Middle Way

Most of the explanation and understanding of the Buddhism are based on Buddha’s life style.

Buddha himself was the very living sample and the text-book.

Not only what and how he does the things but also how he sees and perceives,  feels and thinks the world.

Since it was the way of the life,  it is not the abstract system of the philosophy,  and as he is the living sample

it is not the religion to believe.   ( The reason why the Buddhism became a  religion later was,  as he has gone

to his Nirvana and  only the legend to believe left.  Once the facts is no longer on front, the story changes.)

———————————

Since the matter is the state of the mind,  harder still, almost invisible subconsciousness,  not all the details,

what it is, why so,  were necessary elucidated. ——– May be because he had explained it in enigmatic

metaphor or left it without verbal explanation and let the people to learn through practice.

So that, even the disciples of  Buddha himself,  to attain certain mental state needed to have lots of guess-work.

————————-

To deny one’s ego and attain the negation of attachment,  then broaden it to the general emotional detachment

is hard enough  ( I’m rather skeptical,  how many monks has ever  reached even to this stage)

Then from there ( in the state of Mushin ) to realize  ” If the self is not exist,  how the same self can impose

the denial to other existences ?”  (Which is what I’ve described before using a metaphor,  -1 x -1 = +1 )

This is the core of the Notion of Middle Way ( We often make a joke ” Somewhere in the middle ” but

it is not such simple matter of quantity / Half Measure.)

Unless the person standing in the state of Mushin, this  Middle Way has no meaning as it is a part of Mushin.

———— There is a good sample in the previous post  ” Ikkyu-san ” /

” It’s good to have human hot water bottle “—— Ikkyu didn’t reject her in the same bed,  far from it, he

appreciated her accompany and the warmth.  But just took asleep.

This is the MIDDLE WAY.  How it is  HINAYANA !

( If you felt a discord when you read this passage in Ikkyu,

you are not Hinayana enough, not liberated enough.)

——— As it is not the matter of quantity or intensity,  as there is no such things like  ” Little bit less Mushin ”

It is next door beyond the Mushin.

From Room A you go to next Room B,  then go up the stair and open the next door to go into

another Room A’ which looks identical  to the Room A,  though this Room is situated above Room A.

You may think,  you were come back to tha same Room though, this one is in different dimension.

Not only Room A’  is situated above Room A,  from there you can see Room A, Room B like bird’s eye view,

since Room A’ has no floor or wall to block the view.   This is the place of absolute freedom.

Since Buddha was  in deed the resident of this Room A’  he had the freedom of the view,  and there

was even no silly restriction such as what to eat.  He ate anything offered.  (Hence he died with food poisoning

of a fish which he was grateful as it gave him the Nirvana )

As  Buddha had no stereotypical view or idea toward the death, he could just accept it,  hence it was  Nirvana.

———————–

Yet still, even the disciples were not necessary able to learn everything from the living text-book / Buddha

they needed to argue another 1000 years to find the door way to the Room A’.

And the  Room A’  looks almost identical to the Room A,  the old masters  who actually reached to this Room,

all of them just shouted  ” What a hell.  It’s a Dog Shit ”  —– ( But mind you, this Dog Shit is the same Dog Shit

Buddha stepped on. —– It is the Holy Dog Shit. So you know, it’s even smell nice. /  Internet information

says, at the Shaolin Temple in China you can buy a gold replica of this dog shit.   Ha ha ha  I’m kidding.  😀  )

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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Clear the CONFUSION

While talking with the people who read through my blog,  I found , I still need to clarify the confusion,

which may caused by not clear enough explanation.

It seems, the most confusing part of the Zen teaching is,  the apparent crush of  the Selflessness

and the so-called  Mindfulness. As  this Mindfulness was mistook as the Concentration,  my explanation

of  Selflessness = Detachment /  Mushin  seemed to have utter conflict with  Mindfulness.

———- Yes it seems true, as long as the person is  ” Thinking them as the meaning of the words “.

Here,  the hardest part of the Zen phenomenon lays.

One is the matter of the SELF,  and the Awareness of the Self /  Thinking ——> Not Thinking

——> BUT do it under the control of  SUBCONSCIOUS.

When we do the things Unconsciously,  this is what the Zen called  MUSHIN  ( SELFLESSNESS ).

DETACHMENT  from  the Thinking, and the person who is Thinking = SELF.

( Detached from the Self or own Ego ——– not from the subject to do)

Do the things in  MUSHIN or  Subconsciously, yet fully committed  to  the subject,  is the state of  FUJI / ICHIJO.

