PERFECT or INPERFECT ?
Many of you who read especially the previous post ” Limit of TRUTH “ may be wondering
what I was intended to say. ( In fact I was showing, how futile to hit the wall on the end of cul-de-sac and
the limitation of the approach toward the life by way of thinking )
Fresh comer to the Buddhism might be bemused or even felt a disappointment as I’m not selling
the Buddhism while saying ” This is the perfect Answer, buy Buddhism” —- like another vending post.
But this is what the Buddhism and the greatness of the Buddha’s teachings are.
It is not revealing what the structure of the Dharma nor to teach how to control it, but to learn the
way to follow it through practice, and the gradual change of the way of the Life and its mind–set.
Buddha was not a Devine figure nor Prophet telling glorious story.
He was a great teacher who taught the TRUTH of the LIFE through practice.
—
As it is the TRUTH, it is not necessary a sweet story nor deceptive salvation story, as harsh words in
the Four Noble Truth epitomizes. Since the Dharma is strict, not necessary friendly to the mankind
still it is only the rule beyond the human control or intention, Buddha taught the way to follow it.
And this WAY is what Buddha mentioned last in the Four Noble Truth .
To follow the unknowable uncertainty and its changing nature of the very Dharma,
Buddha was teaching its on the spot user–manual, not the analysis of its tendency or psychology.
Same as how to use a computer, to know how CPU was manufactured, with which material and so on,
wouldn’t help at all for its usage. All about the mater is how we use it without causing clash or over heat
and complete the task —– therefore able to have smooth happy life (then nirvana).
( But mind you, the Life and the Dharma is not as simple and cheap as PC, you can’t buy another one 😀 )
This approach became more apparent as in the development of the Hinayana Buddhism.
It is not the Buddha’s idea or invention, it was his discovery in the function of the Dharma.
Hence, it is the teaching to see and become aware how the Dharma exists in ourself.
—— or the Life to be accommodated in the Dharma.
So that, it was often dabbed as ” Life in harmony with the Nature “
When the matter is not imposing own idea but to be accommodated by the Dharma, it is the matter of the
acceptance, not the choice —– in fact there is no choice but to accept (—– with fight or else 😀 )
Whether the Buddhism Accommodating the Dharma or Dharma accommodating the Buddhism may sound
strange though, because of this accommodating nature of the Buddhism, the Buddhism can accommodates
any another religion, race whoever ( them to exists is also the expression of the Dharma —– if they are
contradicting the Dharma they couldn’t be there in the first place)
—– and exactly the same context, accept any situation. ! ! !
Hence, Buddhism can be in the millionaire’s life and in the murderous gang star’s life too.
( So, there is my old post ” Zen in a Battle field ” 😀 )
—
Thinking and judging in our way, and imposing our thinking, ( whether it is logical or not ) to the Dharma
is noting but an alienation or even a disrespect to the Dharma.
With an insatiable apatite to find whether one atom is in two places in the same time or not, or why
the rabbit bonking a lot etc ( 😀 ) might be in a legion unknowable.
So that, all about the teachings of Buddha is to eliminate the own thinking, conscious Self.
When conscious Self is not there, what is Mr. A standing here ? —— It is a manifestation
of the Dharma taking a shape of Mr. A
—-
When you face your own life in Mushin, you see only the immediate matter, the abstract
interpretation or romantic dream can not be there —– hence you are concentrating to the matter.
Being in Mushin, the subconscious program ( Dharma ) which is most relevant to the matter ( whether you are
aware, it is there or not) will deal with the matter —– hence you can deal with it in most efficient way.
To deal with its matter, only small part of the Dharma ( and its wisdom )was needed. Yet still, all the
Dharma is in us —– may be another occasion we may need somewhat fancy part of it.
Like Window Program, it came as a bundle, OS to graphic program, text document, video etc etc,
when you buy Laptop, it comes together —– you open and use the program for the task to task.
Some of the program, you may never use —– it’s still there, and something you may not understand what
it is for —– and the most basic phenomena of how the electron behaving in the billion of semiconductors
in the CPU—– I don’t think you are care about it at all.
Don’t think, just use the computer and do the task, Just Do It.
So, Don’t ask or think about whether they are perfect or not, or showing the Truth or not.
