Life in GREEN
I’m a Green mountain person rather than Blue mariner.
So that, ever I know great deep Blue sea looks awesome and beautiful to see, though —— imagine,
if I were left in the middle of infinite sea, —– m m m, — may be I can’t survive. It’s awful isn’t it 😀
But if it was in the mountain or even in the great expanse of field, I may able to survive with some bush crafts.
—–
Any how, its nice to be in the Green, and this is almost genetically programmed basic emotion / instinct.
( This is why, we feel and praised the courage of the great navigator set sailed to the unknown horizon ).
So, we have an idiosyncratic idea, the Green is the symbol of the life, therefore we feel
the most comfort and peace.
So that, it is strange to know, this color Green, the color of the trees and grasses is the most useless
element to the plant life. —– They themselves don’t appreciate Green light at all.
Their most fundamental life activity / Photosynthesis is in fact relying on other than this, very Green.
As the Photosynthesis is only using Violet to Blue light (and Red ) the Green light was thrown out or
reflected away —– hence we are seeing its reflected colored light, which made us to believe, grass is green.
Literally superficially, as we are seeing the plant looks green, we were planted the idea, Life = Green
—– even though, we are seeing their rejected waste / no use to their life.
It’s very very funny in deed.
I don’t think Buddha ever thought of this —— because its wouldn’t make
any difference to our life at all (other than the biologist who is studying this biochemistry).
This is definitely the Truth and a part of the Dharma, though we are living on the false impression.
Whether the stars are the holes on the ceiling above the earth or the another sun in a universe
far away in the space, it wouldn’t change our dairy life at all. (Astrologer may say otherwise. 🙂 )
We may never know all the Truth. But this is what we are. The matter is not what we know,
but the awareness, what we don’t know. Leave the space to hear, see the otherwise. Open mind.
–So, on the end, —
—— One of my friend made a lamp to illuminate his room plant with 50 Green LEDs —– its made
the plant leaves shining green and looks vibrant —— though, I advised him to change them with
40 Blue and 10 Red LEDs —— the result ? You may guessed it, it looks very harsh and dreadful 😀
So, on the end, living on the false comfort such as, so-called ” Healing —, Soothing comfort —, sweet words,
enlightenment, — be green , etc etc ” may not necessary be a bad thing.
After all, important thing in life is Be happy. ( and Be pragmatic, in other word Be flexible. 😀 )
___/\___
—
Fantasy WORLD
In my life, I was asked to give the technical advice or help to build a Perpetual Motion Mechanism or
the device to create an energy out of nothing ( or that kind 😀 ) three times.
The person who asked me were not an idiot or uneducated at all, they are well aware of
the Fundamental Principle of Preservation of Energy —— yet still, strangely they were convinced,
their invention can defy the popular belief and able to create or achieve ultra efficiency hence
able to harvests far grater energy which would benefits the human being.( is what they said, not me 😀 )
The first one which I encountered 30 years or so ago, was a design of Ultra Efficient Bicycle Mechanism
which can produce more power than a rider’s muscle-power, utilizing the earth’s gravity, by
” Cleverly positioned the center of gravity of the rider and synchronizing its movement to an oval-shaped
pedal gear etc brah, brah ——- “.
Second invention was (yet another) ,Anti-Gravity Device of which the person got the idea from Internet.
A man himself was a qualified architect and got enough knowledge of the engineering, and many
knowledgable friends and having a taste of posh life —— .
I guess, it is a (Masonic) belief of some architects, which is a certain kind of mythical numerology such as,
what mathematical proportion was used for the Old Temple’s design etc, which connect to the cosmic power.
It was not my business to argue with his belief, I was asked to deal with electronic control of the motor etc.
The third invention was an idea to extract 3.5 times more power from a battery using fancy transformer.
I explained many fundamental rules and physical, electrical limitations, not only the Principle of Energy
Preservation but the limitation of efficiency in an electro-magnetic device etc. ( Even with best designed
electric generator, the efficiency to convert force to electric energy is less than 30 % )
A guy’s explanation was, “Because of those FREE ENERGY idea is a threat to this Oil based
Socio-Economical System of the establishment, the development has been hindered and kept the people
ignorant” —— m m m ?—- Kind of tongue, sound familiar. I’ve heard many times !
