Ikkyu-san

One of the most famous  Zen monk,  Ikkyu  Sojun  is the literally most talked about Buddhist in Japan.

I don’t know how many books tribute to him and even cartoon comics featuring him for the children has been kept coming  to the book shelf, not mention  TV anime. Though, as he got so many legendary stories,  it is hard to tell which story has historical fact behind or it was an invention of novelist.  Yet still, I especially like this story which is so typical in Zen mind.

—————————-

When Ikkyu was exiled to a remote corner of northern Japan by the Shogun,  as he was an out-spoken critics and a pain on the neck,  the local  War-Load who was made responsible to keep him, put a woman to cook and take care of his daily life,  expecting  Ikkyu to have a relation with this woman,  which would give a convenient pretext to kill him.   Which was a hidden intention to isolate and exile him away from the Buddhist’s center of Kyoto.  Though, even a year past, no such relation had ever taken place.

The woman wondered if she is sexy enough to attract him or not.  So that, woman took a drastic action one night,  waited him in his bed  (well, it was a Futon)  naked. When Ikkyu saw her in his bed,  he didn’t show any surprise and get into the bed saying  ” I knew this would happen soon or later.  It’s nice to have human hot water bottle.  Oh good, its warm”  and within few minutes he started snoring. ——– Woman was utterly devastated.

——– Most of  women are having strange belief almost like a religion.

A man will do the business when he saw a woman laying naked.  But it doesn’t apply to a Zenist. 😀     (It exclude sham Zenist ! )

Unless its business is his task,  a naked body is just a naked body,  nothing to do with him and his body doesn’t react with so-called instinct.   Naked body is there just as it is.  Its sexual connotation is in one’s mind.  Without sexual connotation, it’s still beautiful, soft and warm to touch.   No problem to be there.

Unlike popular belief,  being as a monk Ikkyu had a mistress and he was more than capable to do the business until his old age, though unless the woman was the one he committed,  anybody else was the no existence.

In Mushin, if it is the task to take,  commit to it 100 % down to the level of subconscious.  If not, it is 0 % to the level of subconscious,  in deed to the instinct level.

(As the Emotion was detached,  sexual object wouldn’t cause the seclusion of adrenalin or testosterone,  hence so-called instinctive reflection doesn’t occur.)       (There said to be an extreme training to become a Tantra High Priest (Adjari) = While attending an all night sitting, the monk has to keep his penis elected continuously. = keep his mind totally concentrated to sexual arose. —– it’s a hard act for an amateur to try. )

Zen has only 100 % all, or nothing 0 %. ( Incidentally, this would explain Why Japanese tend to go to extreme. As there is nothing between, when it came to the situation of fight such as in war,  it would be either kill or be killed.   Somewhere between,  beaten yet still alive and become Prisoner of War was not acceptable.   It was regarded to be in half minded / coward.

All those psyche were originated from the Zen ethos. ——-  To reconcile with this extremity with Middle Way needs to have a real understanding of the Middle Way. = not a kind of “Somewhere between”. )

___/\___

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SELF and PHOTO II

There was rather interesting story behind of previous post “Find the SELF by your Camera”.

Many years ago,  I gave the photographic training to a young photographer to become professional.

After staying this country while taking my tuition he went back Japan  and  came back with 6 months worth

of photos which he piled up for various subjects.

While reviewing those photos,  I made them into 4 groups according to his mental state then, to show

without conscious how our eyes and the way to photograph change. He was horrified with its accuracy.

How do I know and how the photo shows such differences.

———————

As we have a sense to sniff out the atmosphere, we can see it even in a photograph in one grance.

It is the matter of how we can open the mind and able to expose the sensory of subconscious,

which is  what people calls sixth sense.

Atmosphere of the place change moment to moment, and at what moment the photographer click,

makes the difference. The professionals can, not only able to capture its moment, but also know the

way to enhance or exaggerate it.  This is how they can stay in  business while derivering a requirement.

Yet still the result may be influenced by the mental state of him as well.

When photographer hunting around something interesting image,  his interest, knowledge or taste would

be exactly appeared in the photos. ———– One occasion, I and a female editor of a Japanese magazine

went to a famous antique market  (after the assignment had completed).

