Poetry Contest (2)
Not necessary having a thought, I suddenly realized that the story of the Poetry Contest of Huineng and Shenxui was not right. Its contest was the 5th patriarch, Hongren try to find who should succeed him and become 6th patriarch of the Zen. Unlike the other sect of Buddhism, Zen does their learning without rely on the words. = the action in the practice or a thing or phenomenon trigger the understanding.
So, the founder of Rinzai Zen, Rinzai said to have uttered that, “On the way, (may mean Pathway) when you saw the scriptures, through them away. When you saw the monks kill them or met Lord Buddha, kill him too.” —– (this advice was meant be getting rid of any notion, and empty the mind.)
[]On the said Poetry Contest, for the answer to the Hongren’s request to show the Zen mind, well-learned top-rank monk, Shenxui wrote “Mind is like a mirror, I polish the mirror diligently for no dust to settle on it” —– opposing to this, one low rank monk, Huineng wrote “Since Mirror is not exists in the first place, where could dust settle”
—– Hongren found that Huineng has much deeper understanding in Zen, he chose Huineng to be his successor.
[]Zen teaching was started by Bodhidharma on 5th century. Though, as a matter of fact, there were numerous legend and myth about Bodhidharma but little historical facts were known, therefore any story has to be treated with a pinch of salt.
—–When Bodhidharma wanted to choose his successor, there was a similar story. He asked his disciples “Can each of you say something to demonstrate your understanding ?”
Dao Fu stepped forward and said, “It is not bound by words and phrases, nor is it separate from words and phrases. This is the function of the Tao.”
Bodhidharma: “You have attained my skin.”
The nun Zong Chi stepped up and said, “It is like a glorious glimpse of the realm of Akshobhya Buddha. Seen once, it need not be seen again.”
Bodhidharma; “You have attained my flesh.”
Dao Yu said, “The four elements are all empty. The five skandhas are without actual existence. Not a single dharma can be grasped.”
Bodhidharma: “You have attained my bones.”
Finally, Huike came forth, bowed deeply in silence and stood up straight.
Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my marrow.”
Bodhidharma passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to Huike and, some texts claim, a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra.
Bodhidharma then either returned to India or died. (This story from Wikipedia)
(There was the conflicting stories, —– He might returned to Persia. Or even killed in the mass execution at Heyin in 528.) []
My doubt was that why Shenxui, studying under Hongren did have such poor understanding ? (While Huineng who was working in the kitchen could still pick up the Zen understanding from overheard conversation of other monks.)
And the same question goes to the colleagues of Huike too. = they were no ordinary monks, THE direct disciples of Bodhidarma. As they lives together, they must have lots of discussion even arguments. —– still keep maintaining such variety of idea = quite logical and full of blah blah, but where the “Teachings of the Master” which was supposedly on the principle of Void and abhorrence to the words, has gone ?
And, what was the 5th Patriarch, Hongren’s understanding and the teachings of “mind” ? —– (Was he thinking, “There is Zen Mind” ? )
— Who recorded those stories ? — Was that came from the diary of Hongren ? — weren’t those stories made-up to glorify each Huineng and Huike ? ? ?
While making others looks fool = makes stories interesting. And this kind of practice was behind of all those compilation of “Sutra” or scriptures. It’s mean, we need very critical sharp eyes to distinguish what was the true teachings. 🙂
___/\___
[]
Dale’s Studio
——– (Note: Photo above by Zeiss 18mm lens for Nikon = Virtually no Distortion ! )
Yesterday, I went to the studio of Dale in the east London who also run the Cafe,
Small White Elephant to help a documentation, photographing his paintings.
As always, when I go out to take picture, it was a sunny blue-skyed day. = Almost
like the first spring day of this year.
(In fact, I’ve told him “If the weather was like this rainy, it would be a sign of
that the Heaven doesn’t like you” as the day before was rainy.)
As always, the studio was in a disused big industrial building,
some walk from the Bromley by Bow station. = Real East End ! —– the area
“was” really a derelict, disused industrial land though, in the past few years,
suddenly new development was started. = would become posh town soon ! ?
Utterly out of my guess, Dale’s paintings were the riot of colors with tons of paint.
— paint was not painted but more likely, deposited on the canvas. (= so that,
even after few years, some paint was still not completely dried yet.)