It is not the computer to make you to achieve Nirvana, but the work you have done.
—— Funny you may feel with this metaphor
—— But this is your Life and the Teaching of Buddha.
___/\___
—
Limit of TRUTH
In the human endeavour to know the TRUTH, there is an amazing parallel between
Nuclear Physics and the Philosophy.
When they came close to the limit, there are unsurpassable barrier and the unknowable.
In the Ontology and the Epistemology front, they come to the same cul-de-sac “Is it really there ? —– How
Do you know ?” —– Isn’t it, you just think it is there ? —– How do yo know, what you are seeing or you
believe, it’s there is true ? —– It might be just a glitch of the electric pulse in the brain. Isn’t it ?
—
Science is an attempt to answer this question. One approach is to increase the number of the observation
and make a statistic assumption ” Since, most of the people saw the same, it can be presumed to be true”
( still, a last person who saw the otherwise, might be seeing the only truth 😀 )
Another approach is to define the object itself ” Whether you can see it or not, this object ( or often the
phenomenon) has so-much-so size and the weight (mass) and behave such and such. And those measurement
has been tested with known objects and always showed its reading was true”
———- Though, when scientists pushed it to the limit, beyond the Newtonian , beyond the Einstein’s
theory, to the Quantum theory —– what they found is utter uncertainty. ” It can be here or there” and
now even the time scale becoming not certain. ” It is here at moment, but in the same time it might exist
in the future as the same thing ( You are happened to be here, but in the same time somewhere else or
might be in a past or in a future, as exactly as you are)
—-
There is a phenomenon called diffraction in the behaviour of the wave. Water wave, sound wave even
the light wave —– when a wave go through narrow gap, the wave spread to the both side of the gap.
When a wave go through two ( or more ) gaps, the spread patterns of the wave create moire pattern.
In a case of the light, the pattern is bright and dark band and the distance between the bright band is
depend on the wave length and the distance of the gaps. (X-lay crystallography is using this effect —–
indirectly measuring the size of the gaps and direction = distance of the atoms and their alignments )
And when a scientist tested this with just one photon, he still saw the moire pattern. Its mean
one photon could pass two gaps in the same moment and showed the diffraction at two gaps—– how ? ? ?
It was a dramatic display of the Quantum behavior of the light and the proof of the theory —— though,
it showed no clear-cut truth of the world, but showed the uncertain nature of the nature.
Even more bizarre fact is if two electronic detectors were placed behind of two gaps, only one photon was
detected either of one gap. — depend on how it was observed, the same phenomenon was seen differently.
In other words, no absolute truth can be existing.
—– Strangely you may think though, all those advancement of the science is owing to virtually just one
advancement of the electronics, the design of so-called OP amp / instrumentation amp.
Whether a detector is photo sensor or current sensor, when the more amplification was enabled, the more
faint signal can be detected (while eliminating or canceling the nose)—– hence even smaller particles
or minute change can be detected.
The trouble is, even if we are capturing the effect of just single photon or semi-particle though, as it was read
as an electronic signal, nobody knows whether they are really solid particles or just a vortex of the energy.
Far from proving the fundamental of the matter / existences / Dharma, it made the situation even worse.
—
Well known expression in the Mahayana Buddhism ” Exists as not exists” —– My understanding of this
expression is, It is the way to express the phenomena in our feeling in the subconsciousness. —– we feel
it is there though as it is in the subconscious, it is invisible and out of conscious, hence not there.
But before I came to this understanding, I thought, Buddha had an incredible insight to know the Quantum
nature of the Dharma. May be, but not likely —– so, some says, Buddha must come from the outer-space,
from the another universe where having far more advanced civilization though, I wouldn’t jump a gun.
Even with the advancement of the science and the technology, we came no way closer to the truth,
far from it, What we found is the definite uncertainty of the TRUTH.
So, this must be the reason why Buddha kept his silence as it is unknowable. And no use to us.
—– So that, I’m more interested in the tendency of the coincidences, which is out of the science 🙂
___/\___
—
IF only – – –
Many years ago, when I was doing a photo-assignment for a big department store, I made an excuse of
a cause of inadequacy, or blaming the situation of my Court Case in the High Court.
( If not I could have done in different way —– kind)
The editor, who happen to be a seasoned Zenist, shouted me at once ” There is no IF, in the life”.
