DHARMA is Everywhere
Since I wrote and explained the Dharma in relation to spontaneous compassionate cases in
Japanese Disaster, a reader asked me “Is the Dharma prevails only in such special occasion ?”
—– Of cause not. Dharma is everywhere, where ever you go, always with you.
Simply because, that is how we exist and live.
===
In the sea, there is the Phytoplankton which is fixing solar-energy with their photosynthesis.
(I have no idea how many billions of tons of them all together there.) They are the most fundamental
organism to form the food chain, and they are eaten by the small fishes etc.
And the small fishes were eaten by the larger fishes and so on —–.(And on top of the chain, we eat
them large or small and in fact we are pushing many of them to their extinction )
On the land, the Plants are doing the same, creating themselves, looks out of nothing ( in fact, using
solar energy and the water + somewhat 10 materials ) —– then Herbivorous eat them.
—– In the Yellowstone Park US, now the re-introduced Wolves are regulating the population of
Elk ( kind of Reindeer ). ( When the man hunted down the Wolf, the Elk’s population exploded and
the vegetation has been devastated by the over grazing Elk —– So, man needed to put it back )
===
Those mechanism, so-called Ecosystem and its balance is the part of the Dharma,
so that some people call them as the Natural Law. Of cause, those mechanism are even inside of our
physiology as well, such as called Homoeostasis which controlling and keep the body condition constant.
The Dharma is not just a part of the science BUT crucially it is also a kind of will or direction
to over-see the EXISTENCES.
Why the Nature needs to have the balance ? Or man’s body needs to be kept consistent ?
Because it is the will or direction of the Dharma to the Nature to BE HERE,
and the HUMAN BEING to EXIST. —– Rules / The Dharma couldn’t be explained just with the
Science. Such as The Second law of the Entropy is a direct contradiction to the Creation of the Life.
Why the particular atoms were INTENTIONALLY combined, not dispersed by the Entropy and
became to the Amino Acid and to a Life-form.—– ( It couldn’t be explained just with the Gravity )
( Yet, it doesn’t mean Human being got blank cheque. Since, we are only a small PART of the NATURE )
===
—– So, when we need,we eat we drink, we do the business etc etc —– on top of those fundamental
life’s activities, we form the society, we think and invent and so on, which we calls Culture and the
Civilization. Still we are a part of the Dharma which is inherently keeping the things in balance.
To keep-up and follow those rules of the Dharma, we don’t need to even think about —– even if we
are asleep we still continue to breathe, heart keeps working. So that, even with those very very inventive
Civilization and the incredible level of the Technology, we were still bound to keep fundamental rules
—– we still need to breathe Oxygen not CO2 or any fancy gas.
===
The Human being is, as it is an artificially modified version of the Ape ( generally called Evolved )
having fundamental paradox within.
Basic aspect and the function is still remained as it was originally designed as a part of the Dharma.
Though, the Culture and the Civilization, not mention the Technology which changed the condition and
the environment within few thousands years, are not necessary following the Dharma.
In other words, what Human being invented or created out of their over sized brain –— the result
of their thinking, is often contradictory to the Dharma. ( Imagination can start from purely
imagined base or abstractive idea, hence it can be an utter delusion )
===
As a matter of fact, we Human being is a compound of contradiction and the Paradox.
Therefore, it is having the inherent stress even for Just to be Here. —— ( So that, we are
having unconscious feeling of doubt or question, “ Something wrong. There must be answer
to make the things clear “ which has been driving a man to seek What is the TRUTH )
And this is what Buddha pointed out and taught. —– Better to live humble, simple life, even though
it is effectively the denial of the fruits of Civilization and the Technology.
And to eliminate the useless, trouble making thinking and to live in Mushin, hence able to
see and live with the Dharma.
___/\___
===
ZEN in PRACTICE
There was an interesting experience lately.
A Chairman of an Internet Talking Shop asked me to join their mailing-list to invigorate the activity.
It was a small group of University alumni of which the members used to play a sports together, hence
the members consists of their 30th to 70~80th old-boy.
The mailing-list was said to be proposed and set-up by the core member of the group a year ago to
facilitate vibrant communication among the members, as the members live scattered all over the country
over a years, and not necessary knows each other in their different generations.
