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Zen
Mysteries
Mysteries of the World / MOTW (Version 0.0d)
| Taglines: | Zen is a real mystery to many Westerners ... and to Easteners, including Orientals, as well! Are Zen Masters for real???!!! Did they — |
CONTENTS
1.0 Preamble
This webpage is about Zen & Its Mysteries ...Before we proceed, allow me to present the contents of a webpage — comprising book excerpts that I had presented under the title "From Buddha to Buddha" — that used to be part of a Tripod.com website with the URL "http://pq_zen.tripod.com/" and (later re-)named "Paul's ZEN Site (Sight?)":
Zen
"From Buddha to Buddha"
is that it has nothing to say and nothing to
teach.-- Alan Watts, Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion ( 1995 )
Here's the long version of what this webpage is about:
Buddhism is unlike Western religions in that it does not tell you anything.
It does not require you to believe in anything.
It is a dialogue.
The teachings of Buddhism are nothing more than the opening phrases or exchanges in that dialogue.Buddhism is a dialogue between a buddha and an ordinary man, or rather, between a buddha and another buddha who insists on defining himself as an ordinary man, thereby creating a problem.
There is a saying that "anybody who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined." In exactly the same way, in the Buddhist culture, anybody who goes to a guru, a spiritual teacher, a Zen master, or whatever, ought to have his head examined.
As the old Chinese [Zen/Ch'an] master Tokusan put it, "If you ask any question, you get thirty blows with my stick. If you don't ask any question, you get thirty blows just the same."
In other words, "What the hell are you doing here defining yourself as a student and me as a teacher?"
You raise a problem when you do that, and in the Zen way of training
, this problem is very clearly emphasized [often with some form of physical abuse! - Paul Quek]. [Check this out: The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
And this: Zen in the Art of Archery]
If you go to a Zen teacher and approach him in the traditional way, the first thing he will do is say, "I haven't anything to teach
. Go away."You may say, "What are these people doing around here? Aren't they your students?"
He will answer, "They are working with me. But unfortunately we are very poor these days. We don't have enough rice to go around. We can't make ends meet as it is. We cannot take on anybody else in this community."
So you have to insist on being taken in.
Every postulant for Zen training
assumes immediately that the teacher has given
him the brush-off in order to test his sincerity. In other words, "If you
really want this thing, you have
got to work for it."
That is not the real point.
The point is that you have got to make such a fuss to get in that you cannot
withdraw gracefully after having made such a fuss.
Every postulant for Zen training
assumes immediately that the teacher has given
him the brush-off in order to test his sincerity. In other words, "If you
really want this thing, you have
got to work for it." That is not the real point.
The point is that you have got to make such a fuss to get in that you cannot withdraw gracefully after having made such a fuss.
You put yourself on the spot and define yourself as somebody needing help, or as somebody with a problem who needs a master in order to be helped out of the problem. ... "I insist on being admitted .... I insist on learning the secret of the master here."
The master has already told you that he does not have a secret and that he does not teach anything.
But you insist that he does.
This is the situation of everyone who feels that life is a problem to be solved. Whether you seek to solve that problem through psychoanalysis, integration, salvation, or buddhahood, you define yourself in a certain way when you see life as a problem to be solved. [See also: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living, 2nd Edition
]The real desire that everybody brings to these teachers can be stated in this
way: "Teacher, I want to get one up on the universe. I feel I am a stranger in
this world and that life is a problem. Having a body means that I am subject to
disease and change and death. Having emotions and passions means that I am
tormented by feelings I cannot help having, and yet it is not possible to act
on those feelings without creating trouble. I feel trapped by this world and so
I want to get the better of it. Is there some wise man around who is a master
of life and who can teach me to cope with all this?" [Zen Habits: Handbook For Life
]
]This is what everybody is looking for in a teacher: a savior who can show you how to cope with life.
[Check this out: Everyday Zen: Love and Work (Plus)]
But the Zen teacher says, "I don't have any answers."
Nobody believes that because he seems to be so confident when you look at him.
You cannot believe that he has no answers, and yet the consistent teaching of Zen is that it has nothing to say and nothing to teach. [A Pocketful of Zen
]A great Chinese master of the Tang dynasty, called Linji in Chinese, or Rinzai
in Japanese, said,
"Zen is like using a yellow leaf to stop a child crying. A child is crying for
gold and the father takes an autumn leaf that is yellow and calls it gold."
He also said that it is like using an empty fist to deceive a child. You have a
closed fist and you say to the child, "What have I got here?"
And the child says, "Let me see!"
You put your fist behind your back, and the child becomes more and more excited
to know what the devil is inside that fist, and fights and fights and finally
is practically in tears, and then suddenly you open the fist and there is
nothing inside.
