Figs

Before Marks and Spenser started to sell more civilized products like a Wonder Bra etc.

the Figs said to be widely utilized though, I haven’t seen any of them in use, other than on

a very decent ancient sculpture wearing it. —– Anyhow I’m not a very fashion conscious

person, I’m more interested in its edible part.

[]

Fig is a very peculiar plant.   Apparently it doesn’t have a flower still makes a fruits.

So that, in Japan they are called “Ichijiku” but to write its name in the Chinese character it is

[無花果] which mean “The Flowerless Fruits” though, its reading makes no “Ichijiku” at all.

Because of this, long since I’ve been wondering where this name “Ichijiku” derived from ?  

Then, one day on a street market, I saw a fruits vendor selling the Figs.

And I knew a man working there was a Kurdish.   I asked him, how they call Figs in their

country ?   He taught me it is “Injee” —– With flash of light, I realized, this must be the

origin of the Japanese name “Ichijiku”.

[]

Fig is one of the biblical ancient fruits together with Grape, and originated from middle east.

Hence all over the Orient, Turkey to Persia, Egypt,  Fig was commonly called Injee.

And it must came to China and to Japan through Central Asia = via Silk-road.   So, I refer to a

Chinese Dictionary to see what is the Chinese name of Fig —– it was [映日果], which reading

in Mandarin is In-lee-quo, but local pronunciation is more like In-jee-quo which was a direct

copy of the original sound to Chinese character, and an additional letter, [果] quo, to indicate

a fruits.  (Like the name of  Japan / [日本], which reading in Mandarin is Lee-pen though, other

locals read it Jee-peng = So that, Marko Paolo wrote it down as Jipang hence Japan !)

From here it’s easy to see, a Chinese pronunciation “Injee-quo” has been changed to “Ichijiku”

= One long standing question was solved !

[]

But, without having a flower, how Fig can reproduce themselves ? —– As a matter of fact,

they are not flowerless plant at all, far from it, the fruits we are eating is nothing but a

compacted pile of tiny flowers.  Hence, you can see numerous tiny seeds inside of Fig.

The seed was produced by the individual tiny flowers even more numerous than the seeds.

Those flowers were individually pollinated by also tiny Fig-wasp who came inside of a Fig

through small hole in the centre of fruits. —– Of cause, Fig-wasp was not come to a Fig to

pollinate but to mate and lay the eggs.   (There are many different wasps which got different

life cycle —– some stay inside waiting the male wasp to come and fertilize her, and she lay

eggs there, and larvae grow in the Fig and male dies there.   Some other wasps are came

and lay the eggs and their larvae are carnivorous and eat other wasp’s larvae. —– so on.)

[]

—– therefore, when we eat Figs, whether fresh or such as a Fig Roll, we are inevitably

eating the Fig-wasps as well.   (In effect, it supply the Essential Amino-acid to the strict

vegetarian people = that is why they don’t die with rack of “Essential nutrition”.

Though, you don’t need to become nervous, since this situation is quite normal and common

= can you expect any mass-produced food such as Jam, Marmalade, Ketchup, what so ever =

which track-load of ingredients thrown-into a belt-conveyor, and is there anybody removing

the small insect and their tiny larvae comes with ? )  (Unlike Bottle-fly or Cockroach kind, who

is dealing with human derivative, the insects living with fruits are less likely carries the

germ related to the human diseases, hence they are much safer.)

There are many warning of food allergy, Nuts, Eggs, certain Protein etc etc. though I never

heard anybody got ill because of accidentally eat an insect —– may be without knowing,

we are eating them quite regularly, our body may not recognize them as foreign substance.

This is what “living with nature” mean, in its reality.  😀  

This link may give you the idea, what is the situation.

http://www.rodalenews.com/bugs-food

[]

PS :  Incidentally, the Boddhi-tree [Ficus, religiosa]

 of which Shakya-Muni Buddha said to have reached 

his Enlightenment,  known locally as Peepal or

Pippal tree also belong to the same family / genus.        

(Photo Right from Wiki media)

So, the Boddhi-tree is a small fruits version of Fig tree

hence has no flower.  Despite the tree can reach up to

30 m, their fruits is not larger than a tip of finger.

