Most Bizarre Story in Zen — Disco Dancing in ZEN

” Dancing can be a practice for Zen “

This must be the most ( yet I got many ) bizarre story.  You believe or not I was a Disco King.

(This must be the most rare photo of me dancing — taken far later date / Sept 2015 

and it shows Rotating LED and LED flushing pants !)

As I used to take photo of many musicians, one occasion at a rehearsal session, a drummer

complained me, even though they work hard to make their tune unique and new, when it was

played at a gig, everybody dance exactly same to the other.

So, I promised him,  ” I’ll dance as the exact reflection of your tune and show it to you.”

(Here I’m not talking about a kind of common body-shaking in one-two-one-two, regardless

whether the music is 8 beat or 16 beat.  Its got to be much more athletic, expressive movements )

——————–

First I get rid of all the patterned crèche such as typical John Travolta’s or Micheal Jackson style kind.

and resorted to the natural dynamics of the body.  Since its heavy inertia, we can’t shake the bottom in

16 beats (still I met 3 person who can do) so the rhythm of the percussions should be assigned to the steps,

bass drum to the bottom and the melody to the hands.

On the end 3 parts of the body started to move independently in different speed in the same time   🙂

And as the use of natural dynamics of the body,  with its maximum speed, lots of people miss took

my dancing as a kind of Martial Art, and asked me which school is it ?

Funnily enough, one person even asked me, Is it related to a religious practice ?

( This is the back ground of previous post ” Shaolin Martial Art “)

——In my knowledge the Indian Barathnatyam Dance which follows some tradition of the ancient

Dancing Yoga,  exactly synchronizing with the music (in its Tara / drumming pattern and the melody)

So,  I applied this to my dancing.  (My favourite is the German Bass. It is the limit the body can follow)

——————–

Even dancing every weekend,  it took 3 years to achieve this movement.

And during this period,  I noticed, this is the process to learn unconscious body coordination,

same as to learn skiing or riding a bicycle,  and this must be the matter what the Zen said about

the ” Ichijo ” as a sword become a part of the body ( or the sword and the body become one )

and then the Dharma would be prevailed.  (How exiting ! ! ! )

When your body follows the incoming music signal automatically, we don’t need to think what

is the music or how to move.    So, I thought, if I can leave the business to the unconsciousness,

I would be connected to the Dharma. ——– though there was not such simple paradise and

nothing changed in my life. ——– Then, Waite a moment,  I realized,  all the baby has

to learn to walk, and all of them become able to walk unconsciously. 

It is nothing special.

———————–

Still, at least, I got an insight = unconscious or subconsciousness has the Key to decipher the Zen.

——– (And since then many clubs’ owner, manager offered me free entry for my strange dancing.

It was unexpected bonus——but they too, need a prominent dancer who become a talking piece )

(Some of the readers might have seen me dancing in a club called Flex in Hitchin,

Enigma in Maswell Hill, Limelight in Shaftesbury Avenue, Fridge in Brixton

(Escape from Samsara) = in every weekend, continuously up to 5.5 years (for

Fridge) often having with flashing light pendant or trousers.  🙂 ) 

So, I had my 60th Birthday Party at a D & B club (organizer called Movement with DJ Fabio etc) and

invited teens to septuagenarian who never seen my “legendary” dancing.  Ha Ha Ha,

It was a good  laugh.  😀

[]

—

Season’s Greeting / BUDDHA Figure

Buddha-2009

with the  Buddha 2009‘s  image and the Wheel of Life.

Christmas is, for me it is much of a havoc as all the shops

close and the transports stops etc, than  to celebrate.

Though, to a lots of my friends, it is the occasion to have a

good time and get drunk, which I don’t do. ———-

no drug, no alcohol, no gamble, no woman ( how nice  😀  )

still eat anything but not processed food or fizzy drinks.

——- so, I’m making a sheer joke, I’m a holy man    Ha Ha Ha   😀

———————

To see the details of the figure, please click on the photo to enlarge.

Don’t miss the internal reflection, the image of  Wheel of the Life

in his glass  head  ( In the Selfless state, the fundamental rule of Dharma would  revealed  itself).