As if it was a hit of lightning, this words opened my eyes. And it’s lightening went through my spine.
—–
Yes, this is it. All the Buddhism knowledges or crèche went down to the depth of my subconscious where
the reality of the life lives. ( We can have a dream, though only able to live in reality )
We got only one life. What ever happened there, is either given by the Dharma, or the result of
my own Karma —— in either case they are unavoidable or inevitable. There was no choice.
Its mean, any excuse or complaint is utterly waste of the time. Since, no-one has the opportunity to
have his life Re-Do and tinker the past, and no time left to patch up anyway.
Only the way left is, anything for further on —— now on, has to do the best. Just Do It.
The Life I have done and the Life I’m doing is my only life. No but, no excuse, since only
the person who judge it, is myself. There is no point to deceive myself or to dodge a word.
Anyhow the Dharma is inside of me —— there is no escape.
A convenient excuse of “IF” doesn’t work. 😀
( In this aspect, the Buddhism is very harsh.
Unless otherwise Buddha wouldn’t have defined that “The Life is suffering” in his Four Noble Truth )
——– After many years, I heard the same words from two more person, one was even a young art student,
and realized, it was not Master Takeda’s invention, but more likely a popular phrase then, still it didn’t
reduce the value of his teachings.
Simply because ” There is no IF, in the life” is absolutely true.
___/\___
—
Let it Go !
In somebody’s blog (apparently a follower of the Zen Buddhism) I’ve stumbled an interesting word
” Who stole my Zafu ( small cushion for sitting)”
—– its mean, without Zafu he couldn’t meditate, hence he couldn’t get enlightenment = somebody is
obstructing him to get enlightened. And saying, not let it go = not giving away the secret / keep it for
oneself is a greed and envy of others getting the truth. It is the monopoly of the truth.
I couldn’t stop burst into laughing. 😀 😀 ( But he is a very honest man !)
The person is quoting some words of past Masters, so has read some books and saying ” not let it go—”
indicates he is not a beginner though —– ? ? ? —– I wonder isn’t he aware what he is saying, itself
contradict the logic ? —– If “let it go” is the matter, why he is keep asking ?
Yes, Don’t bother any more “Just let it go” —– do it without Zafu.
—–
Looks funny though, the most crucial question is “let it go — of What ? ” Is there anything to let go ?
A novice and even a (at least the years past) seasoned Buddhist having this misconception —– but the
meaning of let it go is, Let go such notion itself.
In fact, in order to keep their “authority”, the establishment (and the so-called teachers) are pretending
to hold the Ark though, there is nothing in it, other than the Myth —– in its best, otherwise a deception.
That is why, the past Great Masters who found it, all described it as a Dog Shit.
Simply because the Truth, only the Truth is the Dharma. And the Dharma is here already.
But to see the Dharma (in fact to see anything) need to see it with clear eyes, without having any
preconception, deluded idea, Ego, even the Self itself —— hence need to be in Mushin.
Strangely you might feel, it include the notion of the Buddhism too.
If you having a belief that you are a Buddhist, you are not enlightened Buddhist but the one
only pretending or showing off.
(Don’t ask me, “If it is the case, why my blog is here”. Please read the earliest post.—– It was my Karma)
—-
So, you may ask, If it is the case, What is the point to be a Buddhist ?
Well, the answer is only you can find it out. It is not a Sale Item nor fancy gadget. There is no catalog.
It might come, might not come though, the one thing definitely certain is, as long as you expecting it,
it never come. Because you hadn’t let such idea go.
———- In my case, it seems the Dharma is keep watching me and keep giving me the sign,
in a form of the number (where ever I go, or do what so-ever — rather annoying) (Ref; 8150 Story)
So far, having quite peaceful life without getting ill —– might be thanks to the Dharma —– or
might be just a sheer coincidence. Who knows. But what do I need to ask more ? Neither I care.
( I suppose, I did let any expectation go long time ago —– may be. I don’t remember 😀 )
The beauty in the Buddhism is its carefree life. I even don’t need to remember that I’m a Buddhist 🙂
( The secret behind is, the life style itself has been simplified and it is carried out without need to think about,
other than something new and creatively challenging. So, Just do it. —– I’m perfectly contented ! )
So, be relaxed, don’t bother Zafu. You can sit in anywhere —– isn’t this, an enlightened freedom ?
