Cheap or HUMBLE ?

These days, every corner of the town, there is yet another so-called

pound shop.  At one of them I found rather surprising item on the shelf.

—– Six energy-saving light bulbs for 99 pence.

Alternative to traditional incandescent light, those miniaturized fluorescent

light are everywhere. I’ve seen three bulbs for 2 pounds, then 1 pound, but

I couldn’t anticipate six for less than 1 pound. Those light bulb having rather

complicated electronic control circuit inside of its socket base and

regulating the current go through the tube to about 50 mili ampea level

—- hence, 240 V x 0.05 A = 12 W. And to do it, the circuit is switching the

current in pretty high frequency using high voltage Power Field-effect Transistor.

If I buy this kind of transistor which I can use in another electronic switching circuit, it may cost me

a pound each. So, I thought, even if the bulb is not perfect, still I can take the component out of it and the glass

tube can be used to make a kind of sculpture.

non

So, I bought, and tested them in my place.

—– The bulb worked as it is. Though, I wouldn’t know whether they last only 500 hours or

3000 hours. —– But, what I found peculiar was, the socket base of the bulb, its metal fitting is

slightly out of the standard. In fact, they are a bit larger, therefore very tight to insert to

the socket.     Think about, when you change the light bulb on the ceiling, stretch the hands while

standing on a wobbly chair, and struggling to insert or removing the bulb gripping the glass tube,

—– what would likely happen is, the thin glass tube may break, while sprinkling the toxic white

powder on your eyes,  if not cut your fingers.

My guess is, those bulb has been rejected by the dealer / importer as they are not meet the British standard —–

hence end up to the warehouse clearance sale,  then came to a pound shop.

The people who buy those products may not realize it is out of standard, even not able to speak in English, therefore

least likely to complain, not mention to take the matter to the Trade Standard Authority kind.

Anyhow, 16 pence each —– who bother to complain. 😀

non

As a matter of fact, this kind of trouble is nothing new.  I’ve bought rechargeable battery from the Lidle.

The 4 x AA type 2500mAH rechargeable battery £2.99 looked very very cheap —– on the face.

What I found was, they are slightly big.   In fact, they are 0.3 mm longer, which is in most of the case imposes no

trouble at all.  Though, I’ve built many home-made devices which is not necessary using ordinary battery case, but

having battery housing tightly placed in the device, hence the larger battery is harder to insert and remove. 😀

( With my test, they hardly show the proclaimed capacity of 2500 mAH nor having consistency —– and one of

them deteriorate quicker. —– its mean, set of four became useless  /  We can’t mix this kind of battery with others)

These days, those small and cheap products are all coming from China. Though China having their own measuring

unit, hence having the complication like a conversion between metric and imperial unit, therefore prone

to make a mistake to produce in wrong size.

Once before, I found a kind of toy from China which got two bearings inside, for one pound each.

Bearing is not a cheap item if we buy from engineering shop.   So, I thought if it is 50 pence each, it would be useful

for somewhere —– and I bought ten of them. ( got lots of bearings 😀 )

Then with my annoyance, I found their internal diameter is odd 7.5 mm and realized, this must be the common size

in China. —– So, I bought big screwdriver (of cause, also made in China ) —– and my guess was spot on,

its shaft diameter was also 7.5 mm.  I got shaft as well.  ( Best matched them are happy ever after   😀 )

—– To deal with cheap goods, we need to use our brain more.

A funny question is,  to buy those cheap goods,  is it a sign of  humbleness ?  

Or is it peny pinching greed ? —– I think,  I leave this question to you   🙂

___/\___  ( Yes, this is the Zen question,  Ha ha ha  😀  )

—

Virtue of DHARMA — What ?

Deep in the bottom of Dharma, there is the Physics.  And the basis of Physics, there are Atoms

which behaves or having its tendency according to their structure such as the number of

Electrons they got.  And the Atoms are made by the Nuclear particles, which were made by

the Sub-particles —– and those Sub-particles seemed consist even smaller Sub-particles —– and so on.

( According to the theories. —– Yet, nobody knows the truth, or it seems to be the unknowable.   🙂  )

I don’t think I need to listing-up the names of those and pretend to know anything about it.

Just leave the matter to the Nuclear Physicists —– as I’m not.  I’m only an outsider and merely qualified

to ask a question to the superficial phenomena.

Yet this question must be the ghastly fundamental serious one.

” Is DHARMA virtuous ? ”

M m m ———— So far what I found, the answer is Yes.

But if we take a  Humanitarian stance,  it is not necessary benign.

This was the reason why Buddha bluntly defined it in his Four Noble Truth, The life is suffering,

getting ill and get old and die, even though we are covered under the Dharma.

——

Long since a question of where the notion of Virtue in the Buddhism come from, was a conundrum to me.

The general morality is a necessity to keep the society’s unity and the peace, in other words it is the

obvious commonsense though, when it comes to a critical tricky situation, such as who should survive

when they faced to a crisis, blink of mass extinction, demise of the tribe such as a famine etc,

the compassion to others etc —– where those human virtue came from ?

