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.

—— /\—— 🙂

WOMAN womam !

I’ve encountered a woman at somebodies’ birthday party  who questioned me, why the Buddhism

discriminate the women and keep them in the lower lank in the hierarchies.

It’s an awkward question.

My explanations  ” There was no such thing in the time of Buddha, as there was no organized system of

ranking his followers,  and the seniority who has learned longer and knows deeper was obvious,

regardless the gender ” —— Though, this woman who said to be practicing  ” – – – something, never

heard of kind of meditation” was so tenacious,  saying  “Even a woman who achieved the high enough

level of enlightenment,  still been recognized lower than the male and couldn’t be ordained to the same

rank as the male counter part etc etc. ”

As the matter of fact,  I rather liked to just shut my mouth and ignored the question though, this woman

just keep repeating the question and push and push,  and unlike the Great Buddha,  my silence didn’t

hit the world like a thunder.  ( Ha Ha Ha  😀  )

——————–

The matter was too obvious,  It is not my business.  And I don’t think it is her business neither.

Somewhere some sect administrate the way of their organization in their own rules,

it is their problem. (if any at all )  If anyone doesn’t like it,  just go to another sect.

Obviously this woman is arguing the matter which is not what she is facing herself,  in other words,

she is arguing the matter which is only in her knowledges, the thinkings.    And talking an injustice of

discrimination in social recognition of the one’s achievement in her assumption. Not in her reality.

———- Unfortunately,  the starting point of this woman was hopelessly wrong.

Buddhism is not a cooperate system to organize the people in bureaucratic hierarchies,  therefore

expecting to receive high-ranking etc is not the Buddhism,  but the one’s ego and the greed.

Invested the money to the speculation of the land, but as the bubble collapsed and couldn’t get the profit.

Though,  before complain the lost profit,  think own greed  expected to grub the money with dubious scheme.

———- I really wonder,  what sort of Buddhism this woman was imagined of.   Instead to find the peace,

she  created a discord in her mind,  which is not even  her business and only exist in her knowledge.

The one’s enlightenment is not given by the organization of sect,  but gained by the person oneself.

Attending the sect’s talking shop, which chair to sit is not the matter at all.    The person,  just sit on

the floor  comfortably,  without any dithering,  is in fact sitting closest to the enlightenment.

And I’m sure,  when the founder of  THAT  sect had encountered  a woman of this kind,  who was just filled

with ego,  still insisting  ” I’ve achieved and gained the understanding of Buddhism”

the founder must be amazed and fed up to argue with her.

After so many years of study and the practice and achieved to gain so much so ” Knowledges” still able to

maintain so much so ego and the greed,

the founder must come  to the conclusion ” They are the hopeless”  ( I guess )

So, after ” The historical woman’s right fighter ” the sect changed their rules, it was the unfortunate history

in a corner of the Buddhism sphere.

In the Buddhism Paradox, the Dharma prevails to the one who achieved the perfection without

asking the return. ( in other word, in  Mushin —– or so-called Selflessness )

LIFE’s DOMAIN

This is my  Life and its  Domain.

This piece of cloth was given by a monk registering the visitors in the  Eihei-Ji  Temple,  when  I  notified as

I was leaving the Temple.

While handing this, he told me, “ Think, your life is in here, and keep remember it  all of your life ”

This foot square ( 33 x 36 cm ) space is the space, a man occupy all through the life until the moment

when he needs a bit more to lie down to die (hopefully for a Nirvana )

——— And this cloth was meant to be used to eat on it.  (Though, when I needed to washed it some time later,

I found the color was fading —- originally it was dark brown —- I realized even this one is not permanent and

only for a spiritual teaching,  not for actual use.)    Since then, I just placed it in the kitchen where ever I moved.

So,  technically  this cloth has been shadowing and watching my life for the past 36 years, and

kept reminding  me,  who I am and the place where I can be. ( in its one foot square )

——————–

The Spoon on the cloth is shadowing me even longer than that.

I made this fork-spoon, out of ordinary table-spoon by cutting the teeth in it when I was in the first year of my

High-School.   In a tradition among the Japanese mountain climbers,  the eating utensils / spoon, fork  kind

were called ” Buki ” ( weapon )—– the essential tool to fight through the battle field of survival.

The larger the Buki,  we can eat quicker and  more.  Without energy in the stomach we can’t climb or walk.

So that I made the most versatile and efficient one for myself. ( It took whole one night  to make)

And I’m eating all the meal  nearly 50 years with this.  If I was invited someone’s dinner party, I go with this.

This spoon signify my life,  my living existence.——- Literally I’m living on it.