___/\___
—-
CHILD’S VIEW — DHARMA ?
One of my friend who is a cool customer to my blog said to me
” Hey, your theory has broken down, Although you’ve been saying , the children unconsciously
accumulates the Dharma into his subconscious, yet, you yourself didn’t know and had to learn
why the energy in a battery lighten up a bulb “
” Ha ha ha, yes I’m well aware of that. That’s why I put that story there “
” When the time of Buddha, the world having less invisible, let alone electronic gadgets. The life what the
Father saw was the same as what the Kids are seeing and the Nature is the same Nature.
Yes, the Kids today are living in a false environment with full of electronic gadgets, but what actually they
are doing in the LCD screen ? —- Lethal combat ? Car racing ? peeping Naked Woman ? —- What’s new ?
What makes difference, between beating an enemy with stick or shining Star War’s sward ?
Or, racing horses or Super Car ? Is any mutant beautiful Woman here today ?
The signal running in the body and the brain is the same electric pulse. 2500 years ago and today.
Neurology was utterly unknown 2500 years ago but you know it today though, has it given you any new
sight,and new sensation ? (You still have to deal with exactly the same kind of headache with your wife. 😀 )
—-
On the time of Buddha, human being was seeing the nature in much more direct and naked manner.
All the system were more visible. Cooking on open fire, instead of micro-wave. 🙂
Still, with a heat, carrot soften and then disintegrates. Oil lamp light up the room, same as LED light.
We now having nicely packaged, well covered-up environment though, the basics are still the same,
and what the child learned is more or less the same —– see the brothers sisters grow, see the people
getting old and die. The seeds germinate and grow to make yet another seeds which needs good
watering and fertilizer and so on. This is the same Dharma.
———- And more importantly, even today, how many people remember such as Ohm’s Law, and even if
knowing it, how many of them using it in their life ?
What about a Super Nova in the sky to do with anybody’s life ?
In 90% of the case, electronics mean, when to charge the battery, or to take the battery out to reset the
gadget —- in its best, and other than a buzz-word and a pretense, it is not existing in their life. Merely using it.
There wouldn’t make any difference to know invisible and unknowable. ( Well, except Virus and Bacteria )
Kids playing with computer without knowing what the BIOS inside is configuring the hardware set-up, still
knows when a plant in a pot needs water.—– This is the indicator to have good Dharma in him ( her ).
(The trouble is, even if having it, still not know how to follow it—– or over riding it with own Ego )
—– Convinced ? ”
Good. ___/\___
—
Virture of DHARMA (2)
When I was a small boy, my brother showed me an electric trick
of a small light bulb connected to a battery with thin wire, and light
it on and off, which he learned in the school on the day.
I learned the trick and improvised it further and made a model of
town (?) which having street with electric-poles carrying supply cable
and street-light, a house with a light inside etc etc.
—
Then a question arose —– ? ? ?
Why electric power goes every where, where ever the wire was
connected. And regardless how many light bulbs or length of the wire connected.
( Well, anyhow they are only few bulbs and few meters of wire —– it was a kid’s play )
Why the power doesn’t refuse to go one place or why a bulb some meters away, light up in the same instant
with another bulb. —– If we are walking on the street, it takes longer to get far, and not necessary go all the
places. That was a COMMON SENSE I have acquired so far until then.
So that, I had to learn “Incredible, Invisible Phenomena” and its rules !
(It was my start for the unknown frontier 🙂 )
———- Strangely, even though I’m using pretty big IC etc, to build electronic circuits these days, still I’m
not necessary sure, why electron has to go just because it is conductive, in more or less in the same speed ?
( Ultimately still there is no explanation Why a material such as lead gives positive voltage and lead oxide
gives negative voltage in a lead accumulator, and electron start to move when they are connected with wire ! )
The same can be said, why the light has to go even the end of the universe, just because it is an open space ?
———- Why they never refuse TO GO THERE saying I DON’T WANT. 😀
You may say, simply it is just an emission of energy —– ? Really ?
Those seemingly imperative phenomena are still puzzles to me. Why the light which got no fuel can travel
to infinity ? —– is it a kind of inertia ? But a Photon which got no mass can have inertia ? And why it bend
a course when it go through near heavy star while having no mass —– how gravity can affect it ?