"Zen is like using a yellow leaf to stop a child crying. A child is crying for gold and the father takes an autumn leaf that is yellow and calls it gold."
He also said that it is like using an empty fist to deceive a child. You have a closed fist and you say to the child, "What have I got here?"
And the child says, "Let me see!"
You put your fist behind your back, and the child becomes more and more excited to know what the devil is inside that fist, and fights and fights and finally is practically in tears, and then suddenly you open the fist and there is nothing inside.
This is how it is for a person who is under the impression that life is a problem to be solved.
The secret is dressed up in a big way: to know it is to be a buddha; it is to know the answer, to solve the problem, to get the message, to get the word, to be in control of fate and the world.
Who wouldn't want that?
But if he is a master of life, the reason for that is that he has discovered the unreality of the whole problem of life.
There is not life on the one hand and you on the other.
You and life are the same.
But you cannot tell people that and just by telling it get them to see it.
People who know that the earth is flat cannot be reasoned with.
It is absolutely impossible to reason with people who believe that the Bible is
the literal word of God.
In the same way, we tend to know that we are each a separate "poor little me," and that we are in need of salvation or something.
We know this is so, and if somebody says, "You are not really separate from life; your feeling of separateness is an illusion," that is all very nice — in theory — but we do not feel it.
So what will you do with a person who is convinced that the earth is flat?
There is no reasoning with him. ... What you must do is make him persist in his folly.
That is the whole method of Zen: to make people become consistent, perfect
egotists, and so explode the illusion of the separate ego.
That is the whole method of Zen: to make people become consistent, perfect egotists, and so explode the illusion of the separate ego.
When you finally convince the Zen master that you are stupid enough to be accepted as a student -- by persisting in defining yourself as someone with a problem that he can solve for you, even though he has warned you well in advance that he has nothing to teach -- he will then say, "I will now ask you a question."
There are many ways of asking this question, but they all boil down to one common question, which is,
"Who are you? You say you have a problem. You say you would like to get out of
the sufferings of life and get one up on the universe. I want to know who is
asking this question. Show me you."
The master may put the question like this: "Before your father and mother conceived you, what was your original nature?"
And they add, "I want to be shown. I do not want a lot of ideas from you about who you are. I do not want to know who you are in terms of a social role, college degrees, professional qualifications, your name, your family. All that is the past. I want to see the genuine you as you are right now."
This is like saying to a person, "Don't be self-conscious. I want you, right this minute, to be completely sincere." Nothing is better calculated to make a person incapable of sincerity. ...
The context in which a Zen master interviews his students is very formal; there
he sits, sort of an enthroned tiger, definitely an authority figure. He is the
last person you can be spontaneous with, because you feel that he knows you
through and through. ...
The Zen teacher is well aware that he has played a trick on you, and now he is going to see how you will respond to that trick, what foolishness you will come up with, and then he will help you act consistently on that foolishness.
His trick has simply been to do, as if in an experiment, what society does to
us all the time. The high cultures of the world, whether of the East or the
West, play a game on every new child. ...
The game is called the double bind: you are required to do something that will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily. ...
The Zen teacher is well aware that he has played a trick on you, and now he is going to see how you will respond to that trick, what foolishness you will come up with, and then he will help you act consistently on that foolishness.
His trick has simply been to do, as if in an experiment, what society does to us all the time. The high cultures of the world, whether of the East or the West, play a game on every new child. ...
The game is called the double bind: you are required to do something that will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily. ...
In Christianity it is said, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." These are all double binds.
Anybody who lives under the dominance of a double bind is living in a state of chronic frustration. He is devoting his life to solving a problem that is meaningless and nonsensical precisely because it has no solution. ...
The Zen teacher will be well aware of everything he is doing and what tricks he is playing on you, but he will play them anyway, because behind it all he has the compassionate intent of getting you into such a fierce double bind that you will see how stupid it is and let go of it. This is what he is doing when he commands, "Be genuine. Show me the real you." ...
There is NOTHING you can do to be genuine.
The more you do, the phonier you become.At the same time, you cannot give up trying to be genuine. The moment you do that, your abandonment of trying is itself an insidious form of trying. ...
The way of Buddhism is to let go of yourself, to see that you live in a universe in which nothing can be grasped, and therefore to stop grasping.
It is very simple, but here is the problem. You say to a teacher, "Teach me not
to grasp." He will say, "Why do you want to know?" You will answer,
"Non-attachment is good Buddhist doctrine." And he will show you that wanting
to stop grasping is a new form of grasping.