I only say ” Wao, Amaaaaaaazing”. and then, I realized the connection, why
he interested in Zen = those process to dripping the paint without having
much of pattern or figure = almost endless work of Mushin (Mind of No-mind
= Do the task without needing to have the Thinking.) —– And the result
—– it showed nothing or it is the everything ! (色即是空，空即是色 = like what
Heart Mantra said ) —– He was not trying to copy a style of Zen painting
but “Do the Zen” in action.
And, for the next step, for exhibition and for a publication, he needed
to have his paintings digitized.
When we finished the shooting, his friends came to the studio with cans of beer.
In most of the case, the studio of the artist never be tidy —– so, looks like this
pile of mess = was not a mess = it was a collage of the doodles or a draft of plan
etc etc. in his past (= said to be. 🙂 )
Therefore, I wouldn’t make any question “What is this ?” to an artist.
(with obvious reason. 🙂 )
So, I even didn’t have an attempt to guess what they are — why the blobs of
the paint was kept and treasured ? ? ?
In some distance, over the Bow Creek, landscape of the East End.
The life is there as usual. (of usual kind. 🙂 )
(Camera used was: Nikon D810 with PC Nikkor 35mm F2.8 and
Carl Zeiss 18mm F3.5 for Nikon)
[]
Jazz at the Cafe
Every last Thursday evening of the month, at Small White Elephant Cafe
in Peckham, South London has a Jazz Night.
The music starts 8:00 o’clock evening till 10:00, and this night had Tris Harris,
the Drummer Trigger Finger with Les Booth the Bassist and a guest
Saxophone player, Adrian Northover. = naturally, it’s a collection of
Horne Musics — even down to Take Five !
——— The Drummer Tris Harris —– Bassist Les Booth —– and Adrian Northover
Taking the opportunity of the evening people having a party as well,
bringing their own party food and the drinks.
I like this kind of rather casual (not a snobby “Jazz club like” ) atmosphere.
To the owner, Dale, it’s a once in a month occasion — a bit of pressure though,
Don’t worry you can manage.
It’s an occasion for his friends coming down too. —– and it’s turned out to be
a small world. = The lady here happen to have her studio next door of Dale.
And I met her in the Immersive Cult party when she told me about this Cafe !
—– indeed, our world is pretty small. ( still, your world may be big 🙂 )
[]
Fake Lens ? ? ?
While looking for the items in the ebay, I found a small article “How to spot
the fake Nikon lens” by gmek111 in which, they says 7 points to check — but
in fact, it was try to sell their App. —– Think about the “Fake camera lens”
—– on the market, there are thousands of the cheap camera lens though,
I never heard of such as Fake Nikon or Canon lens kind.
[]
In the world, one particular county is notorious for their fake products —– in fact
80% of counterfeits in the world found to be coming from there. And in there,
such as cooking oil made out of fat from the sewage has been sold and so on, the list
of the scandals were endless. And their cheap products such as the netphone of
Shaomi sold very well and eating away Samsong’s share. —– Yet still, its screen
was made by Japan Display, camera sensor was made by Sony etc etc = more than
60% of the component inside were imported from Japan = they can copy the product
using the same components imported from Japan = but they don’t have the
technology to produce those components by themselves.
[]
You might have seen a cheaper Memory Card from that country —– half price for
128 GB kind = do you know, only 5 companies in the world having such nano
technology and non in china. —– So, where those cheap memory came from ?
When those electronic component were produced, there always defective reject
found on the test, which goes to the bin — somebody pick-up those from the dump
and sorting them for such as the one, 90% of memory is still usable —> make a package
and the label then export. The device jump the address of dead memory = still usable.
It may have only 127GB, and due to register dead address and jump = a bit slow for
industrial use though, the amateur on the street wouldn’t notice on their camera. 😀
—– the reason of defect might be caused by the mis-process and the memory would
deteriorate further by its heat, then the photo would be disappeared next by next !
= on the market, you will get what you paid. There is no such things of good bargain.
[]
When Contax camera was produced in Japan, their “Carl Zeiss Lens” was said to
be made by Tomioka-kogaku — though, after the production of Contax camera was
ended, the rumor said that the Zeiss lens for other DSLR were made by Samyan.
(under license of Zeiss, using their design and microchip — in fact I have one, but
that one says “Made in Japan” and the other rumor says, it was made by Cosina.)
(But I couldn’t find where “Zeiss lens” for Sony camera was produced now.
—- of course, optical part of Sony was former Minolta, they got own production line.
And Minolta was the inventor of the Auto-focus system, = they got top technology.)