—– Anyhow, it seems everything spread and try to get the state of even balance. (Light brighten the dark. :-))
So, it is safe to say, the basic tendency of the Dharma is to gain an equilibrium with its perpetual
spreading dynamism, which keeps changing moment to moment.
In fact this is one of the fundamentals of the Physics called Entropy.
( Hence, even a culture, knowledge, technology spread (so does the MacDonald 😀 )—– and applying
this view may explain the Democracy —– Dharma hate the concentration of the power, Dictator 😀 )
—
Contrasting to this, the existence and its activities of the Life-form is having different principle.
As I wrote before, the Dharma also support the Life-form to exists.
To create the Life, it is necessary to configure the selected atoms and molecules to combine
in specific order and create a pattern, as organic matter —— and ultimately the DNA.
So that the Dharma having two-way process, one is out-warding dispersing process, and the other is
centripetal combining process. —– Any Life-form has to go through those two-way process.
This is the Life’s fundamental Karma. The Wheel of the Life. ——– Process of configuring
the matter and the structure, then its destruction / disintegration.
This is the reincarnation in the Buddha’s teachings. ( It is nothing to do with Vedic Atoman and their
idea of reincarnation of perpetual soul,—– which is the idea Buddha rejected )
—
Life’s centripetal process and its tendency is the self-replication of the pattern (DNA) and the self-preservation,
in another word, it is self-centered. Though, Life-form is only a very peculiar small part of the Dharma,
naturally Dharma is dominated by the wider rules which is out-warding dynamism —– spread and
gain the equilibrium. So that, even the inside of our body, chemical exchange such as Oxygen and CO2 or
balance of Hormone etc or even the communication of Nerve signal are all following the dispersing principle.
And remarkably the breeding, as its name Propagation suggests, is the activity to spread the species
as wide as possible, and to fertilize as many as possible.
Inevitably such as mankind’s existence is heavily entwined those conflicting principles / Dharma.
Therefore pushing one aspect too far always create fatal stress / unbalance with external wider world.
So that, to keep a good balance with the environment and the society is the crucial matter
for the survival.
Too much exploitation of the Nature, let alone destroying the Nature, would lead to a heavy repercussion.
( Which we mankind is facing this very moment )
——- Interesting point is, as we are having the Operation System which follows the principle of
the Dharma inside of us, and the sensing mechanism of those operation in our Feeling /
Subconsciousness as the Default, some of the very sensitive people can see or sens those balances.
— For instance, an inherent feeling of compassion and the drive for the Charity is one of its manifestation
of the internal Dharma —– to help or spread the wealth to others, is a psychological mechanism to lessen
the unevenness of the society. If the wealth and the power is evenly spread, there wouldn’t be a conflict, and
it would be a Peace and a Harmony in its society and with the environment. — unless somebody with Ego and
Greed want to have all for him (her ?) self. ( Unfortunately this is the case too often )
—
If you know the Buddhism, you may found the description here is somewhat familiar.
As a matter of fact, I thought I was approaching from the scientific observation. —– then realized,
it is nothing new. —– They are all what Buddha found and taught then.
But this fact indicates, this is not a fancy observation or theory of today. They are the same findings and
the insight, by the man of 2500 years ago, who had no modern scientific knowledges.
Simply because the Dharma is the same Dharma.
—
Too much centripetal, selfish mind / Ego and Greed invites heavy repercussion and would lead to
the Self destruction. Therefore, be charitable and share the compassion with others.
Too extreme is also detrimental. Better stay humble and in the Middle way.
And above all, as the Dharma is, open your eyes wide and spread your view. Don’t get stuck
with your narrow view and narrow thinking or cling to a fixed idea. —– Be flexible to the changes
as the world is changing with its dynamism and the flow, every moment to moment.
As our thinking is emanated from our centripetal mind or Ego, better be detached from it and
embrace the Dharma. Stay in Mushin. Spread and fuse your mind to the Nature / Dharma.
—-
You must be amazed, all those Virtue and Virtues wisdom are not deduced from the concept, but they are
the inherent Rules or tendency of the Dharma itself. This is the Default settings you can see !
And this is the proof of the greatness of the Buddha’s teachings.
