Nov’ Moon

It seems, in any society star-gazer was accepted, a bit funny but a kind of romantic still, no harm to the other people.  But, the moon watcher was categorized as a loony and not necessary welcomed by the people.  I don’t think I’m a moon watcher, neither be a loony, so far as it was self-declared.  

I don’t necessary want to see the moon but time to time it comes to the window regardless.  In fact, the photo left took a while for me to realize, that it was a moon (2 days before the New moon. = on 17 Oct’ 2017) and the right photo was taken 1st Nov’. —– the reason why it’s having shadow was, the moon was behind the tree. —– In such condition, did I still need to take picture ?    Ain’t I obsessed ? —– I didn’t feel I got ANY obligation to do so though, I just did it again.  😀     It was very simple, the moon was there. (Strange things was, the camera, Sony A7R with 500 mm mirror lens was on a monopod. —– ISO 3200, 1/1000 sec F8)

(To tell you the truth, there was a serious danger of this post having yet more photo of the full moon which was briefly appeared next night —– though it disappeared behind the cloud soon.)  Sigh !   😀

Your nightmare has come.   It’s a full moon taken on the 4th Nov’, but left photo was taken by Canon EF 70~200 mm at 200 mm, F2.8 on Sony A7R (F2.8, 1/1000 sec)  and the right photo was by Canon 5D MkIII (F8, 1/500 sec) Both hand held. —– They showed the situation quite well, using the same lens even fully open F2.8, mirrorless A7R can make sharper image. 

—– The story behind was, when I heard bang bang noise, I realized that it was the Firework night.  As I saw a big one on the window, I took the camera out with 200 mm Zoom on though, that big one seemed to be the last one. = How shame !  Then, I found the Full moon !  Without bothering to get 500 mm out, I took the moon with 200 mm lens — and I’ve tested the same lens on A7R too.  Very very funny.

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Cause and Effect

Generally the eastern people tend to take the fatalistic view toward the occurrences on the life.  So the words Cause and the Effect having more fatalistic meaning to them.   Even if it looks just a rational consequence, easterner take it in fatalistic.   So that when a rock musician died with over dose of narcotic or drink drive, people feel less sympathetic and think it is natural and suits to the person.

What I found the reason of this WAS, unlike the Disney designed character (which was modelled Gilgamesh Myth) of the Western God which decision is not absolute but negotiable, —– but the Ether like Eastern God (? or Heaven itself) spread everywhere, penetrate everywhere IS inescapable, its mean if anybody made wrong, its Effect = punishment is must and Fatal. —– This IS what easterner feel their absolute God and the inescapable Fate. = So, they become a Fatalist. 

(In contrast, you need play hard to take attention of  the Western God who is busy over-worked to take whole population single-handed. = what a poor man !   😀 —– When Jesuit missionary came to Japan, Japanese asked “If your God is such almighty, why he can’t speak Japanese ?” = Hence, they failed to colonialize Japan.  Not only that, Dutch ( = Protestant who only think about a business) took a lots of Japanese girls to the west and sold as a slave = So, they became a hate figure.  Missionary took a free ride on those ships. = too bad for telling a God’s Blessing. = Who could trust such God !)

BBC seems to have the special anniversary programs to tribute to the late cellist, Jacqueline du-Pre who died 30 years ago.   Too early death to such talented musician seems to be so unfair. ( = exact opposite to a junky rocker. )    Its mean, we are expecting a kind of bias towards what happens on our life.  Not a simple cause and its effect.  Sometime get away without receiving any consequence or expect others to get much heavier retribution.  (That’s what we call self-centered Ego ! )  You may feel strange though, I may not hold the position to talk about this subject in the neutral stance. 