(This reflection is an optical false image, it will change with a direction to see. It is there as not there )

——– This glass head was made by a technician  who has made the glass housing of

the Hubble Space Telescope’s Image sensor which brought us unprecedented clearest images

of the Universe.  ( To meet this technician happened by the series of sheer coincidences, which I would

call, Karmic encounter. ——- Buddha’s figure may wanted to have his head connected to the Universe )

——————–

Why he was depicted in such a poor looking figure ?   you might say.

Buddha himself chosen to be a Bikku (beggar), and from where, the teaching of the Buddhism

was started.  If he had stayed as the richly ornated Royal Prince, the great teachings of the Buddhism

couldn’t have born.  We have to follow this origin, without additives or glorious decoration.

Without  weapon he was the strongest teacher.  Without any ornament he was the most precious figure.

So, I made him by using recycled materials except the head (and a Hi-power LED inside) though,

some may say, I wasn’t rich enough to buy gold leaf to gritter.  ( So, your donation of a piece

of cloth to wrap his body would be much appreciated   🙂 )

——————–

It is difficult to see from the photo though, a  skull head was held on his hand.

One eye of the skull reflects the twisted, distorted image, and the another shows straight image,

its meant, that is what we have to see the world.

( The rest of the concepts were explained in the post  ” Odd news “)

***

* * *  Hope all of you have a soul fulfilling  and peaceful  New Year  2010  * * *

———- As the Sun is coming back, its would be brighter any way  😀

***

My Starting point (2)

” What made me to go into the Buddhism “

( Sorry, the order of writing is not necessary follows  what you may expect, I just write about

the subject when / suddenly / its shape comes up ——To structuring  and make it solid is

the more logical,  intellectual process than the intuition of the Zen ——–Zen follows flash )

——————–

Strangely you might think, I spent 3 years of my High school time to read a book of

French Poet, Jean Arthur Rimbaud. (along side of mountain climbing, skiing and photos of  flowers)

Since, his symbolism poetry needed to be read 100 times to understand what he meant

but, his poems carries the deadly virus of self-destruction too.   Rimbaud was doing his

” Alchemy of Life ” (which is the analysis of his life’s journey and who he is ) which was depicted

in his poem “A season in hell” or ” Drunken Boat ” it led to the inevitable wreck,  which he

actuary got and end up in Abyssinia.

—– (After 3 years, I became a copy of him, seeing in his way and thinking like him )  I completely lost

the certainty of who I am. ( Later I found, anybody who was infected by this virus experienced the same )

—– From this experience, now I confidently say  “Anyone who read the same Mantra 1000 

times, it would be embedded into your subconscious and become the base of who you are”

—– so, be careful which one to read 😀

—————————-

What makes the reading of Rimbaud Poems somewhat common with Buddhists Pathway

was, that his approach to be a Boyant ( Seer / Watcher) in  Alchemy of Life  was,   

to examine the own mind again and again, deeper and deeper, exposing everything

like as a dissected dead body = effectively made his own mind (and the life) a completely

detached dried object.  Detachment while having cut-off the Emotion will lose the tag 

of the SELF,  hence creating a state of mind similar to the Buddhists’ Selflessness.

(This process is very similar to the Hinayana Buddhists practice  = Process of  Self-denial )

And as Rimbaud’s subject, include his own life became a detached object without the 

emotional attachment, it was described as a metaphorical object or the Symbol =

thence his poetry was called Symbolism.  (This detachment was the self-alienation too, so that

Rimbaud called the state of mind before, as a slumber of the animal —– he missed it

with tears but it was too late)

—————————

It was in the late 60th.  In order to re-construct myself, I resorted to Jean-Paul Sartre’s  Existentialism

and later, then popular  Structuralism  ( I liked this more than  Carl Jung as the theory extended to the

society )

The Sartre’s idea of  “The self defined by the self”, shifted to  “The self defined by other’s eyes”,   then to

“The self defined by the History”  was smoothly evolved to the  “self in the structure” in my eyes.

But in hindsight, I was more influenced by the Max Weber’s idea of Ethos. (as I was studying

Sociology for my degree )

Weber’s theory was, such as the Ethos of the self devoting Protestantism created the self-enterprise

of the own business and hard-working attitude, which led to the development of the Capitalism.