What Buddha did was, just pointed the Dharma with his finger. That all.
( But funnily enough, in 2500 years, so-called Buddhists have been gazing at his finger )
We need to see the Dharma with our own eyes. Which is on front of us.
___/\___
—
Virtue of DHARMA — What ?
Deep in the bottom of Dharma, there is the Physics. And the basis of Physics, there are Atoms
which behaves or having its tendency according to their structure such as the number of
Electrons they got. And the Atoms are made by the Nuclear particles, which were made by
the Sub-particles —– and those Sub-particles seemed consist even smaller Sub-particles —– and so on.
( According to the theories. —– Yet, nobody knows the truth, or it seems to be the unknowable. 🙂 )
I don’t think I need to listing-up the names of those and pretend to know anything about it.
Just leave the matter to the Nuclear Physicists —– as I’m not. I’m only an outsider and merely qualified
to ask a question to the superficial phenomena.
Yet this question must be the ghastly fundamental serious one.
” Is DHARMA virtuous ? ”
M m m ———— So far what I found, the answer is Yes.
But if we take a Humanitarian stance, it is not necessary benign.
This was the reason why Buddha bluntly defined it in his Four Noble Truth, The life is suffering,
getting ill and get old and die, even though we are covered under the Dharma.
——
Long since a question of where the notion of Virtue in the Buddhism come from, was a conundrum to me.
The general morality is a necessity to keep the society’s unity and the peace, in other words it is the
obvious commonsense though, when it comes to a critical tricky situation, such as who should survive
when they faced to a crisis, blink of mass extinction, demise of the tribe such as a famine etc,
the compassion to others etc —– where those human virtue came from ?
To make it as a human duty to be compassionate, which appeared in the Buddha’s teachings from its
earliest period, together with Four Noble Truth —– Its suggest, Buddha was fully aware that Dharma
is not necessarily kind to the man, hence need to take our own measure of helping each other.
Otherwise, Buddha would have said “Ask your God to help you” like all other religion.
But Buddha did know, No such convenient things in this world. Buddha’s eyes were seeing
much larger picture ( Not having the man in the center, but the Harmony of the Universe in total)
—–
To see the nature and its evolutionary history, I can see the Dharma’s incredible kindness towards
the extremely rare existence —– the LIFE.
What sort of coincidence combined the some Atoms and created basic structural element like
amino-acid, and then simple virus / bacteria kind of Life form.
Far beyond the mathematical probability, while against the Principle of Entropy, yet congregated selected
Atoms and Molecules and to create Life, could not occurred in accident. ( —– If it was an easy occurrence
in chemistry, with today’s technology, artificial Lives could have been created already. )
Any moment in the history, in any global event, this process could have been halted and the Life could be
extinct long ago. —– But amazingly this history on the Earth continued till now —- billion of years,
as if there was a will to make it continue.
—
To make it continue, it is necessary the system of the existences has to be balanced,
ie; sustainable in today’s buzz word —– in other words intricate equilibrium has to be met.
This is What Dharma mean, and Buddha meant —– as only a part of the Dharma, man’s life
couldn’t be alone and trouble–free —– In fact, the man’s greed and the arrogance to expect and
imagine ” It should be trouble–free” is the cause of trouble in its own.
The balance is for the total system, not for the man’s convenience, since human is only a minute part of it.
Among the all the existences ( Dharma ), only but the human, is having their own mind and the mean
to go against the Dharma’s Rule.
And this arrogant mind, greed is expecting more than the fair share of which Dharma allocated to man.
That is why the Buddha’s teachings says, to be humble and abandon the Ego / Self, in order to
achieve manifestation of the Dharma within —– Abandon the Self = Mushin ( Mind of No-Mind )
which mean let the Subconscious ( the reflection of the Dharma —> Please Refer to previous post )
to rule your life.
Like a compassion is in one’s Emotion / Subconscious (reflection of the Dharma ) inherently Virtuous. So, the
Virtue in the Buddhism teachings is not from the God or convention of the society, but it is the Dharma itself.
Hence, the teachings of Buddha is ” Not against, or struggle with Dharma, but live with it,
live in accordance to the Dharma. It’s mean, observe it by yourself, and aware and listen the
Dharma deep inside of you. And to live with the Dharma in Mushin, prevails the Virtue in you.