——————–

Pretending not eat a lot is laughable.  How anyone can survive with empty stomach.

And once the food staffs were cooked, while sacrificing the life of rice and vegetables etc,  not

waste even a single grain of rice, is imperative. ( It was the Zen family’s constitution )

So,  this is the foundation of my Life.

___/\___

—

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 ?

12 + 1 —– JURY ?

Since latest research exposed a fundamental flaw in the Jury System which is only 30% of the

Jury Members understood the meaning of the Judge’s direction in the Summing-up speech, it became a

hot talking piece in the media.

One side saying ” This is an ancient long-established fundamental human light ” and others

” The facts are, now the cases are too complexed and the Law dealing with them are also too complicated

which is beyond the capability of an ordinary people on the street to understand.”

——————–

In fact, this is the epitome of the society today which is overwhelmed and dysfunctioned by the

contradicting ideas. ( Strangely, either people doesn’t understand the situation or pretending not to see it )

One side criticizing any social policy before 60th ” Such a brutal draconian measure ” but in the same time

” Ancient Tradition is important “. ( Human right didn’t exist before 60th, Political Correctness was born 90th )

Now,  the intellectually manufactured  Notion / Idea  started to show the clack.  We need to go back to

the Commonsense / the Judgement by the subconscious human sensibility.

——————–

When the origin of Jury system was started in the primitive hunter gatherer society, everything were

discussed and judged by all the members of the group.  As everybody having the life almost identical

to each other,  which hadn’t been changed hundreds of years.     Therefore there was no problem to assess

and  judge somebody’s crime by the ” Fellow Citizens ” as everybody know the situation and even the inside

psyche of the culprit.  But such social integrity / community has gone long since.

———- So, in this stone age,  do you have even slightest idea,  why the man next door listening

that old tune in his iPod,  what sort of social up-bringing or personal history behind of that music ?

We,  in this society share very little part of the life with any other people. How we can judge others ?

——————–

With desperate attempt to regain the community feeling,  some people resorted with social networking —–

though it will make the situation even worse, as each person got different Karma, try to follow them makes you

exhausted.  Don’t scratch somebody’s back while expecting to have your back scratched back.  Be contented.

Better live  with  Dharma. Your peace is inside of you.–—- and in the Grate Nature )

Unless we gain at least own integrity and find the firm stance in the field of the Darma, we would be alienated

and lost in the entangled notion of  buzz word, and the mountain of  techno product.

Who, you ???

Some of the reader may have noticed, there are funny contradictions among my posts.

Somewhere says ” We are just passive.  Nothing was credited to ourself ” —– in the other hand,

” We can have absolute confidence and able to create anything “_ _ _ _ _ ? ? ?

” The Notion of Self is only an imaginary  idea and no such concrete existence there “—– in the same time,

” You are nobody else of you in the mirror ”

——-All of them are absolutely true at the same time.

Reality lies between two,  or they exist contradictively together as this is the very Buddhism.

( This is why you  often see  Zen expression such as “Maximum is Minimum”)

You have to see this Paradox in Reality by your eyes.    (Not by thinking)

( See it, is Feel it.  Feel in Deeper Layer / Subconscious Limbic System / Basis of our existence)

——————–

On purpose I use poor metaphor,   ( So, it is easy to visualize this )

Think, You are a small bureaucrat called  Mr. A  in a corner of Empire.

You never seen Emperor nor have any idea how whole system of the Empire works but know the Rules

and duties you are assigned to do and not to do.

You carry out your task utmost diligence and in your best. ( otherwise you will be beheaded   😀 )

As long as it is in your jurisdiction you have the absolute authority and discretion. (You are the Rules)

———- Still, non of the rules or protocols were your invention, nor any of the applicant came to

your desk are your choice.  You exist just as passive. (Rules are there, not you)

Being as an officer you do your task almost automatic routine and after many years in the same position,

you are the expert to deal with such issues but as an officer you can’t mix your emotion to the business.

It got to be detached from the subjective view. (Only the eyes of Rules exist)

You must be very proud of your role in the Municipal office and have perfect confidence of your life as

a part of the Empire.  (Since you are the Rules, you are the Empire)

Everybody knows you and your name Mr.A. —— (so far, so good)- – – – – Then, Who is Mr.A ?

Is it a man happen to be sitting in that chair ?

Or the body which attached to a face called Mr.A ?

Mr.A is absolutely nobody else of Mr.A ——– Everybody knows it, and you yourself know it, though,

yet still   Who You are ?  ( Until, you question this, there was no such issue ever existed )

( You can live happily without bumped into this question,  and able to live  without knowing it at all )

Once “Who are you” / Self  was questioned, the stance of one’s confidence became uncertain.