To make it as a human duty to be compassionate, which appeared in the Buddha’s teachings from  its

earliest period, together with Four Noble Truth —– Its suggest, Buddha was fully aware that Dharma

is not necessarily kind to the man, hence need to take our own measure of helping each other.

Otherwise, Buddha would have said  “Ask your God to help you”  like all other religion.

But Buddha did know, No such convenient things in this world.  Buddha’s eyes were seeing

much larger picture ( Not having the man in the center, but the Harmony of the Universe in total)

—–

To see the nature and its evolutionary history, I can see the Dharma’s incredible kindness towards

the extremely rare existence —– the LIFE.

What sort of coincidence combined the some Atoms and created basic structural element like

amino-acid, and then simple virus / bacteria kind of Life form.

Far beyond the mathematical probability, while against the Principle of Entropy, yet congregated selected

Atoms and Molecules and to create Life, could not occurred in accident. ( —– If it was an easy occurrence

in chemistry, with today’s technology, artificial Lives could have been created already. )

Any moment in the history, in any global event, this process could have been halted and the Life could be

extinct long ago. —– But amazingly this history on the Earth continued till now —- billion of years,

as if there was a will to make it continue.

—

To make it continue, it is necessary the system of the existences has to be balanced,

ie; sustainable in today’s buzz word —– in other words intricate equilibrium has to be met.

This is What Dharma mean, and Buddha meant —– as only a part of the Dharma, man’s life

couldn’t be alone and trouble–free —– In fact, the man’s greed and the arrogance to expect and

imagine  ” It should be trouble–free”  is the cause of trouble in its own.

The balance is for the total system, not for the man’s convenience, since human is only a minute part of it.

Among the all the existences ( Dharma ), only but  the human, is having their own mind and the mean

to go against the Dharma’s Rule.

And this arrogant mind, greed is expecting more than the fair share of  which  Dharma allocated to man.

That is why the Buddha’s teachings says, to be humble and abandon the Ego / Self, in order to

achieve manifestation of the Dharma within —– Abandon the Self = Mushin ( Mind of No-Mind )

which mean let the Subconscious ( the reflection of the Dharma —> Please Refer to previous post )

to rule your life.

Like a compassion is in one’s Emotion / Subconscious (reflection of the Dharma ) inherently Virtuous. So, the

Virtue in the Buddhism teachings is not from the God or convention of the society,  but it is the Dharma itself. 

Hence, the teachings of Buddha is ” Not against, or struggle with Dharma, but live with it,

live in accordance to the Dharma.  It’s mean, observe it by yourself, and aware and listen the

Dharma deep inside of you.   And to live with the Dharma in Mushin, prevails the Virtue in you.

This is the Enlightenment, which lead you to the Nirvana”

—

When man-kind violated the Rules and destroy the balance of the Earth’s Climate Equilibrium,

the sea stream changed its course, and caused the heavy rain here and there.

Simply, the Dharma is adjusting new Equilibrium —– and, it happened to be in the Australia or Brazil.

It looks as if the Earth is intentionally giving a revenge. —– No it is not, it just happen to be there, where

no human used to live —– human is the one invaded the land.

Don’t exercise your Ego and Greed, and impose your own Idea. 

Virtue is not in one’s mind, but in the DHARMA.

Here a Paradox again, you can’t deliberately exercise Virtue, it’s appears in your Mushin.

___/\___

—

How BUDDHISM deals with TROUBLE

( This is the shortest summary of what I have explained in the past hundred posts )

Half of the troubles in one’s life are caused by  external situations or factors, which is beyond the one’s

control —– the one was in the wrong place in the wrong time.

Though rest of half were caused by oneself which are largely attributed by one’s emotion, including

one’s greed, sexual instinct and emotionally biased wrong thinking —– in another word, Delusion.

–

What  BUDDHA taught was the way to deal with those troubles by gaining the clear eyes to

see the situation  AND  the way to control one’s mind (include the Emotion and Instincts ).

——– so, it was the two-way approach, hence the complete package of the solution.

To see the world in the clear eyes with the understanding of its existences ( include the Self ) which are

constantly changing by the chain of cause and result,  is fundamentally rational and factual —— hence,

Buddhism never has a conflict with the science.  ( And the common sense.  😀  )

——-

And to deal with one’s mind which is riddled with Ego, Greed, Emotion and  Delusion, Buddha had

adopted remarkably effective way of practice which can Re-program one’s  Subconscious,

therefore able to eliminate all the effect of those awkward Ego, Emotion etc.

This uniquely Buddhist’s way of practice is,  to repeat the same action or thinking for the tens of thousands

of times thence worn-out the Thinking and makes the action independent and immune from any Emotion.

By doing so,  human mind and the body learns to do it without involving thinking and the emotion

therefore, the action became almost automatic (since emotion is detached) and extremely refined.

And able to achieve the selfless state ( Mushin ) of  the one’s mind.

———- As the result,  the Person wouldn’t be shaken by the troublesome event,  and the Mind can handle

the situation without the interference of the Emotion or  Subconscious blockage,  even awkward trouble

can be solved in the very rational and calm manner.