This is the Enlightenment, which lead you to the Nirvana”
—
When man-kind violated the Rules and destroy the balance of the Earth’s Climate Equilibrium,
the sea stream changed its course, and caused the heavy rain here and there.
Simply, the Dharma is adjusting new Equilibrium —– and, it happened to be in the Australia or Brazil.
It looks as if the Earth is intentionally giving a revenge. —– No it is not, it just happen to be there, where
no human used to live —– human is the one invaded the land.
Don’t exercise your Ego and Greed, and impose your own Idea.
Virtue is not in one’s mind, but in the DHARMA.
Here a Paradox again, you can’t deliberately exercise Virtue, it’s appears in your Mushin.
___/\___
—
Mistake in Philosophy — Answer in ZEN
You might heard a story to extract latent memory from a witness or surviving victim, by way of hypnotism,
such as a profile of assailant or even from pass-by, the car number parked on the street then.
The car number may be utterly trivial and useless to a pass-by, still we may remember surprising detail.
They are the Subconscious Memory or our Hidden Data bank.
When we consciously watch the scene, we only pick up the information which we got interest.
And this selection is not consistent. It will be biased by the preceding event, experience or a suggestion.
If you are interested in fashion, you may pay great deal of attention to the shop windows and
somebody’s style, but remember nothing else, as the mind was just stuck there.
But when our mind is free and open we can see the scene as it is, and able to memorize everything.
Of cause those data are not just visual, but also the information from other sensors, and the internal feeling,
subconscious thoughts as well, which has been accumulated since you are born.
From those immense amount of data, only minute part of them, which matches to the precast category or
notion, it become conscious memory and it can be transferred to higher legion of the brain (New Cortex)
to be used for the conscious thinking process.
—– Hence, the data available to such as the linguistic, logical thinking process, are only a miniscule part of
the whole data bank, the answer or conclusion we make is always inadequate and ” Not the exact Truth ”
which we knew it. —– So. we always say ” Don’t think in your head. Find the answer in your heart”.
—
It is obvious, our Hidden Memory, Subconscious Data bank retain the whole information of our environment,
and ourself. In other words, the faithful picture of the world and the information of ourself / True Self.
And they are not just a static images but their dynamism, tendency and the Rules,how the things
work, and how this True Self has been behaving and prefer what etc.
Its mean, The Dharma / The whole existence and its Rules within, are all mirrored here.
This is the very meaning of ” Everybody possess the Dharma inside”.
And literally the Self is a part of it, the Dharma, and as everything in there are without any
partition, no separate awareness watching the Self or Subject, there is no feeling of alienation.
———- Many years ago, somebody asked me whether a mad-man can have The Dharma in him as well.
I said, yes. Because, even a mad-man got the same body and its function, feel the same pain,feel the
same hunger, see the same, hear the same, and may have more or less the same emotion — the process
of those information may be different, so that from the same image of black cat, he may interpret it as
a Devil —– still, his Data bank having much more accurate picture of the world than his twisted thinking.
In the same context, even an idiot who lack the higher process in the brain, still having more or less
the same Data in his subconscious, it is nothing but the Dharma.
—
When we think, quite often we use a notion which we have imported ( in other words not emanated from our
own Data bank, but intellectually learned ), since it didn’t have the original source and the process to
deduce, it couldn’t have an accord to the person. As a matter of fact, even a notion the person knew well
still,as its using the notion of the words, it is no more than a proxy. The complexed idea having the situation
even worse. Even an idea constructed from the own Data bank (which came from own experiences and the
observation) when it was imposed to the phenomenon, it doubles the uncertainty. —— Observer and
be Observed.—– The word (a notion) HAPPINESS is just a name of category, so that, its realities has
millions of variations, and an observer is just one of 40 billions.
The certainty is only the statistical probability. There can not be any absoluteness exist. Despite this,
Philosopher often impose his own idea to interpret a phenomenon. Hoping, his words can covey
what he conceived. (and expecting others can guess the same )
Against this fundamental jeopardy, Zen abandons the conversion to the notion and the words.
( Hence, relying on the Direct Transmission)
And abandons the stance to be an observer, or more precisely, abandon to be an observer as an Ego.—
When facing a phenomenon or others,
Zenist just open his mind in Mushin. (without Ego without Thinking—– hence no conversion)
And leave the matter to the perception in his Subconscious = Dharma’s judgement or reaction.