With a kind of marketing research considerations, I saw the characters of the group and their needs.
I found this is in fact a retired old boy’s talking shop. Since, younger members are too busy
in their job and the family —– they may not have much leisure time left, and busy talking with
their colleagues etc. So that the real aim is to create the environment for the old members to
exchange and join the conversation.
—–
Zen is a way of the life to live the situation in 100% commitment. (So-called Mindfulness )
When the situation required to ply a role or to carry-out the task, to become the Role itself or
the expert of the task, and Just Do It, is the speciality of the Zen.
As my role is to invigorate the conversation, I started to talk as many as possible number of the
members I know before, while inventing all sorts of excuse or pretext of talking piece, in order to draw
them into the forum. Within a month the forum became pretty busy and started to have many new talkers.
As each member has graduated in each faculty and the specialized subject, they got their expert view
and the unique opinion, some time it went pretty deep in its subject and turned out to be a very interesting
exchange of two different view etc etc. While receiving a congratulation mail from the other side of the
world as this member is working over there, which said “It is a great pleasure to see the forum invigorated
which I myself had proposed to set-up”
—–
Journalist ( or Ex-photojournalist precisely ) as I am, I was in certain extent, well suited to the role as I can
deal with many subjects ( like interviewer has to know the subjects, despite every time the subject
could be different ) —– though, the core members who proclaims they set-up the forum started to feel
the forum has been Hijacked by somebody unknown ( since I’ve been out of communication with them
40 years 😀 ). And they started to say this is not YOUR blog site. 😀
Of cause, to draw somebody into the forum, I had to send the mile and when somebody sent a mail
with unfamiliar subject, still somebody has to answer, and many cases it happened me to reply.
When I gave an answer and sent PS: soon after, it was accused “from the same person, enormous
amount of continuous mail occupying the forum” 😀
It was exactly like a Hen’s chorus in the Animal Farm, even a man who congratulated the
invigorated forum, changed his colour and joined the chorus. And a funny opinion to design a special
sports shoes talked by other member which I just responded was still attributed as my fault 😀
When the attack came, it need to hit back like the sword master Musashi was also a Zen master.
But, if this is the situation. That is it.—– I’ve been there to talk not waste the time to argue with.
—–
Zen react to the situation Just as it is, like just handling a small thing, therefore no emotion or
personal interest involved. As there is no notion of possession ( like, this forum is mine or I AM
the man in charge with ) when the requirement or the situation changes, the commitment or
duty evaporate at once as if there was no such things ever existed.
—–
This mind-set, Full Commitment but without Emotional Involvement ( Ego, Greed, Arrogance)
and Instant Dissociate with no mind to cringe, is a typical Zen Practice.
( Fundamentally, member of 150 people’s Talking Shop, most of whom I don’t know and 40 years
out of communication, what anyone can expect from them ? And what to lose by stopping it, if any ?
It is like a chess game on the street cafe table. Once join, still have to use full extent of the brain to win.
Yet it is just for a small fun. Nothing to gain but nothing to lose. Just Do it and Just Stop it.
This is the mind-set of the Mushin which respond to the situation which keeps changing.
—– And this is the Zen in Practice in the real life, not in sitting.
___/\___
—
SOCIETY
In the media reports of Japanese Disasters, a peculiarity of Japanese society was shocked the world.
“Why Japanese can keep calm and not express their grief ? “
I explained a back-ground —– their deep embedded Ethos / Fatalism originated from the
Buddhism —– in the previous post.
—–
But there is the another aspect which is even deeper and common to all the human-being.
We human-being is a social animal , we live, and have to live as a member of a society.
We are definitely a descendant of the packed animal like monkey, chimpanzee, not a lone panther.
Hence it is written in our gene, and so-called instincts are programmed accordingly such as the
gripping hand of a baby is to cringe to a mother.
To be a social animal, there is the order of the society and its rules. Any member who couldn’t
comply the rules, will be excluded from its society —– and slow death is the fate.
Where those rules were posted ? Ethos and those social code are not written but kept by the
member, the member themselves are the role-model / manifestation of the rules.
