Green — Photos from Park

In japan this plant was called  Naruko-Yuri.  Naruko is a line of small wooden pieces hanged

from a long rope, similar to the Bamboo Bells, brown by the wind and hitting each other to

make noises.   The rope could be stretched across the rice-field to frighten off the birds.

Over a pond in the park, huge Willow tree has new leaves which is making messy reflection.

To look into the reflection —– in fact, often we are looking deep into our own mind.

The photo left was said to be a cousin of Asparagus hence their young shoot is edible, are they ?

And the center is a Goliath’s Stick (I’ve picked up this name long time ago though, it may be wrong.

Proper name is  Aralia Elata and in Japan we call them  Tara no Ki).  Their young shoots are

highly praised spring delicacy in Japan = (Ki no Me / Tara no Me).  In my theory, the Plants which

got a lots of thorns are normally edible.  In the same Aralia family, Udo is also edible but got thorn 

as well —- (otherwise plants need to have a poison for their own protection).  

The photo right is meant to be an answer to Ms Bente Haarstad (Link here) who showed

the Norwegian Nettle in her photo blog.  This is the English Nettle, hence they got the same

square stem and the stings, but it looks quite different from theirs. (not know the taste 🙂 )

———- So, the park can accommodate all walk of the life. 

———- Don’t think too much. Just enjoy the sun on this moment. 

(Since we didn’t have enough of it, on wet April  🙂 )

[]

Pink — Photos from Park

The Rhododendron’s Stamens showed holes to spread pollens. 

In a distance, I thought they are the Orchid, though they seems like a kind of Caw Slip.

I have no idea of their name.  

But, her Stamen and Pistile looks very different from other Primulaceae.  You may know better.  😉

I know the Japanese name  Nobotan  but not English name.  In fact I don’t care.  😀

A garden variety of  Pink (or pale violet ?)  Forget-me-Not.  (I rather like to forget  😀 )

I’m familiar with this flower over 35 years, but never bothered to find the English name.

Japanese name is  [Gen-no Shyoko] = it’s mean “The proof of a Devin Power” since

this plant has powerful medicinal property to cure a stomach pain.

—– When a romantic German Novels was translated into Japanese, the translator

realized that the tone of this name would destroy a sweet mood of ” young boy gave

a small flower to his sweet heart”,  translator intentionally changed it to

Rhododendron = and completely destroyed the meaning.  😀

[]

Estranged Buddhism = Pretense of Zen

Some days ago I encountered a man claim to be a Zenist who happened to

have read my blog, [Spoon] post and he asked me what the Spoon is to do

anything with the Zen Buddhism ?

I explained my thought behind of [Spoon] and asked him what is he doing

in Zen Buddhism. 

He said, “ I’m DOING Zen, as I am sitting and meditating everyday”. 

Though, anything beyond this he evaded the question pretending he knows everything

better than me, but it is unexplainable since, the ultimate truth can not be expressed

in the words.

So I asked again, what is his meditation for, is it to see the Dharma and

its Panya Paramita ?  He said “ I’m seeing the emptiness”

And said “ Zenist doesn’t debate” then he became silent.

—– M m m, sound familiar, = not in Zen but in Taoism.

Word to word, it is from the Taoist book, Tao te Ching (道徳経).

[]

Like the idea of Soto Zen such as [Not express in the words] (不立文字) hence

[Direct transmission of mind to mind] (以心伝心) are all came from Chinese Taoism.

(Hence, to justify this story, famous [Flower summon] = [ Pick a Flower and Smile

Mantra] (捻華微笑経) was written in China.)

Even without the verbal explanation, while living in a Temple, a novice

can learn the Buddhism Teachings in the practice of the dairy life by way

of  [Doing the same everyday] (hence able to learn Mushin).

Though, the trouble was, how to introduce Zen Buddhism to the west.