(As the Observer and be Observed are both naked, both of the Dharma fuse together.
And the equilibrium will be spontaneously prevailed in the accordance of the Dharma)
This is the Ichijo (Oneness) in Zen —— the answer to the jeopardy of the Dualism.
___/\___
—-
Healing POWER
There is a widely believed healing effect to stay in the nature, especially wooded forest.
And, I just picked up interesting news about another way to get Healing —– 🙂
An American Holly Wood actress, Helena Bonham Carter said that she found, to cleaning her kitchen
having good healing power, hence she stopped to go healing session as cleaning has even better effect.
On this news program, two psychologists gave their responses.
One was very negative, saying don’t believe, cleaning the kitchen is nothing but a chore.
And the other was much more positive and said, to have nice clean kitchen is a pleasure and it can be a
good exercise too.
—–
Very interesting, —– because, provably the purpose of this blog is all condensed in here.
In the Buddhism, related story is in Churi Pantac ( in Japanese Shuri Bantok ) the one who was
directed by Buddha to sweep the ground of Deer Park, and his Enlightenment 10 years later.
On the beginning, he might not like to sweep the garden while other disciples are in the session to
listen the Buddha’s teachings. ( He had learning difficulty )
So, he might have started his work as a hated chore with frustration and a resentment though.
Five years later, he might be even tired to think about his complaint and became humble.
Nine years later, he might have become expert to sweep the garden and even able to do all the
task while eyes closed, as all the works became almost automatic.
Then, ten years later, he became aware, he is the man to make the garden spotlessly clean,
where the greatest Teacher, Buddha to walk.
What is the honor and the pleasure !
With this deep satisfaction and the dedication to the Buddha, what else of the
Nirvana will be awarded to him ? And Buddha knew him reached the enlightenment.
—–
A question to you. Why you are here in this world, and happen reading this ?
Did you expect to find smart short-cut to get enlightenment here ?
Do you think you can live while picking a cherry avoiding anything else ?
Still, you must know there are lots of burdens in the life, troubles, pains—– and is this
the reason why you want to pick a cherry as much as possible for your pleasure ?
—— Does it mean, you are having two lives, one is in pain and the other with pleasure ?
And is this alienation, double faced life is the reality of the life, you think ?
You are totally wrong. Where is your true self and the totality ?
For some, cooking is a pleasure and for most of them eating is pleasure, but never the cleaning.
Though, other than few millionaire, doing shopping, cooking, eating, then cleaning is the part of the life.
As long as the one is thinking to pick a cherry, the one can not get the totality / wholeness of the life,
not mention piece or happiness. In fact such life is one part entangled by the vicious Karma and
other part is drowned in the hunger of the desire to have pleasure.
This is why the woman (in this case, its happen to be an actress Helen ) found to regain the totality of
the life —— makes her feel healing.
It is the same kitchen, the same cups, same dishes, same washing basin —— do the same every time
every day is exactly the practice of the Buddhism. Soon, the one can learn the way to be in Mushin,
and the kitchen get clean, ready for next comfortable cooking. —— what anyone want more pleasure.
Who can expect a peace-full happy life living in a dirty chaos, let alone to reach enlightenment.
Because of the deep psychological / spiritual meaning behind, the superficial description “cleaning”
may give wrong impression, the core matter is all those processes in the mind or in the brain.
To start with cleaning, she gain the state of the mind, Mushin, and gain the understanding of
the totality of her life and her state of existence —– she is fulfilling the given roll to be Helen,
and becoming a part of the Dharma.
To be in this pathway, hence she can feel be in the right way, What more of healing the one needs.
And to follow Buddha’s pathway what more confidence and the pleasure there.
I guess, this actress may have some Buddhist’s guidance in her previous healing session, hence
it was not difficult for her to find the way —– Which, I may say ” Cleaning Zen ” 🙂
—– So, you may see, to have clean kitchen, a pleasure to have clean life and the comfortable cooking
is not just a chore,—— far from it, it can be a good pathway to the enlightenment. This is true.
You can start the same in New Year. ( Begin with clean-up New Year’s eve party’s mess 😀 )
___/\___
—

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