[]
To make a fake Rolex watch is easy = it’s a matter of making a copy of its outer case and
put a cheap moving-unit inside. = it shows the time, therefore not much trouble to sell.
Similar situation was such as a fake computer HDD — inside may have just a SD card.
Though, to make “Convincing, working copy” of the Nikon, Canon lens is very difficult.
Those lenses are as sophisticated as the camera body itself. In fact, having a Zooming,
auto-focusing drive mechanism, let alone the tricky optical design =
It wouldn’t pay for making counterfeit. And to defraud the buyer, it doesn’t need to
make a counterfeit —– just show a real photo, then grab the money and disappear.
If the company has such technology and capable production line, the company would
do much more profitable business, instead of taking a risk to commit a police matter.
[]
So, the article in the ebay, “How to spot the fake” is just a scaremongering
only to sell their App. This article or advertisement itself is the fraud !
I buy small adapter, filter-ring kind, from ebay, but about £2~£7 of cheap products.
Because, I prepared to lose money = I never trust them. In fact, I never be successful
with the internet shopping when it was more than £50 price. — Ebay is having useless
“Claim system” — we need to report the transaction-code kind — Type-in — they says
“Code is wrong” — Type again “Code is wrong” repeating for ever. 😦 😀 😀
On the End, sake of security, pay a bit more in the shop would bring more peaceful life.
Ha ha ha.
[]
Rimbaud and Zen Mind
There was yet another funny coincidence. At my friend’s party, I met a designer/
planner who happen to know an artist friend who also run a café called
Small White Elephant, which happen to be in my area.
As she suggested, I paid a visit to the café and met a guy, Dale who run it.
Dale was a painter, we got a common talk in the art. — so, while showing my work
in Youtube and the photos in this blog, I talked about what and who influenced me.
As I mentioned my taste of the Surrealism art and the Symbolist poet Arthur
Rimbaud, Dale jumped up, went to his jacket’s pocket to fetch a small book.
It was a Rimbaud’s Poem, [A season in Hell].
[]
When I use the words “funny coincidence” it’s implying “Karmic encounter” =
no rational connection or likely happening situation still, from the hidden history
or life’s context, the pathway got to cross, of which only the heaven knows it.
And my life is having so many of them.
If not, I’m not in here, or even this blog didn’t exist. —– looking back, have I ever
chased anybody and met ? (I mean, from a reputation, I sought to meet the person.)
NONE. I am completely passive. (of course, it exclude the case on the business =
like interview and photograph somebody = it was for the editor’s needs,
not necessary my interest)
[]
In my teens, I started to read Osamu Dazai = rather popular choice of “ a kind of
young people then” and I read all of his work include the letters.
In the same time, I also read the books written by the opposing group of Dazai,
critiques, poets etc. A critic, Hideo Kobayashi and the friend poets were all
influenced by a French Poet Arthur Rimbaud. —– then, I end up with this Poet.
—– I’ve talked about this story in a post. [My starting point (2) ] (I might be the first person
in the history to connect Rimbaud to the Psychological mechanism of Zen mind. 🙂 )
[]
—– (Quote of the post)
< What makes reading of Rimbaud Poems somewhat common with Buddhists Pathway
was, that his approach to be a Boyant (Seer / Watcher) in Alchemy of Life was,
to examine the own mind again and again, deeper and deeper, exposing everything
like a dissected dead body = effectively made his own mind (and the life) a completely
detached dried object. Detachment while having cut-off the Emotion, will lose
the tag of the SELF, hence creating a state of mind, similar to the Buddhists’ Selflessness.
(This process is very similar to the Hinayana Buddhists practice = Process of Self-denial )
And as Rimbaud’s subject, include his own life became a detached object without the
emotional attachment, it was described as a metaphorical object or the Symbol =
thence his poetry was called Symbolism. (This detachment was the self-alienation too, so that
Rimbaud called the state of mind before, as a slumber of the animal
—– he missed it with tears, but it was too late) >
[]
The modern trend of the art then, Symbolism, Surrealism and Dadaism were all try
to find the way to express “True reality” of the existence or the human mind.
So that, all of them created uniquely formed style, since they thought that to express
straight as perceived, couldn’t show the reality or truth. —– with the idea of Freud,
they thought, since there was something behind of our mind, there couldn’t be the
straight raw expression (so, they tried autonomous writing “Automatism” etc with
futile results.) What common in those attempt was that they tried to replace the
subjects with something related or not so related. =
Symbolism used the objects somewhat related or looks like, as a metaphor.
