Really ? ? ?

The previous post  NATURE and  NURTURE  may seem convincing in theory,  though it has fundamental flaw.

It was a typical sample of a theory made by thinking for the Sake of Theory.

It is true in principle but not necessary applicable in lots of the cases,  because the genetic trait which

makes the person’s feature,  especially like in the male’s case,  not everything is on the Y- Chromosome.

And  the work of Fox Gene,  which ” activate  this one but not that one ” is unpredictable.

( In the identical twin’s case,  even Fox Gene works identical )

——————–

I have two brothers, so, three of us should have the identical  Y- Chromosome, still all three are quite different,

except the voice.

Funny story here is,  when each boy was born, my parents did know  Who this boy is  and  Would  become.

And each of us were given each name according to each  Karma.

The eldest brother was born to be a literal academic type of person,  so that he was given his name after

an ancient  Chinese Kingdom.    Second brother was born to be a man of skill and got the name after the

12 century  Sculptor who carved many  Buddhism Devine Figures.

And I got my name, one of letter after a famous Samurai Lord and another letter from the great  Shogun,

but in Chinese pronunciation it sound like a name of a monk.

——————

Our Paternal grandfather was a well known Calligrapher as well,  but Maternal side grandfather was a

highly skilled  Cabinet Maker.  So that it seemed, eldest brother inherited Paternal gene trait and second

brother received maternal side of trait.    And I seemed to have half and half of both trait.

Eldest brother became to an expert in foreign languages and he was a Professor in a University.

Second brother didn’t like the school,  but became a mastery of many skills and even built his three story

house everything by himself. ———– And here I am. ( as a strange mix  😀  )

It is true,   three of us became more like father when we got older,  still each other is a different type.

Yet the life or Karma is really expressed in each name. ——-  how my parents could know it, is really amazing.

In the theory of Chinese Ichin ( part of the Tao-ism ),  a person’s name is the defining factor of the fate.

So that each name creates the person’s life —— its idea is just other way round of the Buddhist Karma.

As the  Chinese spent thousand of years observation to establish the theory of  Ichin,  my mare 60 years

knowledge is too little to argue with it. ——– So,  mystery remain.

(You may feel it is a mystery though,  ” Who the person is and his (her) Karma ”   is appeared in the line

on the palm which is already on the new born baby’s hand .  My  Mother might have found from there.)

MOON and FINGER

Used as a metaphor in the Buddhism, the story of a Finger pointing the Moon is too well-known.

This metaphor is about the explanation of—— Not the mean / Finger,  but

the subject / Moon —– Satori (Enlightenment)or  The Dharma (Rules of the Universe)

Even though the Zen Sect has the most critical,  precise analysis of the Buddhism,  still when its came to the

point to elucidate the core of the teachings / Satori,  Zen says  “Furyu-monji” (Not explainable in the words) or

“Kyogai-bechiden” (Not possible to teach)——- hence only the possibility is by mean of Direct Transmission.

———- Yet still,  funnily enough,  when the one did managed to find it out,  it is just ubiquitous,

natural things, hence  it was described such as a  Dog sit.  (Very very Funny  !!! )

——————

I’m not a master,  even not a monk, so I can’t tell you what it is.     As I only got a distant view of it by walking

around,  round round round and as I saw it is there like as the air.

Still, I can show what is the Buddhism not by the words but in the way how to live it,  and how to do it.

(Which is Tried and Tested 🙂 )

After all, this is what the Buddhism is.  And this is why  “It is there as it is not there” and beyond of

thinking or words.

( If it can be explained in words, somebody great Master in the past 2500 years could have done already.

And the teachings of  Zen and Direct Transmission needn’t to be invented )

How to live is the way of the Direct Transmission.

So that you may live the same way,  walk round same place,  then you may find the same ( Dog sit  ?!!—–

—– How Nice  😀  )    So,  I can say  Just Do It.

WHAT is the BUDDHISM

Buddha didn’t find anything new. Didn’t show or prophesied anything fancy.

