DELUSION — is it a Face ?

This is a funny photo.  It supposed to have a face there.

Can you see it ? —–( it is the pattern on the cushion )

It was one of the ” face” picked up by the Google Picasa,

Face Recognition Program.

——————–

As I’ve collected 20,000 photo of faces ( well, lots of them came

together with legs, boobs etc) and I’m sorting them by the

type of face and eyes, ears etc.

( Incidentally, to see the person changing  the face, body shape,

in spate of  4~5 (?) years,  giving me a chilling feeling of harsh reality,

Nothing stays the Same—— and think, what will they do next, after 5 years time  ? ? ? )

To have the Face Recognition Program was not my choice.  It came automatic as an up-date. Though, it is

using my CPU without my permission.  I’ve tried to remove it though, it is a part of Picasa 3 (and old version

had gone ) and I couldn’t pinpoint which part of program file is doing this.—– ( Google may planning to create

another  Social  Net-working  System to compete  with  Facebook  ( which I hate most )  in the near future ).

Anyhow,  as they cropped  faces and asking me to name the person,  I clicked (may be ) 30,000 times

” Ignore ” and deleted all of them except about 30 ” faces ” which is a sheer mistake such as the one here.

In certain extent, this program was well designed as it made only  0.1% mistakes.—– Beyond here, its

needs to have a human brain ——- though, wait a moment, our brain makes as much as mistakes.

——- When I was small, I was disturbed by a pattern of knot on a wooden panel of the ceiling, as it looks

a man’s fearsome face.    Once an image was registered in the brain as a face, it always looks as a face.

———- It is interesting to see, even an artificial digital image processing makes same kind of mistakes.

In Buddhist term, this is the Delusion and a cause of paranoia though, as it was a very useful brain function

of data integration / filling the gap of information by fuzzy logic —— not exact but somewhat likely

judgement —– this kind of mistakes are inevitable.

Most of the case, it is just ” Ha, Ha, Funny ” but time to time, it might led to a serious consequence.

Stay cool, stay objective is the secret to stay in Peace.

As the mater of fact, more than half of the personal trouble was caused by oneself and one’s mind.

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  )

THINK YOURSELF

On the death-bed,  Buddha ordered to the  disciples as his last teaching

“Don’t blindly follow my teachings, but  Think it Yourself “ This is nothing but the extraordinary words.

Has any leader of a religion or a philosopher ever said like this to the followers, in the whole human history ?

Yet, this is not from Buddha’s humbleness BUT this is the most crucial teaching of the Buddha which

made the Buddhism as The BUDDHISM.

By following this words, the Buddhism kept evolved  in the past 2500 years.

Instead to have fixed written Dogma,  Buddha’s words kept the followers to think themselves and

able to respond to the changing world even to the forefront of the science today.

As the Dharma and Karma is in their dynamism there is no point to fix anything, in its definition.

Buddhism is the Eyes, and the Way to see those Dynamism, and the Way to participate it.

——————–

Far more important point is, this Words is the foundation of the Buddhism to the person.

Instead to follow and complying the fixed Dogma and Rules, as the Buddhism made the followers

to think and judge themselves,  it gave the initiative and the responsibility to the individual,  therefore

left no margin of excuse to such as a matter in the moral issue.

———- You may remember the most hypocritical rules (?) somewhere,  ” Because the rules says Kill Not,

I paid somebody else to kill”  and always found the way to dodge the words of so-called god’s given  rules.

There can not be such things in the Buddhism, unless the one is too insane to think  normal.

Hypocrite may have escaped on the words, but in anyone’s subconscious, it is obvious, he is the  murderer.

——————–

With the Noble Principle,  we aspire and pursuit the Buddhism.   And as we pursuit it

our understanding deepens.   Once we reached to the point and as its became the norm, then

we notice  what should be the better.  This endless process of evolution is also the one’s pathway

toward  the Enlightenment.

The same apply to all aspects of the life.  (One has to pursuit the best way to cut lemons as well    😀 )

And this is the secret how such as the Zen culture evolved and attained such degree of refinement.

——————–

Following the Buddha’s words ” Think yourself “, even a small man on the street did pay an effort to

achieve the best. ——– This active participation of the life is The Buddhism.

And this is the answer to  ” Why Buddhism ? “

Which Practice ?

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

And my Doing is not a fixed practice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The matter is to live the life in  Mushin.

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

——————-

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

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

This is the Mahayana Buddhism.

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

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

don’t need to demonstrate and perform it.

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

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

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

reaches to the state of  Mental Fatigue—–”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRECONCEPTION

This is the another Wire Figure,  Damsel in Distress.

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

a suggestion,  planted preconception and its bias.

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

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

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

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

[]

NUDE 4×4+1

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

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

But, strangely, anybody can distinguish a good photo in

one glance.      And anybody can also distinguish good art

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

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

With my artist friends, photographer friends discussed together

in many occasions, still we never found a good explanation

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

Because ART is a communication between  Subconscious

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

without involving the conversion to the linguistic Notion.