Because of this is the most puzzling question, many people go into very deep, still nobody ever found

the answer.—— So, Buddha gave very pragmatic answer.

” Don’t bother, don’t waste the time, no such things there like what Vada said  (Artman) ”

You to live peaceful life is what Buddha wished,  not you end up in a word game.  (Word game push

the person even further away from the state of  Mushin)

——————–

You are the Mr.A and the name of Emperor was the Dharma.

( Now you might got the idea What is Reality lies between,  meant )

Direct Transmission at work

Something amazed me is, soon after I put the words

” Spread your hands wide, embrace the world”  This is the Dharma. (at [ Selfless —What ?] )

I started to receive Emails which saying  ” This is the best / most impressive expression you ever made

in your blog “——— m m m.  (what about another 50 odd posts ? ——Ha Ha Ha, I should be humble )

I know many of my  friends are quietly reading my blog without putting comment publicly still

advising me to correct my pigeon English.

Yet I didn’t know they are reading my blog in such timing,  soon after I have put it up.

——————–

What impressed me even more is, the response from those readers.

The expression  ” Spread your hands—”  was the  Zen Direct Transmission.

( It is only the Action.  No Notion contained there.  Yet, it conveys direct Message to strike subconscious)

If you read that  paragraph in the post, you may find,  I was rather tired to write in the words, as I was

the one kept saying ” Stop talking, stop thinking, just do it —-” , so I changed the tact at that moment.

———- And it worked straight.

Non of those friends are practicing Buddhist,  and if they know anything about the Zen, it may only learned

from my blog,  yet still they grasped the meaning of the Dharma straight.

Yes,  Direct  Transmission does  work. —– This is the living sample.

——————–

Learning from the suggestion ” Detached from Emotion “, ” Apathetic ” etc,  some  people could  reach to

the deep understanding.——-By this Detachment, it exposes the soft tissue of  Subconscious.

Let the most sensitive sensory to work, (Zen Master called this Shin-gan / Eyes of Heart) ——and able to see

the meaning behind.  Like them, even non  Zenist could  able to notice the significance of that expression 

spread the hands, and  able to respond to it at once.  This is the Zen.

By the Apathetic eyes and the mind,  they could open their deepest Pathos.  ( Paradox again )

This is the Buddhism and  Zen at work.

Most crucial Paradox

” You can’t run as long as you got legs “

This is THE most crucial Paradox in the Buddhism.

” As long as you have an intention to attain  Selflessness or  Enlightenment,

you can’t get it until you loose its intention.”

This sound almost like ” You can’t run as long as you got your legs ”  isn’t it.  How funny ! ! !

But this is true, you can’t run as long as you got legs. Ha Ha Ha   😀

——————–

Why this is true is, its true in the Buddhist’s context.  In the Buddhist’s context, when they says

anything about ” is there or not there ” it is not Physical existence of the object,

but  subjective conscious of its object.

So, as long as you are conscious of the legs or noticing its existence, in another word,

if you are thinking of it——– you can’t run (in its full potentials )

So, the Buddhist says, as long as you are conscious of your Self, and conscious about

your life, you can’t achieve its maximum potential.  Neither you get your Enlightenment.

( They are quite harsh aren’t they.   😀  )

In fact, there is an answer, leave the business to your subconscious.

Selflessness demonstated

” This is the Demonstration you can discover the Selflessness On The Spot “

In this post I’m going to demonstrate what is the Selflessness and

what is the Meditation should be in the simplest and clearest term.

—— m m m ?      Interested ?

Until here, to read those lines, did you noticed, your eyes has been reading this ?

I don’t think so.

Unless you got poor eye sight and struggling to read the screen, your eyes is

out of your scope, out of your mind. ————-(So, the Mantra says, Its exist as not exist)

When we read, we just read without noticing the existence of the eyes, let alone

a knowledge how visual signal running and processed in the brain etc etc.

——————-

Until you have read and get the meaning of what I am talking about,

your eyes is just taking the pattern of letters.  You are not thinking.

Neither you are noticing who is reading this.

———-As I asked you and you were alerted, then you start

to think ” I AM reading this, who else ”

(so there was a Zen Mondo ” Who was reading this, minute ago ? “)

——————–

Then, try reading a line of words alphabet by alphabet.

In this input your brain has to work harder to make sense of the word, what was written here.

As you try to think and process the word, it takes much longer time.

Here, you must be convinced, the automatic process of the Reading Routine is much quicker.