While seeing and photographing mountain of curious objects and people I noticed, this middle-aged

editor got strange taste, not only photographing old or looks somewhat miserable person, but always

stop the eyes onto peculiar metal object such as tools or surgical instruments or funny shaped Victorian

ceramic toilet utensils.—— ? ? ? —– I asked her   “You got quite peculiar taste,  is it related to SM (Sado-

Masochistic) practice or fantasy ?”  She blushed red and said “How did you know”  “Its bloody obvious”.

———- When aforesaid young photographer faced this analysis he said  “Oh, no, I became too

conscious, I can’t take picture any more”  ” What ?  Waite a moment,  Photography was your

self-expression, wasn’t  it ?   So, whats wrong to show your  SELF ?”

To express a part of  SELF which he want to show off is OK, but without his conscious, something

leaking out is not well come ———– Human being is a very  self-conscious egoistic animal. 😀

Even if the person is well aware, ” I’m doing shady” yet still captured by CCTV and face the evidential

photo ” This is you in a shade”  is hard to swallow.

So, to be a good Buddhist, first of all, either clean the act or accept “I’m not clean person” and make up

the mind to accept the consequence.

———– Though, live in the dirt is not necessary too bad,  you know.  😀

Active / Passive MUSHIN

You may feel this is a strange advice,  though,  as there are many contradictions in the Buddhism,

such as the basic attitude to be a Buddhist is, never interfere somebody else’s life,  since everybody has

one’s own Karma.  You have to respect this.

Though this notion may seemed to contradict the Buddhist’s duty to help others ———— What duty ?

——-Who said so ?     There is no such duty in the Buddhism as you heard or thinking about.

When you encounter the troubled situation,  if you think  ” Shall  I  help ? ” it is not for you to mess up.

But,  if you start to help ( the person(s) or even a cat ) spontaneously without any thought,  this is

the situation you have to act. (To encounter such situation is the cross-point of the two Karma)

Without your thinking ( = MUSHIN ), somebody’s cry touched your subconscious direct  and

trigger your action. ——–  This is the Buddhist compassion.   And the Direct Transmission.

Not because of so-called DUTY, but Compassion is naturally there as a manifestation of  Dharma.

( Duty, Compassion, Selfless, Mushin, Enlightenment ETC ECT are all just the words and the human invention.

Dharma and its compassion is here from the beginning, long long before human existence.  Otherwise

a single cell life-form in the primeval sea could NOT survived and kept evolved to us here today )

——————–

Mushin is not only for the time when you Do.   Mushin is also for when you see or feel the world

( include to see deep inside of yourself ).   So that in Mushin,  you can see,  you can hear the Dharma.

Therefore active Mushin and in the same time Passive Mushin is there.

——————–

If you having a conscious of ” I’m helping ” ——- in fact,  you are only filling your ego and arrogant show-off,

which void all of your ” Good intention “.

” Good intention ” may praised in other religions but it is not in the Buddhism.

Because the Dharma is not in the one’s intention.

Dharma tells you or even without notice, make you, drive you to help others.

That’s why the Duty is there as not there.  (Hence,  it was not such contradiction described above )

And  ” Was that you who helped the others “——– or may not you,  as you even didn’t have a conscious

of helping ——– so, you were there as you were not there.

———- This is the magic of the Buddhism.

This phenomenon couldn’t be explained with the Vedic ( Brahmanism / Hindu ) idea of the Atman, and

this is the very discovery of Buddha, ——- hence this is uniquely the  Buddhism.

—— /\—— 🙂

CYBER SPACE — (and Z80 mini-computer)

It is 25 years  since  Dot Com was first created,  and 20 years since  WWW  was invented.

One of my old colleague,  Camera Critics,  Kazuo Taira  was one of the pioneer of the PC networking, using

acoustic telephone modem and he organized the Photographer’s Computer Network in Japan.

It’s shame Mr.Taira  is no longer with us.  Unfortunately  we in the creative field tend to lose the friends who

tend to be a heavy drinker.  ( Do you know,  the average life-span of Rock musicians are 38 something,

of cause it may not caused by the alcohol alone )

And since then, our lives are more and more entwined with the Computer and the Internet.

Nearly 20 years ago,  I made a small computer using Z80 CPU,

designed from the scratch.  ( Left  Photo)

( I would say, it’s a half sculpture, half computer )

Its operates on only 10 MHz clock speed and having 512 Kb memory,

which needs to be programmed by Machine Code.