A guy who was expecting to become millionaire with his invention, was very secretive on the beginning
though, in order to argue with my explanation “This is based on the respectable scientific research,
published in the Internet” and revealed the Net-site ——- It was an Anarchist’s propaganda site.
( So, the site was successfully brain washed a man to become anti-establishment 😀 )
Idea itself was based on 10 years old experiment and done by not a scientist ( I’m even dubious whether
an inventor used decent electronic measuring instrument) and I could not believe any of its data. Bollocks.
Just take a common sense, —— in past 10 years, thousand of the people may have seen the article and
some of them must have built the device and tested —— If the claim has any shred of truth, why it didn’t
make a news, or fancy Chinese device didn’t appear on the market — or iPod with 1/3 battery size.? ? ?
To make and sell highly crowded competitive market, such as ATX computer power supply, many
manufacturers spending so much money and effort to develop more efficient design or higher power
from the same size of foot-print, therefore if any good idea is there, they are the first people to test
the theory, as they got all the necessary materials and the expertise, not an amateur on the street.
——
Yet still, even in Japan, there said to be about 1,000 new Patent application of Perpetual Movement in year.
It may be an exercise of creativity and to make (at least on the paper) beautiful drawing and description,
it needs a dedication and mindful attention —— though, what went wrong ? ? ?
Not all the applicant were blinded by their greed, some enthusiasts are having fun with their joke.
One of the very famous comedian Kingorou Yanagiya had 3,000 patents granted, and one of the best idea
was actually made to a commercial product called Laughing Head-band which has tail-dropped eyebrows
printed on it, and make the people to laugh, while singing comic song for Karaoke 😀
—— Instead of clinging own obsession and blaming the company, other people who didn’t believe and
take their idea, look into a mirror, pull the eyes-tail drop, make a smile —– and make a joke, may make
one’s life much easier and happier. 😀
___/\___
___
Obsession – Mindfulness – Middle way
Anybody who try to learn / practice Buddhism by oneself, to find the measure of Middle way
while committing so-called Mindfulness, but not in obsessive extreme, is not easy.
To biggin with Mindfulness, to learn what is the Mindfulness is hard enough, —— in fact, to understand
what is Mindfulness —— is already somewhere middle of the way reaching to the Enlightenment !
Most obvious and common mistake to learn Mindfulness is, to mix-up it with the concentration.
Concentration with passion and enthusiasm.( in another word, with Emotion )
Far from it, it is the result / even a by-product of the Mushin ——Once the Mind has gone, so nothing to
think about though, something left in the hand or very front of you—— so, just do it.
Mindfulness is not the concentration of the mind, but simply nothing else is there.
It may look utterly strange though, to learn Mindfulness, first, start to do a boring useless
practice, repeat and repeat again until your mind become insensitive and able to do it without
thinking —–> and able to see the task with completely emptied brain / Blank Space ——-
The task may seem something foreign or looks even first time to see ( by the newly acquired
Open–eyes / Dispassionate eyes ) —–> as nothing else is in your mind,so
just deal with ” this, only the Task.”
Hence, nothing else there, the eyes, attention everything goes into it, down to the minute details.
( Eyes sees what you want to see, but Dispassionate eyes sees everything on front, as it is )
To somebody-else’s eyes, it may seem too much. To clean the kitchen down to a minute water-mark
may seem to be a Compulsive cleanness Obsession / Mental Disorder though, never mind, as long
as it wouldn’t take more than 10 minutes after a cooking or eating, it is just a normal practice.
If it goes hours everyday —— m m m ?
What is extreme, where is the Middle way is just an arbitrary view. Often, the cleanness obsession
of Japanese frighten the westerners, (you may not know, they carry a wet tissue with disinfectant to clean
their hand after shake hand with unknown person. They are only the people using disposal toilet seat cover)
but it is normal, among the Japanese. This is the reason why they are even reluctant to shake hand, or
share the bottle and drink direct from it (touch somebody-else’s saliva ) let alone kissing to other person !
( It is originated from deep sublimated Japanese Shinto ” Avoid the foreign dirt and keep you clean “)
—–
Where to draw the line and stay in Middle way, is not rigidly fixed. Since, the fundamentals of the Buddhism
is not torment you with complicated rules, but to liberate your mind. Try extreme will definitely taxing your
body and mind, but obviously dirty kitchen would cause your ill-health. So, here is clear Middle ground.