So that,  he was called as Buddha ( Enlightened  Man ) not a Devine figure or Shaman.

But he was the only person ever pointed out the mechanism and its Rules of the Karma and  Dharma.

Therefore,  only after him,  mankind got the knowledges to deal with this Karma.

Since almost all about the Buddhism is, about this Karma, even the most

fundamental  Noble Principals are still,  four different aspects of the Karma.

——————–

Since Karma operates in its own cause, not for the convenience of the person, it is often creates unexpected

havoc to the person, hence the life looks in trouble.

Also,  Karma works in relation to millions of factors, it keeps changing,  hence nothing stays the same

therefore even the person’s Self couldn’t be defined as a solid entity.

So that, to live the life in such condition,  the one shouldn’t expect too much,  better live in modesty.

(still, it’s open for us to try  to push it to the limit—-even if the one loose, still it is the Providence of the Dharma)

And when the one become able to see the Dharma, it is the Enlightenment which lead to the Nirvana

( I may not have the test report in time—- so, this is my guess.  But historically it was widely believed right. 🙂)

So,  this is the Wisdom to face the Truth of the Life where even the death was integrated into the

one’s Path Way.   It is not an abstract idea or fancy promise but the Actual Way to live along side

the Karma,  not fight against it.       Since the One was created by the Dharma on purpose, live

the life accordingly to its purpose,  is the Way to achieve the best Harmony with Dharma.

Since,  Karma is not necessary a restriction, but it can be the direction pointing the opportunity.

After all,  You to fulfill its purpose is what the Dharma intended and expected to see.

———- only a difficulty  is,  as the biggest cause in one’s Karma is the very person,  so that the person has

to deal with it in person, while observing the Real  Self  /  Who He (She) is, which only the person can find out.

So that,  we have to live with this Karma, by carefully observing it by our sensitive subconscious,

while avoiding the interference from the useless thought, which we can learn from

the Practice as the way of  MUSHIN.   And in the state of MUSHIN, one can see the Dharma.

This is what the Buddhism is.  (  According to Yoshizen ‘s  experience  )

Mushin ( No Mind )

While looking back and analyzing the circumstances of the extremely lucky coincidence

which I described in the post “J, S, Bach”, how I was given the chance to meet the organist,

Prof; Helmut Walcha, I came to the conclusion, the contributory fact seemed to be my very attitude

for that organ pilgrimage.

I did the said pilgrimage absolutely no purpose, or for any personal gain.   So that, other than

few  photos of the organs, there wasn’t any attempt to make such as the sound recordings.

I bumped a Japanese Radio Producer working in NHK (Japanese equivalent of BBC) at a church in Paris

who said ” It shame if you had made sound recordings, it would make good music program” though

such idea was completely out of the scope.   I just wanted to listen the music, that’s all.

Its mean,  there was no Ego,  only the Music of  J,S,Bach existed there.

——————–

This absolute Mushin (since as I have distinguished the difference between Mushin and

the misconceived  idea of so-called Selflessness,  I’ll use this word instead ) was the very distinctive,

peculiar state of the mind then, and it must be the reason why the Dharma rewarded me with good luck,

otherwise such coincidence was too good to be true.

This must be the reason why Zen never ask the followers to believe any story or even the teachings

itself but just achieve the Mushin and live  with absolutely no intentional thought, even a conscious

of ” I’m doing Zen” — only in such Ego less state of the mind and the life, the Dharma prevail itself.

( If I resort that idea of Double Layer,  of cause my upper Layer, Rational Thinking was working, as I had to

find the train to go to particular town and the Church etc,  I needed to deal with all the task though,

the Deeper Layer, fundamental drive ” Why Do I need to Do”  had no Ego,  took as imperative and

automatic.  It was the same situation like in the mountain,  we need to keep walking without question)

——————–

When I did that Pilgrimage, I didn’t have enough understanding of  Zen, let alone any belief of the Dharma.

