Orchids Photos of Sing Lee
I received beautiful photos of Orchids from my friend, Sing Lee of China.
Sing Lee used to be a quite unique Chinese Blogger who showed impressive photos of
their Shang-tang mountain and many beautiful flowers there until his blog/ WordPress
altogether were blocked by their authority.
So, on behalf of him, I put his photos here, for the people of the world to see.
As he wrote before, those Orchids were found deep in the Shang-tang mountain, and
brought to the city, they could be very rare new variety or even new species though,
I don’t have the eyes to tell its name. —– So, just enjoy its beauty !
And I hope his well-being away from the suffocating air pollution.
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Perpetual Cherry Flowers / Ultra Close-up by Fisheye Lens
—————- (In fact, this photo is the same one = last in this post, only cropped a bit.
—————- And in here, the flower petals were actuary touching the lens surface.
————— Fish-eye Lens isn’t too bad for Close-up. We only need to extend the Lens for
————— 2~3 mm though, there is no way to do it but to loose it from the mount 🙂 )
If you’ve been reading this blog, you may rightly say “Oh no, yet again Cherry flower ?”
I know, in fact I was rather bemused. This Cherry tree is the same tree appeared here before,
and again in a post in the last Autumn as it showed the flower utterly out of season.
Since when I’ve put a post last November when the tree had orange colored Autumn leaves,
I’ve been visiting her time to time as she always having flowers. = Hence, I came to a
conclusion that it was not caused by a confusing weather pattern but this tree is a new
variety who has the character, flowering all year round (well, half-year round at least 🙂 )
— (Photo by Canon 5D MkIII / Zoom Fish-eye 8~15mm at 15mm / Lens held off the Mount)
Without having macro lens with me, to take
close-up pictures, I resorted to use my Fish-eye
Lens lifted up from the body (not fully mounted
= Lens was held not fully inserted to the body
leaving about 2mm gap ! 😀 ) —– As the lens has
no connection to the camera’s electronics,
aperture is fully open and no focus indicator —– seeing the focus and using
the same shutter speed (only + 1/3) still, picture can be taken. (as you can see the result 😀 )
But, when the eye was concentrating the focus, the finger holding the lens couldn’t keep
the lens exactly in the center, the edge of the image-circle got into the picture =
I needed to click few times 😀
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Photography is a very critical operation though, in the same time, it is a very loose
flexible funny art, such as even pinhole photos are also the photos.
When I was young, before I got Macro-lens , lifting the lens, even the lens was held
in an angle (hence giving pan-focus effect) or held reversed, such technique was my
favorite improvisation. (No close-up lens or extension ring = hence, cost nothing,
still able to create more or less the same, or even better results. 😀 )
The matter is not the equipment but the Mind = Just try, just DO it.
It could be successful —— if not = keep mouth shut 😀 )
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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.
___/\___
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Sea-Otter’s Valentine Heart !
I just found this photo in the Net. He is (or said to be = I didn’t ask him) an Alaskan Sea Otter
called Yu-tan lives in the Sea-Paradise of Hakkei-island, Yokohama, Japan. When a keeper
gave him a Heart shaped ice, he just carry it on his chest while swimming as they do as their
natural habit. —– What a performance ! Cute.
I like this joke. (Though, some may say It’s a bad-joke — I like Bad-joke = I don’t want to be
pretending decent man. Anyhow I’m not such noble man but killing vegetables boiled alive )
It’s THE good imagination of the keeper !
—– So, if you plan good fun in your Valentin, have words ” Even an Otter has his fun” 😀
(Photo from Jiji-Press = http://www.jiji.com/jc/p?id=20130209164425-0014024070&j3 )
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Ugandan Gathering
London is a strange place. You may not know the nationality of the person sitting
next to you, let alone to know what the person is.
Years ago, I happened to became a friend of an Afghan Mojahedine, a brother of
Ahmad Shah Masud who became the Defense Minister of the Afghan Government.
After the victory against Russia, my friend Walli became the Charge-d-affair and
moved from a small room in Wimbledon to the Afgan Embassy. (I’ve acted as a
go-between to Japanese media and a technical, electronic helper to them 🙂 )
[]
A black guy, I acquainted, was happen to be an Ugandan Politician, who is organizing
a movement of the Ugandan expatriates for Democratize their home country.