Do what you think appropriate. Observe who you are, and if it is acceptable for you, do your best.
( So, to a Japanese, Clean it when it was soiled may be a Middle way, and to a Hippie guy clean the
kitchen once in a week may be his Middle way —- though it’s a huge leap to clean it first time ever. 🙂 )
—-
While observing your own tasks, re-arrange the order, or a way to sort the memos, even the position
to stick those memo, or the way to respond the Emails etc, and making it easier and smoother to
deal, —— if the situation is getting better, its mean your Mindful approach is working.
And when you established a system to deal with those tasks, and able to sort them quite business-like,
almost automatic way, in fact you are processing it, in the Mushin manner. —Why not it is efficient.
Difference of the Mushin to machine is, as the eyes is completely open, it is possible to spot
anything peculiar or the point to pay attention. This is what makes the human different from a machine.
—– So, keep you busy. 🙂
___/\___
—–
Hygiene of MIND
It seems the explanation of the Self : True Self in the previous post was not enough or messy.
So, I need to clear the mess in the better metaphor. 🙂
Looking through the Buddha’s teachings, long since I’ve been thinking the Psychological profile
of Buddha and realized, to think Buddha as a Guru of religion will miss the point.
If we think his mind-set like a scientist or physician, it would be
far easier to understand what he taught.
And it would explain more, why the Buddhism having such character, not like a religion nor philosophy.
Just see the very blunt words of his Four noble truths ” Life is suffering —-” are not a kind of words from
would be a savior trying to be very popular, but more like a doctor diagnosed a cancer, telling the truth.
Why ? —– Because in his Enlightenment, Buddha saw the Dharma is the rational mechanism,
like the Science, not a mythical mambo-jumbo. —
And he was able to see even the invisible. (Say, Micro Karma inside of our subconscious and unconscious
physiological dynamics reacting to the given environment / stimruos, moment by moment. So that, his
teachings of the Noble Eight fold Path are to curb the possible cause and environment in the first place ).
This was the reason Why Buddha ordered his disciples to see the things include the Self and
think by themselves, not blindly follow what others say (its mean even the word of Buddha,
teacher, scripts). Buddha’s contemplation to settle middle way, away from the extreme, such as
extreme austerity was simply based on his experience. It wouldn’t give any Enlightenment but
the illusion, bore out of tortured body and the mind ( he didn’t take those illusion as a super
natural vision like his teacher ——- he was a cool headed man = like a scientist or surgeon).
(Though, the disciples and later followers who couldn’t understand the invisible, just named it as the
” Pannya Paramita” / Supreme Wisdom, and put it in the shelf without touching since, and created
numerous fancy mumbo-jumbo story which took the idea of Hindu myth into the Buddhism. ) 🙂
—–
Think, Buddha was talking about the hygiene of the MIND.
Talking about the cause of illness, and the germs, how to keep cleanness to avoid the infection.
His eyes are very analytical, and thinking based on the observed facts, in very rational way.
(This was the reason, why I even felt it was the psycho–engineering.)
We ordinary folks can’t see and couldn’t guess what lies behind and causing the pain from illness.
The medical scientist knows which germs infects where and how, but not us.
Buddha saw the cause of our sufferings are lay in the infection of our Mind / the infected Self.
Since we couldn’t see the germ, it is very difficult to see how this Self was infected.
Buddha explained the cause of disorder of our Mind, like a system how the lung exchange the oxygen
and the carbon-dioxide, which we only know the superficial phenomena / breeding.
So, he explained the mechanism of Karma —– cause and the effect, which is constantly taking place
and never stop, affecting our Mind too. Hence he saw, attempt to imagine it as the static entity is wrong.
—–
Without knowing it was the science, and without knowing the existence of germ which
we can’t see, the past monks tried to explain what the meaning of Buddha’s teachings are.
And messed up.
The Mind looks the same but it was infected, hence the patient is suffering without knowing the cause.
So, Buddha explained the cause and taught how to cure the infection and regain the clean and
sound Mind which we were born with it on the beginning.
—-
Mind is the center topics in our life and the Buddhism, hence, it is having so many implications.