—– In electronics, to design and to build is one thing and

to make it works is the another.

Eliminate all the glitches and instability etc etc are the hard part.

—– As the definition,  computer operates on the data in the

memory,  once the memory was corrupted,  it needs to re-program from the start.

( It was the time of  UV erasable  memory,  before easy to re-program  Flash-memory )

After this experience,  I became a computer skeptic ” Computer can make mistakes ” hence, even now

I don’t use Credit Card and I rather like to use hard-wired design,  not soft control.

In this reason, I honestly admire the person who can design and manufacture a  10 GHz device which works

in any environment  reliably.

——————–

In another side of the revolution,  the Internet is becoming almost a monster, and the Necessary Evil.

Since  I  started to use Email,  I wrote very few letters  which  needed to be a signed evidence.

—– The trouble of Net is their intrusive activities.  As everybody knows,  Google / Gmail is

watching our use of web and the contents of communications word by word. ( Cookies, hidden files etc)

When I heard about  Facebook,  I instantly felt their dubious nature  ” Why do they need to have so much

detailed personal information ? “—– obviously they are  the salable commodities.

Without having such profitable return,  what is the point to provide free service.

Personal info’ used to be sold to the marketing / direct mail company before.  Now the Internet provider,

social networking site are the Marketing/ Advertising/ Direct-mailing/ Delivery Service  All-in-one.

(When  I got an Email from one of our Old-boy telling, he has reached to the grand age, the Ads on right hand

column are all cheap Funeral service and the international flower delivery — Great, thank you very much :-D)

So that from the beginnings I didn’t use my real name to open Email account, and never sign up the

Website which asks Date of Birth.  ( Still, now Yahoo knows my DOB, obviously from the content of

the mail between me and my friend. )

With full name and the DOB, the one can hack-in and get the information of National Health, and

together with the Address,  it is possible to access the Banking information.

——————–

To live in peace, we have to be aware ” We are in the battle field ” which the Buddhists call  Samsara.

With technology and the Internet,  we opened the Pandora’s Box.   It’s a funny situation, as in the Informations

we are becoming almost naked,  in the same time our contact itself becoming even more indirect.

Just by  the chain of characters on the screen, a 30 years guy pretending as a 15 years old boy,  chatting

with a 40 years woman who pretending 13 years old girl. —– Yuck,  how  beautiful,   😀

——————

Zen  rely on the Direct Transmission,  still what I’ve been trying here, is the triple, quadruple indirect

communications.  In order to type, I converted my feeling to the lingual form, and express it in the

bloody English, which typed chain of ASCII code traveled through unknown node here and there and

end up —– how do I know where.

As I thought,  I never met Buddha himself,  or  I have any idea , how many times the Mantra was translated

or re-written,  and  2500 years apart, someone try to reach the same conclusion as Buddha,

( in the point of indirectness, this is the far-most remote situation )

still, if its works,  a talk to others through  Internet may works too.

Thats what I’m thinking.

[]

LISTEN, LISTEN

I saw somebody shouting in his blog  ” Listen ” ” Listen”.

Yah,  I can see what he meant.   But,  Hang on Mate,  we had in deed listened.

We born as a virtually blank sheet of paper.   And while growing up, we have listened and listened,

and learned and seen , learned, listened ——– then here I am.

Listened the same thing again and again,  it became ” A Type”——- and imprinted as the commonsense.

Once the one acquired  A Type, he start to pick up only the information fit to A Type, because any

other Type hadn’t heard often before ——- such rare exception is irrelevant to the life.

The people shouting a minority opinion still want  “Them” to listen, but ” Them” belong to the  majority.

Majority share their commonsense. And it is imprinted in Subconsciousness.

———- though, it is not necessary the truth.

To see the truth, the one has to get rid of the filter of  A Type, and open the mind.

ANGER

I saw some Blogs about the control of Anger or lack of it.

Thinking about the anger,  I don’t remember when I had the opportunity to have one myself last time.

Once I learned how the life is having so many facets or multiple layers,  I became aware how it is

useless to react on the surface situation and get angry.  ( It seems, in my deep psyche I have

reprogrammed to see the cause of anger “As a repulsive object” and not want it to occupy my mind

even a fraction of a second——- it disappear instantly.     So, NO anger bothered my mind ! )

In this rotten world, the expected angry reaction was often exploited to make up a pretext.