It is impossible to teach it in one or two demonstrations. = Still it had to be explained,

or written down in an instruction book, which was not in their tradition, not mention

the monk was not necessary good for how to explain it in English.

So that, the explanation of Zen was conveniently borrowed from the

existing translation of the Tao te Ching book.

= Hence, the Zen in the west adopted a Myth in the Taoism.

And pretending to be a Sage, dwelling in the Mythical Truth, became a

stereotype of a Zen Buddhist.  Enigma became their sales point  😀

(But, while believing that the sitting is DOING the ZEN. —– hasn’t they ever

wondered,  why Tea Making or Sword Mastery is Zen too ? —– No wonder,

Spoon carving is too remote for them 😀 )

[]

Lord Buddha didn’t give a damn to such Myth (Metaphysics) at all.

When asked about those Metaphysical question, he didn’t even bothered

to answer.  = All about the matters to the life is, to live a real life, not to dwell in a

pretense in fancy idea.  Yes, the truth could be empty = so what ?

= Does it mean “Can we live in a vacuum ?” —– Joking, we are still in the same

Samsara and still need to live mundane dairy life = nothing noble or fancy

= any fixed fancy idea or pretense is just a delusion.

[]

Wu (or Mu in Japanese =無 ), Wu-i (or Mu-i =無為 ) in Taoism is literally Nothing

and Do nothing intentionally.  But Void or Emptiness in Buddhism is the matters in

our perception = uncertainty of our Mind and the Self.  And even though Dharma

is the physical reality, it is constantly changing

= Nothing is certain in both way (See and be seen), hence it can only be

clearly seen by the Eyes of No-eyes, Mind of No-mind. (Mind without

any Preconception or Thinking) = VOID in Buddhism is the metaphor

of this EMPTY MIND.   Hence, live in Mushin is the answer.

Before Zen, Buddhism has to be understood first.  And never mixed up with Taoism.

(Zen is a mere Practice to get MUSHIN = instead to get Mushin, but end up in a

Metaphysics of Taoism is nothing but a waste of time and the LIFE.

= Carving a Spoon is much more fun, than pretending noble EMPTY face

 and do nothing.  😀 )

___/\___

[]

[]

DIY or Expect Others to Do it for You ?

Somebody asked me “ How I could cut a plastic jar (in Lens Cap post = link here)

so clean and precise”. —– well, there was a bit of preparation to do it which you

can see in the photo I’ve took on the time.

When you cut or chisel the material, there is a rule [Firmly fix either the tool or the material].

Even to peel a skin of an apple by a knife, there is a knack,

“It got firmly hold the knife and only rotates the Apple, not other-way round”.

Therefore, to cut the plastic jar, a sharp blade was fixed on the flat board by a G-clamp

(hight was adjusted by something such as aluminum bar etc under the blade which got

suitable thickness) and plastic jar was rotated on the flat base while pressing against

the blade.  (while rotates it, never wobble and rotates many times

= cut it gradually deeper)

This principle is always the same = cut a pipe or bar using a hacksaw, fix the material or object

on a vice clamp.   When drilling a hole = only the drill bit moves but not the material.

On a Lathe Machine or Wood-turning Lathe, only the material rotates and the cutting-bite which

was fixed to the machine, moves slowly while having the position precisely controlled.

[]

In a hind sight, I was lucky to grown-up in Japan where everything had been burnt

down and had nothing else of the abandoned field with wild flowers and insects.

Having no ready-made toys, we had to improvise or make our own toys.  And in the

magazines, there was a lots of article of “How to Make Something by Ourself.”

—– Grown-up was literally meant to know How to Do = not just

to know the names and words.

[]

Do It Yourself mean, to learn the material, and to know and having the control

of all the process, and to take a responsibility for the result = no one else there to

take a blame but oneself.

—– in this aspect, I really pities the kids and the grown-up version of those kids = young peoples

of today = while growing up with a toy bought by somebody-else’s (parent’s) money, without

knowing how it’s works, let alone how it was made, and only know to buy another one, or blame

somebody-else, such as the manufacturer,  when it was broken.  No idea of how to repair it.