( I do yet know how small the Fig-Wasp for this tree. —– Nearly 100 million years of

co-evolution, each species of Fig has their own gang of the Wasp species, otherwise

both of them would have had extinct long ago ! )

[]

Lettuce and Spinach — its Origin

One of the most unique Photographer / Artist, Karen showed her stunningly beautiful

photos of Canada Lettuce seed in her blog “Draw and Shoot” it awaken my memory that

I had the photo of this (or the one, closely related) plant — The seed-pod in her photo

looks very much like a Dandelion’s, as you can see.  = In deed, this plant is a cousin of

Dandelion and as its name suggests, it closely related to the Lettuce.  

Or the Lettuce was descended from this kind of Plant, namely

Luctuca of Asteraceae (Compositae) Family.   When I found that this plant was the

ancestor of the Lettuce, I was shocked —– as it was completely out of my imagination.  

( Not only it looks so different but also I’ve never seen it in an open field and flowering.)

A book, I saw said that  “to eliminate its bitter tasted white sap, it took 200 years” though,

Wikipedia says Lettuce has been cultivated since ancient Egyptian time.  So, the English

local farmer might have had their own approach, instead to import the established

variety from Mediterranean.

Something similar stories are in Spinach.

The photo left is a plant belongs to

Spinacia in Amaranthaceae family.

The Spinach was created from this kind

of plant, and this weed is also edible.

(Though, this plant contains Oxalic acid,

thus if eat a lots, it would cause an ulcer 

on the mouth.)

The cultivated variety is not only to eat

leaves but also there was a variety to eat 

thickened stem, called “Poorman’s Asparagus”. And other was called Lincolnshire Spinach. 

—– In deed, we human being is very resourceful — or used to be so poor to scrape the life ?

Still, there is a very funny situation. Despite increased world population, therefore needs

lots more food and in deed great number of the people are starving,  in the same time,

we are said to be wasting 1/3 of food. (couldn’t sell in the super-market, due to a blemish.  

Or made them rotten in a fridge due to too much shopping.) —– Something wrong isn’t it ?

[]

No Word = Strongest Teaching !

Wikipedia is a very convenient place to see the world, even about Buddhism.

Not necessary because it shows the truth but shows the current situation of Popular Belief.

Funny though, it often says “Citation required” — in Buddhism this is THE most blatant irony.

Understanding in Buddhism came from not because it was written. It always come between

the lines. —– Don’t believe what was written but you have to think yourself.

[]

In Buddhism, such as the strongest denial or the things which is not exist was not lexically

expressed.   So that, the matter was often over-looked or even mistook by the people who

only follows what was told or read.

Like a famous episode in the Vimalakirti Sutra —– To answer a question of “Oneness” (how

totally mindful to the subject) Vimalakirti utter no word, and its silence hit the audience

like a roaring thunder (so the scripture said).

[]

—– (If you couldn’t get it) = Think, such as in a situation of Sword Mastery, if a man using

the sword could see the situation, how he moves, how sword moves in the Objective View,

it’s mean his mind is separated and floating in the air and watching the situation in

distance = here, two Selves, one was watching and other was being watched, not mention

the independent Sword = this is far from Oneness.    When the conscious of using Sword

and the Hand(s) and even the existence of the Sword fused altogether and moves as one

unified force,  it is the Sword Mastery and the Master was in Oneness.  

(In Zen term it is Ichijo / 一如 or Fuji / 不二 )

—– If you are good in typing, you must know, when you were absorbed into its task =

not only the position of each key, but the keyboard, screen, even the draft paper has gone

out of your conscious but only a stream of each letters = your finger moves automatically,

completely out of your conscious.   And even your Brain was not in there, if the draft had

miss-spieling you just miss-type as it is = This is the Oneness = two Selves, Observer and

be Observed, in fact, THE SELF itself has been totally disappeared into the “TYPING”.

Therefore, no observer or conscious to describe it, nor description of Oneness on typing

could exist. —– (I can describe it because I myself is one-finger typist, still seeing other

expert, I can guess how it’s works from the aspect of Zen. —– still, I may be wrong. 😀 )

[]

—– So, there couldn’t be a description of Oneness.