(I was still a young man.  Only few months after I met Master Kogetsu in the Eihei-ji Temple )

But I can definitely say , there was no purpose or any special intention behind of my journey ——- it

happened almost by chance, and this completely open, Mushin was able to touch with the Dharma and

invited the good coincidence to meet Prof; Walcha.

This is the very Panja Paramita of the Buddhism, hidden mechanism of the Dharma.

East and West ( 2 )

To the people in the East,  the huge scale natural disaster is a part of the  Nature.

Even worse, they are coming every year like Hurricane, Typhoon, Earthquake, Land-slide etc.

So that, there is no possibility to conceive a God whose client is the human fork.

—– As far as the eyes can see,  was  their world.  And see the flood of Yellow River as far as the eyes can see,

must be the act of  Supreme Power above there. ———There is no possibility to imagine

any personally accountable,  human shaped  God.  (Who speaks same language !)

If the God created this world,  what is he doing with this devastation,  not once, not twice, but every year !

What is the purpose of this for ?   What a waste.  Isn’t he got a brain ?

—– (Eastern emvilonment is not very good to the Western God )

——————–

Biblical  Grate Flood which story was originated from a legend of a flood happened after the end

of last Ice Age and the rise of sea level,  (So that, such legend / myth exist all over the world.

The Biblical story is the word to word copy of the Gilgamesh Myth of Mesopotamia ) and the earthquake

which was the back ground of the story, demise of Sodom and Gomorrah, such disaster  were not

repeated again and again so, they could be construed as one-off punishment of the angry  God.

So that this God can be imagined as the one who is working together with human —– a friendly type,

speak same language,  hence he could answer your call.

Because of such convenient design, there is the free choice of   ” If this God wouldn’t give me a divorce,

I’ll go to another”  was possible.  ( Free choice is a Western Idea,  which is the basis of so-called

Democracy too,  and that is why a kind of Democracy in the west doesn’t necessary work in the East.)

(A dubious Leader who happen to be elected by a number game, can not to be respected in the Eastern

psyche, though in reality, a politician who managed to fool the people with false Charisma is in power.

Yet still, originally, the Ruler in East was expected to be able to communicate with Heaven,  that is why

the Emperor  was called as the Son of Heaven  in China and in Japan.)

——————-

Therefore,  the Eastern Belief System goes to the abstractic Order of Universe, the Rules of

the Dharma  or the Heaven ( note, Heaven  is not an idea of Paradise.  The Sky and the invisible Power

above there ) and  not a humanized God figure.  (Though, Pure Land Buddhists got different view )

In the same time, by observing the intricacy and the cohesion in the Nature gave the insight,  that is

the Order is perfect, beyond the human comprehension, ” If the power and the wisdom is such superior,

there is no competition,  we have to just accept and follow”.  This the God in the East.   ( The Hindu

idea of the Deity  and  its depiction, might be the Greek influence which came to India after

the Alexander the Grate. —— this must be an interesting field to study)

——- This Eastern God may not even be the religion, but the awareness, where we stand.

Because,even  a non-believer couldn’t escape from this Order.  When ship sunk under a Hurricane even

a Christian sunk too.  It is the Karma affecting everybody, who took that ship, on that Day.

Harmony in Dharma / Origin of TONAL SYSTEM

When I was small, long before the school, I made the most Fundamental discovery,

“ Fundamental Element of the matter is the ASH “- – – – that’s what I thought.   Though, nobody was

impressed, despite this is the unquestionable FACT.    Look,  To burn anything, Wood, Grass, Coal, Charcoal,

Fish bone, Paper, Cotton, Woolly things —— what ever they are, all burn to the ASH.

And even burn  ASH  further,  still it  remains as the ASH. —— This is the Truth, isn’t it ?

But I only got the words ” Silly boy ”  without any explanation.

(World is twisted,  they are blind and rotten ! ! !   😦  )

——————–

Another question which captured me ——in fact many years, was “Why all the music were composed

in the same Do, Re, Mi, Fa  scale, and can be played on the same simple instrument ? ? ?”