As society is operated by their member who possess the same Ethos and the Rules, and it is
almost the same even generation after generation, all the social activity, social systems are coherent
with the same Ethos. Everything shows the same manifestation and follow the same rules.
This exact coherency can be observed by even a small baby and learned by them and written
down into their subconscious memory. In fact this is the so-called Collective Unconscious.
But this is the case when the society is having universal, coherent system and the Ethos.
Among the member, some might become rebel though, the person is only temporally rebelling
or just behaving the reverse of existing rule —– nothing new just a reverse.
But when the population who is possessing fundamentally different Ethos, moved into other society,
it start to show completely different situation.
In metaphor, when non-thieving society received considerable size of thieving group, the Ethos of
both societies break down. ( Even thieving society and their way of life having their own strict rules,
taboo, who to steal or who is the senior thieves and the violent punishment who break its rules )
A kids of Non-thieving society learn the thieving, and a kids of Thieving society learn to
escape a punishment claiming his Human right 😀
Everything break down and only Ego exposed.
A baby start to see two conflicting systems and the rules, hence unable to figure out what is the Ethos of
the Society —– there couldn’t be a Collective Unconscious but just an attitude of
convenient cherry picking of excuse and the knowledge of “How to avoid “ —– it’s mean avoid
to be a member of the society. In fact there is no longer a society and its integrity exists.
—–
Fortunately ( or unfortunately ? ) Japanese society still maintain themselves as a society,
as foreign element is still negligible, even an outcast group Yakuza responded to the disaster, with
hundreds of truck load of relief supply delivered to the evacuated people.
Even though Yakuza were branded as the criminal organization, they are undoubtedly nobody else of
Japanese, and a part of the same society, hence share the same compassion and the sense of duty.
—– simply because, they grown up in the same society ( Even Yakuza was once an innocent
small boy,as you know 😀 ) hence build up the same Ethos as a Japanese.
—-
In reality, to make a baby to a Japanese, other than the teachings in a school and the family and the
circulating popular culture, such as everybody should have the same gadget and ware same kind (well
some pre-classified types) of fashion, there is a hidden secret of social pressure to a person
to conform the social code.
It is more akin to the chorus of the hen in the Animal Farm. When this chorus starts, even a person
who has been saying different opinion suddenly changes the colour and join a chorus, the louder the better.
This is a moment to a person to assess what is the majority and join them.
When the majority is behaving in a certain way, just do the same. To remain within the same group
and the society is the imperative in Japan. Whether it is true or not, right or wrong, just go with them.
So that, when nobody is crying –its mean, no-one should cry. The unwritten code says “Mittomonai
( It looks disorderly, and embarrassing ) “ Anybody brake-off from here, there is a danger to be ostracised.
As a result, everybody looks calm on the TV.
—
Funny side-effect of this conformative society is, as the expectation and the imaginary eligibility
of a man is fixed, such as socially acceptable income and the status etc, under the stagnated
Japanese economy, most of the ordinary man is no longer regarded to fit to marry —– hence
so many people are forced to stay single. ( A research found that among the eligible age-group,
only 6 % of men were regarded to fit the expectation of the woman, its mean, if a woman marry
other than rare 6 % , she will face a humiliation, a chorus of “Mittomonai”.)
—
When no dominant voice led the chorus, hens couldn’t know what to do.
Strangely, they still knows when somebody start to show up with unconformative opinion, they
overwhelm the opinion with their noisy chorus and suppress it. Therefore no fresh innovative idea
(other than imaginative Manga story) nor strong decisive idea coming out of Japan.
This is the situation in Japanese politics too.
Therefore, when they faced a crisis of Nuclear accident, they only try to avoid the Japanese public
fallen into a “Mittomonai” panic, by pretending nothing serious happened, thus do-nothing —-take
an emergency measure itself looks “Mittomonai”—– until it’s actually exploded.
Then everything got too late to take any measure. —– though, a criticism like this will be seen by a Japanese
as an act to expose “Mittomonai”Japan, hence has to be suppressed —-> So that , there wouldn’t be any
“Mittomonai”situation, therefore, able to keep calm face. Face is more important than the safety.
Beautiful isn’t it ?
