.     As I only got a distant view of it by walking

around,  round round round and as I saw it is there like as the air.

Still, I can show what is the Buddhism not by the words but in the way how to live it,  and how to do it.

(Which is Tried and Tested 🙂 )

After all, this is what the Buddhism is.  And this is why  “It is there as it is not there” and beyond of

thinking or words.

( If it can be explained in words, somebody great Master in the past 2500 years could have done already.

And the teachings of  Zen and Direct Transmission needn’t to be invented )

How to live is the way of the Direct Transmission.

So that you may live the same way,  walk round same place,  then you may find the same ( Dog sit  ?!!—–

—– How Nice  😀  )    So,  I can say  Just Do It.

BRAIN WAVE

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

ground noise ) is always there.

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

know the Buddhism neither Medical science or Electronics.

And this kind of bizarre gimmick industry is flourishing.

How amazing  !!!

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

to be an act of angry God.

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

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

—

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

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

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

COMPASSION — WHAT ?

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

the person to commit suicide.

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the real Help ?

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

What was your choice ?

12 + 1 —– JURY ?

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

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

hot talking piece in the media.

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

the Commonsense / the Judgement by the subconscious human sensibility.

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

DELUSION — is it a Face ?

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

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

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

Face Recognition Program.

——————–

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

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

type of face and eyes, ears etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

judgement —– this kind of mistakes are inevitable.

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

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

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

THINK YOURSELF

On the death-bed,  Buddha ordered to the  disciples as his last teaching

“Don’t blindly follow my teachings, but  Think it Yourself “ This is nothing but the extraordinary words.

Has any leader of a religion or a philosopher ever said like this to the followers, in the whole human history ?

Yet, this is not from Buddha’s humbleness BUT this is the most crucial teaching of the Buddha which

made the Buddhism as The BUDDHISM.

By following this words, the Buddhism kept evolved  in the past 2500 years.

Instead to have fixed written Dogma,  Buddha’s words kept the followers to think themselves and

able to respond to the changing world even to the forefront of the science today.

As the Dharma and Karma is in their dynamism there is no point to fix anything, in its definition.

Buddhism is the Eyes, and the Way to see those Dynamism, and the Way to participate it.

——————–

Far more important point is, this Words is the foundation of the Buddhism to the person.

Instead to follow and complying the fixed Dogma and Rules, as the Buddhism made the followers

to think and judge themselves,  it gave the initiative and the responsibility to the individual,  therefore

left no margin of excuse to such as a matter in the moral issue.

———- You may remember the most hypocritical rules (?) somewhere,  ” Because the rules says Kill Not,

I paid somebody else to kill”  and always found the way to dodge the words of so-called god’s given  rules.

There can not be such things in the Buddhism, unless the one is too insane to think  normal.

Hypocrite may have escaped on the words, but in anyone’s subconscious, it is obvious, he is the  murderer.

——————–

With the Noble Principle,  we aspire and pursuit the Buddhism.   And as we pursuit it

our understanding deepens.   Once we reached to the point and as its became the norm, then

we notice  what should be the better.  This endless process of evolution is also the one’s pathway

toward  the Enlightenment.

The same apply to all aspects of the life.  (One has to pursuit the best way to cut lemons as well    😀 )

And this is the secret how such as the Zen culture evolved and attained such degree of refinement.

——————–

Following the Buddha’s words ” Think yourself “, even a small man on the street did pay an effort to

achieve the best. ——– This active participation of the life is The Buddhism.

And this is the answer to  ” Why Buddhism ? “

Which Practice ?

As you may noticed,  my approach to the Buddhism is by means of Doing.

And my Doing is not a fixed practice.

It can be even cutting lemons or twisting a wire to make figures or make small electronic circuit etc ——.

In fact it can be any activity in the daily life,  like somebody’s daily job.

———- The reason is obvious,  (1)  It is not an activity intentionally designed on purpose.  As it is a part of

daily life and carries no special meaning or pretence, such as  ” This is the Special noble practice for the

Higher Spiritual Achievement”, it is natural.   This is the Jinen.

(2)  Basically I’m a humble mean person.  I can’t afford to spend a  time for such a special exotic activity.

If ordinary activity can serve the same purpose,  why not do them.  It would save the time and energy.

Most important point is, the Buddhism is a way of the life.  It wouldn’t work like to buy a piece of Indulgence

and sit as a formality.  Buddhism  needs to go down all the corner of one’s life.  This is the Ichijo in total.