= No word even from a wise-man Vimalakirti.    And, in the scripture, there was no

explanation such as what I wrote above ever existed, because able to write about 

expose a failure, that the one was not in “Selfless Oneness” = make a fool oneself.

This was also the reason when

Lord Buddha went out for a walk in a rainy night, he didn’t explain why, even to Ananda.

Because it was about the Selflessness = since the Self / its conscious was not there to

observe, there couldn’t be a word to describe it. = So that, there was no explanation.

(In fact, to teach Selflessness must be the hardest part, even though it IS the gist of Buddhism.

It can be taught only through a practice  (without type-writer !)  I wonder how many of the

followers could have managed to get it ? —– Still, as the tradition has been continued to

the Zen, it’s mean some had certainly mastered it and handed down the teaching !

—– but not by a word or scripture.)

[]

In Buddhism, a lots has not been written.   As, it meant to be a strongest denial.   Such as

Lord Buddha didn’t answer the question related to the “after life”.  Hence no explanation 

= it’s mean there couldn’t be any written record, hence no citation could be possible.

No citation indicates, no such things in the Doctrine of Buddhism.   And no word by

Lord Buddha ever existed since such matter has no worth to spear even a single word.

(Unfortunately, this situation had been exploited, knowingly or with sheer ignorance,

so many stories of “reincarnation, etc” had been fabricated.)

—– Yet western rhetoric wants to have a denial also has to be expressed,

and No-existence (it’s hard to explain what the Voidness is), has to be proved even

in the Wikipedia. —– It must be a headache to the author.

They can’t create a blank page in Wikipedia and put a comment  “This is Zen”.

(I wonder why not.   A blank page could convey as much as message written

in the same space.)     Ha ha ha.   😀

___/\___

[]

Lost in a Process ? — or Tampered ?

A man was walking on a trail in the middle of nowhere and met

Lord Buddha.   He asked, is this the right way to go ?

Lord Buddha answered,  Yes I came from there. You just GO.

Anyhow it was only a single trail, nothing else. —– Does it mean

Lord Buddha “Taught him the right way ?” or taught nothing new ?

—–

The man was born to go this way anyway.   So that there may

not be any needs to ask. —– still having the words, it gave him

a confidence and a peace of mind.

He just kept walk, thence reached to the destination.

(But, if the man didn’t actually walk all the way up, or stray-away,

he got nowhere and remained in the middle of nowhere,

still wandering in a barren desert.)

—– Everybody was born to have Dharma.   Therefore, unless

stray-away from the trail, but kept walking, everybody can

reach the destination —– where it was called Nirvana.

So, Lord Buddha told a man ” Just Go” — since it was a  way to

gain Selflessness and to reach Nirvana.

(Remember ?  Kisa Gotami’s story ?)

[]

Though, in reality very few did, since even fewer ever met

Lord Buddha, so that most of the people got the direction from

others who said walked it before.    And the another trouble was that

so many had took wrong turn, hence wrong trail had been

marked on the ground which was misleading the people to stray-away.

[]

Lord Buddha’s aim was to save the people from

“A delusion of Samsara” = The idea of Samsara  WAS  the very delusion”

though, later, the Teachings were mistaken to “Save from Samsara” on

the assumption of “endless cycle of rebirth = Samsara exists” because

the Hindu idea of Samsara was almost a common-sense THEN.

(During 400 years of oral tradition, gradually

the original contents of the Teachings has been changed to

“Buddhism IS based on a belief of Reincarnation”—– because of

this, the later attempt to revive the origin such as “Selflessness” 

became a contradiction = “If Selfless / Anatman was true, who is going

to be reincarnated ?  = and it was misinterpreted as a self-sacrifice.

—– There was absolutely no concept of “After life” in the

Lord Buddha’s teachings. = He didn’t even bother to give an answer to it.

(Able to answer mean, such idea was exists in the mind.  But because

there was absolutely no such notion, even no word exist in his mind.)

Or the Words to clarify “No after Life” was intentionally removed from

the oral recitation, because it contradicts a popular Hindu belief =

People must have thought “Such Enlightened wise-man wouldn’t have

had said such silly things against  a common knowledge of Reincarnation” ! 