—-
Self Denial — Self Sacrifice — Duty of Charity — MUSHIN ???
Self Denial – Self Sacrifice – Duty of Charity – MUSHIN ???
This is one of the most misconceived area in the Buddhist’s practice, hence I’ve been asked a
question again and again about the distinction.
Such as like a practice of one of the Buddhist’s sect in Japan, Ittou-en which I had mentioned some post ago,
which member is going around the town, asking household to let them clean their toilet.
This is the practice to learn Self Denial and the Self Sacrifice, and make people’s toilet clean may
seemed it is an act for other’s benefit hence it must be a charity. ( Though it seems quite patronizing )
I can see their point though, in the same time I would rather feel the intention with a pinch of salt.
If a practice to clean somebody else’s faeces could make a person humble and enlightened, the
people in India where particular job has been assigned to one particular cast ( or former cast ) should
have created thousands of enlightened holy man there. ( Never heard of it 😀 )
I’m sure, to clean somebody else’s faeces could destroy the person’s dignity still, not necessary it
destroys the person’s Ego. ( Ego is not dependent on the profession. Arrogance may be )
The more the required practice was dreadful, the more strong will and the determination is needed.
Unfortunately, this strong will, a belief of “ This practice should make ME higher noble person “
and “ I WANT to achieve it, I WANT TO ACHIEVE IT “ is nothing but an obsessive thinking.
Far from it, what Buddha taught was to DO the things without thinking, i.e; in Mushin.
The so-called practice is its formalized form of each sect.—– As everybody has unique grown-up and own
life history, even in the way of learning the same Buddhism, everybody takes different pathway and
as I described, there are three distinctive aspects how people related to the Buddhism, hence to learn
the Mushin, each person would take different approach and the steps.
Hence different expression, explanation were come up, such as Self Denial.
As a matter of fact, Buddha didn’t teach such things at all. What he taught was “ Self is not exist
from the beginning “ ( Since he took a stance against the Vedic idea of Atoman —– he saw it is the cause
of the trouble, as it is the delusion. That is why, he taught the MUSHIN / Mind of No-mind) —– though,
this is one of the hardest part in the Buddhism to understand. ( If anybody has able to achieve
the MUSHIN, it is almost the completion of the enlightenment. )
—–
History of the Buddhism clearly showed this fact, that even Buddha’s immediate disciples are not
necessary understood this. Hence the first few hundreds years, Buddhism have had the time
of Hinayana to Suppress the Self = Denial of the Self = Superficial mimicry of the MUSHIN.
To be in MUSHIN, of cause there is no SELF hence no EGO or Arrogance, Greed.
But try to achieve it from other way round, suppress the SELF first, not necessary works, because of
a thinking of “Deny the self, deny the ego” is there.
———- As you are reading this, only your visual cortex and the brain to configure the word and
their meanings are working = you are not aware the existence of your eyes and
the conscious “I am READING this”. ——- You are reading this in your MUSHIN ! ! !
Buddha also against the practice to torture the mind and the body, therefore the Self Sacrifice is
not in his teachings. It was not the Self Sacrifice but as the ( Enlightened ) person doesn’t have
the Self, the person just react to the situation in the best way or necessary way —– it only happen to
be seen “ the person has sacrificed himself “—– but the person himself was Just Doing It, that’s all.
Same applies to a Charitable act —– “If the one is doing it with a conscious of I’m doing the
Charity, it is not the Charity “ —– so as the Enlightenment. Which occur only in Mushin.
This is the reason why, in the Mahayana Sutras, there are typical expression like “ Exists as not exist “
“Do as not do” hence, do the charity (or help others) without having the conscious of helpingothers.
Without conscious mean, without thinking, without having the
conscious of the Self = DO IT SUBCONSCIOUSLY / SPONTANEOUSLY.
—–
To re-discover the Buddha’s original teachings, Buddhists spent another five hundreds years until
the Mahayana was introduced. And with its new ( or original ) understandings, sacrifice the life
to get Enlightenment as an Arakan ( Arahat ) was rejected, since the matter is not a posture but to
be in MUSHIN, and to be in MUSHIN, anyone and any life-form can get enlightenment as the
Dharma itself is, in its nature. —– But the reason why Buddha remained as a Bhikku ( begger) was
very simple. He was not trained to be a farmer nor any profession, there was no way else to get food.