On that time, one of my pass time was to listen the radio VOA ( Voice of America Far-East Netwok/

American propaganda, aiming to the communist Russia and China ) and listening latest American

Hit-Chart.  And I was writing down the short passage of each tune to music score.

( Regardless,  whether the tune is A or C—– the matter is just relative scale of the note )

( And this interest led me start to listen many ethnic, such as Indian Music — It was the time of Ravi Shankar)

——————–

German Sociologist  Max Weber wrote a book about the evolution of the music scale,

from  Natural Tonal Scale to Equi-distant Tonal Scale ——– etc, kept my question alive and so on.

Many years later, when I needed to design electronic tone generator,  and while watching the frequency

table of music tones, such as  A=440 Hz,  E=660 Hz  etc—— I realized, all the tones in the music scale

are having 1:1.5 ratio, which can create Pentatonic easily. ( This is why Pentatonic is so common in

any folk cultures in the world )

1 :1.5 ratio mean, if you shorten the length of the String  ( if it was C / Do ) to 2/3rd,

the tone become 1.5 times higher to the 5th (E / So) and so on.

(Press a string and play, if the shorter side sound octave higher than the other side, it’s the 2/3rd point)

In short, Do (524 Hz)—> So (786 Hz)—> Re (1179/ Octave high of  589 Hz)—> Ra (880/ 440 Hz)

—> Mi (660 Hz) ( Save, few Hz deviation,  which wouldn’t  make audible differences)

Here all the Pentatonic Notes of  Do, Re, Mi, So, Ra  were created. ! ! !

——–Much more interesting Phenomena is, those tones are not human invention.

They are naturally existing.

All the materials vibrates.  (If you hit, they makes a sound, except shock absorbing soft material)

They vibrate not only in its fundamental frequency, but also all the harmonic frequencies of x2, x3, x4, x5 etc.

(Though even number of the harmonics are in the Octave, and its sound is indistinguishable.)

So that, those odd numbered harmonics are   524 Hz (C / Do) x3 /2 = 784 (G / So),     x 5 / 4 = 654 (E / Mi),

x7 / 8 = 457 (A / Ra),    x9 / 8 = 588 (D / Re) —-> Do, Re, Mi, So, Ra —– Pentatonic in the Nature. ! ! !

This is the reason why the  Dominant Harmony is [ Do, Mi, So ],  as they are naturally there, and

sounding in perfect Harmony.

——————–

The Nature having such amazing structure,  Isn’t this the beauty of the Dharma and the Rules within ?

——–When I realized this, I thought ” Eureka ” then noticed, this is what Pythagoras found 3000 years ago.

My brain was 3000 years slow.

—

Confidence to be here

Living as a Buddhist many years, what I found something peculiar was its

paradoxical psyche, the co-existence of the humbleness and the absolute

confidence.

If the cosmic creation was the creation of all the matters, we have to see,

ultimately it created myself as well, as I am the compound of those matters

which are ruled by all level of physics.

Buddha called those rules and entwined relations as Karma and the Dharma.

————

Whether it was by intention or natural consequence, I was created here and

others too.  Therefore, there is no superiority between me and any other

creatures.

————

But in the same time, there must be a certain will or reason or condition in

physics or bio-chemistry to create me as I am.

Whether myself here, is a solid existence or just a superficial phenomenon,

I have to see the peculiarity of me as I am.

This peculiarity includes my charactor and my role in the life as well.

——- to use a metaphor,  Me to exist here and to perform my role,

might be expected and designed by the Dharma, unless otherwise

Dharma must have created somebody else

In other words, there was a needs or rationale of me to exist here and

me to fulfill my expected duty in my life.

This is the ultimate confidence of the Buddhists, which you can have

the same too, as you are.

( This is the reason why the Buddhism asking the people to have

self-awareness, and find one’s own peculiarity and the role to play.)

No Words ?

On the beginning there was no ( written ) words.

After the death of Buddha, this situation continued 200 years.

Its mean the Buddhism continued without having solid dogma or

unified teachings.