[]

But if Lord Buddha’s teachings were the same to Hinduism, why people

specially come and seek a liberation in his teachings ?  = Because,

Lord Buddha denied the reincarnation, it’s mean no previous life which

would impose a Cast to next life exists.  Hence there was no Cast system in

the Original Buddhism.  

Cast is a part of Hindu Samsara idea ! —– Denial to such idea was the

Lord Buddha’s very distinctive and revolutionary new teachings.  

(The idea of “Re-born while carrying the Karma of previous life IS the CAST”.  

Denial of Perpetual Soul (Self) = No Self to be Re-born, hence NO CAST.)

—– You have to see the truth in the historical fact.

Think yourself.  Don’t believe the scripture blindly. —– Remember,

Lord Buddha reached to his Enlightenment without reading any scripture !

___/\___

[]

Costume design / Flat Panel to 3D Sculpture

I went to a dress rehearsal of performance held at a private club, and took pictures

of this costume though, the club was members only private club,

I can’t give any detail but only show those photos.

Obviously the costume was pains takingly made by many designers, working together, still

I can’t give the detail of who were they, at moment.

—– It was a character in a story, an Eque.

What took my attention of this costume was,

its approach to design the hose head.

The curved structure was divided into each parts,

and formed, shaped, then put together.

—– When I designed something similar, 

a head of Flying Dragon, I figured out the

shape to make it only from the 2 panels, 

= upper part (face) and lower part (jaw), and the

back part of the head was made, cut and bent metal panel. (on top of those, some

additional joint panels, enforcing metal bar etc , still, despite its size and appearance, 

it took only 2 days to make = very simple structure hence easy to make.

—– when designer makes a shape of a horse head, most of the case it would be done by

either Papie-mash or Casted Glass-fiber Epoxy. —– to make it in this way was rather

unusual and looks fun.  🙂

[]

What Buddha found

(According to the Scripture which Yoshizen found in the Dragon’s den in South London.

—– the Authenticity is more or less the same to any other Buddhist  Scripture )  ;-D

After 6 years of ascetic hard practice which was based on the Vedic concept, “With a

concentration of one’s mind = Atman can reach to the level of super natural power”

which is, of cause, on the belief of that the Atman exists. —– but to realize, it was not

suit for him, and left the ascetic practice, and having nursing his weakened body,

Gautama Buddha suddenly noticed that, while eating a milk-porridge offered by a

village girl Sujata, his mind was completely empty. = no mind or conscious was there.

It must had shocked him and made him realized that we’ve been doing a lots of things

without having any thought or conscious. We all are walking without thinking how to walk.

Facing this undeniable fact, he realized that the belief of Atman was utterly false.

What makes us to live, and walk was not the Atman but invisible Dharma.

Atman is not exists, and if we remove the mind or thinking and make it empty, the Dharma

which has been masked by the mind will prevail.

—– So, he tested this, sitting under the Pipal tree.   And after 49 days when he run-out of all

the thoughts, the mind became empty, hence, without any pre-conception and with the

clearest eyes, he saw the world as it is which is the sign of the Dharma.

It was the moment of his Enlightenment.

[]

Then he gave a thought, why the same man who had been believing the existence of Atman

now seeing it is not exists.   If really Atman exists, same Gautama must see the same Atman

still here, but the fact showed, it is not.    It changes moment to moment.

When things changes, others change as well with direct, indirect connection and this makes

the Dharma dynamic.   Hence, nothing stays permanent.

But it is the paradox, to be the Dharma it should be permanent. —– what only persistent in

the Dharma is, its nature of change, not the appearance.   Appearance is just a transitional

illusion on our eyes.   And our eyes were also attached to this transitional existence, us,

which we can not even define it is existing or not, because the one who try to define it,

is not a consistent existence either.

So the situation, which can only be describable is, the changing nature of the Dharma which

got a mechanism of Karma, which drives everything change, moment to moment,

that nature IS the Truth.

[]

It’s means, “No rigid existence of Atman, let alone its perpetuity, hence No Self, the Self what

we imagined”, everything is Void.  And the Dharma and its mechanism of Karma are all

invisible and unknowable because they may also be Void.

—– Yet still, we are here, there is no choice but has to accept this Truth.

When you can not beat, better join them, be flexible.   This is the Enlightenment.