——————–

Now you must be convinced, how most of our activity was carried

out without we are noticing it. We are doing it unconsciously,

and because of the teachings of Buddhism is based on this subconscious activities,

the argument of ” Who did this without my conscious ” is

persistent all through the history. (And some are doing even today  😀 )

——————–

When you read those first few lines, YOU were just reading, nothing else,

otherwise you couldn’t concentrate to read—— its mean you were in the

Mindfull state.

As you been doing this without even noticing that the eyes are reading NOR

having the conscious of  ” I AM reading “.  This is the Selfless state.

———-Do you think is this too simplified and lost the glory of Holy Grail ?

Don’t over glorify.   It is your arrogance and the delusions.  Truth is always simple.

——————–

To apply this condition to the sitting, as sitting is supposed to be just sitting nothing else,

(in Theory  :-)), it must be the best practice to practice not thinking

or selflessness——– so the ancient Guru thought.

But we are here in such noisy destruction full world, it is very hard

to vacate the brain.  Even worse, we are accustomed to sit to think.

——– So, if you are struggling to attain selfless meditation, don’t worry, relax, sit on

a sofa, forget the Notion of meditation and play a non-vocal  slow music to just fill the atmosphere.

Keep you eyes open and fix it on something, insignificant object on front of you.

(As the visual signal of insignificant object stays the same, the brain start to ignore the signal all together)

But as your eyes has been fixed to the object, brain couldn’t visualize anything else, and soon

it become empty. (but don’t fallen asleep  😀 ) ——But ! getting sleepy is not necessary bad, it is

the sign of your brain found nothing to do, its mean its empty ——though, if you fallen asleep,

you lose the opportunity to see the Dharma of which you may only able to see it in this state.

It is the Paradoxical state, almost sleep but fully awake, without even knowing you are awake.

This is the reason why many of the primitive religion (?) resorted with hallucinogenic drug.

Any how, have the emptied brain  is more important than the posture.

——–Don’t torture your legs. It’s no good to your body which was given by the Dharma.

If you happen to live near the sea or river, go there and absorbed by

the atmosphere and the sound of water which is persistent but not

in the exact pattern. (So, the Brain wouldn’t bother to decipher the meaning—–its just the noise)

Or the woods is also good to be there in the same effect.

The Nature is where we came from.  So, just relax.

——————–

Don’t struggle to attain something in the Buddhism. Intention itself is bad.

Don’t worry , there is nothing there.   So that you don’t need to even

boast that you are The Buddhist, just be it.  Never think you are anything special.

If you are born to go to the Hell, go to the Hell.

Once you accept this, you don’t need to worry anymore while you are still alive.

The matters in the Buddhism is to live now in peace and with confidence.

So that, struggle to find something in the Buddhism is the silliest thing.

Since, as long as you  want to do intentionally, its mean you are THINKING.

When you sit, without noticing even you are sitting, this is THE sitting without thought.

Forget Buddhism, forget Enlightenment, forget the notion of Meditation. Just sit.

——– Use the words from Michael  ” Let it go ”

When you let it go, you will get whole of your life.(strangely ! )

This is the Paradox in the Buddhism.

Dog Shit

After years of practice, when Zen Master found what is the Zen,

—– as it was simply the detached mind, hence selflessness (Mushin ) and

nothing but ” Just Do It ” with no mysterious secret, ALL of them

described  What is Zen  with rather insulting words, such as ” Its a dog shit”

even  ” Toilet Paper ” (well, equivalent of it — real expression  Shiketsu-kan

is not printable ).

They must felt almost the annoyance ” What all those years’ practice for ? ”

——- This is the beauty and the paradox, even an irony of the Buddhism,

as its says ” Everybody has the Dharma with in ”

—— You see ?  I told you !

This is true, and it is so easy as there is no complication. —– Though,

in real life,simplest thing is hardest to understand, especially to the people

who try to understand.

( Hidden secret here is, to attain selflessness, one has to Re-Program

one’s subconscious through repeated practice, not by thinking, because

higher level of the brain activity has less effect to the subconsciousness )

——————

This is the reason, why people see the Buddhism not as a Religion,

or even as a  Philosophy.

There is no Mambo-Jumbo to believe or worship, hence it is not a Religion.

And no systematic structure of the understanding of the Dharma, but

simply just accept it as it is, hence it is not Philosophy.

——–But on the end, Buddha’s teachings freed the people from their

deluded idea  such as a fear to reborn as a dog , and made them to live

their life with firm confidence and able to live quite creatively.

Isn’t this, what Buddha intended with his teaching ?