[]

This utterly irresponsible, only expecting to others to do, mentality is the

fundamental problem of the whole society today.

Without knowing whole system, but only know to press a button (like a game-machine), and handling

even a financial operation, just for a short-eye-sighted gain, only on his narrow scope of speculation

= then end-up to pile-up uncontrollable amount of debts = yet still expecting somebody-else

(IMF etc) to bail-out their problem. —– (But, where the money of IMF come from ?)

A system having no feed-back and built-in self regulating mechanism,

it can not be called a system.

[]

Still amazing things are, the people are flocking to buy share of FACEBOOK,

while speculating it would grow and creates big profit.  But the reason why F’ is

floating their share in this moment is, that they realized no more growth in

a sale of AD business = This is the last opportunity they can fool the people.

GM has already stopped to advertise in F’ since it didn’t sell their car. 

And as majority of the F’ user were shifted to see F’ in their Smart-phone,

= who want to see an obstructive AD in their small screen ?

This is the typical sample of “Greed blind the people”  😀

Where the money to fill their Greed come from ? = are they still expecting

somebody else to create the money and give to them ?  Because of it is nothing

certain, F’ is doing it somebody else’s money. ( Sell the Share to public) !  😀

[]

Homemade Lens Cap

While walking in the town with my camera on my shoulder, I realized, I’ve dropped a lens hood

and a cap of my Fish-eye Lens.   Because of the fish-eye lens is protruding on its front, the

Lens cap is a special type.  To buy this type must cost more than £ 50 and may need to order.

—– any how, I didn’t even check the price. I know it is extortionately expensive.

I absolutely have no will to buy it.

[]

Since when the camera industry started, their business model is always the same. Like Kodak

and their Brawny camera, camera itself was sold cheap = can be sold even without profit.

The profit was made from the sale of film and its print making process. Polaroid did the same.

But what about the camera maker who is not selling the film. = While selling the camera itself

cheap, their profit came from the sale of accessories such as interchangeable lens, flash light

even a piece of plastic, such as a lens cap, so, the price is kept such high.

—– Many years ago, a boss of big camera company complained me “ We are effectively

making promotional incentive goods to sell the film. The more we work hard and sell more

attractive cameras which makes more people taking photo, it only creates the more profit to

the Film company, not for us 😦 ”

[]

Then, the Digital revolution completely changed the rules of the game.

Photography no longer need to use the film, hence both Kodak and Polaroid bankrupted.

(Fuji Film escaped this by investing digital imaging technology long before digital cameras

appeared, such as working with Xerox and bought Electronic Scanner’s maker, Crossfield,

then utilizing their film emulsion technology, they diversified, expanded even into forefront

of nano technology).

[]

Thanks to have, such as image-sensor manufacturer, like Toshiba, Sony next door, Japanese

Digital camera evolved very quick though I didn’t buy them until I was fully convinced

that the sensor reached to the level of a film camera. ( I’m not implying such as a

top grade DSLR reached as good as Film camera, but when I saw the sample photos of

Canon 5D, I found the photo showed a flaw of the lens, it’s mean the resolution

of the sensor was reached to the limit of average lens = good enough for average

use) —– So that I bought 5D Mk-2  for my first ever Digital Camera.

(I waited a full-frame DSLR for my collection of ultra-wide and fisheye lenses)

—– comparing the cost of film and its process, still it is cheap, and no need

to mention its convenience to use in the Internet environment.

[]

But coming down to a low-tech, just for a molded plastic lens cap, I wouldn’t pay a price of

hi-tech camera.   I’m an humble, or more precisely mean, poor person. (In principle 🙂 )

So, I decided to make it myself and went to Pound-shop to find the best suited material.

= basically, cap for Fish-eye lens is a pan-shaped shallow cap.  Only a matter is, its diameter.

