Self again

To a Buddhist, self is the most problematic subject for ever.  Though, surprisingly very little was   written in the scripture.  Do you know why ?   Because, it was the first problem of all.   As you might know, that, in the Buddhism, there is no self. (How to write about which is not exist)

Yes — NO-SELF but in here there are already two problem was loaded.   When we say “Self” there are two meanings or the Aspects of it.   One of them is a part of our mind, somewhat related to the Ego.   And the other is the notion created by its observation.

= If you ARE true ( = Rationally coherent) Zen Buddhist, you can not say No-self. —– ?   Why ?    If there is really no Self, even a word “Self” can not exist.  (If you say “No-Self” there is one more self in your mind who is observing your mind = you are not yet in a state of Ichi-jo = oneness)

If there is a land where no crime neither criminal act exists, there couldn’t be a word / notion of crime there.   Exactly same to this, when there is no self, the word “Self” is not exists. (Unless it was a fraud)  On the time of

Lord Buddha, the followers could receive his teachings in an up to the occasion metaphor or so-called upaya often using the action, there was not much difficulty to understand it.    With, the notion of No-Self, therefore No Perpetual Soul, therefore No Reincarnation, therefore No cast was demonstrated in the Sanggha as a deed (not the verbal explanation) = Everybody was accepted and treated as an equal followers.

Though, hundreds of years later, on the time of Mahayana, the scripture writer had to invent a kind of printable expression to explain the “Selflessness” to the mass without using the word SELF, such as in the Vimalakirti sutra “To give without having the mind of giving is The true giving” or otherwise “See as not to see”, “Do while not to do” kind —– they are trying to express the act without having the conscious of action (not such as a gray zone between two.) —– yet now, quite a lot of people still thinking that to sacrifice own self is the selflessness. (it’s just a devotion —– while riding a bicycle, your body moves without your self-conscious, so, you don’t need a devotion for bicycle = just ride) = It’s the same, Buddhists doesn’t need to be a vegetarian.

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Lord Buddha’s Stance

When Lord Buddha got his Enlightenment under a pepal (bodhi) tree, he received

a milk porridge from a village girl Sujata and eat it.  Since he has broken rank from

heard austere, denying their way, such as torturing the body wouldn’t bring any

supreme understanding of the Truth, so better remain to be ordinary,

this was his fundamental stance.  — So that, in his earliest basic teachings such

as the Four Noble Truth, the Life was defined as in a suffering.   Although the way

to make oneself free from such sufferings was taught, it was not telling like a

transcended vision, but showing a way of the living (of daily life = never staged-up

like walk on the water, or move a mountain but how to handle the things we are

dealing with every day’s life while living together with followers).

= This stance was the very foundation of the Mahayana Buddhism.  

(The reason why in the early days of the Buddhism appear to have so-called

Hinayana style was, probably the influence of one of the disciple Maha Kashapa

who was originally a hard austere monk.  (Buddhism took 5 hundreds years to

realize this mistake).

Another reason why such mistake was made was, that the core of the teachings

was to train one’s subconscious, not a word to memorize. = Buddhism is NOT the

theory/theology or IDEA, but the way how we see the things, react to the situation

or handle the things “without thinking”. ( = Just Doing)

The way to DO or to LIVE in this way can be learned only by the practice therefore

no point to explain it in the word. = Very difficult to teach, let alone to learn.

(To explain or to question nullify the point = like, to explain to be silent.)

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The back ground of those teachings was that our brain process the matter

unconsciously — consciousness comes far later after the intervention of the loads 

of “considerations” such as own gain, desire, manipulative trick, etc etc.

What Lord Buddha found was That all of our sufferings were emanated from those

“consideration” or Thinking, therefore to eliminate those thinking and live on the

Moment (you can only see “The Moment” = before or after/future exists only in

your mind/thinking.) you can eliminate Sufferings, also the products of

thinking/imagination = fear, delusion, evil idea etc etc.

Do or Live without thinking IS nothing other than the MUSHIN.

This mindset was described by the Mahayana Script writers as the VOID.

—– So that, the teachings of

Lord Buddha was nothing to do with a fancy stories of Deity or Devil, Angel

let alone fancy “Spiritual” vision, but the practice.  And the everyday’s our life

is the reality of our life = rather messy ugly phenomena.    This was why

Lord Buddha liked to mix with people, eat the same food (he died for

food poisoning of rotten fish = he ate anything = not a vegetarian).

And to live in MUSHIN in what life ? = Just in our life = as it is, nothing special

= just ordinary life — What a dog shit.   But this IS what the Enlightenment.