In relation to the Karma “static Mind couldn’t exist” and in relation to the repeating practice ( practice
is the vessel to sublimate the teachings into subconsciousness) but subconsciousness is invisible,
“hence hard to know its existence”, and in the Epistemology and the Ontology front, what is really
existing —– is it only in our Mind / or Mind itself is reliable —— is a perpetual question.
Above all, as Buddha established his view against the Vedic idea of Atman, which says
that the soul exists and remained after death, he took the firm stance, the Atman / Mind is not exists.
In deed, the idea and effect of Mushin / No-mind and its power is the center of the Buddhism.
And the Self which was imagined by such Mind couldn’t be there neither.
What really exists is the pure Mind which is in fact the Dharma, and the true Self which is
in fact a part of the Dharma too ——— they are no longer called Mind nor Self, that all.
Yet in the same time it is undeniable, whether it was deluded / infected or not, without having
the Self and the Mind’s existence, the Self and the Mind couldn’t be enlightened. ——- so,
with pragmatic reason, they are just called Mind and the Self, for convenience. 😀
——– We have to see, the Mind and the Self —— which looks the same though, what the Buddhists
talking about has the invisible difference, either it was germ infected one, or the clean one. 😀
( Trouble is, we can not see the Clean one —— because it is not existing / in theory. Ha ha ha 😀 )
———-
It is the same Mind, same Self though, its change the state, just like riding a bicycle, the person
suddenly become able to ride and gain the freedom. No one can explain why but it just happen.
In the same manner, suddenly the eyes open, and the conscious of Mind and the Self disappear,
or its become irrelevant —– effectively clear the infection 🙂
The task is in your hand, clean your Mind, and your Self germ free. (or Hinayana approach
would say, don’t bother the germ or Mind / Self all together, just get on your life ! )
This is the very path way of the Buddhism.
___/\___
PS: This wouldn’t devalue the Buddha at all ( — may demystify him a bit though ).
——I only add a line, Buddha had the eyes and the Mind of the Scientist.
——Look, all through the human history, who else could see and explain the human life
——like Buddha. He is the only Buddha. Greatest teacher to the human being in the history.
—-
Which DIRECTION ?
Time to time I was asked to give an advice to a friend or friend of friend etc, in all sorts ——
Some time, how to deal with family or woman to electronic circuit ——- 🙂
While talking with computer programmer, a man (say Mr.A ) told me the pressure he is feeling from
the family or relatives who expecting he should be a genius and become a millionaire.
After that meeting, while dealing with Emails I just got a thought, why not Mr.A develop an App
for mass user of such as iPhone etc —— may make him quite rich as his concept to deal with programing
is rather novel. Market system, whether its got bad name of capitalism or not, it is quite democratic,
if it is good for the people it sell. Not Mr.A not me having wishful thinking —— let the people to decide.
So, I send him short Email saying ” How about, to develop App for iPhone kind”.
Soon after, I received his reply in which he explained this and that, and mentioned ” By the way I just
have received an Email from Intel’s development director, asking whether am I interesting to take part of
their development project ” —— then I realized the time-record of his Email was —2010 8:15 — M m m ?
( I hope I’m not paranoia though, as it happened in the same time of me to suggest him, and it must be a
peculiar coincidence ) I took this as a sign and Email backed him mentioning this number
” Be honest, do what you want. Dharma is watching you “)
As he knew about this number, read of my post / 8150 Story, he replied ” Oh, dear God, SCARY !”
Exchanging the mail with Intel, he found he is not very keen with their business, and found his
direction —— not the money but to keep what he really want to do.
Which he said ” Keep my path is what Dharma directed”
—
Despite popular misconception, DIRECTION is not an external menu which we can choose by will.
It is what we ourselves having in us. It is in fact synonym of the self.
Here, the source of all the misconception and confusion lies, to be true to yourself, reset your mind
to the default state, have a blank space in your mind is in fact Just to be yourself.
In most of the case, what we are thinking This is Me ——– is in fact The imaginary Self, the Role to
play or the tactical Pretence to chase a goal (such as power, fortune or delusion to be a Macho Man).
This is why, the Buddhism says, There is no such thing like the SELF ——– so-called Self is not
there, yet Buddha taught Watch it by yourself. Watch who you are. ——- If the self is not there,
Who is watching ? —— What Buddha meant was, not by such imaginary fixed figure of the Self
(as the Self is continuously changing with Karma, no still photograph exist —– You can’t capture an
image of running horse / still horse is a dead horse.(forget hi-speed camera which Buddha didn’t have 😀 )
but by the eyes, free from the conscious of self.——simply, just who you are.
