I hate Apple.

Since I’ve put quotations from Steve Jobs on my previous post, some of the people got a

misconception of that I am a fan of Apple products.  Far from it, I am a proud Apple hater.

Never attracted to buy any of their product, therefore I don’t have any, except some discarded junk for spare-

parts. ( A power adapter with broken connector for Mac’ laptop, I bought for £1 from an Odds and Ends box

of a shop, wasn’t too bad for a  24 V power supply to use with stepping motor, as it is smaller

and having a built-in  fold-away main plug  )

The reason why I hated them since very beginning was, I hate their sales tactics.

Only designed and schemed for the way of money sucking system, was utterly repulsive to me.

non

Storing digitized music signal in a solid-state memory was a natural evolution, as I was seeing the last moment

struggle of Sony trying to cling the market by their Mini-disc, I really pitied them with a question Why ?

Though, I didn’t buy Apple’s iPod, as I saw their greed to monopolize the Music distribution system by their

monopolized  iTunes.  ( Before, I’ve been annoyed by their Mac’ design. Everything is incompatible with PC.

All the connectors are exclusive, not only the style of it, but the signal protocol, format etc, hence it needs to

have all sorts of converter. — On top of this, they are much more expensive, selling to the snobs who want to

show off. —– I despise those kind of snob most. ( Just watching heavily compressed signal of downloaded

porno, what  is the point to have so-called “ good in graphics Apple Mac “ —– don’t make me laugh.)

( Me to use bloody expensive full-frame Canon was not for fancy pretence, simply because no other camera

allow me free to use another manufacturer’s lens, even hand-made lens, while keeping auto-exposure function.

You can’t do this with any another camera —– I had no choice. )

non

The reason why I did put a post quoting Steve Jobs’ word ;

>>> you are not going to usea piece of plywood on the back,  even though it faces the wall and

nobody will ever see it. You will know it’s there,  so you are going to

use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.

—– is to say, in real life, he didn’t cut even a single piece of wood to make his product.  He was

not a programmer nor electronic engineer. — He only know the design spec’ which can sell.

He just pressurized others to make it —– in notorious draconian way.

Apple didn’t make any of their products, from single component (nearly 80% came from Japan )

to final assembly (in China).

But got most of the profit for themselves thanks to their inflated price.

non

I can imagine the pressure who supplied the component, had to face —– such as to make it 1mm even thinner

out of already minuscule 3mm high, and even with reduced price.

Everybody had to work for Apple while dripping their blood and under a fear of instant dismissal.

He was a man lived in grudge and the revenge against the people who has kicked him out of Apple before.

No wonder such obsessed hi-tensioned psyche shortened his life. I don’t think he had a happy life, neither he

gave any happiness to other people —– he only sold an empty vanity, a Myth to the mass.

When Steve Jobs realized,  that their brain couldn’t keep hold the Myth for ever, they opened the design of

APP to the outside designer ( in fact it was an ingenious solution ! ) and started to sell the APPs designed by

somebody else.  Yet another exploitation of others while running their money-making  machine for them.

And this must be the reason, why his Hero was real Ninja —– who got a deadly efficiency, able to carry out

a duty [to kill] in a most ruthless dirty manner —– contrast to useless fantasy in Superman or Spider-man.

non

Seeing his death, and seeing the wane of Apple, flood-gate was opened for the people to speak out.

So, I’m very curious to hear, how Steve Jobs could able to force his concept in their product design system.

( Steve Jobs invented nothing. He just used the existing technology and the components only in smaller, pretty

package = putting a lot more together, in order to give an illusion to the users that they can do a lot more.

—– To do this, the supplier of the component, such as camera, touch-pad etc had to work bloody hard to

make it even smaller with higher spec’ to fill the requirement of the Apple)

non

And interesting to see, how such as the Korean industry who got used to just copy, is going to do their future

business without having a sample to copy 😀

(—– It’s mean, the inspiration of Steve Jobs was at least unique to him and impossible to copy.

—– in this aspect, he WAS a unique man —– all the technology in the iPhone has been known

to the electronic industry though,  nobody else,  other than Steve Jobs

actually made it to iPhone )

It’s a funny paradox here. — (It’s easy to do, still nobody else but him did do.  He Just Did It.

It was a good sample, how to keep an Open-Mind.  And if it needs to be done, Do it.  😀 )

]]] non

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.

___/\___

—

Four-Leaf Clover

I know, everybody have a memory, once (or many times) looked for the four-leaf clover when we

saw the patch of ground covered by the clover.  Of cause I have, and in deed I found few of them in my life.

Yet, I don’t think it brought me any better luck —— and I’m not talking about the good luck here.

( Still, this post deserve to have a title of  Four-leave Clover —– you will find it  🙂  )

——

When you were looking for the clover, do you remember what you were thinking ?   Kind of play to the God ?