Yet, my eyes was a bit more afar, not just each profession or race, there must be more universal,

fundamental Ethos of Human being.—— My eyes turned to the Buddhism.

——- So that my starting point was more intellectual than the spiritual, and not because of my

farther’s influence. (though, the Ethos and the way of thinking of the Buddhism was THE environment)

——– ( Yet still, to cast the eyes to such direction instead of Technology or Art in my case,  it must be

driven by the deep spirituality,  which I can say only now, it must be the way  how the Dharma works.)

And this was the very timing of my  Karmic encounter to Master Kogetsu.

[]

Why Subconscious (1)

Many of you who have read some other posts here, may wondered Why I’m bothering

Subconscious so much ?

(1)  The first reason is;  Fundamentally the  Selflessness appeared when the incoming

signal of visual, sound, linguistic etc what ever, has not been connected to the emotion.

This brain activity is taking place, in deed, subconsciously.

And only in the Selfless state the one can see and communicate with the Dharma.

Therefore, to gain a control of this process, we need to access into our subconscious.

——————–

(2)  The second reason is;  If we need to control our Ego, Selfish-Self, Delusions etc,

which is hiding in our Emotion or primitive region of our brain, not to mention the troublesome

our instincts, we have to deal  with very subconscious.

——————–

(3)  The third reason is;  as all of our brain activities are carried out without our conscious.

We only know the end result when it was converted to the linguistic context (to the words) or

visual image or action of muscle etc, without even knowing how this result has been deduced ,

induced or inferred by the algorithm there( which all the attempt to simulate by Artificial Intelligence (AI)

had failed ) So that,  we can not discuss the matter while avoiding to touch the matters in subconscious.

On top of this, the basis of those process are relying on our accumulated knowledge, or

[ Data Bank ] (I discussed this in earliest post) which we gathered mostly unconsciously.

Even worse, some part of our  [ Data Bank ] seemed to contain even the Genetic Memories which we

inherit from remote ancestors, which we may only see under the heavy trans like state of the mind.

Trouble of those hidden file is, it quietly influence our perception, way of thinking  and the life itself.

——————–

Of cause, non of the Mantra said anything near to this kind of observation, because of it is not

visible and easy to explain, and anyway, the notion of subconscious was not exist in ancient time.

Still, the Buddhism  managed to control those matters in subconsciousness without knowing how its works.

So, it must be said, the one who discovered this phenomena, Buddha had really incredible insight.

He had seen the invisible phenomena which hadn’t have even the notion or the word to describe it.

Most crucial Paradox

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

This is THE most crucial Paradox in the Buddhism.

” As long as you have an intention to attain  Selflessness or  Enlightenment,

you can’t get it until you loose its intention.”

This sound almost like ” You can’t run as long as you got your legs ”  isn’t it.  How funny ! ! !

But this is true, you can’t run as long as you got legs. Ha Ha Ha   😀

——————–

Why this is true is, its true in the Buddhist’s context.  In the Buddhist’s context, when they says

anything about ” is there or not there ” it is not Physical existence of the object,

but  subjective conscious of its object.

So, as long as you are conscious of the legs or noticing its existence, in another word,

if you are thinking of it——– you can’t run (in its full potentials )

So, the Buddhist says, as long as you are conscious of your Self, and conscious about

your life, you can’t achieve its maximum potential.  Neither you get your Enlightenment.

( They are quite harsh aren’t they.   😀  )

In fact, there is an answer, leave the business to your subconscious.

Daily Job

” Your boring Job would lead you to the ZEN “

One of the exchange of the words with  Master Kogetsu ( Please refer to “Starting point—” ) and me

was  ” Zen is to fully become Who you are.   As you are a photographer, you got to become perfect

photographer, is the Zen ” —— so I returned,

” But, to find what is the Buddhism,  may need to look for somewhere else.  Look, Buddha himself

abandoned his roll to be the Royal Prince and became a Bikku to seek the truth “.

” What an  outrageous devil.   To compare yourself to Shakya-Muni Buddha is treacherous “.

———-

———-

As most of us think, to master the Zen we need to do a special practice ?