—-
Unlike awkwardly dressed masquerade, the person inside is the real self who can spontaneously
respond the Situation and the feeling (unconsciously) like natural Flow. Buddha saw this ability
to respond the Karma is, it is because of the fundamental rule / Dharma.
Hence it is not the SELF but the Dharma. ——- of which everybody has inside and born with.
( As you are born with it, it is easy to be, though, strangely it is a hardest thing ——- so that, when it was
achieved it was described as a Dog Shit )
So, I’m watching what next move Mr.A will takes.
___/\___
—
Flow
An ologist described the 20 century is the first time ever the Buddhism was discovered as its entirety.
In certain extent I can see the point and agree with this.
All the ancient mantras were written as ” Buddha said “ —— and each sect read the certain selection of
mantras as their holy books without questioning or knowing what is the origin or relation to others.
But now, the scholars and researchers who are studying Buddhism, can see all the Buddhism scriptures
in Pali, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Chinese and modern English, German etc while reading them
in comparison or chronological order.
I’ve read may be only fraction of total volume still, when I read another translation, I realized the more
likely meaning or understanding —— and I went back to the original idea —— if it is common
to all the sect’s, it must be closer to the original teachings, and if it was far-fetched idea it couldn’t be
the Buddha’s own teachings since Buddha didn’t teach educated people but to the ordinary folks on the
street or in the field, it should be based on the common sense.
—— Buddha wanted to save the suffering people not the well off educated.
Regardless whether rich or poor, still human mind and its mechanism is common to everybody and that is
where Buddha started, and gave the deepest insight.
And those insight is what we can re–discover today as Buddha taught ” Observe it by yourself “.
And it made us even amateurs able to study by ourself in our own way, based on our own life.
( ” Follow the facts you experienced, not the scriptures ” is also Buddha’s teaching, since
everybody got their own Karma which is unique to the person, hence one’s Nirvana too )
Hence the explosion of the Buddhism / Zen blogging. And the creation of Zen blog sphere.
——-
——— I found in the Blog sphere, somebody try to explain the mind in creative front, using the word Flow.
When our mind freely flow without stuck to an idea or things we can be most creative.
Thanks to comprehensive coverage of the observation of human mind and the phenomena, by Buddhists
it is not difficult to relate this to the Flow of mind and the changing phenomena / nothing stays the same ——
hence a mind, stuck to a moment couldn’t see the truth, it needs the mind of Mushin / No-mind / Anatman.
——— And in the other spot, somebody explaining the understanding or true meaning of this No-mind.
As I wrote somewhere in the earliest post, the Buddhism is a way of the Psycho–engineering.
Not just a belief system or religion who is saying ” it might come as the God is there, if you believe” or
a Philosophy which saying ” look in this way —– so,you might able to see it in this way”
BUT ” As you can actually change your perception / mind to see this, then you will see this”
Buddhism can change you / your life, since it will change your perception / eyes and the mind.
( This is the reason why the same technique has been used for a brain wash ——- but it wouldn’t be too bad
to wash your brain clean and see the world afresh 😀 ——- it looks nicer and more peaceful. 😀
Brain wash implant yet another crocked idea though, Buddhism leave the cleaned brain to the person
enabling the person to see the world and himself by his clear eyes and make him to decide the way of life)
No-mind / Mushin is the core of the Buddhism teachings, hence it is the hardest part to understand
——– when you understand its meaning in real life, your perception has already changed.
( Your brain has washed ! ! ! )
It may sound strange though, this is the magic of the Buddha’s teaching.
And you may feel even more strange is, it is not to put or learn anything new or fancy idea
but just remove the occupying idea or view from your mind / brain ( hence no–mind or default
state of mind) and create a free blank space which enable you to see or perceive your own idea,
creation,way of life, what-so-ever in natural FLOW.
So that, strangely, it is the most easiest things to do —– as a small child is doing. 🙂
Try it your self —– safe to try it in your home 😀
___/\___
—–
Lost and Found
In many occasions, we suddenly realized, Wait a moment where that Thing has gone ?
In my life style, it wouldn’t happen if it is for the daily use. The item, the thing goes back to exactly
the same position whether it may not necessary be the most ideal place.