Lord Buddha didn’t tell anything peculiar or supernatural stories because,

that was not where he stood.   (He was not a magician nor spin doctor but an

Enlightened man = Buddha.  Enlightened wise man tells useful real stories, not

the useless crazy fantasies.)  🙂

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Utterly useless Banana skin —– still, this is the Glorious 700th Post for a festive evening !

You never seen like this or able to guess what this is.   They are the banana skins.

—– ? ? ?   Why banana skin was made like this ? —– They were left there to

become dry. —– Why needed to make them dry ? = It was for not to make wet

rubbish in the bin and to prevent the fruits fly to come. —– M m m ? ? ?

—– If I have a grown up teenage daughter, she must hate this kind of practice

and the man who does. = = = I know, that’s why I don’t have a daughter, in fact

any kids or even a possible cause of that, a wife.  

(I just read a small article which was telling about his awkward daughter.  😀 )

So that, to avoid to have a cause of trouble was a wise precaution, or wise choice

to have trouble-free life and seems to be a way to reach Enlightenment.

Sound very much Buddhist like thinking.   Though, this was an Hinayana approach

to the life.  =If the whole planet was filled with such wise Buddhists,

the human-being would be doomed.

As, Hinayana approach was to avoid to have the cause of trouble beforehand,

therefore, to become a man of “Do nothing” was the ideal solution to get Enlightened.

—– but this approach creates more trouble “Not able to follow the rules” = The more

rules, more chance to fail.   And anyhow most of the man was not such ideal person.

So, the Buddhism invented another approach called Mahayana = To have a trouble

which is natural to the life is not classified as a trouble.   A wife (or two) and could be

an awkward daughter(s) = they may be troublesome but bring a fun as well.

It’s mean, a man (or woman) to have life’s troubles is nothing wrong, it’s just

awkward that all. (After all,

Lord Buddha defined the life is suffering !)  = The matter of the Enlightenment is

nothing to do with those troubles.   No man is perfect, so, why imperfect was the

obstacle to get enlightened ?

Still, strangely enough, no one (well almost) stay put imperfect = but try to be better.

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So, this is where the banana skin comes in. — but not to make you slip, make us think.

Why fruits fly is not welcome and the fruits skin is the cause of trouble ? = Filthy wet

rubbish made by the fruits skin kind in the bin is the ideal breeding environment to

the fly. —– Still, fly exists according to the Dharma too.   All sorts of nasty bacteria,

virus etc etc also exists thanks to the Dharma.

—– If so, imagining own clean life and avoid to have a filth is just an ego and a

delusion isn’t it ?

Giving the opportunities of their life’s fulfilment to the fruits fly, bacteria, virus etc etc

it is a compassion isn’t it ? ? ?  —– So, how do you think.  (My guess is,

Lord Buddha would have given a smile but no answer.

And Zen master will give a good whack. = shut up, don’t waste the time. 😀 )

—– Have a nice holiday.   🙂

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Fantasy of Mahayana Buddhism

There was a reason how the fantasy of Mahayana Buddhism was invented.   

It was because the most of the people include the monks couldn’t get Selfless 

state ( hence not able to eliminate the cause of the trouble), therefore needed to

have an excuse = which was that having the sufferings is the enlightenment too.

(You have to accept the sufferings, and believe that you are still a happy person ! 

= if not happy, you are not believing strong enough.)  😀

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Lord Buddha’s teachings was, that the deluded idea of Self is the root cause of

all the sufferings.  So that, if the Self which creates delusion was not there in

the first place, sufferings wouldn’t be there neither.

When Kisa Gotami’s “SELF” which had been grieving the loss of her child has

evaporated through the “running practice” the suffering was disappeared,

even though the fact of the death was still there.

When the “SELF” which was filled with doubt and perplexity of Churi Pantac

(Shuri Bantoku) was eliminated through 10 years work, sweeping the garden,

there no longer be any doubt or hindrance in his life, hence it was

his Enlightenment.

= Essentially, to eliminate the subject, the “SELF” which suffers with sufferings,

the sufferings would no longer be existed.   But not everybody can achieve this.

So that, the Mahayana invented an easy solution to change the story

 “to have sufferings is also the Enlightenment” =

this is a religion, based on the belief and the blah blah not the concrete truth.

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Instead to do the actual mental training (desensitize the perception),

it was substituted by the fancy belief.  = Glorious stories were invented and

the Mantra with magic power (said to have :-D) was imported from Tantrism.

Many new Buddha styled god were invented not mention a lords of divine

figures from Hinduism. It was a clear departure from a fact based teachings of

Lord Buddha to a fantasy based mythical religion.

In metaphor, the teachings to swim across the river was substituted by the

fantastic stories and the pictures of Heaven on the other side of the river, with

a sales caption “Just come on board, this big ship will take you there”.