To have a simple humble life go round the town begging the food was enough for him (and to his followers
together ). It was his simple easiest life style. To live as a Bhikku he didn’t need to think neither. He just lived.
Therefore, to be a Bhikku is not a precondition to get enlightenment, it was just happened to be.
Buddha never accused to be wealthy and had no hesitation to receive their giving of good food and
he ate any food. A funny description in the Vimalakirti Sutra “ You have to mind to receive it from
the poor people as well, in order to give the same opportunity for them to offer the food ( Hence
let them to practice good deed —– for them to attain their Nirvana ) show the situation well. 😀
Buddha’s teaching to those wealthy people to stay modest ( Middle Way ) and the way of giving
in Mushin would lead them to have Nirvana without any danger to reborn to be animal ( Since no such things
of perpetual soul exist ) must be well received by them.
As it was the historical fact, the Buddhism spread and did grow having with the wide support of
the ordinary people. It is impossible to imagine that Buddha asked those people to endure a kind
of practice to sacrifice their life, let alone to clean the faeces in order for them to reach Nirvana,
as Buddha himself rejected the practice to torture the mind and the body.
Simply because Buddha knew, anything can be done in Mushin, and the Mushin has no Ego.
Anything can be done mean, the practice can be anything, hence it doesn’t need to be torturing practice nor
heavy self-denying act. Mushin can be achieved Not What the Practice IS or how to understand it,
but by the Mind-Set = Mind of Just Do It.
—
It is the easy practice, as easy as some late Masters described it as Dog Shit. And as difficult as
non of Buddha’s disciple could understand .
It seemed that Buddha did know the situation, hence he needed to order his disciples “Think yourself,
not just believe what you were taught” in his death-bed.
Its meaning of thinking is, not what the answer they would get, but the process and the effects of
thinking (and effort to figure out in practice) —– “Mushin has no Self, no Ego” was what they had
been taught. And they must have shown well copied practice what they learned from
Buddha. But it was just a copy of the movement, not necessary in Mushin. Buddha must be aware of this.
That was why he needed to give an order to his disciples. —– It was an inherent short-coming of
having the master near you. You can get the explanation easily from him, then you satisfied as you
could understand it (intellectually). The trouble of Mushin is —– you can’t get it with an
understandings or any thinkings. You have to DO it to discover.
—– therefore, many hundreds of years Buddhists monks just argued the definition of Dharma or try to prove
whether the Self is exists or not.
But the situation like this provoked the mind of free-thinker. “What a hell, what are they talking
about ?” which made them aware, that the matter is not whether the Self is exists or not, but it lies
in the phenomenon, that we can do the things without the conscious of the Self, and it can be
done by anybody. ( hence Mahayana ) ! ! ! ” This must be the core, what Buddha had taught.”
This kind of observations never came from the monks who is just sitting and thinking, but from the monks who
are under-taking the chores in the monastery or low-ranking monks walking and begging the food by himself.
That was the reason why, such observation became a noted idea and written-down to the Sutra took long time.
Yet still, they couldn’t go further than the description
of “Do the Charity without having the conscious of Charity” or “Do as not Do”.
Mahayana Buddhists only thought about the DOING side, not knowing how DO changes the mind.
And how this DO came out of one’s brain was completely out of their sight.
—–
To decipher what was the mechanism in the brain / to see the roles of the subconsciousness, took
another 2000 years. ( Until here )
I am well aware and confident, for you to read this post, this 10 minutes opened your eyes to
reach your enlightenment. ( You only need to open your eyes and the mind 🙂 )
___/\___
—–
Unfortunate History of BUDDHISM
In most of the case, study deep into the Buddhism, quest to the core of the Buddhism mean
read more books, another Sutra and then sitting 😀
Natural consequence, here, sitting mean, thinking about what was found in the book.
Strangely, you might have found a fine print saying ” Sitting has to be without thinking “ 😀
And somewhere, ” —– but most crucial teaching can not be taught by the word “.