It is very simple, but here is the problem. You say to a teacher, "Teach me not to grasp." He will say, "Why do you want to know?" You will answer, "Non-attachment is good Buddhist doctrine." And he will show you that wanting to stop grasping is a new form of grasping.
You feel that you can get one up on the world by being unattached to it. Just breathing is painful when somebody you love dies, so maybe by being unattached to that person I can avoid grief. Maybe when life comes and bangs on me, by not having an ego I can avoid life's pain. That is why I want a non-ego state.
It is a phony desire, though, just a new way of safeguarding and protecting the ego.
This is an example of the manner in which the statements of Buddhism are not final teachings but are rather the opening strategies of a dialogue.
Going back to fundamental, primitive Buddhism, people said to the Buddha, "I
want to escape from suffering." That is a perfectly honest statement.
All right, realize that suffering is caused by desire and try not to desire.
The student goes away and tries to eliminate desire by controlling his mind and
practising yoga, and comes back to the teacher and says, "This is pretty
difficult but I have managed to get rid of at least some desires."
The teacher says to him, "But you are still desiring to get rid of desire. What
about that?"
Then the student sees that if he strives to stop desiring to get rid of desire,
then he has got to stop desiring to get rid of not desiring to desire.
Suddenly he finds himself once more in a vicious circle.
He realizes there is nothing he can do about it and nothing he cannot do about
it. ...
All right, realize that suffering is caused by desire and try not to desire.
The student goes away and tries to eliminate desire by controlling his mind and practising yoga, and comes back to the teacher and says, "This is pretty difficult but I have managed to get rid of at least some desires."
The teacher says to him, "But you are still desiring to get rid of desire. What about that?"
Then the student sees that if he strives to stop desiring to get rid of desire, then he has got to stop desiring to get rid of not desiring to desire.
Suddenly he finds himself once more in a vicious circle.
He realizes there is nothing he can do about it and nothing he cannot do about it. ...
When there is nothing you can do about a given situation, and even doing nothing is doing something, that means that the ego, as something separate from the rest of the world, does not exist. Of course it cannot do anything, and equally it cannot not do something. It is completely phony.
The fiction of there being a separate ego — either to force its actions on the world or to have the actions of the world forced on it — has been exposed.
The ego does not exist except as a figment of the imagination, or as a player in the game of pretending that everybody is responsible, independent, and separate.
That is a great game, but it is only a game.
The whole object of the Zen dialogue between the teacher and the student is to carry the foolish game of being a separate ego to its logical conclusion, to its reductio ad absurdum, so that, finally, as Blake said, "The fool who persists in his folly will become wise."
— Adapted from Alan Watts, Buddhism: The Religion of No-Religion ( 1995 )
... an old Zen poem says:
If you do not get it from yourself,
Where will you go for it.
Fundamentally, this is in a sense the position of the whole Zen Buddhism
tradition.
Strictly speaking, there are no Zen masters because Zen has nothing to teach.
From the earliest times those who have experienced Zen have always repulsed would-be disciples, not just to test their sincerity, but
to give fair warning that the experience of awakening (satori) is not to be found by seeking, and is not in any case something that can be
acquired or cultivated.
But seekers have persistently refused to take this "No!" for an answer, and to
this the Zen sages have responded with a kind of judo.
Realizing the uselessness of just telling the seeker that seeking will not find, they have replied with
counterquestions (koans) which have the effect of exciting the effort of seeking until it explodes with
its own force, so that the student realizes the folly of seeking for himself
— not just verbally but through to the very marrow of his bones.
At this point the student "has" Zen.
He knows himself to be one with all, for he is no longer separating himself
from the universe by seeking something from it. — Adapted from Alan Watts,
This is IT and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
( 1958, 1960, 1978 )
If you do not get it from yourself,
Where will you go for it.
Strictly speaking, there are no Zen masters because Zen has nothing to teach.
From the earliest times those who have experienced Zen have always repulsed would-be disciples, not just to test their sincerity, but to give fair warning that the experience of awakening (satori) is not to be found by seeking, and is not in any case something that can be acquired or cultivated.
But seekers have persistently refused to take this "No!" for an answer, and to this the Zen sages have responded with a kind of judo.
Realizing the uselessness of just telling the seeker that seeking will not find, they have replied with counterquestions (koans) which have the effect of exciting the effort of seeking until it explodes with its own force, so that the student realizes the folly of seeking for himself — not just verbally but through to the very marrow of his bones.
At this point the student "has" Zen.
He knows himself to be one with all, for he is no longer separating himself from the universe by seeking something from it.
— Adapted from Alan Watts,
This is IT and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience
( 1958, 1960, 1978 )
Description: Alan Watts (1915-1973) who held both a master's degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He authored more than 20 excellent books on the philosophy and psychology of religion, and lectured extensively, leaving behind a vast audio archive. With characteristic lucidity and humor Watts unravels the most obscure ontological and epistemological knots with the greatest of ease.