Away from the ordinary tool box, strangely a glue-gun and a hair dryer is hanging next to the kitchen
utensils under my kitchen shelf. ——- When I moved in this unfurnished flat, it was before I moved my
possessions from a warehouse storage, I needed to fix something. So, I brought some tools from the
tool box in the storage. Unlike hammer or pliers those glue-gun and hair dryer (by the way, this one is not
for my hair but to heat-up or drying the material, and those ladles are to bend the aluminium with its carve
—– they are the tools for me 🙂 ) having an electric cable, hence it is easy to hang —– so, they found
a place to hang, and it became their permanent place.
Since, same hardware / tools or materials are in the same
place, the way to do the things, is more or less identical
—— hence it became a routine. —– Its mean I don’t
need to think about each action and only need to
pay attention to a part which is new or different.
You may see on the photo, the cable of the glue-gun or
hair dryer is twisted round its own body —— and the
way to twist round the cable was though out for its
best way round ( —- in fully minded manner 🙂 ),
therefore it is always the same and the plug will come to the most secure exact position.
This practice, place the item always exactly the same position said to be started in the Zen temple
and kept as a Samurai tradition. Hence a Samurai was able to respond to a sudden attack, able to
grubb his sward instantly in the total darkness.—— So, it was the iron rules in my family as well.
I was allowed to use my father’s tool, provided me to put it back exactly the same place, same condition,
and it trained me to memorize where the original position and the conditions were, down to
the minute detail. ( —– Otherwise the teaching would come with a fist 😀 )
——– My photographic memory might have originated from here.
——————–
You may realized now, what I’m talking about is. This is the Zen. And the Buddhism. —– in real life.
Zen is not only for a fancy movement of the sword master or incomprehensible Mondo —– but
in every minute details of the daily life —– to maximize the efficiency and ease of the life.
Then, — Zen ? —– the trouble is not the item in the same place.
Quite often, I buy something strange or fancy, —– might be useful-one-day kind of, such as cheap
Chinese things, toy etc. As it is not very important and not necessary having well-defined place ( that is
why it is strange ) I just stashed away somewhere. —— then year later, something bright idea came up,
” Aha, I got That Chinese Toy —– I can use that part of mechanism for this idea ” —— but, where is it ?
Since it didn’t belong to the defined category, it is not in the likely place of its function —– but it might
be placed in the similarity of the shape —– ? ? ?
When we try to think / seek the answer or to find a strange toy (in this case) —– our mind are caught up
to “Likely” direction, where so-called logical ( but own logic ) thinking is leading.
But in real life, not everything follow the logic. And not necessary having in the same guise which
I remembered or so-I believed.
The toy might have just dropped behind the box, from where I left it.
Or it may be in a bag, half disassembled.
When we look for something, our eyes (or mind ) is chasing the pattern as our cognitive function works.
The harder we try, we are even deeper caught up with same pattern. —— this is the moment we need
to have open mind.—– NOT concentrate, stop gazing at but take aback, and just to be passive.
Here the paradox again. The more you looking into, you can not see —– because what you are
looking is what you want to see / your imagined pattern. —– (But how do you know You know it.)
——- Then what I found was, on the corner of my desk, something poking out of a milk-cartoon was
that Chinese toy upside-down. Only I didn’t know, what it looks like the bottom of it upside-down 😀
We need to open our eyes with open mind. Detached mind can see the world better. 😀
___/\___
—
What is the POINT ?
Somebody who read Spiritual Sound gave me a question saying
that I’m desecrating the holy spirituality.
On the surface, it may look true. But it is the main purpose of this DIY Zen Blogging.
I’m not Desecrating Buddhism or any holy belief.
To decipher the mechanism of our mind and invisible psyche in relation to the Zen is
the task what I’m doing and all about this Yoshizen Blog. —— May be I am demystifying the religion.
( I don’t need to indulge Mythical Dream, as I’ve been surrounded by too many spooky phenomena. 😀
My task is not pretend to be a kind of medium but to find out the mechanism how it is operating. )
As I wrote in the earliest posts, the repeating Buddhist’s practice is, in fact, ware-out the mind
and make the practice routine hence make the person able to do it without thinking / in Mushin.
Mushin is a state of mind, and it is nothing to do with any mythical, glorious religious belief.