In this state of the mind, ICHIJO,  there is nothing else of  the person  (selfless SELF)  and the subject.

——– this is what western Zenist described as the Fully Minded or  Mindfulness.

One of the grave  mistake of the western Zenist was the use of this word, Mindfulness.

The trouble is,  there is no mind should be there. ———– So that, as long as the person mind the

mindfulness,  there can never be the MUSHIN or SELFLESSNESS achieved.

—————————

And this is the fundamental trouble to approach Buddhism by the word and the thinking,  and

exactly with the same reason,  all the Buddhism sects (except the talking shop of western Buddhists) are

using the physical practice as their part of teachings. (You can bang a drum or cut a lemon without conscious,

though  you can’t read or talk without consciously thinking )

————- And this is the reason,  why I have started this blog saying   “Just Do IT,  Don’t Think “

let alone talking about. ( So, why am I blogging here ?   😀 ——– In Hinayana,  I should just

watching the people talking, puzzling, though it is yet another paradox of the Mahayana. I have to blog )

————————

So, it must be clear now,  Selflessness, MUSHIN  and so-called Mindfulness, and ICHIJO  are

all exist in the same time as One Phenomenon of a State of the Mind (of No-Mind / MUSHIN).

All those words are the superficial appearances of the same Phenomenon seen from different angle.

————————

Since the result is much better done in Zen,  the question arose ” Who did this, as the Self was

not there,  WHO ELSE ? ” ——– Hence, ” It must be done by the  Dharma ”

and the riddle of  ” Is SELF really exist ? ” was born.

London Marathon

Last weekend I’ve joined an invigoration party for a runner of London Marathon, went to the

course side in  Dock Land in the morning, taking my camera with me.

Captured top runners, few Japanese runners and fun-runners. ——- then, I waited and waited for our

hero to come, while watching and clicking tens of thousands of the fun-runners photos for many hours.

The trouble was, I didn’t know what kind of guise he is wearing.    Apparently we had phone

communication with him which saying ” I’ll be there in 10 minutes” again and again, always

another 10 minutes. ? ? ? ——- May be the time was kept stretching ahead of him as Einstein predicted.

This must be the revers of  Xenon’s  Paradox ( Arrow never able to hit Achilles)     😀

————————–

While waiting him, a pretty young lady spoke to me saying, she wants to see my dancing as she is a dancer

herself—— it seemed she hard the rumor from her friend who has seen my dancing in somewhere.

I told her to contact me through my blog, as this blog will come up on top of Google search, just by typing

“yoshizen”——it must be the easiest way to remember. ——- May be I should have talked her more, and

pay more attention to the pretty lady though, I had a task to take picture of my friend running, who may

appear in any moment  (and needs to find him among the crowd, in distance)——– m m m.

———————–

Zen works only to the task on front of the eyes or a thing in the hand.

Other than that, which exist in the mind should be treated as a delusion or a noise.

And I was in the fully minded state of capturing the runner—— not a young lady.  (How shame !   😀 )

Someone may say ” What happened the Open-mind” or  ” Just receive it, what so ever comes—– which

could be a crossing point of the Karma” ——- well  well  well,  I may say,  ” As it’s happened when I was

in the fully minded state in photography, but as it happened in not very convenient time —— its mean

the Dharma was not very keen to this. ———(so-called not very promising encounter).Any how, at last our man David has come with 50 kg load of back-pack. (seems car battery etc was loaded)

———- Why needed to carry 50 kg on the back to run 26 miles marathon ?

No reason.  It’s like an engagement of 60th  Existentialist.  This is the Absurd theater.

Most of the people just run and it is hard enough.  Though, in the same time “Why not with 50 kg on the back”

( heavier lord than the Army runners carrying).   Still, Just Do It.  Don’t think too much.

Without reason, someone may born in a remote corner of Africa, and may need to fetch 20 kg of water

every day while walking 10 miles bare foot.   This is the life there, the one has to accept, without choice.

So, we in the middle of  Stone age London, invent something out of any rationality, and do it as imperative.

( You know, 50 kg is pretty heavy and 26 miles is quite a distance ——– how nice  😀  )

This is why I like this group of people / Spacehijackers.

As soon as he appeared in sight, he was sieged by the members and bathed by beers, fed pizza ——-

and went on yet another 6 miles.  Good boy,  Good boy !