2.0 Notes
Wikipedia — the very useful, user-editable and free online encyclopedia — explains 'Zen' as follows ...
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Chán.
Chán is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana, which means "meditation" ....
— Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)
Zen
Religion protects the establishment and the vested interests. It is a very subtle strategy – so subtle that for thousands of years man has lived under its weight without ever becoming aware of what is being done to him. Karl Marx is almost right: that religion is nothing but opium for the people. It keeps you drugged, it keeps you hoping, waiting – and the tomorrow never comes. Desiring, fantasizing about life after death is a sheer waste of time, energy, and also it keeps you stupid. Life is herenow – there is no other life. Life knows no past, no future, it knows only the present.
Zen is of tremendous importance. It is the greatest flowering of human consciousness yet achieved and it is one of the fundamental revolutions: it cuts the very roots of the so-called religious structure of the mind. It is not religion, it is pure religiousness. It is not religion in the sense of being Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, Buddhist. Hence to call Zen 'Zen Buddhism' is wrong: it has nothing to do with Buddhism at all. It is not oriented in the past, it is not inspired by the past – it has no goal in the future either – it is living your life passionately, intensely, ecstatically this very moment.
The very idea of this very moment is shattering to the mind because mind lives in the past and the future. And Zen is a tremendous blow to the mind: it cuts it in a single blow, it destroys it, it takes you beyond immediately. Zen is a device of sudden enlightenment.
Mind wants to be slow, gradual, it wants to move carefully, cautiously, guardedly, thinking about the pros and cons. Zen is a jump into the very thick of life. And life surrounds you within and without. Just as a fish is in the ocean you are in life. Don't wait for the next moment, live it now. Zen is a challenge, a risk, a gamble: putting everything at stake for the moment.
The religious people cannot understand it – I mean the so-called religious. And the world is full of them: there are Christians, and there are Hindus, Mohammedans, Jews, Buddhists, and Jainas – these people cannot understand Zen at all. Unless you get rid of all these ideologies you will not understand what Zen is.
Zen is not an ideology, it is not a philosophy, it is living in an existential way, not in an intellectual way. Zen is not concerned with words, concepts, theories, hypotheses, assumptions, beliefs, its total concern is with the immediate reality. The reality has to be encountered without any barrier. Unless your whole mind is put aside you cannot understand Zen.
Zen: Zest, Zip, Zap and Zing
(Talks given from 27/12/80 am to 10/01/81 am)
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 What is Zen? — "Liberation from Suffering"A fundamental Zen principle is that liberation from suffering comes from perceiving with your own mind your true nature and the true nature of the universe, and then manifesting this deep understanding of reality in your daily life.[...] Zen is as simple and natural and as accessible and liberating as breathing. [...] Although meditation is integral and central to Zen, it's neither the all nor the end of Zen. ... Zen can be defined as a specific mind-body-spirit experience or essence .... ... In Zen, the exaltation of deep understanding, or enlightenment, is neither a natural high nor a supernatural state to be induced, acquired, or bequeathed — or denied — by some higher power, external force, or fickle finger of fate. This deep understanding — and the joy, peace, and liberation it enables — is already within you. It's your "Buddha-nature". You're born with it, and it never leaves you. It is you. And it's in every animate and inanimate thing around you. That, in a nutshell, is Zen. [...] —
Adapted from 10 Minute Zen Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)
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Wikipedia also states that ...
— Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)
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PrajñaPrajña (Sanskrit) or pañña (Pali) has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how."In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, impermanence [transience], interdependent origination, non-self, emptiness, etc. Prajña is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about enlightenment. —
Adapted from Wikipedia ("Wisdom in Buddhism") (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajna)
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| ZazenThe heart of Zen — the key to deep understanding, which opens the gate to well-being [that is, nirvana; awakening; enlightenment; liberation; satori] — is zazen, quiet sitting.Yet, zazen can be done while sitting, standing, reclining, moving, playing, or working — in silence and solitude or with dialogue, mantras, chants, rituals, music, symbols, teachers, or loved ones. In every aspect and in every moment of life, there is zazen; there is Zen. Zen is divine reality; divine reality is you. You are Zen. —
Adapted from 10 Minute Zen Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005) | |
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CLICK HERE to find out a little more about Enlightenment via Zazen.
Continues Wikipedia ...
— Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)
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"Beyond Doctrine, Beyond Words"Zen is said to be "beyond doctrine, beyond words".Yet, all branches of Buddhism, including Zen, trace back to some ten thousand scriptures (sutras) that are regarded as the written record of the teachings of Buddha, the founding father of Buddhism. Zen claims no symbols, no icons, no formal religious dogma, no metaphysics. Yet, ritual, ceremony, and symbolism — from light and water, to flowers and trees, to colors and circles, to chakras and mantras, to sermons and fellowships — are very much a part of the tradition. —
Adapted from 10 Minute Zen Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)
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Bodhidharma & Hui-nengIn the history of [Zen] Buddhism, Bodhidharma (Dharma) [although officially the '28th Patriarch'] ranks second only to the Buddha. ...[...] All of Bodhidharma's five successors [in China], but particularly [6th Chinese Zen Patriarch] Hui-neng, contributed or elaborated several precepts that are distinctively Zen, including:
—
Adapted from 10 Minute Zen Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)
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Wikipedia further states that ...
From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan.
— Adapted from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen)
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"The Middle Way"Enlightenment, true liberation of the spirit, doesn't come from twisting oneself into a pretzel, nor does it come from saturating one's physical senses.It comes from a meditative practice midway between ascetic and sloth, from balancing a still body with a quiet mind, from a center point at which opposing sides are of equal distance and distribution. In other words, if you destroy your mental or physical health — whether by self-deprivation or self-indulgence — you won't have the wherewithal to awaken your spirit so that you might relieve your own suffering, much less that of others. —
Adapted from 10 Minute Zen Subtitle: Easy Tips to Lead You Down the Path of Enlightenment By Colleen Sell & Rosemary Roberts (New Delhi: Wisdom Tree, 2005)
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3.0 YouTube Videos
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3.1 Video Clips
The popular video hosting site, YouTube, carries several videos about ZEN ...Here is a sampling of clips about some aspects of what have been proffered under the label or banner of 'ZEN' ... Please do not assume or conclude that, just because I present these video clips on this site, it means that I am in agreement or that I believe in the views offered-proferred ...
As an ex-military officer, I assure you that I am in the habit of reading, viewing and digesting lots of stuff that I don't necessarily believe in ... We call all the stuff we read, view and digest, 'military intelligence' ... the same applies with 'business intelligence' in the business world, of course. Our aim, as usual, is to find out what others (including our friends, enemies, competitors, suppliers, strategic partners, business partners, etc.) believe in ... To do that effectively, we have to 'get out of the way', so to speak ... else we will never get started in our journey of exploration and discovery.
Tags: zen buddhism Japan meditation philosophy spiritual eastern prana emptymind zen zazen meditation Japan buddhism zazen meditation zen buddhism spiritual enlightenment zazen buddhism emptymindfilms Japan sotozen zen zazen buddhism emptymindfilms empty mind Shaolin KungFu China Wushu Taichi Temple Empty Mind kyudo martial Japan budo archery karate aikido emptymind Kendo Martial Arts Japan Sword Samurai Iaido Budo
3.1.1 Video Summaries (Selected)
Here are the YouTube video summaries:Title: The Zen Mind - An Introduction
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 24, 2006
Info-Description: This is a clip from The Zen Mind documentary, filmed in Japan. It serves
as a nice overview of zen - a topic very few people can fully understand.
EmptyMind Films. http://emptymindfilms.com
Title: The Zen Mind
From: emptymindfilms
Added: September 09, 2006
Info-Description: This is real zen. It is a journey across Japan from the small zen centers
of Tokyo to the enormous zen monasteries of remote mountains. It is a look inot
the very private world of the zen mind - the mind searching for enlightenment.
The superb Shakuhachi flute is by Christopher Yohmei.
Title: A Day in the Life of a Zen Monk - EmptyMind Films
From: emptymindfilms
Added: July 08, 2007
Info-Description: A trailer that shows the daily life of a zen monk in a large soto-zen
monastery in Japan. Some parts of this clip are taken from our feature length
film - The Zen Mind available on DVD at emptymindfilms.com
Title: Interview with a Zen Buddhist Priest
From: emptymindfilms
Added: June 23, 2007
Info-Description: An interview with Gudo Nishijima, a zen buddhist, on the practice of
zazen, or zen meditation. Took place at a zen center on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Title: Zazen - A Guide to Sitting.
From: emptymindfilms
Added: September 26, 2006
Info-Description: A brief explanation of zazen-often called sitting meditation. Filmed at
the Kokusai Zendo in Kyoto, Japan. This clip is from The Zen Mind by EmptyMind
Films. Produced & written by Jon Braeley.
Title: The Empty Mind - Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 06, 2006
Info-Description: This is a clip of the Shaolin Temple scene from The Empty Mind
Documentary. These warrior monks are students of Monk ShiDeYang, one of top
Shaolin monks and who we will see in later clips I will post. This scene is not
strictly in the Temple, but like most monks they train just outside Shaolin
Temple itself.