It is the usual tactics of the provocation often used by the Police,  even by the Court.

——————

When I proceeded an utterly fraudulent case in the High Court,  the Judgment made by the so-called

Lord Justice ( in fact it was a circuit Judge ) was utterly a fraud.  Though it was not surprise to me as I had

smelled it beforehand, so, when I heard it I grinned and made  ” I beg your pardon ”  with funny voice.

———- I knew,  if anybody exploded  with anger,  the Court can use it as a pretext to make an Order

to ban the person to appear the Court in further proceedings.  ( I took the proceedings as a Litigant

in Person / without the Lawyer —– while studying the English Law over night )

So that to get angry was not an option at all, even though I was utterly disgusted.

During the proceedings the Statutory Right was blatantly violated and the Judgment was completely

against the Expert Evidence.  It was  ” the case never heard of before in 250 years English Legal History ”

kind, so that,  when I proceeded to the Court of Appeal,  the President of the High Court ( as one of the

three Lord Justice ) needed to come out to suppress and  white wash the scandal. ( Very very Funny  😀  )

In order to block the Appeal,  High Court issued an  Order ” Order of no Order”  first ever in the history

which arrived on the day of the dead-line to lodge the Bundle of Document for the Appeal Court.

Even though it was just a piece of paper, as one Order was not incorporated in the chronologically paginated

Documents, the Bundles  became defective, and the Appeal could  be out of time.  Though as it was too

obvious tactics, I applied the extension of the time.  ( Of cause they can’t refuse it, as it is the Law )

( BBC  Joshua Rosenberg  knew this case,  Chanel-4,  all the broad sheet News Paper,  the Liberty,

Amnesty Int’,  Lord Chancellor’s  Dept’  even the then  PM  John Major did know this case, but did nothing )

The Court must be expected me to leave the country together with all the indicting documents.  But, since

it was the first ever the case in 250 years history, it is the imperative to let the world to know.  Its my duty.

——————-

I could have been perfectly entitled to explode with anger hundreds of times,  though it was a part of

the game which the other side and the Court were waiting to see ——- it’s  mean,  it was exactly the

last thing of me to do and anyhow, no time left me to indulge with unproductive emotion..

( So,  the President of the ” Honourable  Ancient  Court of  Justice”  needed to say  “It is not necessary for me

to go into the details of the Evidence” ——— of cause  he never able to go into the Evidence as it was

completely opposite.    Ha Ha Ha    😀  ) (When Appeal was lodged and the fact was known to the Judiciary,

High Court Judge Dobry was retired at once, and I haven’t heard the name of the President Stephen Brown

again—— gone to obscurity ?   Seemingly, it was the measure to sweep the scandal under carpet ).

——————–

Zen never follow Emotion,  so, no anger, but just follow the duty.   The matter here was not the passing

Emotion  but the continuous Fight which require tenacious effort and  resilient mentality. (It’s wrong to presume

the Buddhist got to be soft touch, easy Let Go people. Look, Dalai Lama, he kept vigorously fighting even now )

——————–

If anybody having the trouble to control own anger——- try,  just separate the eye point and watch

yourself as an objective object from the distance ( visualize an image or caricature of yourself )

From the distance, you may able to see the situation much wider——- the cause,  how it’s happened

and the consequence,  the effect of the anger in its issue —— and learn ” It wouldn’t change anything

but make the situation even worse “.

Soon or later,  you will get tired to see own caricature,  and loose the passion to get angry.

Anger is in fact the assertion of the Ego,  when the person encountered the gap between  the own

expectation or self-imposed rule or standard ——- in other words, the person’s authority.

Then  the person should make the question, ” Do I have such authority ?   Am I such Big and Powerful ? ”

Though, if the person has strong confidence, he ( she ) doesn’t need to have the assertion,  ie; it is the

sign of insecurity.  Here the Paradox of the Buddhism again.   The one who detached from the Ego

has the strongest confidence, therefore doesn’t need to get angry.   Feel strange ?