It is not a kind of jump and dance discovery, but neither need to be depressed, because, this

is what we are and our situation is.   It’s mean, we neither need to worry because, our worry

itself may be yet another illusion, and anyhow we are here only in this moment in only one life.

And we are here because the Karma caused us to be here, there must be a reason which

we can not know.    We have to accept and respect the Dharma.

[]

And an essential wisdom to deal with this situation, —– to deal with almost invisible Dharma

and the Karma, we have to see them as it is, with transparent perception, never with

coloured glass, in other words, in Selfless clear eyes.   In Selflessness, in definition, there is no

Ego or Greed either. Since, the owner of Ego and Greed is not exist.

Therefore we have no possibility to loose anything = We will be in total freedom = We can have

totally liberated life, free from any delusion.

So, Lord Buddha started to teach the way to obtain this Selflessness.

[]

(Note : It is crucial to see the formation of Buddhism in an aspect of historical situation.  

It was a time when the Vedic belief was gradually taken-over by the new Hinduism.  

A religion of mostly just worship and make rituals toward the Vedic Deities (hence, ordinary

people were just by-standers) to a religion which is taking a personal account in each Karma

and perpetual cycles of Reincarnation (Samsara) = Hinduism, which horrified the people with

a fear to be trapped in a cycle and even born again as a beast.  

Lord Buddha urgently needed to to give an answer to those people and liberate them from

such deluded idea by teaching them that the reincarnating soul = Atman itself is not exists

hence the one’s death will be the total end which IS the Nirvana.

No-Self / Selflessness / Anatta / Anatman was the centre of his teachings.  That was why when

Lord Buddha was asked a question (again) “What happens after a death ?” or  “After a death

where the soul goes ?” He was so annoyed and didn’t give an answer.  —— On the scripture,

his personal attendance Ananda asked him “Why didn’t give an answer” “Because, it would

confuse them” = If this scripture was true, even a closest disciple haven’t understood the

teachings, or most likely  the writer of the scripture didn’t know what the Buddhism was.

(on that time the original teachings had already lost !) 

[]

—– It’s sound strange still, it is quite common tendency of the Karma, people who afraid to

get injured get injury.   (May be because, the person who had no fear was more agile and

able to see and avoid a danger = the same tendency appeared everywhere in the life.)

There are endless list of the paradox in the Life. = They are definitely making the life FUN.

And this is the secret to live happier peaceful Life.

So, this is the Enlightenment.

___/\___

[]

Selfless = Anatman = Sunyata = Voidness

As I wrote in the previous post “No Teaching ??? ”, what

Lord Buddha was teaching was no other than the state of the brain “Selflessness”

such as when a person was completely absorbed into an action or practice.

(Though his approach to put emphasis on meditation may not be the best way.

==> So that many different methods was invented later).

But unfortunately, this neurological phenomenon and his Teachings has not been

correctly understood and kept by his followers.    The reason was, as I wrote, it was

not clearly explained even to the immediate disciples and not all the disciples

necessary understood, let alone actually reached to a state of Selflessness. 

[]

This history has been reflected to some tradition, such as that the Theravada sect

who is keeping rather ancient form of Buddhism define the “Voidness” = Sunnata is

pertaining to the Selflessness / Non-Self = Annatta, and this Annatta is in fact, no other

than the Sanskrit, Anatman.

Lord Buddha’s teachings had the fundamental stance against the Vadic Atman.

Therefore, it was NO-Atoman = Anatman. —– It showed, in the original teachings, there

was no separate notion of Voidness, because the feeling of Voidness = Detached view to

the world was a part of the Selflessness or Selflessness itself.

(The one who really possess the Selfless-eyes knows this.)

Because, when the Emotion was disconnected, and feel everything were detached, the

stimuli to any 5 senses doesn’t have significance —– it exists though makes no difference

as if it was not existed.   Hence, didn’t need to specially talk about so-called Voidness.

(People who naturally acquired to speak English, as born in England, doesn’t excite or

talk about it.  But foreigner who newly became bilingual tend to show-off that he can

speak English. = A person acquired Selflessness through long practice, doesn’t feel of

the Voidness anything special, since they gradually came together and feel nothing

that they are the separate phenomenon —– in fact the person doesn’t even noticed

such a phenomenon, either Selflessness or Voidness ever existed in the mind.) 