Title: The Empty Mind - Kyudo or Japanese Archery
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 14, 2006
Info-Description: Yet another clip from The Empty Mind Documentary. This is a rare
opportunity to see the great archers of the Japan Kyudo Federation. the
Location is the Meiji Shrine in Shibuya.
Title: The Empty Mind - Kendo at the Budokan
From: emptymindfilms
Added: October 06, 2006
Info-Description: This is part of the opening sequence of Kendo taken from The Empty Mind
Documentary. It is mostly the 2003 All Japan Kendo Championship at the Budokan,
Tokyo. Go to emptymindfilms.com for the feature length DVD. The superb
soundtrack is by Richard Brookens of Yellowbell.
4.0 Postscript
This web article is a preliminary article, comprising some brief notes and some YouTube video clips, on Zen & Its Mysteries ... More to come! |  |  |
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It is my sincere hope that you are not, or have not become, so gullible as to fall for anything bogus or nonsensical or farcical, such as falling for stuff like "Astrology" or "I-ching" or some such similar garbage ... including falling for anything that is featured, as a warning, in our public service webpages — our entire Mysteries of the World / MOTW Website is geared to warn readers and viewers of these scams, hoaxes, frauds and tricks, in other words, we are asking you to beware and be aware!
It is intellectually dishonest to believe in something that is not true, even if it is profitable (that is, even if it makes you a lot of mullah, money, cash, whatever); surely, you are not chained to the "bean-counter" mentality, are you? Because if you are, that is really, really sad!
If you want to be liberated or if you want to awaken, then walk away from that which is not the truth! ("The truth shall make you free", says the Bible, right? Yes!) Especially, don't be so chained to the money, that you become "richly asleep", unable to awaken from the nightmare of your own making that has ensnared you!
[Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening;puts it:
see also Living with the Devilaka ego or Mara]
Check out the following caveats/warnings/remarks on handling what are purported to be "Mysteries" ... the caveats/warnings/remarks are presented below our usual SBI! ads at the bottom of the webpage.
Cheers!
Paul Quek
Webmeister
Woodlands, Singapore
P.S. Some people ask me who is that cute PYT at the top of this web page ... is
she my girlfriend, they ask slyly? "I wish!", I replied, if not slyly, at least
dreamingly.
P.P.S. Have a look at the following YouTube video clip ...
P.P.P.S. Thanks to the folks at SBI! SBI! gives results!
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The Complete Book of the Unexplained
A Thrilling Exploration of the Earth's Most Baffling Mysteries
is a gripping anthology of the world's most mystifying conundrums.From eerie tales of curses, witchcraft and ghosts, to miraculous accounts of religious visitations and angels, it covers the complete spectrum of the unexplained.
Combining scientific research, witness accounts and historical evidence, the authors recount the most bizarre episodes of our planet — and beyond — in vivid detail.
Intriguing secrets of lost civilizations, alien abductions, mystical places, mythical beasts and stories of life on Mars are revealed, along with tales of individuals whose remarkable psychic powers have set them apart.
Guaranteed to astonish and intrigue, The Complete Book of the Unexplained
sheds new light on the deepest, most awesome secrets of the universe.The Complete Book of the Unexplained
A Thrilling Exploration of the Earth's Most Baffling Mysteries
[Adapted]
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| Truth in an Age of Deception  | |
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| The Weird 100 "TAKE A WALK ON THE WEIRD SIDE"Sure, everyone's had the occasional odd experience — the car
keys vanishing from your kitchen table, déjà vu  , the case of the disappearing beer. Most of them can be explained away. (The dog took your keys; you really have been here before; your roommate drank the beer.) But what about the true enigmas, the puzzles of science and the universe that can't be so easily dismissed? Questions such as:
In this fascinating compendium, Stephen Spignesi presents one hundred of the strangest, most mystifying riddles on earth including: angels and zombies, near-death experiences, crop circles, poltergeists, auras and halos, Nostradamus's predictions, possession and exorcism, The Philadelphia Experiment, reincarnation and past-life regression, Stonehenge, time travel, legendary beasts and mythological creatures, and more! Filled with dramatic photos and drawings, as well as "pro" and "con" evidence from believers and skeptics alike, THE WEIRD 100 explores the unbelievable while proving that life is a lot more
interesting — and infinitely weirder — than we
ever imagined. | |
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Telling the Truth (About Santa, Etc. ...)