To open the mind and the perception completely away from any thought, we are able to see
and able to know the truth as it is —— is what all about the teaching of Buddha.
To complete his teachings, Buddha ordered to his disciples Not idolize him or worship himself ——its
mean, to follow the Buddhist’s teachings, even a notion of Buddha / Buddhism have to be removed.
Because, Buddha knew it is the pitfall of the teachings —— even a conscious of I’m a Buddhist or notion
of Buddha would utterly negate the effects of Mushin.
Remove the conscious to be a Buddhist or the name of the Buddha, is not desecration of the Buddhism.
Since it is the very core of the Buddha’s teachings.
Simply, this is how our mind works. And this is what the Buddha’s teachings.
——
Buddha taught to remove the own thinkings to attain Mushin, in his explanation, since the basis of
own thoughts = the self is not existing.
To fully understand what Buddha meant took 500 years. Hinayana Buddhists took this to negate
the self, especially filthy part of it, smelly guts or uncontrollable genitals shouldn’t be there.
Then Mahayana Buddhists realized, if they shouldn’t be there, why the Dharma gave us in the first place.
(Not to be obsessed with it / Middle way , is a commonsense)
The function and its mechanism of our mind / psyche (dynamics of our subconscious) was designed
or given by the Dharma, and it has been refined and refined (evolved) in past billions of years.
Exactly in the same context to see the effects of the repeating practice, I described the effects of
the incomprehensible hi-pitched tone —— it makes our mind puzzle and open the mind.
I didn’t ask anybody to listen Hi-pitched tone or Mozart Miserere. I’ve just shown what is the effect of
us to open the mind and the perception. —– then you might able to touch spiritual world.
Whether this spiritual world is sacred or holy mythical world, is in your belief / Mind —– but
as the paradox of Buddhism is here, as long as you cling its idea, you can not see it.
___/\___
—
Spiritual Sounds
While ago I talked about the sounds which gave us a spiritual feeling.
In there, I wrote ” Something slowly moving continuous rather hi-pitch tone make us feel spiritual.”
And long time ago, when I talked about J.S.Bach and Baroque music —– not melodic but continuously
changing polyphonic sound makes our brain to stop thinking / abandon the thinking process =
attempt to figure out what this sounds mean ——- is good for the Zenist to empty the mind. 😀
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Unlike a visual signal, sound signal is a basic stimulus, goes directly into the subconscious.
If you encountered a scene in a huge Buddhist Temple, hundreds of monks chanting a Mantra in unison,
( I’ve listened it at Eihei-ji and Daitoku-ji. You may find a recordings of Tendai-shormyo of Enryaku-ji )
you might have felt its low voice is more of a demonic and gave awesome impact to your perception.
The Gregorian Chant in a monastery gives similar feelings but the sound is less demonic.
Then somebody suggested, how about the Gospel Song ? ——- Those musics are surely Religious but
not necessary sound spiritual as its use of normal voices range and the meanings of words’ limit the mind
to be open. One of rare exception might be the back-ground hi-pitch humming of a Gospel group Take6.
(In purely sound term, not the connotation of the songs).
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When we hear roar or beating drone like low sound, it resemble the sound of earth before an eruption
of volcano or a big predator / lion, tiger etc, we feel a fear ( instinctively ). ( Huge fearsome body
never chirp, as the resonance of big body cavity is pretty low / earth’s magma chamber is huge 😀 )
So that the lower sound is the sign of larger and more powerful body, hence used to appeal to the female
who is seeking stronger gene —— from flog to golilla. (and some human as well 😀 )
Since the lower roaring sound gives the feeling of awe and hi-pitch slow-moving tone gives
spiritual feeling, the religious organ music utilising those effect very effectively in its three-part
polyphonic composition.
So, why hi-pitch tone (when its sound slowly moves but not too melodic way) gave us spiritual feelings ?
Try this by yourself now. —– Make high-tone on your mouth, pieeeee —– then, booooo —– you must be
noticed, high-tone resonate in your head / nose cavity, but low sound resonate in your lung cavity.
Lower base sound shake your body, but hi-tone hit your head / brain though, if the sound is not
comprehensible —– not a whistle of train or alarm sound, nor soprano song —— something unknown
but as it keep hitting the brain, we just open the perception and we were nailed down just to listen.