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————–

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

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

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

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 )

Passive or Active

Somebody who has read my Blog questioned me  ” Hey Yoshi, So, you mean to live reactive,  Passive Life ?

Where is your independence or individuality and its own active choice ?”

The one’s own individuality or So-called Self is an imaginary notion.  It is an abstracted idea.

You have to see it in reality in clear eyes.

——————–

OK, so, if you want to create something new as an artistic creation (or new technological invention, what

so ever )—– what is the resources you got and the origin of the idea or imagination ?

Are they purely your own creation / invention ?

—– The seeds of the idea or concepts were given and placed long time ago, even unconsciously.

We are just picking  one or two of them and re-arranging (in what we believe) in our logics.

But those idea, logics themselves are also the result of the accumulated wisdom.  They are not our

invention.—— In fact, this is the way what we are processing our thinking, nothing new there.

When we suddenly struck by  !!! and get superb idea, it might be triggered by the particular

external situation or internal re-arrangement / configuration of the knowledges which  were

already there too.   And this is how we inspire.

So that,  re-configure all the resources in one’s unique way, we like to think

” It was my invention / creation ” —– though it was in fact, only a given opportunity.

———- And we Buddhist understand or interpret it,  It was given by the Dharma,  since those

mechanisms are almost invisible and beyond the human comprehension therefore it must be

placed by the supreme power, the wisdom of the Universe.

The one’s seemingly active creativity is nothing other than  passively receiving and accept the

Dharma’s suggestion and its rules.  (Divine inspiration works far better.  Have look around  😀  )

——————–

When I got the idea ” I should go west and listen organ music ” was not my idea but the order of the Dharma.

And I just accepted as an imperative and diligently followed it.

——— Do you think was that wrong ?     Did I wasted my time or lost anything ?

Far from it,  I learned and gained unmeasurable  value of experience.

Pay enough effort while expect nothing (by  Mushin ), would bring unexpected reword

I like this Paradox in Buddhism. This is the way, we can achieve the life’s maximum Potential.

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.

Freedom — Restriction ?

Freedom under the strict restriction —– people may feel it is the contradiction.

Because they are thinking it in the word / notion but didn’t observe the reality.   In reality, there is

no such freedom ever exist like we conceived in the notion.   Even the most powerful rich person still has

to live in the oxygen rich air and soon or later has to die.   Restriction is the basis of our existence.

Ideally imagined condition,  or a story from another world may tell otherwise,  still a person was

bound to live within his or her restrictive  Karma.   But it doesn’t mean there is no freedom to the person.

——————–

If you think about music,  in the traditional folk music,  even  popular Blues,  they  were composed in the

Pentatonic which is the Natural Tonal System.   But its got only five notes ( well, octave higher etc, a bit

more ) ——- from those meager five +  notes,  how many tunes  we human being created in the history ?

Have you ever heard the same tune or melody  from different source ?     No such thing ever happened in

the isolated situation (culture)—–other than a copy.

Any new tune can be created  even from very restricted five notes —- isn’t this  Freedom ?   Need  more ?

Full use of the tonal scale, 12 tone system, or even continuous frequency change of the electronic  music

the possibility and the freedom  to create new music should be much higher ——— though in  the result,

do you remember any of such contemporary music ? ——– It is the evidence of what the unrestricted

freedom had achieved.    Theoretically it might be new,  but in reality its a trash,  nobody give a sit kind.

In political correctness,  its free to express any new idea, it must be one’s freedom.  But in the same time

others got exactly same right of freedom not to give a damn to such idea.  It is the waste of the life.

——————–

There was a funny quote ( sorry I forgot who said this though) ” If the God wished the man to play Foot Ball

he wouldn’t have given the hands to us”  😀

If there was no hand from the beginning,  there is no notion of the hand or possibility to image them—-so,

there wouldn’t be any complaint of the restriction not having the hands.  Just ply Foot Ball. (no punch up :-))

The notion of the restriction is only a thought of excuse by a person who haven’t actually tried it.

When anybody try long enough,  and to know deep enough,  there is unlimited possibility and the freedom.

To contemplate ” Who you are”  and to build your life  in its maximum possibility, is the Zen.

And the Zen Master called this  Jizai. ——- Being as Itself.

( Sadly,  I noticed so many people stranded on front of the door, puzzling ” Who you are”—-misguided

by the wrong but looks elaborated  words, words, words. Look at the mirror, its you. Who  else )

———-In the history, J.S. Bach’s music is the best sample of the achievement of such  freedom.

You should try  listen his  ” Art of Fugue”,  which was composed from the four notes  B, A, C, H.

Its followed strict rule of the ” Counter Point”  in the Fugue, to make the variation of those four

note in different order and permutation.—— And created such a universe of mesmerizing

musical time and the space.

His achievement is one of the epoch in the human history.