But as I explained before in ” Selflessness – Detachment ” the matter is the disconnection to the emotion

and to connect the signal to the Notion of the  ZEN.   Which  I explained  using a  word  [ Tag ] at

” Contradiction ” in reference to ” Lemon Zen “, practice itself can be anything. The matter is the end result.

———- The most boring, mundane practice which anyone can do to make your brain empty is

your daily job.  ( In my case, it was the photography then )

– – – – – – – ? ! – – – – – ! ! ! Isn’t it ?

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – ( I’m giving you a time to think )

———- Non of the Mantra said so.  Still, as a story of ” Buddha asked to sweep the garden to Churi Pantac

(known as Shuri Bantoku in Japan ) which lead him to attain the Enlightenment ”  is telling, there is a

crucial clue there.  The Mahayana Buddhism gradually came closer to recognize this.

(At this point, if you read ” Perfect Circle ” and ” Lemon Zen ” again you can see the matter clearer ).

Then you might make a question here.

” If an ordinary daily task can lead the people to get selflessness, can ordinary people

achieve enlightenment by themselves ? “————The answer is yes.  Since the Enlightenment

is not the Buddhism’s monopoly, but in the same time  Karma affect non Buddhist too.

Unfortunately, some were born to suffer.  Therefore, need to take longer way.

On my life, I met many unforgettable person who has achieved astonishingly high level

of contemplation and able to make themselves almost a noble Holy Man.

( I’m telling about those people in next post )

Hot or Cold

” Hinayana  vs  Mahayana “

There are two completely contradicting Buddhist proverb and the words of a Zen Master in Japan.

One is an old proverb which says ” When you emancipate your head and the heart, even a fire feel cold”

( Shinto wo mekkyaku sure-ba Hi mo mata suzushi ).

And the another.  When a Master of Zen was asked ” What is the (best) way to stand under a summer heat ”

( Ika-naruka, shyo-ka hou ? “)  The Master answered ” Get sweat under the heat, and shiver in winter chill ”

( Atsu-sa no Natsu wa ase wo kaki, samu-sa no Fuyu wa chijimi-agaru ).   – – – – – 😀

They are the old says and I have no idea who said it in the first place, yet still interestingly, the former is

a typical Hinayana expression and the later is the typical Mahayana – Zen expression.

——————–

The former, denies the head and heart, in another word the Self and the emotion.

But the Mahayana extended the logic further, as to deny even the idea of emancipation of the self,

(though, it must be noted that the Self in the Mahayana is, the Self once denied Self = Selfless Self ) therefore,

the Mahayana doesn’t deny the emotion (but in certain extent / in the limit of middle way ) so, if it’s hot its Hot.

So, undeniably I feel (especially since yesterday)  Oh ! its a winter. Its cold. (I wouldn’t kill my head and heart)

Everybody, Take care, keep warm —— (save some of you in the southern hemisphere )  🙂

Selflessness – Detachment

” How to get selfless state of the Mind “

After reading the previous post ” Selflessness Demonstrated “,  you may convinced

that the selflessness is nothing special and it is everywhere in our life.

Then you may start a question ” If everybody has selflessness, can all of us make

good Buddhists ?  ——- Not quite.

To become a Buddhist, one has to cross over the first varier, which is to learn to brake

off from the Ego, by doing the repetitive practice, unconditionally.

To accept this Duty  unconditionally, and able to keep doing it indicates, you have gave up your Ego.

( May not necessary the proof of  non-Ego, but Not accept is definitely the sign of  Ego )

Keep doing its practice endless times, you become get used with it and able to do without

thinking, and it will became your mundane daily routine.

In order to survive this boring tread-mill, your mind become apathetic, and become

emotionally detached from what you are actuary doing.  ———–( In Neurological term, the

threshold of the signal  became higher, therefore incoming repetitive signal loose the significant impact )

——It may looks a contradiction, while doing it in full commitment ( so-called mindfulness / full hearted )

but disconnected from the emotion, in the same time able to carry out perfect practice.

——————–

The emotion is not an essential component to do the perfect business,  in most of the situation

it is more of the destruction, otherwise a  Gynecologist couldn’t do their business.

Another example appeared in the brain scan analysis of the

Alzheimar’s cases, the reason why a patient loose the ability to recognize a family face is,

its visual signal lost the connection to the emotional region of the brain, while visual cortex  is still intact.