On the photo right, what I found were a fancy color-changing light and moisturizing hand

cream (of its container, not the cream of cause 😀 )

Light housing has bayonet craw which somewhat fit to the lens front bayonet though, it was

made by Styrole Plastic, hence it may easily brake when it got impact. The cream jar was

made by Polypropylene, hence having certain flexibility to grip the lens top with right fiction.

So that, I’ve chosen to use cream jar. And for top lid, I found a junk Pendulum

of old clock 😉  = Cut the jar to a shallow ring and hot-glued the metal disc of pendulum.

Voilà, a lens cap which cost me only £1 —– still I need to work a bit more to prevent it

accidentally come off and lost again.

So, this is the finished product with some stitching work.  = Over the metal cap,

I cover it with chamois and the additional Velcro strap is to tether the cap

to the lens. 

[]

As I’ve been keep saying, this kind of DIY work is a game. = the more free minded

approach, it would be a fun.   (Not mention, it would save the cost too.

It’s far better to use the same money to a memory card kind) 😀 —– only remaining

headache is “ What to do with a moisturizing cream now kept in honey jar ?” I don’t take or

use any artificial things include the medicine on to my body, especially what can you expect

from £1 cream.—– Anyhow, sweet peach smelled, smooth skin Yoshizen may not be

anything near to sexy.  Yuck ! Ha ha ha 😀

[]

PS:   Strangely, I lost the Lens cap again, and I had to make yet another one.

—– As I don’t have anymore clock pendulum, instead I used a cap of pickles jar.

And in this time I got nice colored leather for a cover.   (Click the photo to enlarge and

see the hand stitch = it is a simple practice, hence good Buddhist’s practice of Mushin.  😀 )

Cap works, with a hint of vinegar smell, and if I press its center, it makes a click sound.  😀

[]

Compassion and Charity in Dharma

When we saw somebody lost a balance and seemingly fall, we just give a hand to

hold the person. ———- why ? ? ?

Give a thought. —– Why do we need to give a hand to this person ? Why this guy shouldn’t fall ?

Why with my hand, why not other’s ? —– This guy even might have a Karma to fall here, and

hit the head and to die. —– Or, is it to prevent a messy situation developed and don’t want to

see bloody scene ? = are ALL, in the THINKING.

[]

But without any thinking, instantly we just stretch a hand to support the person.

Have we ever taught to hold a person to prevent fall ?   Who told you to do so ?

= Without any knowledge, without any thought, WE JUST DO IT. = WHY ? ? ?

Because it is in our nature. Instantly see what is necessary, what is right and good.

So that, Lord Buddha explained that this is the Dharma which, we were born with.

[]

There is no word on the beginning.   So we needed to invent a word for this phenomenon, as

[Compassion].   And after started to notice this, started to talk and teach brah brah brah.

Without we know its whole mechanism and details, we knew it’s there of which we named

DHARMA.   And we knew, it is functioning without we think nor even noticing it. = in other

words, it is there, in the same time it is within us.

—– If we start to think, it is not necessary rational nor beneficial for us.

—– Why, do I need to help this person.   Yet we automatically do it. = don’t need

to think too much. = better leave the matter to the hand of DHARMA.

[]

And this is what all about the teachings

of Lord Buddha.

His teachings are all not about to reach the Darma, but to eliminate the obstacles

which prevents the Dharma prevailing. — such as “Why do I need to help other = Ego”.

“Has it any benefit for me to do this ? = Greed”.

“Oh, this person is falling, —– should I help but how = too much useless thinking to waste the

time and make it too late”

= So that, the core teaching was to eliminate the useless thinking = without own

thinking we can react to the situation = it’s mean, we can do it without SELF

= Self itself is not exists.  ( He just pointed out the facts and its explanation,

same as the science = anything fancy imaginative stories were added by others)

[]

Natural flow of inspiration doesn’t necessary having a convenient order or structure.