———- What a hell, where to find the answer ? —– rightly you might say 😀
Unfortunately, ( especially in the west ) a so-called teacher or a master of a sect or group, did come
through same process. Simply he did it longer than you, hence read a bit more books, met another
master ( who studied in the same way ) and so on —– that’s all. In fact, non the wiser than you.
—–
Unfortunately Buddhism is not the matter of the knowledge nor what you learned.
But don’t become desperate and shout What a Hell, since you are not alone.
This is the inherent trouble of the Paradox in the Buddhism.
When Buddha was in this world and teaching his immediate followers, he showed the way how to live
how to see the things etc etc —– those were the practice, then time to time he took the rest —– rest mean
rest, hence give a break to the brain. Naturally, he was not thinking while sitting.
It looked like a meditation, or later people thought and called, it was a meditation.
When the brain was left completely blank, time to time suddenly new idea or
understanding comes out. ( Ref : Blank space —– somewhere in the another post )
Then, Buddha might have told something new understanding, even a joke to such as Shariputra —–. So that
the followers thought, Buddha, in his deep meditation he has been in touch with the unknown
truth / Panya Paramita —– though, Buddha was taking a rest and having a time of no thinking.
Of cause, even Buddha couldn’t show what’s going on in his brain nor disciples could seen it.
We only see the apparent outcome when it came out. Only the person with very good insight, who had
the same experience, could guess the process in the brain or in the mind.
So, the situation even among the immediate followers was like this ( —– how do I know ? Ok, tell me any
another possibility you can conceive )—– since, without having the proper understanding of the
Buddha’s teachings, Buddhism spent hundreds of years in the argument of such as AbiDharma.
And the superficial posture of ” Meditation ” became idiosyncratic synonym of the Buddhism.
Hence gave a misconception, With deep thinking process, you can get supreme wisdom.
Further trouble in the western Buddhism was emanated from the word MEDITATION which meaning
imply deep thinking ! — even though Buddha was just having a rest.—– It was a Kitkat time 😀
In practice, to practice ” To Do without Thinking ” the sitting is the hardest sample to try —– it’s mean
only few people who already reached to the advanced level could do it, still how do we know he could ?
Can the person sitting ( without thinking ) tell ” I’m not thinking ” —– How funny. 😀
It is the same to a man sitting, supposedly be in silence, declare ” Yes, I’m not speaking “.
Anyone can pretend and say, I can —– but those impostor tend to preach others, with his glorious story.
This was the history in its reality. The more glorious, needs to listen with the more sackful salt.
—-
When the crucial matter of the Buddhism is NOT THINKING / MUSHIN, cringing stereotypical posture
and its idea of sitting ( in fact it is very bad to the leg —– resulting wheel-chair in the later age —– all
the high priest in the Zen sect had end up in a wheel-chair ) because of it looks authentic, is
nothing but a vanity.
Throw away all those POSTURE. Throw away the IDEA of Buddhism. Let it go.
Take a break, relax —– in the deep breath, you may find yourself in the blank moment.
Then you are in the void of this mess of the life.
This VOID is the MUSHIN. You are in the true pathway of the Buddhism.
( When you let it go. Then you get it as the whole —— What a paradox ! ! ! )
___/\___
—
JOURNEY
There are some nice exchange of Emails with one of my friend , keen reader of this Blog,
Jagannathern-ji, who happen to have the birthday showing 8150 number and in his bank account etc, even
a serial number of a camera he bought for his mother as a present. ( In fact, he was horrified of its tenacity )
Hi Jaga-ji
Thanks to put comment.
Have a nice journey and nice holiday.
___/\___ Yoshizen
—-
I am now in India.
Flight was beautiful as full moon’s reflection on the waters…
–^– Jagan
—
Sound very beautiful.
Mum might cook for you too much, as it had happened in my case.
So, don’t over eat —- 😀
( You can convince her with 8150 story as you are joined
holy man, hence stay humble and eat little ) Ha ha ha 😀
___/\___ Yoshizen
PS: I thought, you went into a life without computer. 😀
—
Many years ago, When ever I went back to see my family, my mother cooked for me always too much.