Surrealism tried with unexpected one and Dadaism denied any connection.
[]
Though, there was an inherent trouble departing with raw expression = as it was
a two-step conversion, first, it needed to observe the feeling, then to find a symbol to
replace it = When the original mind, perception was “observed”, its Subject became
an OBJECT = It mean, he is no longer the innocent author. —– Even if it was the
own mind/perception, it was now the separate entity = OBJECT.
(For instance, even a hot love, when it was observed as an OBJECT and written down
like a stage act, down to the every movements of sexual act, it is no longer the love but
the words in the pages of DOCUMENT. =
That was how Rimbaud’s poem “A season in Hell” was created. And Rimbaud
described it “Je me vois me voir” = I see myself seeing myself.)
In this process, not only the own mind/perception became separate object, but crucially,
the Mind lost the connection to its “Emotion” therefore, the own mind is no longer
connected to the SELF. His life became a Puppet show remotely played.
(Self couldn’t define the own place without having tethered to the own Emotion !)
(When Alzheimer sufferer lost the connection to the emotional region of the brain,
his/her identity, the recognition of the family also gone.)
[]
Unlike most of the Surrealists, Dadaists who has been a part-timer = “Pretender” for
the sake of their art, Rimbaud was a full-time Symbolist, he lost the raw feeling of the
“Live-view”, hence the sizzling excitement of the life. So, he try to sex-up the life, such
as with absinthe, heroin or to play homo-sexuality etc which didn’t bring any solution.
—– on the end, lured by a false excitement, he left to the Abyssinia.
———- (And the other trouble of the Rimbaud’s poems to a reader was, —– as they
were written as narrations, after a while, his words became the reader’s words and
gradually they seeped into the bottom of the subconscious, then “who I am” would be
slowly eroded. = in the end, we will be left in the middle of nowhere alone, without
identity = it would be our Abyssinia.)
[] * * * * * * *
Fundamental difference of Selflessness and the Detachment of Rimbaud against
the Buddhist was, —– to Rimbaud, it was the unexpected by-product.
But to the Buddhist, it was the requisite way to reach peace of life and ultimately
the Enlightenment. In contrast, Rimbaud wanted to have a true reality of the life
which should enhance the excitement though, to became Voyant (seer / watcher)
gave him the opposite effect.
—– ? ? ? to give a thought, ISN’T IT strange, nobody did gave him an advice or after
100.000 years history of human culture, why such wisdom haven’t been established ?
—– then think more, ? ? ? ? ? —– Have we got a wisdom in the first place at all ?
What is the wisdom ?
—– Very basic morality ? Such as that, DON’T do wrong or bad otherwise the society,
and ultimately you will get a repercussion and suffer. —– And the way to see what is
wrong or bad. —– In reality, the burst majority of the practical detail on the
“life’s how to do” is open to the person to experiment on the spot, and find the answer
by themselves. = It’s mean that existing / ready-made “Wisdom” is not more than an
Opinion, since even the people, so-called “Burst majority”, among them, non of two
Karma is the same, and operating strictly individual base. This was the reason why,
Lord Buddha ordered to his disciples “Don’t believe what others said. Think yourself”=
Simply because, the answer will be different, person to person.
—– (This was originally intended to be the 700th post —– though, it gone to banana. 😀 )
[]
Poppy Poppy
Normally I don’t go to a public event and take picture — the same reason that I don’t watch TV.
(If million of others do the same, I can’t see a point, why do I need to do the same ? — among the millions, there must be much suited person to do the subject = leave the business to that person and I’ll do what nobody else is doing or ever tried (provided, it cost small = Most of project with large cost is not creative, since it is a rational combination of existing devices and the ideas, otherwise, it is industrial (Humanoid Robot is ingenious but not creative), if not political (Communist’s huge monument never be creative, unless we see them as an ironical symbol of man’s idiocy.) —– that is my art and who I am.)
But strangely, I made an exception to the unusual event to fill the ground of the Tower of London with Red Poppies. (Said to be 890,000 of ceramic flowers.)
In an essence, this is an art exhibition using the Remembrance (of the War dead) Day as a pretext. (Red Poppy is the symbol of the war dead as they flowers in the old battlefield of the western front.)