( If there is no Ego,  there will be nothing to lose. ——– Most courageous action could be taken )

Right Hand ZEN

Because of  I can detach my Mind  from anything instantly, and as it is my daily norm,  I’ve been using the  word

Detachment too often and too casually.   ( In my extreme sample,  I managed to detach even from toothache,

so, in consequence I lost almost all of my teeth,  since  I don’t take any artificial treatment or medication

( no pain killer ) ——– though,  it was a part of my experiment to see the Life / how it was originally designed,

such as how the built-in internal clock is working.

—– I  wouldn’t recommend  this to anybody. ——(  its painful you know  😀  )

——————–

So,  anyone to start the DIY  Zen,  I recommend an easy trial of practice  to learn the  Detachment.

*** For a man,  when you walk on the street,  put your eyes to only the right hand of the coming woman,

never look on her chest.

*** For a woman,  put your eyes only on the right hand of the man,  never look on his body part between

the legs.     Keep the same rule,  when you sit in the train or where ever you are.

*** When you broke this rule, shake your head and think  ” What a lewd person I am “.

Do this until this practice became your custom.  Your determination / take this as the imperative is clucial.

( But,  DO NOT mistake this,  you don’t need to give up your sexual life,  this practice is about your

eye movement,  when you are out. ———–Please refer to  * Funny Story (1) )

After this, you may amazed yourself,  even a supposed to be uncontrollable sexual interest can be tamed.

Once you are convinced,  you can make another rule and  Do It,  such as a thing which may upset you,

don’t look or take notice.  Even if it came into your eyes,  shake head and think  ” I didn’t see ” and never

let  its image or memory remain in your head.    (so, you can keep yourself peaceful )

——-  When you master this,  you may understand why in Buddhism an expression  such as ” Exist as

it is not exist ”  was used. —— You know it is exist there (definitely ) but it is no longer exist as before and

no longer bother you.

——- Its mean you have crossed the river and once you reached there,  even huge  F size wouldn’t

excite you any longer ( it became mare one of  land scape ) hence it is harmless,  you may watch 1000 of them

without having any trouble.    This is the State of  JIZAI.

But,  you can’t jump to JIZAI.  You have to start from scratch.  ——- Walk your eyes down.

BRAIN WAVE

Some days ago,  I saw a bizarre demonstration which purported to be an electronic display of the

Buddhist Meditation,  consisting a video image said to be controlled by the Brain Wave.

Loads of scientific buzz words such as Quantum Mechanics, Sinusoidal Alpha Wave etc etc were spoken.

———- Yet strangely, a demonstrator  who got a shaven head said ” I’m not an electronics expert,

so,  I don’t know the details of the technology here “—— Oh, I’m, sure Brain Wave is not Sinusoidal at all.

——————–

How bizarre this one was —– to begin with,  Alpha Brain Wave is nothing to do with the Meditation.

EEG  Brain Wave was picked up on the surface of the head and showing the summed up electric signal

of the inside Cerebrum Cortex’s activity.   Therefore,  the Brain Wave is the reflection of the vigorous

activity of the brain —— sound opposite of the calm Meditation.   (Of cause, even under the deepest

meditative state, certain physiological function is fully active, hence creating so-called  Artefact ( back

ground noise ) is always there.

Any how, the activity of inner part of the brain such as Limbic System is not possible to observe by the EEG,

unless a hole was cut to the skull and put through a probe deep inside.  ( Very risky operation )

——————–

More than 40 years ago, when a meditating monk was wired up and the EEG / Brain Wave was recorded

first time, the relation between Alpha Wave and the Meditation was discovered.  So, a  Myth  was created.

Though, ironically, some years later, the true nature of the Alpha Wave became clear —— it was the

indication of the ” Eyes are Closed ” —— its mean, the visual cortex in the back of the head is in idle state.

Nothing to do with meditation.    (Well, see nothing was indicated.  At least   😀  )

(  In the Zen, Eyes wide open and seeing, but take NO NOTICE is the key technique —– Thus able to

either Detach or Concentrate to any subject,  any time,  by will )

Yet still, the Myth or idiosyncratic misunderstanding was kept and worshiped by the people who doesn’t

know the Buddhism neither Medical science or Electronics.

And this kind of bizarre gimmick industry is flourishing.

How amazing  !!!

When Mankind didn’t have the knowledge of electric activity,  lightning was believed

to be an act of angry God.