[]

The history of Buddhism was the masquerade of sham Guru who pretended to know the

Lord Buddha’s teachings = Selflessness. —– As, there was a hear-say, the attribution of

the Enlightenment (Selflessness) is such as “Middle way” or a “Detached view = Perception

of Void” —– Those Guru pretended that they know the subject, and deployed the argument

while writing yet another script about “Middle-way” or “Voidness” simply they saw the

opportunities to become famous and rich.     But in fact, some of them were Tantra, or

mixture of Hindu and as they were using their more familiar knowledge to describe

Selflessness and Buddhism, = Buddhism deviated so much.   In fact some of them became

beyond the recognition from the original teachings and end-up almost like the Hinduism.

[]

Fundamentally, there couldn’t be any argument or needs to discuss the matter of

Middle way or Voidness, even the Panya Paramita as a separate phenomenon, since

they are naturally attributed to the same state of Mushin or Selflessness

= Psychological Phenomenon is Just one.

(A man in ill for caught cold shows the symptoms such as “High temperature”

“Headache” “Coughing” etc. so that to deal with “High temperature” alone and

dip him into a cold water wouldn’t help him. :-D)

People who doesn’t know the whole, in its totality, picking-up a superficial distinctive

feature, and talking in loud voice, pretending that he is The expert. Is exactly like a Theory

of Economics = use one monetary index, and try to describe whole economical trend.

Or mimicking the fashion of a star, and buy the same handbag, use the same buzz-word.

All those are the sign of “This person doesn’t know what he is talking about”.

Still, the trouble was that to the eyes and the ears of people standing by, who knows

even less, think those sham Guru looks, sound, great. —– The sensational new fashion

trend with buzzword of Voidness and the thousand of new-Buddha etc.etc. those new

concepts in Mahayana scriptures were made-up in this way.   (But don’t get me wrong

I’m not against everything of Mahayana, as it opened the more flexibility and the

way of free thinking which is the essential to the Zen mind.)  

[]

The worst was Nagarjuna who boasted that he brought back the scriptures from the

Dragon’s cave in the sea bottom. = What a shameless braggart. —– If you see it in

cool head, you may realize that he was a kind of sham doctor, a salesman selling dubious

beauty portion.   And selling new buzzword of Voidness, exploiting the ignorance of the

Buddhists who doesn’t know what was the

Lord Buddha’s original teachings.    (What Nagarjuna said, such as in the Panya Paramita

Sutra was not necessary wrong, and the funny paradoxical phrase was the attempt to

express the complexity of the human mind (co-existent Conscious and Unconscious mind)

though, to put such emphasis to Voidness alone was an indication of that he didn’t have an

own experience of the Selflessness (cut-off  Emotional Region / Hypothalamus in the Brain,

hence the things and the matters were seen remote from Self-interest) = he didn’t know

that the Selflessness and the voidness was not separate phenomenon.

[]

To describe what’s going on inside of our body is not easy,

not mention inside of the mind, even to

Lord Buddha, especially, subconscious is invisible. —– Hence he was very reluctant

on the beginning (so, the scriptures says). That was why

Lord Buddha invented the way to teach direct, without resorting the verbal explanation.

—- though, some were worked, but not everything. So that, many different understanding,

interpretations were bore out, not mention convenient use of the term or notion even the

Divine figures from other religion.

When the person was in Selflessness, there is no need to have a Divine figure to worship.

Selfless hence with Dharma IS its state.  Dharma is there together with

its mechanism of Karma. = It is not for worship but to live with.

[]

—– Of cause, the situation is more or less the same to me, I never seen how a

visual signal running from my eyes to the brain, = only guessing it must be like a

PET Scanner’s screen showed us.    Still, as we know now, how the brain works on the

process of thinking, feeling etc. and we are able to shed the light

to the matter “What is the Selflessness” of which

Lord Buddha pointed out as the way to deal with Life’s problematic situation.

Now is the time to elucidate and Re-construct the teachings of

Lord Buddha to its original form. —– using today’s term = talking in a style and the

words, matched to the occasion and to the audience was the tradition started by

Lord Buddha.    😉

___/\___

[]

No Word, No Teaching ???