It is the matter of the control of the signal connection or to make association.

Even without making connection, each faculties of the brain can  works perfect.

——————–

As the emotion is directly connected to the basic instincts, such as the feeling of hunger or

I want to have this, I want fuck this woman etc etc, its forms fundamental part of the Self and Ego.

————First, detached from the raw basic emotion, then connect the signal in the brain

to the Spiritually conceived Notion or Ethos and to the activity of the life , is the Zen and the Buddhism.

Even though observing the self doing something, without having the emotional connection, it wouldn’t

produce the conscious of being as the Self,   This is The Selflessness.

Once a person mastered this control, it can be applied to other practice and to the whole life.

( This is why Half Buddhist or Thinking Buddhist couldn’t see the Buddhism. —- need to cross the varier first)

——————–

(Some of the reader may not want to agree with  this, as this theory seems (as far as I found) the

first of its kind in the history——-Neuro-scientists would confirm this, soon or later.  But the fact of that the

Zen monk is not emotional is medically tested and established fact—— simply nobody ever thought why )

—–

Fortunately or unfortunately, I went through this first varier in my youth, in the mountain.

To climb the mountain, we just accept the situation, and keep walking, days even a month.

Most of the time, there was no margin to exercise Ego.  We just carry on walking without cry.

———————

(I’m going to discuss spiritual (or even super natural) aspects of the Zen in near future)

Contradictions

” Step by step process of the Buddhism “- – – – – You can’t Jump “

Anybody who is patient enough to read through all those posts which started  March 09,

may spotted the funny contradictions here and there, this and that.

For instance, at ” Lemon Zen ” I wrote ” While cutting lemon, you have to think

” I’m doing  Zen ” —— and much later post ” Forget the Buddhism “.

How come ?

——————–

Buddhism is the wisdom, how to live one’s life, and change it to achieve one’s

maximum potential to fulfill the roll ofwhich the one has born to be.

——————–

The process of change is in steps or stage by stage.

But the hard part of this change is, it has to be changed in the person’s subconscious

level, which is not visible and not easy to manipulate like a piece on the chess board.

So that, on the beginning, you have to start the practice under the tag of ” Buddhism ”

or ” Zen ” and imprint it deep into your subconscious.

Once the file was established and you got used with it as a routine, and on the end,

you have to get rid of even the file name, as it is no longer a part of you but whole of yourself.

——– Often it was described as a boat to cross the river, you need the boat only on

that stage which you don’t need to carry after crossing  ( boat is heavy isn’t it.  🙂  )

——————–

The process of this, is like a mathematics   -A x -B = +AB.   ( ! ! ! )

First you negate the existence, then apply the negation to its idea itself, so,

everything become + (positive !—–but they are not the same as before ).

The first negation was reflected in the Hinayana and the second process is Mahayana.

So that a beginner has to start to learn the denial of ego, greed, desire etc, while following

strict rules and the way of the life to achieve quiet subdued (peaceful) life as a good boy.

Then the Mahayana revolution put the eyes on the ordinary forks on the street, (not the

professional monks)  who has to carry ordinary daily life on, running business, making love

etc etc, as a man was naturally born as it is.  And shifted the emphasis from its appearance

of the life, to the way how the person’s mind inside works.  Do it in selfless way.

—— Therefore, the solution in  Mahayana can be utterly contradictive in Hinayana.

——————–

As the Buddhism had evolved in its own logics, a person’s steps follows in similar  way.

Micky couldn’t be in the Hinayana, but yes it can be in the Mahayana.

Enjoy to be a Micky.  All of your life ahead.

***

Jharte Jharte Para Jharte, Para sum Jharte Bodhi sowaka.

PS: I’ve been wondering  many years to find the meaning of this word  Jharte.

One day, I noticed this word was spoken in an  Asian Radio.

So, I asked a man in a news-agency.  He replied ” Oh, its mean, Go Go Go ” ! ! !

( Its same as the call in the Flamenco Dance, Ohlle, Assa or Amajha.     Cool     🙂 )

Selflessness demonstated

” This is the Demonstration you can discover the Selflessness On The Spot “

In this post I’m going to demonstrate what is the Selflessness and

what is the Meditation should be in the simplest and clearest term.

