Buddhism = Science

—————————————————————- ( Buddha 2009 )

While giving a thought to the well known established notions in the Buddhism, after

Lord Buddha’s teachings, such as “See the things in Clear eyes” “Detachment”

even “Selfless mind” then “Don’t believe, but Think yourself” and the fact that

Lord Buddha did ignore the question which was beyond our scope (unknowable),

such as what about the after-life or what is the structure of the universe.

(Stark contrast to other so-called Guru who pretend to know by telling the made-up stories.

—– Who does ever know about the next life or heaven or hell, not mention perpetual soul.)

= I realized, isn’t this, What the Science is ?    Or the attitude to be a Scientist.

When Enlightened man told the truth, he dare to tell groundless story.

[]

“Right thinking” meant to be nothing other than a Rational thinking.

See the things with Clear Eyes meant to be “See the FACT”, and “Think

YOURSELF” meant, it shouldn’t be any enigmatic special belief but the

Truth which can be comprehensible in anyone’s rational thinking.

As all the factual phenomenon follows the rationalism, anybody knows,

Nothing appeared from nothing.   Nothing happens without cause.

—– Based on the facts, and with the way to observe and analyse it in

strictly objective and rational way, then deduce the truth, is THE Science.

In this process, there shouldn’t be ANY bias of personal thinking, judgement,

preference or special belief = it got to be absolutely Detached from the SELF.

[]

Truth is independent from any person, let alone anyone’s Fantasy. =

Whether you believe or not, it’s there. —– This is the Science and what

Lord Buddha taught.   (Yet still he was aware of notoriously unreliable our

perception, he spent great deal of his teachings to deal with this matter and

found a technique to eliminates the cause by way of the practice which lead

a person’s mind to a state of  Mushin.) =(This is the core of the Buddhism)

Therefore, if there is so-called Buddhist’s teaching which say anything other than a fact

and beyond the rational comprehension, it is not his original teaching. (Only a problem was,

in this world (in the Dharma) there still be the Unknowable exists.  There is a sect called

Tantra has been trying to deal with it without any tangible answer —– If they could give

any reliable result, they could have been employed by the Pentagon or Russian KGB though,

on the history, deeply spiritual noble “Third eye” which said to be in contact with the Dharma,

still not able to predict such as Earthquake even a single occasion. = If science can’t handle nor

Buddhism can.)  So that, any fancy stories were later invention only to glorify Buddhism.

Buddhism is to Enlighten a person, beyond the personal Life and one’s Mind is out of scope.

What Lord Buddha taught was, how to get clear eyes to see the truth in the life

by get rid of the dubious belief and the delusion, by emptying the mind

(get Mushin), not to trap into yet another dogma.    Dogma is not a Science.

Truth is like a dry skeleton, it has no decoration. —– and needn’t to be. 😀

(This is why my Buddha 2009 is bare minimal skeleton and the head is a clear

void which reflects the Wheel of the Life.  And the heat keep moves its pattern

continuously = never stay the same = This shows what the Dharma is.)

___/\___

[]

Window Work

As the main cause of my recent junk-mountain trouble, the tough-guys appeared to

fit the new windows.

There is an obvious reason to be a big hulky guy —– first, to remove old window and

its frames —– with sheer brutal force.  😀    (Less than an hour, 4 windows had ripped out. )

And new double-grazed, framed windows were fitted in machine like efficiency.

(Of cause, they’ve been doing the same for hundreds of the windows.  🙂 )

So, this is it —– yet, the Door fitting,  Asbestos panel removal,  new Electric cabling

etc.  still to come.    So, I’m still in a chaos to shift the mountain right to left again.  😀

While windows were removed,  strong wind has blown through the flat which made me

feel standing chilly outside.    Though, next day,  may be thanks to double grazing,  room

temperature is two degrees  higher than before. = visible benefit is here. 

[]

Yet still, with funny practice, people keep higher heating while keep the window half open

= not much Energy saving.  (Because of  an Area heating system,  residents having boiling hot

water and regardless how much use of central heating,  bill is fixed = not cheap though.)

It was a legacy of the left-wing council = same ideology of Communism = expecting the people

to have rational mind and keen to work together for the common benefit. 

Unfortunately, man doesn’t behave like that.  Disintegrated society doesn’t have one Ethos.