As I used to climbing the mountain, we climber got used, one day on the rock face carrying as little as
possible hence eat just small amount of high-calorie food, then after came back eat two day’s portion.
Therefore I can eat really a lot too. Though, stay in Tokyo just meeting friends, photo job clients etc needn’t
to eat a lot, in fact eating with them —– then come back home and eat again what my mother expected me
to eat —– was too much.
It was a mother’s love. No one can make your mother disappointed.
( So, to fulfill its requirement, occasionally we may need to have a big stomach. 🙂 )
—-
Even for the mankind, genetically implanted program or so-called instinct, a mother’s duty is to nurture
the child —– generally, when a child grown up, he takes his journey to seek his own territory and
rarely seen his mother again.
Now the life expectancy of mankind is twice, three times more than originally designed, and seeing her child
but as 30, 40 years old grown-up is the norm though, still mother sees her child as her baby.
Since, there is no program to deal with a child but as another grown up individual.
This is a peculiar situation, unique to the mankind, hence it created quite a unique complication to the
human being. —– Retain an emotional umbilical cord and yet having an urge to take a journey
to unknown horizon seeking his independent territory.
This might be an interesting point to give a thought. —– Who are we ? ? ?
___/\___
—
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.
___/\___
—
SUBCONSCIOUS again ? — is it a Face ?
Collection of images here are supposed to be a face, picked up by the Google Picasa Face-recognition
program. Google is expecting us to make up a Web-album —– effectively my own facebook.
Obviously Google want to tap-into the social-networking market therefore, listing up the faces appeared
in my cyberspace —— then connecting the face to my Email etc by the name, to utilize their vast amount of
the information about my contacts, my interests, my search records, which they accumulated over the years.
So, Google can sell the AD ” Not just personally targeted, but also to their contacts / friends too ”
—— though, I’m not interested in that kind at all, yet still Google is keep scanning and making a face
collection without my permission ( I can’t remove this program —– do you know how ? ) while making
a number of mis-recognitions.—– So, I got an opportunity to collect ” False images”. 🙂
Some of those are looks like faces —– I can see too, though some are not at all, and puzzling how on earth
this image could be mistaken as a human face / what made a computer to think this is ?
—-
I don’t remember the detail of whose report though, there was a psychologist’s experiment, which showed
even a few months old baby can react to the photographic image of such as a tiger, and came to a
conclusion that the human has genetic memory of dangerous predator. We do not expect that a small
baby has learned knowledge of tiger yet—– its mean the reaction has to came from instinct, in another word,
its visual memory / basis of reference information is in our subconsciousness.
——– Whether it was a Genetic memory, Proto-image or just a mistake, we are very responsive to
the image of the face. And the Face recognition program which the human possess, seems to be a
very old / primordial program in the Old Cortex, hence it can function even a time of newborn baby.
——
In this blog, you might thought, I am using the word ” Subconsciousness ” as if it is a magic keyword.
But how do we know, such invisible, therefore unaccountable memories and the process can be reliable,
let alone a myth of Dharma is there or not. (Please read “Mistake in Philosophy — Answer in Zen” together )
——- The reason why I picked up Google Picasa program was, —– at least it is a rigid visible
counter reference. — In comparison,we don’t remember how many times ever mistook an image as a face,
let alone to know what % of probability. So, this program showed a counter sample of the case when the
recognition was done by an artificial intelligence / computer automatic pattern, face recognition without
having any cross-reference (such as a flow of logic ” If it is a face, where is the body —-> false or true ).
So that it would show the worst case as a bottom line <—- Human got to do the better. 🙂
So far, Google Picasa picked up about 40 false images of faces out of 50,000 facial photos ( plus, may be
twice as much number of the graphic images in the saved Net files)—— 0.08% ~ 0.03% of False rate.
Statistically negligible figure ? —– still, one mistake could change one’s life, therefore significant ?
This is a very rough science or one might say, it is not even a science at all though, this is a DIY Zen Blog,
hence, I would say, it is convincing enough to conclude, human can sense and able to accumulate
quite accurate information of the surroundings / environment. (Even a machine can do with
negligible false rate, why not a human)
—– Are you bemused ? But this is the situation in our mind.
___/\___
—
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