A while ago, I found a blog telling the man encountered severe storm in the mountain from first day till the end.  (By its route, they couldn’t have any other choice but to go ahead even under such condition —– It must be his fate, why he went to the mountain in such timing.)   I thought, A,Ha ! the man is receiving the “Good treatment after what he has done”—- Suddenly the story goes back 50 years !  This man did quite nasty things in the mountain, intended to make me collapse though I had the strongest physics among the members (in comparison to a student amateur climber, I was the almost professional mountain keeper as a keeper of the shelter = carrying up, up to 200 kg of food staff every week on the back etc)  So, I just carried on walking —– in the evening, the man got Snow-blind and became camp bound without able to open the eyes with severe pain for the rest of the week. 

Literally on the other hand, I got a so-called mystic cross in my palm = I was born to be psychic and having the protection.  —– (I fallen twice on the rock without any injury.  I broke two skis but no injury either.  I don’t get ill nor need to take any medicine. Eat anything yet no alcohol or drag, no smoking, no woman — ) Somebody said I’m out of the Karma or even out of Cause and the Effect.  —– (And the other made a joke, if there is no self, even the Effect couldn’t find where to go ! —– Good joke ! )   😀 

* * * * *

 Then gave a thought, —– this joke might have some truth.   If you ARE clinging “You” = the SELF, you are quite conscious what you did and aware, there must be a certain reaction, Effect coming back.  But, if you ARE not a typical Greedy EGO person, naturally, your action = Cause may not be a kind of greedy act, nor forcing your dominance to others = therefore the reaction, the Effect can not be such hard, and if you were not such self-conscious Me Me Me person, you may not even noticed that Effect was aimed to you.  Being Selfless, you can have much quiet, peaceful life indeed ! = It’s not a joke.  😀  —– So, I might be ignoring many things while thinking  “It’s nothing to do with me” = I think, this kind of person would get no ill. 

In contrast, a person you might know, who is having a kind of ill-health and keep complaining about him (or her) self of the health, the daily feelings and conditions and so on —– it’s really questionable, was that his own ill-health making him thinking and talking, OR his mind, too much conscious and worrying about, making him ill-health ? —– Which IS Causing it ? ? ?

Look, a lots of things in the life were in fact, own making.   It was not because of the Fate, but to born to be the person who makes it WAS the Fate.   As you ARE causing its Fate, you can change.  It’s so simple, just stop, don’t cause it.

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Buddha Anime by Osamu Tezuka

In the mountain of Youtube viz, I don’t know how I came to this anime film.  Any how, I watched this viz while skipping a part to part.  Why I did skip was that I knew somewhat about Buddha’s story therefore I could see whether the part was an add-on or other legend or fantasy etc —– in fact, the viz was almost nothing to do with real Gautama Buddha but a story of a boy called Chabla and the military conflict between the Magadha and the neighboring Kosala kingdom. 

The young Gautama was portrayed as a boy troubled with the reality of the life, the sufferings to have an illness, getting old and to die. (not much else, despite the viz spent almost all to a matter of social discrimination = misery to born as a slave )

The author Osamu Tezuka was in fact a PhD in Bio-physics alongside to be the legendary comics writer.  He had a profound knowledges toward the ocultic practices and the belief such as the Boodo etc, so to the Buddhism stories, fantasies.  Yet still something even disturbing me was that the amazing extent of the rack of the understanding toward the Gautama’s mind. —– how he started to cast a doubt to his own position and decided to leave.  Tezuka could have given a much deeper observation toward the Brahmanism dominant society = social cast, idea of the fate = how the man will born and live = not just a superficial phenomena of sufferings but the deeper, fundamental cause determining the human life. 