The matter is to live the life in  Mushin.

———- So, as one of the by-product,  I got nicely twisted wire as well ——- How nice  Ha Ha Ha   😀

( I don’t think so many people in the world, found an interest of twisting the wire.   Its mean, this is a very

peculiar activity specifically occurred only on my Karma,  therefore this is a part of  Yoshizen.  Ha Ha Ha  😀  )

Since,  it was the task, I only had to do  (on that moment), I only doing it,  nothing else, therefore I didn’t need

to specially concentrate for  “Mind-fulness”  kind, as there was nothing else to think about anyway.

——————–

Almost synonym of the (misconceived) Buddhism, “Meditation”, “Mind-fullness”, “Selfless” are all too

prominent though, they are bore out of the unnatural pretenceful activity.

Because of it is a peculiar exotic practice, the person has to fight to concentrate to get mind-fullness and

while (utterly contradictively) hustle to get selflessness.  (If a man has to wear Mini-Skirt he can’t be calm.  🙂 )

——————-

But if you do the activity which you can abandon yourself,  you automatically start to do fully minded

without any conscious of self.  In this way, anybody, in any activity, they can reach to the Mushin.

This is the Mahayana Buddhism.

Door is open to anybody,  not only to the professional monk whose task (and the mean of earning money)

is to Perform and Demonstrate “Buddhism”—— in other words, other than a monk, most of the people

don’t need to demonstrate and perform it.

——————- Though,  to do the things which is not your choice,  even a kind of task you hate,

and still able to do it in  Mushin,  needs to have special training to disconnect your  Thinking and  Emotion,

which I have explained before,  ” Starting with absolute obedience and repeat the practice until it

reaches to the state of  Mental Fatigue—–”

———- And almost legendary  ” Hyper state of the Brain ”  could be achieved only through very dangerous

practice and the Visualization.   ( Some Martial Artist can do this.   And the people competing with their

memory power, while memorizing hundreds of cards in order, using this Visualizing skill under

the hyper state of the Brain ——- but don’t ask me about it)

Though,  in my view from my experiences,  I’m not necessary agree with those special  Mind Engineering is

in the scope of the Buddhism.   Those highly specialized  Mind Engineering  was a discovery of the

professional monk though it is necessary to born with particular genetic condition.

PRECONCEPTION

This is the another Wire Figure,  Damsel in Distress.

I don’t know the detail of her story though,  she is in deep trouble and in agony.

——————–

Beauty of wire sculpture is,  it is the 3D equivalent of line drawing,  with added surprise of changing

shape by the view from different angle.  So that the same piece could give different impression to

person to person,  and the impression which people received from such piece could be very deceptive,

since the people can adjust the view according to their preconception, and reconstruct the

image in the brain. ———-( All the 3D images  were the Re-Construction in the brain, anyway )

The figure here is very narrative, so you might be well convinced,  this is a lady in deep grief,

thrown her body on the ground and scratching the mud ——— is she ? ? ?

———- A matter of fact,  you saw the photo in wrong angle.    Look the photo again in vertical angle.

The truth is,  she is a Kung-Fu Killer.  She is the Emperor’s special body-guard,  and it is the moment,

she is launching a lethal flying kick.——–m m m ? ! ! !   ( Now your brain is re-configuring the visual

signal and re-construct the image of the fighter jumped in mid-air —— She looks fearsome isn’t she ! ! !)

( Imagining her setting in horizontal or vertical, will create completely different impression of dynamism)

( Movement / feeling of dynamism was induced by the anticipation—– if you believe it’s move, it’s looks move)

——————–

Seeing is believing.   Yet our eyes are not necessary seeing the truth.  They could be easily fooled by

a suggestion,  planted preconception and its bias.

Buddhism calls this preconception as  Delusion by which people see the same object in

utterly wrong context.  Negative view often create monster and create vicious circle.

—– See the things in detached eyes is better than to have a wishful thinking. 

So, what’s the truth ? —– Oh, it’s a  twisted wire Sir.   😀

[]

NUDE 4×4+1

As a mean of communication, the Art has very peculiar property.       Since when I was doing photography, this

peculiarity is one of my conundrum. Some photos are the Art, but most of them are just a flat copy of the object.

But, strangely, anybody can distinguish a good photo in

one glance.      And anybody can also distinguish good art

as The Art at one glance.——– (so, conceptual art is not art,

but it is only an intellectual concept, as the name indicates)

With my artist friends, photographer friends discussed together

in many occasions, still we never found a good explanation

in the words,  why and how do we know, is it the Art or not.

