Karmic Encounter or just a Coincidence ?

From Japan,  group of tourists are visiting northern India / Ladakh.

At the introduction meeting of one group, in a sheer coincidence,

two of the members found  that they’ve got a common connection.   

Both of them happen to be my old friend. 

The guy was a younger member of our Alpine Club and the lady used to

work in the Uni’s Herbalium = a part of the  Science Dept’ where I was

taking botanical photos and assisting their expeditions and field works.

So that, when I had my wedding party in the mountain hut, they were

invited and indeed, both of them were there — long time ago !   🙂

—————— (Some photographs of Ladakh from my friend)

In practice, their encounter wouldn’t have any  real implications to the

two and to myself —– still, it reminded me that I spent more time to deal

with Botanics in the Hervarium, than facing the Rock while I was in my Uni’.

= This fact seems crucial for me to stock-take my Life.

= It’s mean, I haven’t been in Ladakh, Himalaya, Patagonia etc etc, but what

I did for the Ogasawara Expedition left me more legacies, exactly like how

the life in the mountain shelter structured me, far more than the life in the

Alpine Club. (— sorry, I’ve gone too personal though, without having those

underline causes,  Yoshizen couldn’t be existed as I am now. )

It explained well, Yoshizen was not a man sitting on the rock but kneeling

down and watching the flowers.  — and I like this stance.

[]

It signified my approach to the Zen Buddhism.    Unlike a kind of guru who rely on

the maze of mambo-jumbo (so-called spiritualism), but me to approach the Buddhism

from the factual observation with scientific, neurophysiological aspect was correct.

As the result, to see the Mushin as a fatigue of one’s mind and the No-self as

the jump-process or no-tagging of the Emotion.  Those prosaic definition had no

glorious Mahayana like ornamentation though, have you ever read the words of

Lord Buddha with a mythical embellishment in the original Agama Sutra ?

Lord Buddha was a rational scientist, hence had no delusion or illusion.

So, the original teachings of Buddhism didn’t have any mambo-jumbo.

(In fact, there was an urgent needs to explain that there wouldn’t be any danger to

reborn to an animal or lower cast like as newly emerging “Hindu” preaches,

because everything exists in relation (Karma) to the others, when the body dies,

the soul dies too = nothing remain to reincarnates.    This was what

Lord Buddha taught then, 2500 years ago.  Anything else was a mix-up.)

___/\___

[]

DIVINE Intervention

Yesterday (20 April ’11) this Blog became off the Net by which WordPress said that I’ve violated

their term —– ? ? ?

With my inquiry they explained, my blog is having many Spam comments on it and unless I remove them

the service wouldn’t be resumed. —– ? ? ?

WordPress got their own Spam filter Akismet which is boasting so much thousand of Spams has been

filtered out, yet still they showed some more spam in my Dashboard.

My understanding was, those short comments might be genuine, hence WP asking me to distinguish.

Some Spammer is a kind of amateur while web surfing (since it’s his hobby and anyhow spending so

much time on front of a screen) might got the idea to supplement his income while leaving his URL as a

visitor’s name and anybody click his name it might linked to such as poker site.

He might get some commission by the number of visitors there. Still, unless a reader click his name

it wouldn’t link to the dubious site.  It is harmless.

non

Even a spammer has his right to seek the truth in Zen Buddhism. Why not.

Many famous Buddhists monk used to be a bloody warrior or notorious womaniser before.

And because of its past, they came to Buddhism to seek a peace. —–The one born innocent and having

smooth event-less (rather boring) life —– it’s peaceful enough. He doesn’t need the Buddhism.

But the one who is having rather bumpy ride in his life, is looking for a different way of the life and for a

start, came to a Zen Blog like here. He may not an eloquent talker (if so, he have had different job already)

hence just left a short comment of “It’s nice” kind. —– I still obliged to say Thank you.

He was a visitor, which makes no difference to an eloquent Zen Talker.

non

Strangely you might think, I knew this (suddenly all the two years writing disappears) is going to

happen soon. A week ago, I’ve asked a friend, James Stevens of SPC.org who is running such as

OWN, a community WiFi networking movement, to archive all of my Blog in their huge HDD.

( I’m providing electrical, mechanical adaptation, modification to help them, which I’m good at 🙂 )

And all of my recent posts were first written as Open Office Documents and automatically saved.

Therefore, I’m ready to move to another domain fully intact.

—– And as it really happened, it must be the Divine intervention, me to move to independent

site, while re-organizing the sorting, indexing system.

(Though, I have no idea how big the task would be :-D)

non

It seems, as this Blog started with sheer coincidence, yet another coincidence like this must be the

another direction given by the Dharma. I myself is in fact puzzling why like this happen —– could

just be a sheer coincidence though, don’t ask too much. —– As it happened it happened.

Just follow and live.   So that, I have no complaint. And I know, a good reader like you are seeing

the same phenomena in your life as well. This is what the Life to be a Buddhist. Isn’t it ? 

What the best to be a Buddhist is, we don’t need to panic what ever happened, since it is in the

hand of Dharma.  We just go with it.   This is the confidence to be with Dharma.

___/\___

non

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.

Why Practice ?

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

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

——-well, he was young then.

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

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

thoughts, in order  to see invisible Dharma.

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

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

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

its effect, as a revelation.

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

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

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

intervention of the Dharma.

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

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

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

( which ever the case you may find)

———————

Me to start this blog site was a pure coincidence.

I didn’t have such intention at all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

part of my fate.

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

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

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

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

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