—– Still, to make up so called positive friendly text saying that “We were born with good

nature hence we can live friendly happy world”  is easy, and may attract more reader to a Blog

though it is just an empty sweet words.    Real solution and the Enlightenment has to come

from  facing the situation straight with clear eyes —– or to know how  greedy and silly we are. 

—– Sorry, I’m a pessimist.  (I don’t see rosy world. —– that’s why Buddhists call it Samsara.) 

I need a blind or to get new curtain at least.  😀

[]

Our Perpetual Life ? ? ?

I’m in a mess of clearing and sorting out the mountain of junks piled-up in the past ten years

or so. (Not a clean Zennist’s like situation. 😀 —– I’m doing too many things hence people

keep asking my help or advice, since my help is free  😀 = there is no time to let them go. 

And I’m getting a help from others too = I don’t think I should isolate myself from this world.)

—– Only the trouble was, when I was busy making something for an art event kind, it was

always in a hurry, and soon after, another project might start = therefore, the  materials used

etc has been just piled-up. What makes situation even worse was, I buy “Could be useful,

one day” kind of things, or picking up them from the street.

They are in a shallow box etc, though, box on top of box has built mountains. Ideally, I should

have line of shelves in a warehouse with multi-indexed stock management system though, it’s

a far fetched dream for a humble poor man.  😀

No doubt, in a clean-up process, something unexpected item coming-out between

a pile which I’ve been looking for, or completely forgotten.  A ha, it’s here.  🙂

[]

What annoying trouble I found was, after years, a cleaning blush kind of cheap

plastic product and particularly the Tesco bags has been disintegrating.

I don’t think the manufacturer expected the people would use their products more than a

year, hence they used cheap material to make-up the item. —– So, I shouldn’t be surprised.

And the Tesco is Proudly announcing that in consideration for the environmental issue,

their bag is biodegradable.

It’s mean, me to left those things under the pile was solely my fault. —– still, I feel annoying

was = may be I still expecting the same must be there intact = my Ego and the greed.

The real trouble is, once I touch them, those disintegrating materials in deed

disintegrates and the small flakes scatter all over, literally spreading a mess.

It’s not funny.

[]

Even though we know nothing is permanent, still the system has to work in an

assumption of every components stays the same in a same condition.

In order to keep the same condition, our body is keeping the same body-temperature and the

same constitution such as the same salinity of the blood (well, more or less) and so on.

To keep the body in the same condition, the parts which is naturally worn-out will be

replenished and renewed constantly = And to make it same as the original, DNA template was

used though, to keep copying again and again, mistake would occur.

It’s the same to a Chinese whisper, once mistaken, the same wrong-pattern will be copied.

Wrong pattern of Gene could create cancerous cell. On the end, our body became no longer able

to keep its function.  It’s a system bleak-down. —– This is how we get old and die on the end.

[]

Against this situation, many researches are tackling those problems.

Only a week ago, one Japanese institute announced that they found a chemical which would

prevents the brain cell deteriorates and prevents Alzheimer developed = disease would be

prevented by just an injection.

Another institute succeeded to continuously clone the mouse, over 5 years, 27 generations

so far, and made more than 580 cloned mouse = while preventing the deterioration of

the genes and their futility.   Life science is really advancing in amazing speed.

[]

So, we human could gain the perpetual life in foreseeable future while

leaving other life form and biodegradable plastic to disintegrate.  —– ? ? ?     

Is it anything to welcome ?

Because, the matter is not just our internal system. We have to see the implication to the

external system as well.   Those systems are closely intertwined as a total system called

Dharma in the Buddhist’s term, which has been refined throughout the time, in past billion

of years.  We may not able or allowed to tinker one corner without affecting the other part.

Our perpetual life could be detrimental to the planet’s Ecosystem.   😀

—– Well, I should talk about this serious subject in the near future.

___/\___

[]

Enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree

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

wrong teachings he had.

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

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

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

was made, and it was the very enlightenment.

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—– And that was his enlightenment. 

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

deflected even in a life or death situation) 

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

[]

Since having his scientific rationalism,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Divine status or to be seen as a Prophet )

[]

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

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

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

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

the Dharma and the Karma.

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

___/\___

PS:

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

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

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

[]

YOU or Potato ?

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[]

Zen wouldn’t make you noble.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IS the Enlightenment ! ! !