—— m m m ?      Interested ?

Until here, to read those lines, did you noticed, your eyes has been reading this ?

I don’t think so.

Unless you got poor eye sight and struggling to read the screen, your eyes is

out of your scope, out of your mind. ————-(So, the Mantra says, Its exist as not exist)

When we read, we just read without noticing the existence of the eyes, let alone

a knowledge how visual signal running and processed in the brain etc etc.

——————-

Until you have read and get the meaning of what I am talking about,

your eyes is just taking the pattern of letters.  You are not thinking.

Neither you are noticing who is reading this.

———-As I asked you and you were alerted, then you start

to think ” I AM reading this, who else ”

(so there was a Zen Mondo ” Who was reading this, minute ago ? “)

——————–

Then, try reading a line of words alphabet by alphabet.

In this input your brain has to work harder to make sense of the word, what was written here.

As you try to think and process the word, it takes much longer time.

Here, you must be convinced, the automatic process of the Reading Routine is much quicker.

——————–

Now you must be convinced, how most of our activity was carried

out without we are noticing it. We are doing it unconsciously,

and because of the teachings of Buddhism is based on this subconscious activities,

the argument of ” Who did this without my conscious ” is

persistent all through the history. (And some are doing even today  😀 )

——————–

When you read those first few lines, YOU were just reading, nothing else,

otherwise you couldn’t concentrate to read—— its mean you were in the

Mindfull state.

As you been doing this without even noticing that the eyes are reading NOR

having the conscious of  ” I AM reading “.  This is the Selfless state.

———-Do you think is this too simplified and lost the glory of Holy Grail ?

Don’t over glorify.   It is your arrogance and the delusions.  Truth is always simple.

——————–

To apply this condition to the sitting, as sitting is supposed to be just sitting nothing else,

(in Theory  :-)), it must be the best practice to practice not thinking

or selflessness——– so the ancient Guru thought.

But we are here in such noisy destruction full world, it is very hard

to vacate the brain.  Even worse, we are accustomed to sit to think.

——– So, if you are struggling to attain selfless meditation, don’t worry, relax, sit on

a sofa, forget the Notion of meditation and play a non-vocal  slow music to just fill the atmosphere.

Keep you eyes open and fix it on something, insignificant object on front of you.

(As the visual signal of insignificant object stays the same, the brain start to ignore the signal all together)

But as your eyes has been fixed to the object, brain couldn’t visualize anything else, and soon

it become empty. (but don’t fallen asleep  😀 ) ——But ! getting sleepy is not necessary bad, it is

the sign of your brain found nothing to do, its mean its empty ——though, if you fallen asleep,

you lose the opportunity to see the Dharma of which you may only able to see it in this state.

It is the Paradoxical state, almost sleep but fully awake, without even knowing you are awake.

This is the reason why many of the primitive religion (?) resorted with hallucinogenic drug.

Any how, have the emptied brain  is more important than the posture.

——–Don’t torture your legs. It’s no good to your body which was given by the Dharma.

If you happen to live near the sea or river, go there and absorbed by

the atmosphere and the sound of water which is persistent but not

in the exact pattern. (So, the Brain wouldn’t bother to decipher the meaning—–its just the noise)

Or the woods is also good to be there in the same effect.

The Nature is where we came from.  So, just relax.

——————–

Don’t struggle to attain something in the Buddhism. Intention itself is bad.

Don’t worry , there is nothing there.   So that you don’t need to even

boast that you are The Buddhist, just be it.  Never think you are anything special.

If you are born to go to the Hell, go to the Hell.

Once you accept this, you don’t need to worry anymore while you are still alive.

The matters in the Buddhism is to live now in peace and with confidence.

So that, struggle to find something in the Buddhism is the silliest thing.

Since, as long as you  want to do intentionally, its mean you are THINKING.

When you sit, without noticing even you are sitting, this is THE sitting without thought.

Forget Buddhism, forget Enlightenment, forget the notion of Meditation. Just sit.

——– Use the words from Michael  ” Let it go ”

When you let it go, you will get whole of your life.(strangely ! )

This is the Paradox in the Buddhism.