When I popped out, it was a bit of drizzle though, when the bus coming to the Tower of London, the sun blakes out and even a Rainbow appeared on front. (Top photo)
Then after a while, the sky became like this photo.(Shadowy ground needs to have a morning sun though.)
These days, the art piece got to be massive size, it is a silly creche, the larger the work it must impress more. (Unless it was installed in a middle of nowhere, it’s easy to proclaim that this is a public art hence easy to get public funding and media exposure.) (it seems, it was started with that floating big duck) 😀
Red Poppy ? ? ? — they don’t look like a Poppy though, it’s their problem.
(This photo was taken — can you believe — 20 m away ! )
The cascading flowers was dubbed as “Weeping window” — is it ?
(A man in the cloud said “Snorting nostril” — well, it’s looks much more like.) 😀
Those photos were taken by Canon Fisheye Zoom 8~15 mm and the closer shot was made by Tamron Mirror 500mm F8 (I really love this lens.) on the Canon EOS 5D Mk-III.
(I went there only with those two lenses. = I knew what I need to photograph and had the pictures in my mind. —– I have 9 genuine Canon lens (from 8 to 200mm include Macro and TS lens kind) which got all different character = I chose which one or two will suite the job. — which mean, I don’t rely on the opportunistic discovery on the spot. — With a good luck and an opportunity even amateur can produce quite good picture. But, I’m not an amateur = even in the worst condition, still need to fill the assignment = no excuse = That’s what professional meant. (—– I mean, when I was in the job. —– Thanks goodness I’m out now.) Ha ha ha. 😀
By the way, a combination of photos here was a demonstration of minimal set, such that for 2 pages article in a small magazine. If the Editor likes to emphasize an aspect of one photo, I’ll send the addition though, in this case, the most interesting kind of image is “Making Poppy” but, no doubt, it must have done in China and not available, (still, no doubt, organizer has them.) —– Though, as the Organizer is going to sell those “Poppy” to create huge profit, they may not like to expose the story behind “The Soul of British Dead Soldier = Red Poppy was cheaply mass produced in China”.)
[]
Autumn Color — in Japan
When this kind of photo is the standard, it’s quite discouraging for me to attempt a
substitute. 😀 This is a photo from one of the climbing club in Japan.
And this is the notorious mountain, Tanigawa-dake, otherwise known as the
Graveyard of the Climber. When I went there (yet, the easiest rout “Nan-ryo”)
with many younger members, — then one of them fallen from the face.
= it was literally free fall of 10 m, while pulling out three anchor-pins.
I could see him flying down mid air in slow motion.
But miraculously, the man landed on his Rucksack, and tumbled half on the
narrow terrace, stopped on its edge with small bruise on his knee ( that’s all ) !
While he was in the air, I was thinking “Oh dear, I become the first leader to have
a fatality on the history of our club. So the question is, how to carry his body =
carry him down on the tricky face or carry him up and ask rescue helicopter ?
[]
—– After thoughts, I realized that, how cold-blooded man I AM !
While seeing a man going to die, still able to think how to deal with its body.
(But mind you, I had to take care of other member’s safety as well. — Remember,
Zen is not for shedding a tear but keep clear eyes on even the harshest moment.
—– Can any “Sweet compassionate mind” stop him fall ? — Joking. )
—– We simply gave-up the day’s climb and came down the face.
It was a beautiful day like this photo of the Ichinokura. 🙂
(The link to the original photo —- http://www.bunanokai.jp )
[]
Key Mechanism in Zen Buddhists Mind
While you were walking, you never thought how to move the foot for next step and
to read this blog you were not aware that your eyes is following the letters next by next.
This is what we called “Selfless State of the Mind” and you never expect to create the
money out of walking itself (itself mean, not such a thing to find a coin on the street or to
reach the place to do the business = they are the by-product or benefit from the walking.)
[]
For the people who want to get the Mushin or Selfless state in Zen, this kind of natural
Selflessness seems to be too casual and too far from the Buddhists practice though, it is
a matter of the mind-set which expect “More elaborated fashionable practice”.
But if you were a Prisoner of War and was ordered to walk to a camp 100 miles away —–
the mind-set might make the difference of life or death.
[]
When a task was given by an order or from a situation in the life, first, it’s needed to
have a “Contemplation” some time interpreted as an acceptance, giving-up (to resist) or
determination to take the task (which ever it was passive or more positive, active way).
—–> And as it was accepted = no way else to go = have to face
the task head-on (this is called “Mindfulness”).