Lord Buddha’s teachings must be given as his wisdoms, situation by situation on the spot.

The structure and the classification, listing and the numbering must came much later = after

the teachings were written down as the scripture.

Trouble in the Buddhism teachings are, the person who compiled it didn’t necessary understood

what the [Mushin] is or knowing the effect of having the Dharma in him.

Therefore, he only guessed and listed up each description of act from hear-say.  

So that, in the Buddhism Scriptures, each duties were listed

as if it is an each discreet mind and act. (List of DO and DO-NOT)

(It was like a man who doesn’t know the Dancing, to teach How to Step and

How to move Hands all separately without accompanying music  😀 )

In the state of the mind = in Mushin, Compassion, no Ego, no Greed, no

Wrong intention etc etc are in fact, just one mind.  It is an inseparable one state

to see the good or better at once, which also controls action or body movement.

( So, the Best Judgment, Creativity or the Mastery Skill are all bore-out from this)

Though, it couldn’t even be observable by the person. —– If it was in conscious

of the person, such as “ This is a compassion” = it is a sham and just a pretense.

This is the reason why being in the state of  Mushin and in Ichijo is so crucial.

[]

When your hand spontaneously hold the person,  it was a real compassion and

the prevailed DHARMA.

___/\___

[]

Brutal Nature = or is it just a Nature ?

They are the photos of a Dandelion seed magnified  x16 times (in length, on 36×24 screen)

the Lens used was the one I’ve hand-made to take May Fly Egg before (click the Link here).

———— (This photo is a comparison, taken by Pentax 20mm F4  Lens, in Revers with Extension Ring,

————  but to make a comparison, photo was trimmed to the same size = x16,  like the photo above. 

————  As it was able to stop down to F8 ,  Depth of Field was much deeper than Microscope Lens )

As often the case, it looks pretty and fragile though, nature do have sharp claw and poison.

= Disneylized  romanticized look is just a thin veneer ( still, it would inspire a child’s dream

” Like a Dandelion seed,  fly away in a wind and have a bloom somewhere in a new world” =

how romantic ! ) though = they also live in the same, or even harsher Samsara.  

(And they are really the Nemesis of a gardener   😀 ) —– Through the evolution, Dandelion

seed must have adopted this looks brutal barbed armor, against eaten by a bird.

And this photo was taken by Canon EF Macro F2.8 , at F2.8,  magnification was  x1.

And in comparison, this photo was taken by a lens, once regarded to be one of the best

Macro Lens, Tamron SP 90mm F2.5  at F2.5  with Extension Rings,  magnification was  x1.5.

( Because of this lens has some softness at F2.5, quite few photographer loved it for female

portrait, but I used this lens only for closeup work ) —– all those shots here are for the tests

of shallow focus and the soft image at the fully opened F aperture, since when I found an

Olympus 50mm Macro F2 lens has phenomenal off-focus “Boke” = I wanted to investigate.

[]

In photography, there are two opposite approaches to emphasize the subject = one is using

wide angle lens and close to the subject, hence make the subject over-sized.   😀

The another is, to use telephoto lens, and focus only to the subject. —– even though I like to

do [Man-watching] in distance, when I come to take photo, I don’t like sneak view. 

I like to have face to face, and communicate with the subject, or to commit to the situation. 

( This is the attitude of [Engagement] of the Existentialism and the  Mahayana Buddhism. ) 

—– As I started my photography taking photos of plants, insects = use smaller F-aperture

to get sharper image, deep depth of field was the norm. = I was not a man to use the lens with 

its F-aperture fully opened —– unless the situation demand, under a dim light.  🙂 )

[]

In the life, nothing is simple but having many contradicting facets.   Behind of loving care

of  Tiger mother to her cab, there are misery of a Deer family.   Even a fluffy dandelion seed

having such fierce face which I didn’t know until I gave a very close look.