One mother I know cheerfully admitted that the whole story was hokum and forfeited her children's trust for the rest of her life. A father of my acquaintance tried to stress the poetic truth of the tale and faced an embarrassing interrogation about his hocus-pocus with Santa suits, Christmas stockings and half-eaten mince pies. Another said, 'It's true about Santa the way it's true in the book that Long John Silver was a pirate.' 'So it's not true,' his little boy replied. An academic couple, after discussing it thoroughly between themselves, decided to tell their children, 'It's true that Santa brings you your presents in the same way that we speak of the wind hurrying or the sun smiling.' The little boy and girl, who concluded that the sun and wind exist and that Santa does not, never forgave them for this evasion.
A schoolmaster who taught my own children and had a very pious little girl tried saying that the Santa story was a parable: 'You don't suppose,' he said, 'that the things Jesus told in the parables actually happened, do you?' The child ceased to be pious. Fellow-Catholics gave me rival advice. 'Tell your boys,' one said, 'that the Santa story is an attempt to express the divine love that is reflected in parents' love for their children.' I felt this was good doctrine but that there was no place for Santa in it. 'Of course Santa exists,' the other asserted. 'He's Saint Nicholas, mediating for children.' I was prepared to admit this but felt that it tended to make the image of the gift-bearer pagan and abominable - which, I suppose, it is. I still feel the Santa tale is more than just another of the falsehoods we invent to manipulate our victims but I have not yet found the sense in which it is true or a way of expressing it which exactly fits the facts.
-- Thomas Dunne, Truth - A History and a Guide for the Perplexed (1997)
SPECIAL WEB ARTICLE
And if you think that the UFO phenomenon is just for the fringe crowd, the kooks, the 'need to get a life' layabouts, and the pseudoscientists, etc., etc., etc. ... think again!
The videos are a bit longish than perhaps necessary ... and there are some boring parts, here and there, especially for the 'fast crowd' with byte-sized attention spans ... but nevertheless the 9-part YouTube video is an eye-opener of a documentary produced and aired during the last years of the 20th century (specifically, in 1998).
UFOs are serious stuff to the Russians ... so don't take things too lightly! Especially in this new 21st Century ...
If the Russians think UFOs are real, and if they think they can reverse-engineer UFO-Alien technology to their political, economic, military and security (PEMS) advantage ... well, the 21st Century might just become a Russian century, and we might all just be sipping illegal Volka in underground resistance-movement hideaways (much like the French Resistance folks back during the Second World War)!
Now ... do things begin to take on a new light?
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| What the Mysteries-of-the-World (MOTW) Website is about ... In general, we are a website about the Mysteries of the Universe (where 'World' = 'Universe') ... and the term 'Mysteries of the Universe', of
course, encompasses the more staid and serious scientific Mysteries about the
Cosmos, aka Universe, including such mysterious topics as Supernovas, Black Holes, Red Dwarfs, Pulsars, Neutron Stars, and Galactic Superclusters, Clusters and Groups .... For the more sensationalised Mysteries, we are thus also a site that examines the Mysteries surrounding the controversial and perennially-interesting Roswell Incident, UFOs, Aliens, Anti-gravity Propulsion Systems and the like ... We also deal with
and so on and so forth (other examples of Indexes/Indices will become available) ... Along the way, we will examine unusual topics such as
And, we will also explore to the full the meanings of such terms as
This includes an examination of the various terms associated with what I call 'The Fringe' —
Eventually, this site will grow to such an extent that it really will become an all-inclusive and comprehensive Index of these and other Mysteries of the World ... proceeding from the Index Page, to every other webpage and every 'web article' ... As we are still an evolving site (and blog), our current system of arranging the Index of Mysteries (as it were) is a tentative one ... ultimately, we will achieve an Index (or system of pointers) that can bring you, the reader-cum-viewer, to each and every known Mystery, either directly or via various cross-referencings ... The Science of the Librarian will come in handy here, I am sure! To re-iterate: this site will eventually become an all-inclusive and comprehensive Index of Mysteries ... such an Index cannot be build up in a day, even with an army of eager beavers at work ... so that the Index will be growing, day after day, week after week ... Wish us luck and pray for us for God's blessing on this project. | |
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| Caveats to Mysteries Explorers, Investigators & Students ... In this web site, our aim is to see whether we are any nearer to understanding
the 'Mysteries', and even perhaps to see whether we are close to 'solving' them or reaching
some other kind of closure. Please note that, although I am not a scientist, I am quite Science-grounded so that this site is also Science-grounded ... and I embrace such ideas as are embodied in:
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| More Caveats ... It's incredible the things that people believes in ... such as Cryptozoology,
with its collection of impossible-to-find 'cryptids' (aka 'paranormal'
creatures), prominent examples of which are Bigfoot or Sasquatch , the Loch
Ness Monster, Skunky, and Chupacabra. "Penn & Teller [Bullshit!] - Cryptozoology" (Excerpt)