The Brain still remaining in the mystery is,  nothing to do with  the mystery of the Buddhism.

Mind is not just a matter of  Brain cell and  Electric pulse.

—

PS: Half year later, I bumped a man who demonstrated aforesaid  Electronical Meditation, at an art

gallery and found that the man is (despite his shaven head  🙂 ) just a novel art performer, not a monk

or to do anything with Buddhist’s meditation.  So, he must had a lots of fun for doing it. 😀

COMPASSION — WHAT ?

Bizarre, but even comical story is —– in three occasions, I was asked to procure the chemical to help

the person to commit suicide.

But I saw the real agenda was just the money at once,  I told him  ” Don’t involve me.  If you like to do it,

just go to the rail way and jump under a train.  Without my help, your trouble will disappear at once ”

Obviously the man was so disappointed and started to blame me  ” I thought you are a compassionate Buddhist

—-blah  blah  blah “——- ” Yes I am,  but not stupid one ”

( He might have expected me to say  ” If the situation is so serious,  this money should bail you out ” )

——————–

To confused person, ( in lots of the case )  I gave a harsh words  ” Go to the Hell ” —– it works far better.

It chill the person’s blood and cool down the head,  and  make to see the reality, as if there is no tomorrow.

And make able to sort own mess out. ( In comparison, anything in the life is easier than to die. When

the one faced to the death,  there is no way else,  but to  fully concentrate = fully minded,  thus able

to see  what should be done, as the one is not idiot and Just Do It.

Strangely,  when the one is seriously concentrating and working hard,  then a help appears.

—– In other words,  as long as the one is expecting and  waiting the help,  it never comes.

—– This Paradox is True.      Believe me  /  This is the way how the Dharma works )

So, it seemed ( as I heard from distance ) the one sold his expensive car and down-sized his life style, and

the another got full-time job,  another  started  moonlighting and gave up drag taking.

They may not remember me as a nice friend, until  10 , 20 years later to  realize it by himself.

Though,  did I need my own comfort, to be misunderstood as a  nice person with sweet words ?

What is the real Help ?

———- You might have encountered to this kind,  haven’t you ?

What was your choice ?

DELUSION — is it a Face ?

This is a funny photo.  It supposed to have a face there.

Can you see it ? —–( it is the pattern on the cushion )

It was one of the ” face” picked up by the Google Picasa,

Face Recognition Program.

——————–

As I’ve collected 20,000 photo of faces ( well, lots of them came

together with legs, boobs etc) and I’m sorting them by the

type of face and eyes, ears etc.

( Incidentally, to see the person changing  the face, body shape,

in spate of  4~5 (?) years,  giving me a chilling feeling of harsh reality,

Nothing stays the Same—— and think, what will they do next, after 5 years time  ? ? ? )

To have the Face Recognition Program was not my choice.  It came automatic as an up-date. Though, it is

using my CPU without my permission.  I’ve tried to remove it though, it is a part of Picasa 3 (and old version

had gone ) and I couldn’t pinpoint which part of program file is doing this.—– ( Google may planning to create

another  Social  Net-working  System to compete  with  Facebook  ( which I hate most )  in the near future ).

Anyhow,  as they cropped  faces and asking me to name the person,  I clicked (may be ) 30,000 times

” Ignore ” and deleted all of them except about 30 ” faces ” which is a sheer mistake such as the one here.

In certain extent, this program was well designed as it made only  0.1% mistakes.—– Beyond here, its

needs to have a human brain ——- though, wait a moment, our brain makes as much as mistakes.

——- When I was small, I was disturbed by a pattern of knot on a wooden panel of the ceiling, as it looks

a man’s fearsome face.    Once an image was registered in the brain as a face, it always looks as a face.

———- It is interesting to see, even an artificial digital image processing makes same kind of mistakes.

In Buddhist term, this is the Delusion and a cause of paranoia though, as it was a very useful brain function

of data integration / filling the gap of information by fuzzy logic —— not exact but somewhat likely

judgement —– this kind of mistakes are inevitable.

Most of the case, it is just ” Ha, Ha, Funny ” but time to time, it might led to a serious consequence.

Stay cool, stay objective is the secret to stay in Peace.

As the mater of fact, more than half of the personal trouble was caused by oneself and one’s mind.