As we couldn’t figure it out, our confidence in our ego melt away, and the mind evaporate into air.
With completely open mind and the naked perception, we started to feel, something is there.
You are standing on the edge of spiritual world.
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Just open the perception / mind, and become totally passive without attempting to give
any own thought / thinking, is nothing but the state of Mushin in the Buddhism.
Of cause, Hi-pitched tone itself has no spirituality, it was just happened to be a typical sample
to make us feel the uncertainty which forced to open our mind / key to see the function of our mind.
And this key is showing us, No-thinking/No-mind/Mushin is the pathway toward the spirituality.
Buddha, in his ultimate wisdom, decipher this phenomenon and gave the explanation.
What beyond there is, the Dharma. —— As everybody can be hit by this spiritual sound,
its indicates the fact, everybody has its perception, and the Dharma is not beyond the sky, but
in front of us. In fact we ourself is a part of it, that’s why everybody got this perception.
Unlike the Gregorian Chant of Gospel Song which needs to know beforehand and learn what it is,
the perception toward the spirituality is inherent to all the human, Buddhism is teaching how to open
the perception/mind, and see the Dharma through its practice. ( without listening a hi-pitch tone 😀 )
—— still, one of the Zen sect Fuke-shu use the sound of Shakuhach / Bamboo pipe to reach Mushin.
—— ( though, to master this instrument is as hard as to get enlightenment ). ( Still, sound is good 😀 )
In fact, to some people, it is not necessary a hi-pitch tone, but it can be a sound of the running water,
wave sound of the sea, wind through the tree though, those sound sources are surrounded by too many
visual signals too. We may not able to just listen the sound of wave —— mind might be destructed
by a passing nice Bikini Bottom. ( Ha ha ha 😀 —– In fact, Bottom is a part of the Dharma, so, nothing
wrong with it though, if the mind was stuck with it, it break off the Mushin and stray away.
You can deal with it in Mushin, but on a bed, not on the beach. Ha ha ha 😀 )
—— Still, once got know how, it can be done in any way.
Just open the mind and perceive the Dharma. ( People describes this as Meditation )
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Return of Chilean Miner
The return of Chilean Miner is one of the most extraordinary story in resent human history.
It was an exceptional raw human endurance, and the typical technological solution of today.
( I have no idea, how to drill a hole into solid granite and hit the target 2,000 feet away. What sort of
guiding / detecting system, technology there. When Doctor insert a probe through blood vessel, he can
see it by X-ray image, even in 3D. Though, can Radar does the same function towards under ground ? )
That is why the Chileans are so proud of its achievement. ” We can do this “.
In Buddhist’s view it was also the proof of that the Buddha’s insight was bang right.
——- You might say, no, they are the devoted Catholic that’s why God saved them.
I’m talking not about their God, but the Universal Dharma / fundamental nature of Human Psyche.
Even though, their motivation to go down the notorious hell mine is derived by the better money
than the other safer mine, in other words greed and the ego, yet still, if they couldn’t overcome
much more fundamental ego / survival instinct / fear of the death = negation of the self, they
couldn’t go down to the hell in the first place.
Without this State of Non-self / Anatman, they couldn’t keep the discipline / diligently follow their
leader / foreman and managed to keep peace in the utterly desperate condition.
If they were just greedy egoist, there could be easily the fight over the food ( can you imagine, just
one spoonful of tuna fish per day, under the utterly uncertainty of the fate, for 17 days ).
If , Survival of Fittest was the rule, some of them, much stronger than the leader, could have broken off
and took all the food only for them —— but no such fight occurred.
They had accepted the fate, there could be the possibility of all of them may die, one by one, still
without fallen into the madness facing the coming death, play together and kept Hope
—– waited, and waited, —— 17 days ! ! !
This is nothing but the typical sample of the Buddhism Paradox / The one
who survived was the one who accepted the death. Non-self is really the key of the survival.
And the Non-self was the foundation of the charity / kindness / compassion —— so, they helped
weakest, and ALL 33 survived together and came out the hell.
It was not the Dharma helped them.
They followed and kept the rules of the Dharma / they are the Dharma.
( You may say, why non-Buddhist could know and follow the Dharma —– Dharma is the universal Rule
therefore it rules every body, and all the human being has it in them, whether a person aware of it or not )
Congratulation.
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