“Oh my Load, please give me a Four-Leaf Clover” —— I don’t think so.  😀

(May be you were thinking of your girl friend or boy friend —- to present the precious findings. How sweet ! )

When you are scanning the field with your eyes, I don’t think any thought was in the brain.

Eyes were just scanning and just concentrating for the task.  In fact any thought would be a distraction.

And, do you believe the concentrated effort, will power would help to find it ?   I don’t think so neither  😀

And if you lucky to find one, was it in the center of your eyes ?  —— it doesn’t necessary so.

Quite often we find the intended object somewhere periphery of our vision.

We read the small letters in the center of our eyes, other than the center, we can’t read and understand

what was written there.  So that,  when we need to find a file name in the list, we have to concentrate

and pick the pattern of the word in the file name.  It need to have a will to read.

In comparison  we can detect the pattern which we know already in the periphery of eye field.

But this vision were controlled by our subconscious,  not by our conscious  will.  When  noticed

it’s there,  we move eye-ball and capture it in the center of vision,  then confirm it,  Gotcha !

___

When I was in my Uni’ I was asked to join the research expedition to the remote corner of Japan or pacific

islands, to help the botanist.  ( As I was a member of Alpine Club, specialized in yet traced area or jungle

kind of terrain and doing botanical photography as well —– despite of I was a student of Sociology.  🙂  )

Strangely, in those occasions,  many times I was the first or only one to find out the specific plant, while

going through the field or jungle.  I have enough knowledge of botany but, professors knows a similar type

and so on far better,  and the information I had,  was only a line drawing of the plant from the botanical book,

encyclopedia etc otherwise 70-year-old dry specimen, of which the plant haven’t been seen 50 years,

kind of rare species.   Everybody was amazed  ” How you could see this.  You must got very good eyes ”

( Though, I’m heavily short eye-sighted )  “No no, I just noticed, it looked different ”  ” In 10m away ? ”

Of cause, the plant didn’t come on front of us.  I had to catch it in my peripheral view.

——- In deed,  our eyes or cognitive function of our brain is possessing remarkable ability.

Just learned  from 2″ size line drawing to distinguish real plant ( which is not necessary having flower to

stand out )  might be akin to a Policeman to apprehend a suspect, from a vague photo-fit.

It must have a very intuitive creative work to fill a gap.

—-

But before work out to reconstruct the image,  we need to catch it in the first place.

So,  how our eyes can catch the Four Leaf Clover in distance,  even by the peripheral vision.

In fact, the answer lies in this peripheral vision, and its subconscious process.

It’s all came down to the same paradox ” When you want to see, you can’t.  When you abandon  to

search, you start to see”.  And here, the same Blanc Space in the Mind is playing the role. (Refer the Post)

If you don’t know about the Zen, you might think this is contradictive though,  this is how our brain works.

Expose the perception in open-minded way,  which Zenist call  Mushin (Mind of no mind),  the brain can

receive far more information / visual signal,  and able to process them far more efficient way.

( Many years ago,  I met a man who is working as a railway station staff told me “How to find a railway pass

cheat” saying ” Standing and checking the passes one by one by reading the date on the pass is impossible.

So, we just standing watching the incoming passengers.  Then anyone caught eyes,  we look at his / her

pass and read the date.  We are reading the behavior and the mind of the passengers.  Standing and just

seeing the flow of the people, still we can distinguish who is cheating, far more accurate” —– Well said  :-))

——- This is why I wrote in the earliest post,  ” Just walking the street. Just looking forward without focusing

any point or taking any notice of street scene,  open and spread your vision from the side to side.

This is the Zen ” ( in easiest way —- called Walking  Zen   😀 —– The advantage in Walking Zen is, you

can observe your state of mind from your Peripheral Vision  (able to notice, both end of images are keep

moving while you walk) —– though, tricky part is, you only have to feel them without the conscious mind.

Still it is easier than to observe the state of mind of  Sitting / Meditating without Thinking —–

Thinking the state of Not Thinking is pretty hard to achieve —— Make your subconscious to observe

your conscious mind which supposed  to be not thinking = This is the nut-shell of  Zen training —- Training

because the aim is to achieve Let the subconscious to think and deal with the life —– Because of the

subconscious is thinking but you do not notice it = Hence you are not consciously Thinking.

—– Most important point to remember is, All the thinking process was actually done

subconsciously, then, conscious consideration such as tactical maneuver, social pretence  etc

intervene and mess-up the decision-making and push the life into unnecessary trouble.

Buddha’s suggestion was simple, Be straight and simple, don’t make a life complicated by

being messed up by unnecessary thought.  This is what the Buddhism all about.)

So, why not try your Zenist eyes by looking for the four-leaved Clover.  (Provided, if it’s there at all.  😀

Zen can not create something out of nothing.  Zen can only help you to see it )   Good luck !

___/\___

—-

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.