(Though, I haven’t heard the news, he got the finishing line. ——- Has anybody seen him collapsed

on the side of the road  ? )   Ha Ha Ha  😀                ( ——->   PS:  Please see the comment)

Why not iPod ?

I’ve come across an article analyzing the  Japanese industry.  The author was questioning why Japanese

couldn’t produce really novel product such as like iPod or iPhone.

The author’s view was that the Japanese is reluctant to break the convention and the established frame work,

yet still, good to play within its frame work and able to maximize the quality and its technical possibility.

——————–

In fact this is exactly what I’ve written before ” to achieve the maximum in the restriction, is the Zen”

and this is the evidence of how Japanese psyche is deeply entwined to the Zen tradition. (even today ! )

———- Here the pros and cons of Zen were clearly exposed.    I don’t think any Japanese is aware, this

psyche is originated from the Zen Ethos.  Since Soto Zen prohibit the transmission by the word,  people

learn it through the way to carry out the daily life, and as it is there always and repeating it every day,

it became a subconscious nature——- therefore it is impossible to objectively analyze. —— Hence,

it is very difficult to change.

When this Ethos was directed to one practice, such as particular sports, the dedication of literally

body and the soul, yield fantastic result. Like the performance of the Japanese Figure Skater, Mao Asada.

———- ( though, to my eyes, the performance of  Korean Skater Kim  showed more genetic

feminine and delicate flow of movement—— genetically spontaneous  movement is more natural than

the learned movement, of cause)

——————–

Though, when this Zen effect appeared in the corporate organization, and when they  faced to totally new,

unknown situation, they are slow to adapt and change.    Since everybody, top to bottom are living and

acting according to the same established frame work and the Ethos,  someone’s new idea would be seen as a

crazy delusion and a destruction to the existing business.

So that the revolutionary new idea is only bore out from the new organization which haven’t established their

own frame work and the Ethos yet.   The new idea and the approach of the Sony or Honda  WAS  the typical

sample of this, when they started out of the ash of world war 2.  (Still they had attitude of  Zen tradition )

The trouble of the industry now, the business got to be globally huge, not only the size of capital, but also

the sheer size of bureaucratic system which always tend to resist the change.

When  SONY  faced the end of era of optical disc (CD),  they resisted the trend of the recording media

toward the  Solid Memory , by cringing CD system while trying Mini Disc and their own signal compression

system called Atrack (saying 50 CD musics into one disc) —–  without  success.     As they resisted the

revolution, they completely missed the ship and eat the dust of iPod and new era.

I don’t believe the front line engineers didn’t see the latest development in the technical front and the

management was kept ignorant, though they couldn’t guillotine  the neck of the dieing CD and Mini-Disc.

( It was the complete misjudgment of the new Aristocrat who started from a small work shop of

Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (later Totsu-ko) in Ohsaki, Tokyo. ——–I’ve handled an old tape recorder of

Totsu-ko with its magnetic paper tape when I was in my junior school’s Radio-club)

——- Try to avoid the system drown in the stagnant water,  Honda having the famous ” Proposal Scheme”

which any staff or worker can give a new idea, but the trouble may not just in a small technical

improvement but needs the large-scale system change, which is hard to accept and implement.

( It is  the situation of so-called  ” Paradigm sift “)

It is the demerit to share the same emotion  from the top to bottom, especially as its Ethos is deeply sublimated.

As in the Zen tradition,  this Ethos  was carried by the  “Just Do It”  practice,  as the  Crafts man’s spirit.

Make things / Engineering  of Hardware,  the pride and spirit is entwined with its work,  which can not to be

easily changed.  (Electronical coding / Soft Program can be changed without changing production system )

(Though it was not the problem of ” Concentrate to the Task”  but couldn’t see the direction

which is not exist on front of eyes yet —— direction can only be seen by detached eyes in distance.

But, when the one has been shackled into the system, it is hard to maintain detached eyes.)

——————–

It may seems to be a contradiction from above, though the Zen itself is not straining the creativity, far from

it, the creativity can have even more freedom with the Zen.  And I’ll talk about this in the following post.

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.

—— /\—— 🙂

Starting Point of BUDDHISM / Enlightenment

Well  well  well, this blog is coming to exactly the one year since its started.

So,  I should write something very fundamental.  This is the final piece of the jig-saw.

——————–

Unlike any another religion,  the Buddhism doesn’t have a myth or the story of the creation.