There is a well known quotation in Buddhism   “In his 45 years of teaching,

Lord Buddha didn’t give even a single word”. —– Even as a metaphor,

this words could explain the most crucial truth in the teachings of

Lord Buddha.

(After 4 years I blogged here = this practice has been my equivalent of facing a rock wall

to sort out the conflicting notions and the words in the scripture, and on the end, I came

to the conclusion.)

[]

A trouble of Buddhism is that there is no authentic written “one teaching”.    

Even the earliest scripture, Agama Sutra was created 200 or more years later, thence

virtually all the 3,000 Buddhism scriptures were compiled on hear-say and guess-work.

(still the author may say “My understanding of the True Buddhism”)  

And on top of this,  it was a well known fact that

Lord Buddha,s words seemed to be different ocasion to ocasion and it was depend on

to whom he was speaking. —– So that, what I’ve been doing was, picking-up the pieces

among the mountain of disassembled parts and to re-configure the most likely the

original picture. (You may say, I also doing a guess-work) 😀

[]

Considering this Quotation “No teaching” together with other stories such as Kisa Gotami’s

mustard seeds’ story and a story of Churi Pantac (Shuri Bantoku) sweeping the garden, and

on top of those, “Going out on rainy night” (Test of Selflessness) story.

There was no explanation of why or what could be achieved by doing so, was given by

Lord Buddha. = It must be the teaching of “Think it yourself” though, is anywhere the

explanation why need to think yourself, was ever explained ?    By thinking it, (but thinking

in the subconscious level ! ) the one can reach own understanding which would lead to the

own Enlightenment, as the Enlightenment couldn’t be given or taught by any other person,

the one has to find it. (external communication hardly touch one’s subconscious.)

(It is completely different from “Believing the Gospel”= Belief is to firmly memorise the

Pattern, but not necessary know what to do with it, since implanted memory is a

foreign substance) = Because the very process of finding out, is a part of the Enlightenment

(This process is to Re-program the Brain and cut-off Emotional Region to handle a situation

= hence, without an involvement of the Self.)    Thus, to teach it in the words would spoil the

purpose of ths teaching itself. = Teaching in Words would only create a memory, but Buddhism

need to change the personality from the subconscious. —– While fully aware of this paradox,

Lord Buddha wouldn’t have explained the effect of the practice or what is the aim of it,

instead, only gave an instruction what to do.   He didn’t give-away the trick and the goal.  

In this extent, he didn’t teach but just gave a Task.   And while doing it, the person can reach

and gain a state of the “Mushin” and  “Selflessness”. —– Observing the person’s progress,

Lord Buddha must have given further instruction what to do next,

and where is the point to watch, but not what to think or why / the theory.

( Practice  can be done purely subconsciously  (in Mushin)  but the Word  ( = Categorized 

notion)  couldn’t be operated away from the highly conscious brain activities.)

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A crucial point in Buddhism IS there is no promise of salvation BUT “Save yourself by

reaching the Enlightenment by yourself” —– otherwise, Life is suffering, getting ill,

get old and die. = very blunt message. = (Very Un-Religion like message in deed, since

Buddhism is a teaching of Truth, not a false hope or pinky illusions.)   And all the

8 right path etc are what you do.   Not what to believe. In fact, all those “Do what” are

obviously in the common sense.   Nobody would suggests otherwise.   So, there are no

fancy ritual but simple practice = matter is not what or why, but Do.

Lord Buddha might actually told those words to his followers, but no words of why to

Do it = because, no matter of what, but actually Do it unconditionally then

what would happen = Was the teaching.

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So that when you do, just DO without thinking,

without questioning, it’s mean in Mushin, was what

Lord Buddha taught, NOT a complicated reasoning or mythical story which only exists in

abstract notion = Delusion.    “What we can DO (include the thinking) without our lexical

conscious = in another word “DO it subconsciously” is the Core of the teaching.

Lord Buddha must have taught how the Karma (cause and result) works in each moment,

such as behind our eyes how the nature is interacting, and all sorts of the physical

phenomena, almost like a science teacher, and taught this is what the Dharma is.

But strictly remained within the rationality and on the facts.

(even though it was in the 2,500 years old standard).