Because ART is a communication between  Subconscious

to Subconscious / one’s inspiration to the other’s feeling

without involving the conversion to the linguistic Notion.

(Its mean, the ART strikes the EMOTION straight, not the intelligence)

So that even if we found the typical sample, it is impossible to

describe it in the words, instead, just point the very sample and say  ” You see this is it “.

——————–

Something similar phenomenon is in the artistic expression such as in the abstract figure.

This is the matter of cognitive ability. —— How simple and even simpler, we still able to recognize as it is.

———- The photo above is, some said,  the most simplest and cheapest nude sculpture in the history.

It is just a twisted wire though, even 5 years old kids instantly recognized it ” Ah, it’s a  woman “.

This Wire Nude was made by just twisting a wire 4 times clockwise for right-hand side, and 4 times

anti-clockwise for left-hand side, plus one for the head.  ( Hence the title 4×4+1 )

I experimented many design and simplified further and further.  This seems the minimalist’s limit.

(Sitting woman putting both hands to her head—— in case, if you couldn’t make sense from flat photo)

It is impossible to describe exact shape in the words,  still it convey the message, ” This is the Woman”

and people can see and feel straight, this is the woman. ——— and makes them smile  🙂

——————–

Our brain, Deep Layer / Subconscious System has remarkable ability to capture the meaning beyond

the ordinary intellectual logics. ———-( I’m still puzzling, is it Pattern Recognition or something else ? )

And this is the way, how direct transmission of  Zen  works.  ” You see, this is it”

Who, you ???

Some of the reader may have noticed, there are funny contradictions among my posts.

Somewhere says ” We are just passive.  Nothing was credited to ourself ” —– in the other hand,

” We can have absolute confidence and able to create anything “_ _ _ _ _ ? ? ?

” The Notion of Self is only an imaginary  idea and no such concrete existence there “—– in the same time,

” You are nobody else of you in the mirror ”

——-All of them are absolutely true at the same time.

Reality lies between two,  or they exist contradictively together as this is the very Buddhism.

( This is why you  often see  Zen expression such as “Maximum is Minimum”)

You have to see this Paradox in Reality by your eyes.    (Not by thinking)

( See it, is Feel it.  Feel in Deeper Layer / Subconscious Limbic System / Basis of our existence)

——————–

On purpose I use poor metaphor,   ( So, it is easy to visualize this )

Think, You are a small bureaucrat called  Mr. A  in a corner of Empire.

You never seen Emperor nor have any idea how whole system of the Empire works but know the Rules

and duties you are assigned to do and not to do.

You carry out your task utmost diligence and in your best. ( otherwise you will be beheaded   😀 )

As long as it is in your jurisdiction you have the absolute authority and discretion. (You are the Rules)

———- Still, non of the rules or protocols were your invention, nor any of the applicant came to

your desk are your choice.  You exist just as passive. (Rules are there, not you)

Being as an officer you do your task almost automatic routine and after many years in the same position,

you are the expert to deal with such issues but as an officer you can’t mix your emotion to the business.

It got to be detached from the subjective view. (Only the eyes of Rules exist)

You must be very proud of your role in the Municipal office and have perfect confidence of your life as

a part of the Empire.  (Since you are the Rules, you are the Empire)

Everybody knows you and your name Mr.A. —— (so far, so good)- – – – – Then, Who is Mr.A ?

Is it a man happen to be sitting in that chair ?

Or the body which attached to a face called Mr.A ?

Mr.A is absolutely nobody else of Mr.A ——– Everybody knows it, and you yourself know it, though,

yet still   Who You are ?  ( Until, you question this, there was no such issue ever existed )

( You can live happily without bumped into this question,  and able to live  without knowing it at all )

Once “Who are you” / Self  was questioned, the stance of one’s confidence became uncertain.

Because of this is the most puzzling question, many people go into very deep, still nobody ever found

the answer.—— So, Buddha gave very pragmatic answer.

” Don’t bother, don’t waste the time, no such things there like what Vada said  (Artman) ”

You to live peaceful life is what Buddha wished,  not you end up in a word game.  (Word game push

the person even further away from the state of  Mushin)

——————–

You are the Mr.A and the name of Emperor was the Dharma.

( Now you might got the idea What is Reality lies between,  meant )