Since,  long before the existence of the human being,  long long before the arrival of Buddha,

the  Dharma  exist from the beginning.   Nobody know why. ( Ask scientists. They don’t know neither.    😀  )

As Buddha had absolute faith and the respect to the Dharma, he refused to give even his

interpretation of it, since it is unknowable to the human being and made up a story is

nothing but a disrespect and a treachery to the Creator / Dharma.

Therefore the Buddhism has to start from here “to unconditionally accept the one’s existence ( as he

or she ) as it is,  and  to see own existence as a part of  the Dharma”.

Therefore,  to give a person’s own  interpretation as a thought of the self, is nothing but an arrogant trespass.

Since,  the self is not definable by the person but only by the Dharma.

——————–

If anybody having an understanding,  that the Buddhism deny the self,  it is utterly wrong.

A person here is the Noble creation of the Dharma,  hence, try to give own interpretation or definition of it, is

a transgression,  therefore such thought has to be denied. ——– (Denying the thought of self,  not

the awareness of the self  itself) ——- In metaphor, ” Appear in person, not by a photograph ”

(a Copy or  Made up Description is not Yourself / its your wishful or distorted imagination)

The person’s  Imaginary Self  is a delusion,  its got to be in flesh as it was created and  it is keep changing.

So that,  to live as the True Yourself,  not as an imaginary fixed self,  is the key.

And this is the meaning of  ” To live in MUSHIN ” and  Just Do It,  Just Live.

So,  this is the starting point of the Buddhism,  and  its  goal.  ( Very simple and easy  isn’t it    😀  )

———- This is the reason,  why it is so simple and ubiquitous like as a dog sit,  but as difficult as

making the people puzzling  2500 years. ( People has been expecting to see glorious secret, Holy Grail   😀 )

As long as a person is puzzling, while expecting to find something over there,  it is not the Buddhism and

far away from the Enlightenment.  Enlightenment is within yourself——- as where the Dharma is.

And when the person abandoned such attempt and start to just live ——- is the Enlightenment.

——————–

But, to learn the way to accept and just do it, the person may need to practice repeating practice.

( I’ve fully explained its effect and the psychological mechanism in the past blog posts —–Please refer them )

Which Practice ?

As you may noticed,  my approach to the Buddhism is by means of Doing.

And my Doing is not a fixed practice.

It can be even cutting lemons or twisting a wire to make figures or make small electronic circuit etc ——.

In fact it can be any activity in the daily life,  like somebody’s daily job.

———- The reason is obvious,  (1)  It is not an activity intentionally designed on purpose.  As it is a part of

daily life and carries no special meaning or pretence, such as  ” This is the Special noble practice for the

Higher Spiritual Achievement”, it is natural.   This is the Jinen.

(2)  Basically I’m a humble mean person.  I can’t afford to spend a  time for such a special exotic activity.

If ordinary activity can serve the same purpose,  why not do them.  It would save the time and energy.

Most important point is, the Buddhism is a way of the life.  It wouldn’t work like to buy a piece of Indulgence

and sit as a formality.  Buddhism  needs to go down all the corner of one’s life.  This is the Ichijo in total.

The matter is to live the life in  Mushin.

———- So, as one of the by-product,  I got nicely twisted wire as well ——- How nice  Ha Ha Ha   😀

( I don’t think so many people in the world, found an interest of twisting the wire.   Its mean, this is a very

peculiar activity specifically occurred only on my Karma,  therefore this is a part of  Yoshizen.  Ha Ha Ha  😀  )

Since,  it was the task, I only had to do  (on that moment), I only doing it,  nothing else, therefore I didn’t need

to specially concentrate for  “Mind-fulness”  kind, as there was nothing else to think about anyway.

——————–

Almost synonym of the (misconceived) Buddhism, “Meditation”, “Mind-fullness”, “Selfless” are all too

prominent though, they are bore out of the unnatural pretenceful activity.

Because of it is a peculiar exotic practice, the person has to fight to concentrate to get mind-fullness and

while (utterly contradictively) hustle to get selflessness.  (If a man has to wear Mini-Skirt he can’t be calm.  🙂 )

——————-

But if you do the activity which you can abandon yourself,  you automatically start to do fully minded

without any conscious of self.  In this way, anybody, in any activity, they can reach to the Mushin.

This is the Mahayana Buddhism.

Door is open to anybody,  not only to the professional monk whose task (and the mean of earning money)

is to Perform and Demonstrate “Buddhism”—— in other words, other than a monk, most of the people

don’t need to demonstrate and perform it.