= Even a Potato can get Enlightenment,

why not an ordinary man on the street.

___/\___

[]

Being Natural or Be Artful Perfection — Which is Zen ?

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

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

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

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

a refined flow of the action.

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

drop one or two slices of the lemon etc etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

according to the occurrences given next by next.

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

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

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

(imported idea or pretense).

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

Not lazy isn’t it ?

[]

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

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

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

—– it may be true :-))

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

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

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

[]

In fact, here lies very interesting question.

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

pursuit Enlightenment, namely Bhikku and Arakhan though, the Buddhism

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

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

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

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

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

to achieve its refinement, ultimately to reach Enlightenment.

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

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

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

___/\___

[]

Ikkyu story (2)

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

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

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

was true and which one was a fanciful invention.

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

Soon, the honey was emptied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—– Abbot had no word to return.

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Anyhow, they were aimed to the children )

[]

Still, real Ikkyu was a serious Zen monk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

all because of his completely liberated mind and the eyes. 

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

___/\___

[]

Funny Practice

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

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

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

And he wondered,

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

or even cynical”

—– Well said. So, I replied to him.

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

pretense or crèche.

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

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

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

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

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

child, but her to running about the village.

Zen is the teachings of how to run 🙂

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

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

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

next to the dead body ?

It is the exactly the same situation.

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

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

doing something useless to the Zen and not serious enough.

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

include the Zen itself.

[]

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

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

it is inescapable anyway.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—– So, I’m not drowned in the Zen.

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

Convinced ?

___/\___

[]

PARADOX in seeking the ZEN

 

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

you may say.

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

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

= They are in the matter of this paradox.)

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is Mushin and in Selflessness = This IS Mindfulness.

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

[]

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

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

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

real Mushin 😀

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

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

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

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

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

[]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

so-called meditation ?  😀  😀 ) 

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Clear the Deck for 2013 / Detach the EMOTION

Blogging, or writing in general, it is the process to convert the idea or notion into a separate object,

thus, enables it to be examined as an independent entity. ( on top of much more common purpose

to express it to others ) = like a Jig-saw Puzzle, we have to find, not only matching the shape of

pieces but also its picture printed on, which we can see the rationality in bird’s eye view.

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Thanks to given task of this Blog (yes, I regard this, not my choice but a given task I was assigned

— simply because it has occurred on my life — has anybody else assigned as well ? = if nobody

else there, I have to take care, haven’t I ? 😀 ) at least I managed to record the process what and

how I figured out Zen Buddhism in the past 3 years and 9 months, with over 400 posts.

(since, this is the DIY Zen study)

As it is still an ongoing process, I wouldn’t pretend it had consistent unity = far from it, it deviated

a lots, therefore it often contradicting each other.   And not necessary having even consistent

definition of the term, not because of mistake but change of my approach.

So, thanks goodness, I’ve managed to come to much clear picture of which those confusion has

been sorted out (well, more or less 😀 )

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My basic approach to the Buddhism is the same from the start, long before even I

started this Blog. —– It was to retrace the way and the process how

Lord Buddha found and came to his conclusion as a normal human being, not a

superman or divine figure.

Human brain is more or less having the same function and the same tendency.

As there couldn’t be any super natural phenomena such as Extra Sensory Power (though, I

reserve the judgement about this point, because there seemed to be something still there ) and

the human common-sense is more or less the same, therefore when we see the same subject, we

are able to deduce to the same conclusion.

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While I was blogging, there were two important view point came to my consideration.

The one was a phenomenon in the Neurophysiology, that the threshold of our perception

become higher against the repeating signals = I realized the connection to the repeating

action of the Buddhist’s practice which lead the person to acquire the immunities to the

repeating coming signal or same internal thought, hence higher threshold blocks the signal

reaching to emotional cortex and trigger the hormonal reaction. ( Such as if you see

the same porno photo on the wall every day, the perception was desensitized and soon it loose an

impact to arose you with a seclusion of Testosterone = photo become just another landscape. 😀 )

—– (On the beginning, I’ve been putting more emphasis to an effect of imprinting

by the repeated practice, but [imprinting into subconscious] alone couldn’t explain

the origin of Selflessness).

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And the other was a neurological symptom that the blocked connection to the emotional cortex in

the brain of Alzheimer’s case, it cause the loss of cognition to see the SELF and the

own possession = hence, loose the EGO, and the Self-preserving GREED.