[]
So, just get on the life (task). Whether it was walking or small manual practice to do,
JUST DO, regardless whether it looks endless and boring.
[]
When we do repeated endless task, our brain rise the threshold of the importance of
the signal = and whole process would be categorized as neither flesh nor important.
= Brain start to process the matter without referring the signal to the Emotional
region of the brain (in the old cortex) and it become as a routine.
In the same time, whole action process would be programmed into the Motor region
and become to an automatic action. —–> Hence, our brain does the task without
Emotion (=Detachment), without needs of thinking (since it was routine and
done in automatic) = = = This is MUSHIN.
And the task was just a repeated insignificant mundane task = no special interest
could dwell there = nothing to arose EGO or GREED. = = = This is the SELFLESSNESS.
JUST DO IT.
[]
Once the person get used with “Desensitized perception” even other-things would be
seen detached as well. = No Emotional involvement to the useless matters in the life.
= = = This is the peaceful quiet life to be a Buddhist. 🙂
[]
And this, neuroscience, brain physiology behind our subconscious was the key
mechanism of the Lord Buddha’s teachings of the Selflessness and the Void.
Also, this was the reason why, despite the mambo-jumbo in the scriptures, the core
of the teachings were kept intact in a tradition of the Practice.
(The Buddhists on the street doesn’t read the scriptures anyway.= They only
taught and know the Buddhism in the Practice. = such as just chanting the title.)
___/\___
[]
Contradiction in Agama (Nikaya) Sutra
The scripture called Agama (Known as Nikaya in the Theravada sect) is the oldest
group of the Buddhist’s scripture written down from the recited oral heritage
kept mouth to mouth for 200 years. Since they came from the memories of the
original followers, we should expect that they are the closest to the
Lord Buddha’s real words though —– were they ?
[]
—– Use your common sense and good imagination.
Think about the text, kept purely in the memories, taught mouth to mouth for 200 years
where in the society, everybody else was believing and talking completely different idea.
Lord Buddha was the only one, teaching the impermanence of the soul = or denying the
permanence of the Self (Atoman). —– Against this, all others were believing the
perpetual soul (Atoman) and believing reincarnation, hence the man is suffering in the
endless cycle of Birth and the Death (of which the Hindu people call Samsara.)
This idea gradually seeped into the original words.
[]
And the time when the oral heritage was written down, the people who took the task
were the Vedic Brahman. Because, they were the only people who knows write and read,
and has learned the Veda. Of course, the Veda teaches the perpetual soul, Atoman and
its reincarnation. Therefore for those Brahman, the teachings of No-Self, Anatoman is
nothing but an absurd idea. Naturally, when they wrote down the recited texts of the
teachings, they couldn’t understand the alien idea, so that they changed it to the words
which made more sense for them. And to show off their writing skill, they decorated the
text with a lots of glorious addition, such as the name of deities and kings etc not
mention the new fancy stories.
—– As a result, the Scripture Agama or Nikaya ended-up to be a mix-up with Hinduism.
[]
Amazingly, this mess is still continuing today and you can easily see the situation.
The translated script of Agama (Nikaya) is available in the Net, though as you may expect,
they are quite hefty amount. Such as the one, “here is the link”.
And “this one is an extract” with good commentary and the explanation of the historical
background. The author of this extract, Dr. Thomas Tam seemed to be a quite profound
scholar of Buddhists scripture though, he was showing the deep spell of the Vedic idea.
So, he was writing “The following passage does not appear to carry any religious message.
It is just a vignette of a moment of the Buddha’s life.
“It was a dark night, raining lightly, with flashes of lightning. The Buddha said to Ananda:
“You can come out with the umbrella over the lamp.” Ananda listened, and walked behind
the Buddha, with an umbrella over the lamp. When they reached a place,
the Buddha smiled. Ananda said: “The Buddha doesn’t smile without a reason.
What brings the smile today?” The Buddha said: “That’s right! That’s right!
The Buddha doesn’t smile without a reason. Now you are following me with an umbrella
over a lamp. I look around, and see everyone doing the same thing.”” [S-1150] “
This was the passage I’ve quoted in the “Test of Selflessness” (though, Since I’ve read it
many years ago, wording of my memory was not exact) — As I said in the post, this was how
Lord Buddha demonstrated what “Selflessness should be”, but Dr.Tam thought it has
religiously no significant. = This is the very situation how “So called” scholar is
understanding the Buddhism. —– If this passage was seen “No Significant” how PhD
could talk about the selflessness or the Void in Buddhism.