——————- Though,  to do the things which is not your choice,  even a kind of task you hate,

and still able to do it in  Mushin,  needs to have special training to disconnect your  Thinking and  Emotion,

which I have explained before,  ” Starting with absolute obedience and repeat the practice until it

reaches to the state of  Mental Fatigue—–”

———- And almost legendary  ” Hyper state of the Brain ”  could be achieved only through very dangerous

practice and the Visualization.   ( Some Martial Artist can do this.   And the people competing with their

memory power, while memorizing hundreds of cards in order, using this Visualizing skill under

the hyper state of the Brain ——- but don’t ask me about it)

Though,  in my view from my experiences,  I’m not necessary agree with those special  Mind Engineering is

in the scope of the Buddhism.   Those highly specialized  Mind Engineering  was a discovery of the

professional monk though it is necessary to born with particular genetic condition.

PRECONCEPTION

This is the another Wire Figure,  Damsel in Distress.

I don’t know the detail of her story though,  she is in deep trouble and in agony.

——————–

Beauty of wire sculpture is,  it is the 3D equivalent of line drawing,  with added surprise of changing

shape by the view from different angle.  So that the same piece could give different impression to

person to person,  and the impression which people received from such piece could be very deceptive,

since the people can adjust the view according to their preconception, and reconstruct the

image in the brain. ———-( All the 3D images  were the Re-Construction in the brain, anyway )

The figure here is very narrative, so you might be well convinced,  this is a lady in deep grief,

thrown her body on the ground and scratching the mud ——— is she ? ? ?

———- A matter of fact,  you saw the photo in wrong angle.    Look the photo again in vertical angle.

The truth is,  she is a Kung-Fu Killer.  She is the Emperor’s special body-guard,  and it is the moment,

she is launching a lethal flying kick.——–m m m ? ! ! !   ( Now your brain is re-configuring the visual

signal and re-construct the image of the fighter jumped in mid-air —— She looks fearsome isn’t she ! ! !)

( Imagining her setting in horizontal or vertical, will create completely different impression of dynamism)

( Movement / feeling of dynamism was induced by the anticipation—– if you believe it’s move, it’s looks move)

——————–

Seeing is believing.   Yet our eyes are not necessary seeing the truth.  They could be easily fooled by

a suggestion,  planted preconception and its bias.

Buddhism calls this preconception as  Delusion by which people see the same object in

utterly wrong context.  Negative view often create monster and create vicious circle.

—– See the things in detached eyes is better than to have a wishful thinking. 

So, what’s the truth ? —– Oh, it’s a  twisted wire Sir.   😀

[]

NUDE 4×4+1

As a mean of communication, the Art has very peculiar property.       Since when I was doing photography, this

peculiarity is one of my conundrum. Some photos are the Art, but most of them are just a flat copy of the object.

But, strangely, anybody can distinguish a good photo in

one glance.      And anybody can also distinguish good art

as The Art at one glance.——– (so, conceptual art is not art,

but it is only an intellectual concept, as the name indicates)

With my artist friends, photographer friends discussed together

in many occasions, still we never found a good explanation

in the words,  why and how do we know, is it the Art or not.

Because ART is a communication between  Subconscious

to Subconscious / one’s inspiration to the other’s feeling

without involving the conversion to the linguistic Notion.

(Its mean, the ART strikes the EMOTION straight, not the intelligence)

So that even if we found the typical sample, it is impossible to

describe it in the words, instead, just point the very sample and say  ” You see this is it “.

——————–

Something similar phenomenon is in the artistic expression such as in the abstract figure.

This is the matter of cognitive ability. —— How simple and even simpler, we still able to recognize as it is.

———- The photo above is, some said,  the most simplest and cheapest nude sculpture in the history.

It is just a twisted wire though, even 5 years old kids instantly recognized it ” Ah, it’s a  woman “.

This Wire Nude was made by just twisting a wire 4 times clockwise for right-hand side, and 4 times

anti-clockwise for left-hand side, plus one for the head.  ( Hence the title 4×4+1 )

I experimented many design and simplified further and further.  This seems the minimalist’s limit.

(Sitting woman putting both hands to her head—— in case, if you couldn’t make sense from flat photo)

It is impossible to describe exact shape in the words,  still it convey the message, ” This is the Woman”

and people can see and feel straight, this is the woman. ——— and makes them smile  🙂

——————–

Our brain, Deep Layer / Subconscious System has remarkable ability to capture the meaning beyond

the ordinary intellectual logics. ———-( I’m still puzzling, is it Pattern Recognition or something else ? )

And this is the way, how direct transmission of  Zen  works.  ” You see, this is it”