While abandon the practice to save oneself, instead, to sell the ticket of the ship,

using the same Buddha’s name is a fraud.

What a history.

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Why “Don’t Think” ? ? ?

 When you are walking, you never thought about how to move your foot.

Same as to read this blog.  You are using your brain and thinking “What a hell

this guy is talking about” still, it is about the meaning of “What was written”

but not about the action, [Reading] itself. = Your eyes automatically scan the

line and pick the pattern of Alphabet —– and in most of the case, you don’t need

to even think what I wrote here = as no sophisticated literacy or academic

knowledges were needed to read this.

So that, to read this, you don’t need to “Consciously” think anything.

Almost automatically your eyes gliding over the line.   (While unconsciously

feeling “nothing special = ignore this” 🙂 )

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Yet still, when the matter came to the famous theory of [Nut Macadam]

suddenly your brain awake and try to sort out “What this Nut Macadam is”

because you don’t know what this is, and you don’t want branded to be an

Ignorant = since this could be important and missing this might be

disadvantageous. = (Your Greed and Ego was alerted !)

So that, suddenly your thinking started to be in full swing. (Though,

no such Nut Macadam has a value more than a Peanut, this

thinking process would find nothing.)

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Like this experiment, you may become aware a fact that the thinking is

associated with the own ego and greed. In other words, your own “Self”.

“The Self” is so eager to defend the own interest and try to gain something

though, see the situation.    On the end what you gain ? = And in any way

you will loose all you have gained and die soon or later.

(So, Don’t think is in fact same as “To be Selfless”)

Or is it a game to make a life more fun ?

(Make a life more fun = this is in fact the way of the Mahayana, instead to

live sombre life with so-called “Contemplation”. 🙂 )

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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. 

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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.) 

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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.

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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.)  

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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.

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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.

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—– 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.    😉

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What is the POINT ?

Somebody who read  Spiritual Sound gave me a question saying

that I’m desecrating the holy spirituality.

On the surface, it may look true.  But it is the main purpose of this DIY  Zen Blogging.

I’m not Desecrating  Buddhism  or any holy belief.

To decipher the mechanism of our mind and invisible psyche in relation to the Zen is

the task what I’m doing and all about this Yoshizen Blog. —— May be I am demystifying the religion.

( I don’t need to indulge  Mythical Dream,  as I’ve been surrounded by too many spooky phenomena.  😀

My task is not pretend to be a kind of medium but to find out the mechanism how it is operating. )

As I wrote in the earliest posts,  the repeating Buddhist’s practice is, in fact, ware-out the mind

and make the practice routine hence make the person able to do it without thinking / in Mushin.

Mushin is a state of mind,  and it is nothing to do with any mythical, glorious religious belief.

To open the mind and the perception completely away from any thought,  we are able to see

and able to know the truth as it is —— is what all about the teaching of Buddha.

To complete his teachings,  Buddha ordered to his disciples  Not idolize him or worship himself ——its

mean, to follow the Buddhist’s teachings, even a notion of Buddha / Buddhism have to be removed.

Because,  Buddha knew it is the pitfall of the teachings —— even a conscious of  I’m a Buddhist or notion

of Buddha would utterly negate the effects of Mushin.

Remove the conscious to be a Buddhist or the name of the Buddha,  is not desecration of the Buddhism.

Since it is the very core of the Buddha’s teachings.

Simply, this is how our mind works.   And this is what the Buddha’s teachings.

——

Buddha taught to remove the own thinkings to attain Mushin, in his explanation, since the basis of

own thoughts = the self is not existing.

To fully understand what Buddha meant took 500 years.  Hinayana Buddhists took this to negate

the self, especially filthy part of it, smelly guts or uncontrollable genitals shouldn’t be there.

Then Mahayana Buddhists realized,  if they shouldn’t be there, why the Dharma gave us in the first place.

(Not to be obsessed with it / Middle way , is a commonsense)

The function and its mechanism of our mind / psyche (dynamics of our subconscious) was designed

or given by the Dharma, and it has been refined and refined (evolved) in past billions of years.

Exactly in the same context to see the effects of the repeating practice,  I described the effects of

the incomprehensible hi-pitched tone —— it makes our mind puzzle and open the mind.

I didn’t ask anybody to listen Hi-pitched tone or Mozart Miserere.  I’ve just shown what is the effect of

us to open the mind and the perception. —– then you might able to touch spiritual world.

Whether this spiritual world is sacred or holy mythical world, is in your belief / Mind —– but

as the paradox of Buddhism is here, as long as you cling its idea, you can not see it.

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