We tend to makeup a convenient story from just one facet, in most of the case with our

ignorance, or even worse, with a sake of convenience to make the story nice and sweet.

So that, such as in the Eightfold Right Path of Buddhism = to make Right Speech needs to

have right knowledge and the understanding.   It’s  quite a tall order isn’t it.  

And with a crèche, we casually use an expression how gorgeous the spring blossoms are,

or glorious golden color of autumn trees and so on, but nature may not be there to

please mankind = Flower was there, waiting the insects, and we just happen to be there.

[] 

To interpret the Nature in our sake is just our Ego, and romanticize it would be a delusion.

Who said, Mankind conquer the Nature ?  — We only found a bit of way to tamper it, that all.

They may not willfully Brutal against us, as they have no self or Ego, but the Mechanism.

This Mechanism contain us as its part, but they operates without recognize us.

—– and this System is what the Nature mean.   And this is the Dharma in Buddhism.

To see it beautiful or brutal is in our eyes, in fact it’s all in our Mind.  Nature is just there.

[]

 

How shallow the Focus can be

This is yet another attempt to create  [Not necessary sharp nor pretty photos] and in here

they are the technical samples.

Lens used was Canon EF 28mm F2.8 but mounted on Canon 5D with Rivers Adapter.

As electronically there is  no connection to the body, F-aperture was fully opened  F 2.8.

And this is not purposely designed Macro Lens  (Macro Lens was designed to give the best

performance at  1/10  of Magnification ratio = if it was 50 mm lens, at the distance of 50 cm

to the object), with fully opened F-aperture, image quality is no way near to a sharp image.

With popular belief, you may be thinking that the Wide-angle lens has deeper depth of field. 

This is only true to the Object side, but not to the image side. 

Think, —– 50 mm lens needs to move 5 mm forward from infinity position to focus 50 cm

distance, but for 28 mm lens, from infinity to 28 cm object (at 1/10),  it needs only 2.8 mm shift. 

In other words, if lens was used in reverse direction, depth of field would be even shallower,

and the out-of-focus image, “Boke” would spread much wider, as you can see in the photos.

But, whether it has any significance to the photography is a matter of individual taste.  😀

The reason why I’m showing this is, this optical effect is a sanctuary in the photography,

away from a hand of Photoshop,  unless a photo was completely repainted pixel by pixel with

human brain.  Make a photo looks sharper is easy but very difficult to reproduce 3D “Boke”.

If anybody think otherwise, Please send me the Sample = Before and After, created by Photoshop.   😀

[]

What is Natural — Tea-bag Story

Many years ago I needed to filter out crystallized residue in a photo-chemical solution.

On that time, I improvised a paper of a tea-bag = it is quite strong not like a tissue paper, neither

it would disintegrate in a liquid.   (If it was in my school time, I could have proper filter paper for

chemistry, and till decade ago, a blotting paper was in a stationary shop, but not in these days. )

—– anyhow the matter is neither type of paper or chemical solution, but

what I found in the contents of a tea-bag = powdered tea of cause. But something

annoyed me was, I found looks like a thread or a sort of fiber sticking out of the

tea powder. It can be a broken jute rope or a sack, or it could be even a fiber from

a cow-dung, came to a floor stuck to a sandal of worker.

[]

Before the invention of tea-bag, the powder or dust of tea, flying out of tea processing machine

was only recycled in a small scale as a give-away to the poor people working there.

But when somebody got very very good idea to utilize those dust, put it into a paper

bag and sell it as Tea-bag, the more convenient way to make a cup of tea, then the

dust was collected using a vacuum-cleaner, hence the dust on the floor as well.

—– (I heard this story, first from a man used to work in a tea packaging factory, and again from

a daughter of an English manager used to be there )

Still, to design an automated machine to make such a bag without using glue was a good effort, but

it was a bit expensive way= hence, to make a round flat tea-bag with one stump process was

another step to make yet more profit = insatiable appetite to satisfy their greed.