So, what I found was = its a waste of the time. = Don’t bother with this anime.  😀   (Ask Dalai Lama, how to convert the animals to the Buddhists or which Mantra could make a bird to follow a Holly man even if non of Mantra could stop the killing of Kosala soldiers. —– Since the mother Maya bore the Prince (Gautama) who would become the King of the World, at least the Magada should become a peaceful country away from the royals killing each other.  = Too many nonsense.  —– The most bizarre nonsense was a story, a rabbit offer himself as a grilled meat to a Holly man by threw himself into a fire. = To show an ultimate self-sacrifice ? ‰ ! ‰ ? ! = What a laugh.   😀 )    In stead, you may find the other viz called Hi-no-Tori 火の鳥 more interesting.  They ARE worth spend the days to watch.  The great epics continued on and on with the idea of reincarnation = its mean, Tezuka was thinking the Buddhism mixed-up with Hinduism and he lived in a fantasy world. ( = after all, that was what the children’s cartoon comics IS ! —- I don’t think you expect to learn anything serious from a cartoon comics.  😀 )

Against the Hindu, Vedic idea of the reincarnation, endless chain of the sufferings, Lord Buddha found the principle of the Cause and Effect = Body was the Cause and the Mind / Self was the Effect —– When a body cease, the Mind / Self will cease too. = Nothing to be reborn !    This was the idea only taught by Lord Buddha.  There were hundreds of Hindu, Vedic Guru who was saying the reincarnation but the teachings of Lord Buddha was the revolutionary.    It was really the liberation from a false belief of endless sufferings.  (You may believe that you will reborn — to a beast, BUT that IS all false belief.  = When your SELF is not existing, WHO will reborn ?)   This was the Truth taught by Lord Buddha.

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Moth

(It seemed, those photos were the color comparison sample of the lenses.  Left was taken by a current Canon EF macro but the right was taken by a lens from a Kodak Instamatic mounted on an aluminium can in reverse direction. — See next photos)

The old lens for a film may be adjusted to the color compensation on the print making then.

Monstrous home-made lens is still working as a macro lens though, not very easy to use (Very dark with x6 magnification = you don’t know where you are watching)  —– Yet still, think the cost = don’t ask too much.   😀 

The small moth parched on a washing-up sponge must be a survivor (or, could she be the one waiting next spring ? — I’m not sure)

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根性悪い？

最近、このブログの『ヨシ禅縁起』なる古いポストに加筆をしたのだが、それを目ざとく見付けた人が「お宅本当に根性悪いなァ、5０年も前の話に末だ恨みを抱ている訳？」と言って来た。　　実を言うと5０年に渡りこだわっているのでは無く,　ふとその男が山で初日から下山するまで徹底して暴風雨に痛めつけられたという話をNetに書いていたのを見て　因果応報という言葉を思出したからに外ならない。　で、この場合、何が「因」なのかを辿ると昔の山岳部時代のしごきのエピソードに戻るという訳だ。　この男の場合岩場で滑落して死んでいても不思議は無かったのだが、死体を運んで長い雪道を歩かされてはこちらが迷惑。－－－まァ雪盲あたりが妥当な応報だったのだろう。　　　

「まるで仏教者らしからぬ言葉ですね」と言うので「仏教が底無しの慈悲などを語っていると思っていたらひどい誤解で、死ぬ程の苦行も経験した　

釈尊自身、人を殺しかねない程の厳しさで教えを施していたのです。　つまりそれは甘い慈悲などと言うものではなく、本人自身で答を見つける為の、鍵を与えるものだったのです。　しかも三回教えても見込無しとなったら、それまでとつっ放されていたのです。　慈悲とか極樂を語っていたら、それは

釈尊の教えではありません。教えの核心は何が真実か、であったのです」　つまる所誰もが己れの持って生れた運命を生きて行かねばならない訳で、その男が「唯物論はその状況での自由撰択を取るだけで、運命などと言う考えはナンセンス」と言うのは自由だが、死にそこなう程の暴風雨は現実に有無なくやってくる。　で、何故かそう言う時に山に出掛ける人が居ると言う遇然のフシギ ？？？    これを運命とか宿命と呼ぶのですが本人、自覚していないから避ける事もできない。ーーー 因果応報の不思議な所はそれがー見何の関係も脈絡も無い所に出る事で、当事者は単なる事故と思っていても, 改めて考えてみると自分の血筋は根絶やしになっていたと言うような調子で、それがいかなるメカニズムで機能しているのか、まるで不可解ながら何故かそうなる　ーーー　こうした超常現象がマインドパワー（念力、怨念）で働いていると言う説も有りますが、その割に丑の刻参りに効果が無いというのも周知の事実。　