–—- from those activists, next leader of their country might be born.
Expatriates (he calls Diaspora) here consists the refugee from Idi Amin’s suppression
to all sorts of immigrants, and their mission is “Reclaim and Free Uganda Now” though,
I leave the matter to talk about their issue, to my friend and his web-site.
So, I just show the portraits of the people I met in there gathering.
—– ( Click the photo to enlarge and click again even larger 🙂 )
Their National Anthem.
Among their supporters, many of Doctors, Proffesors as well as the business people —–.
When it’s came to the matter of their lost Mother Land, it is an emotional matter.
—– (The Green and Red-cast of those photos above showed erratic response of the Canon
—– 5D Mk3’s AWB = its color balance changes frame to frame —– what a nightmare 😦 )
—– Young talented singer sang the Anthem for Uganda ~ ~ ~ Uganda !
—– (In fact all those images were cropped out small part of the original photo 🙂 )
—– ( I know, fish-eye lens is not suit for a portrait 😀 )
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM 😀
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Hut Albireo in YASHIGA-MINE
Gosh, I found the Web-site and a photo of the Hut Albireo (八子ヶ峰ヒュッテ,アルビレオ)
(When I searched in English before, I couldn’t find —– I got Japanese typing program only few years ago )
Hut Albireo (its name from a star in the Cygnus ) was a sister Hut of a mountain shelter Takami-ishi Goya (高見石小屋) in Kita-Yatsu-ga-take(北八ヶ岳), in japan.
—– (Until now I didn’t reveal the name of the mountain shelter I talked, because of my stories often goes too far, I thought, unless the people can verify it with the first-hand independent source, I didn’t like to do name-dropping).
[]Both Takami-ishi Goya and Hut Albireo were originally built by Mr. Satta but later they were taken over by the another hotel, Honzawa-Onsen. And the Hut Albireo was bought by one of keeper, Mr.Kaji who was the chief volunteer of us. In fact it was in a financial mess we keepers were involved in a nightmare as Mr.Satta lost a lots of money in betting. (Not very mountain like peaceful stories 🙂 )
( So, I learned a man’s life’s up and down entwined with a silly money affair, rather early stages of my life, fortunately or unfortunately. —– Since I hate money and gamble :-D)
[] To build the Hut Albireo, we keepers were also worked hard from digging the ground works, to carry-up the building materials (all worked for free though 😀 ) —– coming to the age of stock takings of the life, and looking back to those life I spent in the mountain (from 15 years to 27 years), I convinced that it formed my base of Zen Buddhism.
In fact, I’ve learned the Buddhism in hardest way in the harshest condition 😀 After all, the matter is just do the work regardless even if it is for others. = No Ego required. So, I’m very grateful I did it. Ha ha ha 😀 —– (Such as a work in a building site in Okinawa while I was a drifter, the work in 30 m high was not too high for a rock climber, and the work was paid ! = In comparison to the unpaid work, such as carrying the 50 kg of fire log 20 times everyday (its mean one ton everyday and continued one week ) any other work is easier = who complains =only thankful to be alive = this must be the best lesson and the contemplation for one’s life. Ha ha ha 😀 )
[] So that, to find the Hut Albireo is still there, and the same owner Mr.Kaji is still alive, was the greatest news to me. (He was the keeper who carried 15 ton of log together every year. — the question is whether he became a Zen Buddhist or not ? ) = I need to phone him ! —– Since then, what I found through phone was a bit spooky story that the volunteers, worked together with us (me and Mr.Kaji) around the same time, me and Mr.Kaji are the only surviving member now = rest of 5 were all dead. What ? ? ? —– (I don’t miss them. Any how they didn’t work for cutting log, or carrying up the food staff = all the heavy work. — They did just disappeared. 😀 )
( Incidentally, when I had my wedding, the Ceremony was conducted in the Shinto Shirline Suwa-taisha (諏訪大社) and we had wedding party in this very Hut = it was my biggest folly of my whole life. 😀 )
[]
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 ?
___/\___
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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.
[]
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 😀 )
[]
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.
[]
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).
[]
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.
[]
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.
[]
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)
[]
—– 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.
[]
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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