[]

There was a report, about the coming food-shortage and “Then, why not eat the insect” story

—– in the story, there was a statistics “the average person eating so-much-so amount of

insects comes with food without knowing”—— yeah, I’ve noticed this many times, while

eating such as vegi salad, I had funny taste.   As I used to collect the insects to make a collection of

specimen, I knew a certain insect gives off particular smell. It was that kind. But, anyhow it was

too late and so far there wasn’t any detrimental trouble I’ve ever had. = So, it should be OK. 😀

[]

In the same context, is there anybody ever thought about, —– in the processed food such as

mince-pie, fig-role or jam kind of milled fruits, packed into a sweets or in a jar, what is in there ?

Are you expecting in a food factory where the one end, truck lord of fruits was through into the

machine and on the other end, packed jam is coming out in a jar, whether individual fruits was

inspected for insect and rejected one by one ? —– (So that, there is a law giving the allowance

for such kind of food can contain so-much-so number of the insects)

[]

The question is, what is natural ?

It is not an issue of credibility of the manufacturer, but ourself.

= If we are believing the quality or its purity

—– Isn’t it our wishful imagination or indulging illusion ?

After all, in reality, nature is not necessary friendly, or the conditions of our life may not so ideal,

we should better accept it as it is, instead to project our idea and create frustration.

[]

To become aware who I am (of whom never be perfect or ideal) is what we need to

have, as the first step to become a bit wiser. (not mention to get enlightened 😀 )

To accept or appreciate a hint of cow-dung in a tea, might be the crucial step

to be a broad minded Buddhist 😀 😀 —– (Do remember, this is the way, how our

immune system was developed = hence, it enabled us to live in this bacteria, virus infested world

= dirt is our part of the life 😀 )

So, keep yourself reasonably clean for not to have too much bacteria, but in the same time never

become compulsory cleansing fanatics. Happiness lays in between = in a so-called Middle Way 🙂

Enjoy your happy day, and a nice cup of Tea as well.

___/\___

[]

Win win – Musashi the Sword Master

There was the most strange quote of Sword Master Musashi Miyamoto.

When he was asked what is a secret to keep winning the fight, he replied,

“ Never fight with a man stronger than me” —– !

( I wasn’t there to hear this myself, so I’m not sure whether this quote is true or not though,

from the level of Zen he reached, this word sound quite likely his own word. )

[]

Enlightenment in Zen liberates one’s mind = Liberate mean, free one’s mind from

all the restriction and the bondage of the ideas.

Free from pretence, rules, stereotypical beliefs even one’s own Ego.

So that, here is a contradiction, why Musashi needed to win ?

Why he needed to avoid to fight stronger opponent ?

But, before that, there was a preceding condition, why needs to fight ?

To seek a fight is driven by an intention from the Ego, Greed for the fame etc etc,

but once he reached to the level of the Enlightenment, he no longer had an impetus to fight.

( But Sword Mastery is not came from the will, but instinctive body reaction = if it

was needed to react in the situation, he could have done without having a will to fight

= it was not him fight, but the Dharma does ).

So that, once Musashi reached to this level, even the other sword master as good as him dear to

challenge him because even if challenge was successful, fight would cost a limb or two = a life of

sword mastery would be lost for ever = no point to challenge Musashi — and it never happened.

[]

Still the remaining question is, why Musashi uttered such words to spoil the game.   😀

It was because, what the Zen and its natural choice = Middle Way was.

Once enlightened, to cling the idea of Zen disappeared too.

(Conscious idea doesn’t need to be there because everything were controlled unconsciously).

So that, on the occasion, chattering with young novice, what situation required (= a task on front

of Musashi, on that moment ) was to have a good, cheerful conversation.

Why needs to be so serious.  He just took a Mickey out of serious novice.

(To his eyes the people in Sword Mastery or Zen seemed more like a caricature figure then)

Go, Middle way.   So that, the life can have much more fun. 😀

Relax !

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