—-

–

Why Subconscious (2)

” How Buddhism dealt with Mind “

In this post, I’m going to talk about the practical effect of the practice which Buddhism

invented  as the way to deal with the matters in the subconsciousness.

If you are more interested in the historical, theoretical view in the Buddhism, please read

the Mantra of the Yogacara school. especially about the Alaya

——though I found there isn’t much useful insight.

Or you can look into a mountain of the books about brain science——again, they may lead you nowhere.

Our Ethos, notion of the Dharma or Spirituality is not operating in electrical, chemical level.

(Still, the hormone, Serotonin and Dorpamin seemed to have an effect to the deep contented feelings

but, of cause they wouldn’t make you any wiser or enlighten you )

——————–

Buddhism’s teaching method and its practice has been well thought out in the history.

Whether it is walking, banging the drum or sitting, what ever  they looks monotonous silly practice.

Yet, there are 2  hidden agenda or very effective function behind.

(1)  is what I’ve explained many times, it is to induce the selflessness, and disconnecting the coming

signals to the Emotion which contained the subconscious of Self or Ego  as well.

It can be said, it is to automatize routine work, together with the apathy caused by the mental fatigue.

(This is the harsh varier you have to go through.  Any soft sweet words to sugar court it, is a fraud)

(You can’t buy cheap Enlightenment in pink color.  Real one is pretty heavy and cost you, though

its worthwhile to pay.  Since the value of it would be much much more than your own life)

——————–

(2)  and the second purpose is to make you give up any

question such as what for, what would happen after or  think what others say.etc.

Here absolute obedience  is essential.   As long as you  keep fussing about what, why or am I good ?

you have no hope to go any farther therefore the teacher would just give you a nice smile, as he

is not operating in no win no pay policy,  to keep the student coming back is far more important.

So, the second purpose is to make you to lean giving up your Ego without any question or condition.

This is not easy matter,  that is why its have to be repeated again and again to imprint the notion deeper.

This process is to change the system in the brain down to the deep subconscious level.

And (1) (2) together the denial of the Self became complete, both conscious level and subconsciously.

This is the reason why, even if you  get the intelectual knowledge of how and  why practice,

it wouldn’t help you to get  Enlightenment any quicker, if any at all.

( So does, this blog too.  That’s why I’m keep shouting, Just Do It, yet still this blog would gives you

a kind of navigation guide to find  where you are.)——- if you can see where you are objectively ,

at least it will gives you a confidence, you are on the right path. (or completely wrong place   😦   )

——————–

So, the Buddhism practice will kill two birds in one stone.

Yet still, even with this practice, which may have killed off your  Me Me Me Ego,  the another animals

in your instinct is still at large.

So, this is where the rules, discipline comes in force to curb your greed, desire etc.

Still, from the personality profile, the one who could gave up the Ego, tend to follow the rules easily,

and the effect of the practice which had blocked the connection to the Emotion, the greed,desire,anger,

obsession, etc, even a fear of death, will gradually lose the grip and you no longer be bothered by them.

( I’ve been using a metaphoric expression ” The File has been Dilated  ” therefore, even a word ” Alcohol ”

is no longer exist.  So that a bottle on front, wouldn’t give any meaning.   It wouldn’t excite the emotion,

as it is not exist.  Same apply to another evil, money, drug, ghost, vanity, sex-mania ? ,you name it )

———— (Sound grate,  though your wife may not like this. ——— But don’t blame me  😀

There is an Old say, in its reverse Maxim,  If you can’t beat, run away.   Ha Ha Ha )

In fact tender Buddhist persuasion may work, and if you succeeded she is the first one you have saved.

——————–

When you read this, you may think it looks too simple.  —— You are right, since there isn’t much secret

in the Buddhism or the margin left to think about, since  the secret remained in the black box.

So far we only know the functional map of brain,  still don’t know even how or where the memory kept.

And even with the limited number of input, try to induce human like response with a simulation

program had all failed, since we even not know how many factors which may influence the result, were

hidden unconsciously.  Even worse, in a real life, situation and the perceived informations are never

static and its never same to a person to person. / Nothing stays permanent and each Karma is different )

——- So, the mind is still in the black box, but this black box is like a Nintendo, you don’t need to know

the internal electronics. The matter is,how to use it, which button to push, that is all we need to know.

Exactly like this, what Buddha found is, this button in the human life.  This is why its so simple.

———-And this is why when grate Zen Masters realized this, all of them were so annoyed.

The story of  ” Its a dog sit ” was well known even at the time, still another Zen Master

couldn’t understand  until he discovered it by himself.  Its too funny, but unshakable fact.

——————–

One of the most Not Thinking Sect, the Pure land Sect  (Which followers are just chanting

Nam-Amida-Butsu  that all, and may even  not necessary to know who is  the Amida-Butsu, still,

the follower can attain  the Enlightenment.——–( In this aspect,  the Zenist  is the worst.

They will make a question to Buddha when they met him in the Heaven.   Buddha wouldn’t answer   😀 )