つまり応報とは人間の思念ではなく　“天”が決裁して断罪するものなのです。　そこには普遍かつ永久不変、客観的に成立している善悪の絶対的基準が在り、イデオロギーや聖書と言ったものの解釈やイケニエの量で適当に変る西欧流の“正義”とは完璧に異った、絶対的な倫理空間が形成されています。　それが東洋で天とか神と呼ばれているもので、人々が現象の背後に直感している力（パワー）に外なりません。　　　

オーム教とかいうグループはこうした天の庇護どころか、その力の知識経験も無しに只、ヒンズー教グルの噂話を聞いてそのマネをしていただけだったのです。（２５００年前、しばらく苦行僧のグループに加った

釈尊はそうした苦行が何の足しにもならない事に気付き独自の教えを始めた）　当然のことながらインチキなオームでは天からの警告を聞く事も無く只ずるずると醜悪な泥沼の深みに沈んでいき決定的な応報、極刑の懲罰を受けるハメになったのです。　しかし最大の疑問は、何故もっと早い時点で幹部などのメンバーが癌にかかったり事故に会って死滅していなかったのか？？？　（まさか邪宗（まァ、ヒンズー教の一派みたいに見える）にも信仰の自由、平等な生存権が有るなどの屁理屈があったのか？）　－－－ーー　それにしても、それにしても巻きぞえを喰った他人さまにとってはえらい悲劇。

　＊＊＊＊＊　 ところで別の意見によると、このポストが書かれたのが　１３日の金曜日というのが怖いそうだ。（おヤ、そんな事には気がつかなかったが、しかしどうしてそうなるのかね？）　（笑）

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Oct’ Moon by SONY

(Last night, I shot on AWB — to be fair to the camera, I did retake with manual WB.  😀 ) —– Naturally the Moon is one-night size smaller. (Same camera and the lens though, the second one looks sharper = thanks to Focus-peaking = better focused, but showed more noise)

Well, million years, it’s the same moon and it should look the same to the other one “August Moon” because all the conditions were the same except the camera was not Canon 5D Mk-III but SONY A7R.   The picture was taken through the double glazed window therefore it was not as sharp as “Red Moon”.   Something peculiar was that the supposedly the same Tamron 500 mm lens’ image looks sharper when it was taken on the SONY camera.  —– Unlike 5D as the SONY is mirror-less, it must be no mirror shock and the image processing engine in the SONY might be working harder to tinker the image ! = May be it’s the good things to a camera user. (I mean a lazy user who even not bothered to open the glass window.   😀  )

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Tsukudani 佃煮 or Tsukemono 漬物？ (Japanese Taste)

(Photo left, the sliced gherkins mixed with seasning has been heated for 5 min’ in a Microwave —– when it’s cooled down, keep in a jar in a fridge = ready to eat.)

Instead to have a Cooky or Chocolate kind, I often make and keep some boiled vegetable for a small snack.   But when its run-out, —– Isn’t there something a bit more convenient to pick ?   For western people, it might be a Marmite on cracker or piece of bread = and, you may say  “Japanese can do it with Miso (Soybean paste) on Cracker” —- M m m ?   Sound dreadful = I don’t think so. = So, what Japanese would pick ?  — Rice Cracker (O-senbei) ?    

Then gave a thought “What is THE easiest pick to eat with boiled rice ? ” —– may be for a Japanese, it would be a Tsukudani or Tsukemono kind which we can regularly keep in a fridge.  (There are hundred kind of Tsukudani in Japan = cooked small sea food, sea weed, vegetable, even a long boiled larvae of Hornet wasp or Grasshopper etc etc)  (I found some of those in a Japanese food shop but sold in an extortionate price in small plastic package or in a jar.)   So, I got an idea, why not make it myself ? —– Make it but as usual, with a cheated quickest way. 