[]
There was the another passage the author was saying that “This was the evidence that
Lord Buddha had the concept of reincarnation”
“Did the Buddha talk about reincarnation? In the Diverse Agama Sutra, there are
several passages that the Buddha had referred to it. The following is an example.
The Buddha told the monks: “Let’s say the whole earth becomes a big ocean.
A piece of wood with a hole floats on it, drifting with the waves, and being blown by
winds from all directions. There is a blind turtle that sticks out its head once every
hundred years. Will it meet this hole?”
Ananda said: “Not possible, if the blind turtle is in the ocean’s east, the driftwood
may be in the west, south, north, all directions. They may not meet.”
The Buddha told Ananda: “Hard as it may for the blind turtle to meet the driftwood,
it may still be possible. For an ignorant person to regain his human form, however, it
is much more unlikely to happen. Why? It is because these people don’t follow the
principles of the dharma. They don’t do good deeds. They kill repeatedly, with the
strong ones bullying the weak, and sinned without end. That’s why for those who do
not understand the four noble truths, they better start to learn and practice them
diligently…” [S-328]
—– Can you read this in such context ?
The words “regain human form” did mean reincarnation ?
(wasn’t that meant just “regain sanity to be a human” ? )
Do you agree with his wishful thinking ?
[]
Lord Buddha brought the aspect of the Karma into the Dharma.
By definition of its word, Dharma should be the one which keeps its own attribute
= keeps mean never change. Though, Karma affects. And it is the dynamic driving
force. Therefore the karma in the Dharma mean, it is the constantly changing huge
mechanism hence, there is no permanence. = Non can stay permanent as the
existence of everything is relying on the others. And as a soul is dependent to its body,
no permanent body mean no permanent soul (Self, Atoman).
And this is the very basis of the teachings of No-Self. No-Self = No-atoman (Anatman)
mean no remaining soul after death = no possibility of reincarnation.
= No past life which will “Cast” next life could exists = Therefore, there was no “Cast” in
the Lord Buddha’s follower’s sangha. This was why his teachings were so revolutionary.
Though, this idea couldn’t be accepted in the Vedic, Hindu society.
So, they changed the story and started to call
Lord Buddha as one of their Guru. What a contempt.
[]
Though this tendency is still active today
= insatiable appetite to find an evidence among the scripture, the
Lord Buddha’s words mentioning “Reincarnation”.
Obviously, it is nothing but absurd that if the teachings of the “Impermanence and
the Selflessness” containing “Perpetual Soul reincarnates to the Next Life, hence
having the suffering from the endless cycle of Birth and the Death (Samsara)”.
As a matter of fact, we can see lords of such words in the Agama / Nikaya though
as I aforesaid, they were nothing but the mix-up or expression for a convenience and
Lord Buddha’s stance was still the same “There was absolutely no answer to the
silly question, what would happen after a death”.
This NO answer was not just a rack of word but the strongest denial with despise.
—– You might got your eyes clear.
Now look around and check so-called books about the Buddhism.
How many this kind of absurdities you can find ?
___/\___
[]
End of Summer Meadow
Since, the time of growth and flowering has more or less finished.
= for that flower patch it was not an exception. After some strong
wind and the rain, now the meadow is in their closing stage.
On the other hand, now I got proper front lens for that Homemade
two elements Lens thanks to the kind assistance of HOYA Optics.
(Original lens came from my broken specs and -5 Diopter strength.
Now I got -3 and -6 for further experiment. (I would have -3, -6, -9 to test !)
Unlike 25 year old specs lens, brand new lens is much clearer = less fuzziness.
To compensates clearer image, I increased the “F-Aperture” somewhat
one-stop (6 mm to 10 mm) = it affected the depth of field as well. 😦
Still, they looks more or less the same 😀
Only (used to be) the meadow looks different. After a Riot, there
would be inevitable dead bodies and the dried-up carcasses and sticks.
That’s what we human saw the situation though, for the flowers
themselves, looks like a dried-up carcass is their very seed pod etc
= their proof of success in this summer’s operation.
Don’t make up a drama, it is just another phase of one cycle.
I’m not sure whether they will come back next season. —– Just wait and see.
Anyhow, I was very much fired-up by their chaos.
(And created lords of looks more or less the same picture. 😀 😀 )
Still it was a fun !
[]
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