Some of you may feel rather disturbing with this, because of the connection to Alzheimer’s though,

despite of it this is the very key to understand the MUSHIN and the SELFLESSNESS as

one phenomenon = the matter is to block the Emotion which is causing all the trouble

in the LIFE such as Obsessive Thoughts, sticky Attachment, EGO and the GREED.

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So, thanks to Alzheimer research, the mechanism of our Mind has been exposed.

But, to have this detached mind, you don’t need to wait another 40, 60 years =

while doing Buddhist’s practice, you might realized that you are doing it without

conscious (unconsciously hand was moving or automatically chanting) —– once

you see this phenomenon, practice the same while watching this blank-space in

your brain. —– Then, while having this blank-space in the brain (Being in Mushin)

turn the eyes beyond, and see the world in Mushin. = Soon or later, you will acquire

the skill to have this eyes in any moment and in any situation. = YOU ARE IN ZEN.

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In this context, so called Buddhist’s teachings = [eliminate THINKINGS] this Thinkings has to

be understood as [Emotional Judgment] not a logical clear thinkings. =

This is one of the most confusing part in the Buddhist’s teachings.

Lord Buddha ordered his disciples in his death bed

“Don’t believe what you were taught and what others say, but think it yourself ” =

Think logical in clear objective way, and use common-sense, was what he meant.

After all, cool dispassionate eyes = non-emotional, logical thinkings is the key to the Buddhist’s

Mind-set. —– (Without having Emotional conscious, we feel the Brain is blank ! 

= When we see something in total dispassionate way, we only feel the vision but

not a thought = This is MUSHIN —– still, the brain is working subconsciously )

There is no mythical secret technique which is not achievable to the ordinal mankind.

What Lord Buddha taught was not a kind of Mythical belief but the clear practical solution

—– such as the case of Kisa-Gortami, he didn’t tell her any Mumbo-jumbo such as she could see

her dead child in the Heaven or child would reborn and see her again, but simply made her just

running around and made her to reach logical understandings, that a death is the common

and inescapable truth. = This is the very Key teaching of

[Life IS, to suffer, getting ill and old, and to die].

[And the way to deal with this harsh Life is to learn Buddhism through its repeating practice] which

would eliminate the bad effect of the Emotion, hence able to live in peace of Mushin and Selflessness.

(As I rote above, without connecting to Emotion, the action can be done in

dispassionate way almost automatic = even without the conscious, and without the

obstruction of Ego, Greed and the Delusion)

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—– If you give a thought and review all the Phenomena in the Buddhist’s psyche, such as

Detachment, Detached to the Changing world hence Live in its Moment, Has no Fear of the Death,

no Ego, no Greed etc etc you will realize, all those were the manifestation of NO Emotion (and

Emotional Judgement). —–The man who could forsake the pleasure of life in luxury and the feast

of flesh, and able to bluntly define the [Life is Suffering],

Lord Buddha had no illusion, neither gave any sweet illusion to the followers,

especially his teachings were the one, revolutionary idea which against the popular

Vedic idea of Atman = (Perpetual soul, which has no logical, scientific proof) he would have had

no way to fabricate any another fancy stories. = Hence, the Buddhism in its original form is blunt

and straight, because of it was not considered to be popular but stand on the Truth, as it teaches

Own Enlightenment, not dependent on a Salvation which proved to be never come.

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Widely misconceived so-called Buddhist’s [Compassion] is not emanated from the tender

Emotion but it comes from the same Mind-set of Mushin and the Selflessness = see

the situation without Emotion and the Ego, hence able to see the needs of others as if it was one’s

own = then able to see what is the best to DO here = effectively helping others as a result.

= If the one still having own Emotion, the own self-preservation comes first.

Selfless act has no Emotion.   And this is why it has no notion of [giving to others]

= NO distinction of ME and OTHER. = in this Mind-set, there is even no conscious of Me and even

Animal or Plant. = This is the True Compassion in the Buddhism.

True Buddhist is not compassionate sweet person but he (she) is the person just Doing what he

ought to Do, without having even a conscious of doing or being as a Buddhist.

When the one has NO conscious of SELF, how the same person can have a conscious

of [I’m a Buddhist] —– And this is the true meaning of [There is NO SELF]

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