One of the easiest approach is, to use the readily available pickled gherkin. (There is or was a packed pickles / Tsukudani called Kyuri no Kyu-chan = cooked cucumber and one of the easiest accompaniment for the boiled rice.)

In order to make Kyu-chan like cooking, pickled gherkin was thinly sliced and excess juice were squeezed out.  Then, Dashi-no-moto (mostly powdered fish), soy-source, a squeeze of wasabi paste, a bit of Mirin (Japanese cooking spirits — in stead, sherry or rum can be used) and a bit of sugar then all of them should well be mixed —– in this stage, if you like crunchy bite, this is the all, — but if you like well infused taste, with a bit soft cucumber, you can micro-wave them (Mid~High 5 min’) then put them into a jar (kept in a fridge, I found no problem for 2 weeks) = ready to eat any time — also good on a bread.　  いただきます。 Bon appetite !   🙂

PS :  What I found in this extremely minimalist cooking was that because there wasn’t any complication of taste, we can taste the taste of the rice itself. —– strangely, we can’t just taste the rice, because the mouth just fed-up.   😀

Ultra sonic / Silent wave Motor

(On the photo, round comb like structure is the motor (OD = 12 mm) = its teeth of a comb or the legs of a milliped moves like milliped legs and make the silver-colored disc to move / rotate = that’s how this motor works ! —– though, in real life, you can’t see its teeth or legs move = the each movement is too small to see = so, quietly just the disc moves —– looks spooky !)

 Ultra sonic or Silent wave, what so ever called, the ceramic motor using vibration of its material is rather new kind of the device though, the vibration of the ceramic material itself has been known long time. = the most common use around our life is THAT sounding disc in the security device or even a small round disc in a Singing Christmas card. 

Still, to use its vibration to a motor was happened as an accidental discovery = a ceramic unit on a desk moved while under a test.  So, the engineer got an idea, why not to make a motor and if the sound is too noisy, why not make it to an inaudible high frequency (to an ultrasonic) = So, Ultrasonic motor was developed.  With the manufacturer’s sales tactics, you might be made to believe that the Ultrasonic Motor is an exclusive expensive device. —– you are wrong. 

The top photo is showing a sample, a Silent wave Motor from Nikon’s 18~200 mm Zoom lens.   You may find the similar motor from China in the net, less than few pound. ( Though, if you got a skill to use it include the design and make of the whole gear train, I’ll admire you ! = Utilise whole mechanism as a drive unit, would be far easier, and an electronic controller is on the net as well  )   Yet still to the Nikon, to design the AF drive mechanism, using a traditional DC-motor or use a Silent wave Motor (USM) was not a hard choice = in the cost term, it would be more or less the same. ( DC-motor needs more gears and may have noise problem — mechanically USM needs less gear (= cheaper and easier to assemble) but electronically more complicated work in the program.  (Basically, USM needs the pulse train to drive = two different pulses, one is a bit ahead of the others and which one goes ahead determine the direction of the rotation = in photo term, move focus to far or closer.) ( On the top photo, you may see a flex circuit come out from the USM which got four gold contacts = two each of pulse input ) 

Since the camera’s video function becoming more important, the quietness of the camera (especially its AF motor) became heavy issue, —– So, Canon introduced STM ( = quieter Stepper motor) —– in the traditional sense, stepper motor was driven by the electric pulse, which sharp on-off square wave pulse couldn’t be smooth and quieter, yet Canon seemed to be adapted the use of PMW drive (the voltage of the each pulse gradually rise) instead of the simple square wave ! —– Though, my Canon 40 mm F2.8 Pancake lens got such STM motor — It’s far from quiet. —– in comparison, the SONY lenses (which I have no information of what kind of motor) = are amazingly quiet. ( = what kind of motor inside ? )   So far, there was no broken SONY lens in a junk-box of a camera shop = I haven’t cut-open them yet.   😀

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Heaven or God ?