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Since we can do, we can live, without conscious (in deed as we are walking without

thinking how to walk or we are thinking without us noticing it.)

“In the truth, SELF is not a real existence but only an imaginary existence = The Self or

Atman in Vedic teachings is a false”.   Therefore the teaching couldn’t be based on the

lexical thinking which is a product of the conscious Self. —– The paradox was that the

teaching was “to become and to live Selfless”. = How to teach and learn the Selflessness

without relying on the product of the Self / Word and the notion. —– Only a way to

learn “To do without thinking” is just watch the way to DO, then Do the same.

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To teach or to tell in the words, “Do it without thinking” is the same as to tell

“Tell me that you are sitting in silence” 😀 —– So that,

Lord Buddha just asked the followers to follow him and do the same.

The followers studied by just watching and learned by just Doing.

By just keep Doing, the followers get used with it, and reached the mind-set to Do

and Live without conscious of the Self.   (Without conscious mean, it is not only in

Mushin but be with the Karma of its Moment, in another word Ichijo / Oneness with

the subject or ultimately with the Dharma.)

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So that, the teachings were not in the words, hence, it sound as if nothing was taught.

But that was what Buddhism was in the original form. —– And this was the very reason

why the tradition of “Teaching by Heart to Heart, without relying on the words”

(教外別伝，不立文字，依心伝心)  has been kept in the Zen teaching.

(= Just DO the work. Soon or later you will learn to do it automatic/Selfless.)

Yes, Lord Buddha has taught.  In a way NOT taught anything at all.

So, the quotation was correct.

___/\___

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Focus-shifting Muliti-exposure Photo

Don’t worry, You don’t need to clean your specs.

 It’s not your eyes. —– Photo IS fuzzy and it’s meant to be.  😉

——————- (Hey, this is a very very pretty girly picture ! = Click it and see enlarged. 😉 )

These photos were taken by a technique,  Multi-Exposure with Focus-Shift.

—– In order to have an effect = a core image with out-of-focus halo around, I did

it before while camera was set on a tripod.     But this time I did it by hand-held.

I guess, it could be done by Hacking into camera’s operational program and

over-drive the AF motor while the camera is giving the multiple exposure. 

(Single exposure is too short to manually shift the focus. —– In the old days of

wooden camera, the old masters used the same technique to shift a focus while

giving a long exposure.  And the Minolta Alpha 7000 had this effect in their

Portrait Mode to create softer image. ) —– But, I found it was not

difficult to move the focus ring during the few multiple exposure. = Just Do it,

and if not successful try it again —– success rate is somewhat one in four.  😀

(not only how far focus to be shifted, but a trouble of camera-shake is also

a spoiling factor.  = If you are a bad shooter, shoot a lot — one might hit a target !)

————- (This must be a puzzling photo = where it was focused ?  😉 )

Keen reader of this blog might be realized that the post in these days were all connected

behind the scene = how camera can be steadily hand-held etc.  (without having enough

practice and gained a confidence, this kind of photography would be only a waste of time.  

Creativity does not occur out of blue,  it needs to have a base, or incubating ground.  

A practical adjustment  or improvisation may suddenly conceived on the spot but

it is a minute part of the operation.

 

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Home-made flower :-D

It’s a middle of September, not many flower left.  

—– Don’t tell me to go to a florist.  I don’t buy flower or plant.  

They should be where they grow.  Unless I found a pot abandoned on the street.

—– (provided it’s not a meter-tall tree.)  —— Then Kinetorori murmured me  

“If no flower, why not make one yourself” —– It’s a his bad habit.

It’s the most un-Zen like practice though, —– I did.  😀 

 (Out of used envelope.)

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So, a flower is blooming in my room. (keep blooming for foreseeable future.  😀 )

Buddhists telling us “Live on the moment”

—– though, I took a way against it.  

A photograph is imprisoned to the moment.  

So, to have a Jailbreak of this “Moment”

I made a photo to have rather prolonged span

of time (unlike ordinary photographic norm).  

The photo above consists multiple exposure

while having its focus shifted.  = Yet another

attempt to create fuzzy image —– went

beyond a soft-focus lens,  yet keeping a sharp core of

image, unlike a pinhole photo.  

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