Even in the Buddha’s time there were several types of Buddhists exist,

such as Shomon (who is receiving the teaching and following it) and

Dokkaku (practicing and learning by themselves and attain enlightenment).

Dokkaku——–?

How was it possible when there was no book, no instruction manual and

without attending teaching sessions, yet attain the enlightenment ?

Because, in the Buddhism, there is no monopolized secret or exotic

formula to study.

No mysticism, no mumbo jumbo.

Buddha’s teaching was based on his observation of facts and the common

sense which can be understood even by a learning difficulty person.

——- Buddha never demonstrated any miracle as he was not magician or

Devinne figure, and died as mortal with food poisoning of a fish.

( On the death bed, he never said to the disciples  ” I’ll come back ” kind of

the words as he knew and taught that the death is the final end.

What Buddha taught was ( in metaphor ) ” There is a gold mine. Go and

find it.  Where ?  its in you ”

Anyone can find the gold as everybody has, provided if the one keeps

searching it.

So that there is no wonder, even Dokkaku can.  Hence DIY ZEN here.

Why Practice ?

Once Master Dogen wrote ” If we were born with the Dharma, why all the

Holy Masters in the history needed to practice hard to attain Enlightenment ?”

——-well, he was young then.

Has been born with Dharma, but to able to see it, is the different matter.

We still need to practice to eliminate all sorts of destructive delusions and

thoughts, in order  to see invisible Dharma.

——-in here, me to use the word ” see ” was a metaphor.

We never able to see the Dharma itself. Like the gravity, we see

an apple falling but not the gravity itself. What we can see is only in

its effect, as a revelation.

So far, what I found other than intricacy of the existences but something

peculiar is, when something completely out of blue, with a sheer coincidence,

yet still it could affect one’s life has happened, I believe it is an

intervention of the Dharma.

——– If you reading this just by chance, you to encounter this, could be

the intervention of the Dharma, by which you might have crucial study

of the Buddhism by seeing the Truth, otherwise a sample of sheer Misunderstanding.

( which ever the case you may find)

———————

Me to start this blog site was a pure coincidence.

I didn’t have such intention at all.

On the beginning, I met a man working for BBC at an art exhibition , who

suggested me to see a Buddhist blog site which I did..

And, in order to put my comment, I needed to register to the WordPress.

By doing so just lightheartedly, my blog site was created in the same time.

( I don’t have web-site to publicize, and never joined Facebook, Myspace

kind of SNS, even though I was a well known photographer before)

Once it was created, I have to take care of it in my best.

What ever happened or who ever comes, I have to deal with it as a duty

without any thought, since it was not my plan, but it was given.

As I don’t think about too much to start, neither think about its

consequence. Since it was given by the Dharma, it must be a

part of my fate.

So that, if its turned out to be good, Congratulation, if not, cry.

( But so far I only having had very interesting kind of life, without getting

any ill / I still don’t have GP even after 34 years in England. —–whether

it was thanks to the Buddhism or just lucky, I don’t know, neither care )

—— In this aspect, Buddhist is a fatalist (or at least I am )

Karma?

Buddha’s teaching “Everything in life and the life itself is the continuous flow of all sorts of occurrences which

occurs in relation to other existences and in relation to everything in the past, present and future,

therefore nothing can be defined as a solid one existence, since it is constantly changing.

Then the death will halt this constant flow of Karma, therefore, it is the Nirvana”

(This teaching was utterly contrary to the Veda’s foundation, the (imaginary) existence of the Atman

and its perpetuity is the basis of their idea of the re-incarnation.)

Though, the early Buddhist who couldn’t capture the Buddha’s teaching as its entirety, started fuss about

the superficial details “Wait a moment, we have to elucidate the meanings of what the Buddha taught”

and tried to define each notion, word by word ofwhich the written word itself could have been already

mislaid or misinterpreted over hundreds of years.

The result was the huge mountain of Abidharmakosa scripts.

Still, the Buddhism survived more or less in its original form, thanks to the direct transmission.