I just found those photos in the net and I do know not more than any fact of what the photo was telling us. —– may be the photo was genuine = straight record of the aftermath, showing the remaining gate of the Shinto Shrine.

A person who found the photos must be utterly amazed hence just up loaded to the net.   As I have no information of original source, I have no idea whether the photo was taken by the professional journalist or just a passerby, let alone any fact whether the subject was intentionally picked up (such as the survey of all the Shinto Shrine — and the one / only one Torii kept standing — or one of many) or just a coincidence.

—– yet still, seeing one more photo, they convinced me that there IS something.  Think, you were a person who encountered it on the spot.  Even if you didn’t bend your knee there, you must felt a chill on your back and felt, something like Heaven or somebody like the God is there and showing their providence.  (But don’t blame, why send a tsunami or ask why save only a Torii, not the city.   😀  )

This is THE basis of the Japanese Shinto.  We don’t need a fishy sweet words telling the Next life.  We are seeing and keep feeling it IS there.  Unlike an intentionally created, invented idea of so-called God, the supernatural power, or Heaven IS a part of our native sentiment or so-called spirituality.   (That’s why only few % of Japanese is christian. = To the Japanese, Disney like personified God is a joke that’s why no Christian, still almost all of them believe the Rule of a cause and the consequence / the punishment return by the Heaven = that’s their spiritual Ethos.)  So, we don’t steal, nor riot because we know the heaven IS watching us, or living with us.  We don’t need to be told and learn “The idea of Morality” = we have it.  Idea was an invention in the brain.  Japanese Ethos is a part of how we were born.  (Well, ideally —– we have Yakuza too. (But you know, Yakuza’s own rule is as tight as in the army)   And, if you know them, they ARE also nice people.   Ha ha ha   😀 )

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Higan-bana — 彼岸花

In Japan, a week around the Equinox were called O-Higan (both spring and the autumn Higan)  They are the Buddhism originated (some says, Pureland-sect originated but others says that they were originated even older Primitive belief to respect the past dead) 1500 years old tradition.  Because it is such old tradition, people’s customs are deviated a bit, region to region or each persuasion still, somewhat common practice among the traditionalist were = make small decoration of offerings to the returning soul and offer a chanting of the mantra by a priest. (Both Equinox were made national holiday, so, they made a good excuse for some (like me) to escape to the mountain.) 

Something strange is, on the time of the Autumn Equinox, a particular flower called Higan-bana open their flowers.  This flower suddenly shoot up its flowering  stem and within a week, they will make a full bloom of their very distinctive red flowers. —– In the west, they seemed to be called Red Spider Lilly ( Ricoris radiata / Amarylliaceae) though I’ve never seen her in this country.   Because of her peculiar character, there are many funny belief, which make up the spooky, sinister stories.  Further more, this plant is poisonous hence repel the rat, mole = together with sinister belief, she is most commonly found in a grave yard and the edge of the rice field. (to protect the field = rat or mole won’t dig a hole where the root of this plant spread.)   When you encounter her in a field, well may be you will feel a shock, —– and convince that the myth “under her, there is a dead body” must be true !

When this flower is blooming, there is no leaves = they come out after the flower finished — hence, she carry the message “Never see you again”. And it created the Chinese name and a myth = Chinese name Manju Shage came from the name of the boy, Manju 曼珠who was the leaf, and the Shage沙华, she was the flower.  They never able to see each other in this world but get together in the Heaven. —– (I guess, they are immune to each other’s poison. )

PS :  Photos above were taken by my friend at the famous Higan-bana Flower spot of meandering Koma-rever bank in Saitama prf; where 5 million flowers are blooming every year.  Last week, even our Emperor walked down there to appreciate the flowers.

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