And, of course ... as an intelligent and non-gullible person, you should not believe in such nonsense, unless there is proof! Extraordinary claims must be accompanied by extraordinary evidence or proof. But so far, no such evidence or proof has been offered that would satisfy anyone whose explorations are reality-based or whose investigations are truth-based ... such reality- and truth-based explorations-investigations are conducted by the mainstream scientists (like the late Nobel-prize winning physicist and all-round maverick, prankster and amateur bongo player, Dr. Richard Feynman) as well as by the professional skeptics (such as the famous and much-sought after speaker who is also the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, Dr. Michael Shermer). It is so easy to fool ourselves — many of us are surprised to learn that the easiest person to fool is often ourselves! — as Dr. Feynman warned us when he gave a lecture about Science, especially that bogus variety that he called "cargo cult science". We also tend to see what we want to see or we believe what we want to believe — as Dr. Shermer observes and cautions in his writings and many presentations in conferences and appearances on TV. "Cognitive bias" and/or "perceptual errors" are terms that Dr. Shermer uses to refer to the matter. Besides errors of cognition, there is also a tendency to interpret many things
according to our affective bias, meaning an emotive state which is engendered by being easily influenced
emotionally by events ... And we should be aware that we also may be plagued
with 'selective memory' to boot, so that we interpret events out of the time
sequence in order to fit our beliefs, prejudices and interpretations of the
events ... Unknowingly, many people suffer from both cognitive and affective biasnesses — I happen to know a few of them in the real world, but these people don't seem to live in the real world ... Let's look for the simpler explanation rather than the dramatic or sensational, and often, impossible, explanation — applying with care the principle of parsimony (where less is often better), or Occam's Razor. Remember: a possibility does not equal to a reality! Many things are 'possible'; they have a tiny chance or probability of occurring, but they usually do not happen or cannot happen at all. Finally, if you want to see if you are delusional, biased, prejudiced, gullible, and totally ungrounded in reality or Science, then check out whether you have fallen into the trap that I call 'The Fringe'. | | |||||||||
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| This website is predicated on the basis of the following categorization of the
Sciences ... Four Categories of Science By Stanton T. Friedman (Former Nuclear Physicist)Some people have insisted that if I can't provide a piece of a [flying] saucer or an alien body, there is nothing to support my claims. I was quite surprised during my last visit with Carl Sagan in December 1992, when he claimed that the essence of the scientific method was reproducibility. In actuality, as I wrote Sagan later on, there are at least four different kinds of science:
In all the category-4 events, we must obtain as much testimony from witnesses as possible. Some testimony is worth more than other testimony, perhaps because of the duration of observation, the nearness of the witnesses to the event, the specialized training of the observer, the availability of corroborative evidence such as videos and still photos, or the consistency of evidence when there is testimony from more than one witness. Our entire legal system is based on testimony — rarely is there conclusive proof such as DNA matching. Judges and juries must decide, with appropriate cross-examination, who is telling the truth. In some states, testimony from one witness can lead to the death penalty for the accused. We should take note of the fact that even instrument data is dependent on testimony from the observer of the instruments, and on appropriate calibration and validation under standardized circumstances. Also, our courts place limits on requirements for testimony, such as that against one spouse by the other. Furthermore, there are rules about hearsay testimony, and rules regarding legal evidence are complex and detailed. When it comes to flying saucers, we must remember that the reason most sightings can be determined to be relatively conventional phenomena, often seen under unusual circumstances, is that most people are relatively good observers. The problem comes with the interpretation of what was observed. People watching the sky late at night may get excited about a very bright light that moved very slowly. Checking on the position of the planets at that time may reveal that that light was Venus, because we have good information as to the angle of observation, the direction of the light from the observer, the relatively slow rate of motion, the location of Venus at that time, and so on. On three occasions, when living in Southern California, I was called by people who described an unusual object moving rapidly. I tried to make sure that I analyzed their observations, such as, what time was it? In what direction were you looking? In what direction did it seem to be moving? Was there any sound? What was its apparent size, say, as compared to the moon (just covered by an aspirin held at arm's length)? Two of the people wanted to tell me that the object was just over the next hill. I stressed that this was an interpretation, because even huge objects far away can seem to be small objects nearby. In all three cases, I felt that what was being described sounded similar to a rocket launched down the California Coast when the sun had gone down, but while the object was high enough to still be in sunlight. I had seen such a spectacular case once myself. I checked, in all three cases, with Vandenberg Air Force Base, which launches many rockets down the U.S. West Coast. Indeed, there had been a launch at the right time in each case. One case was especially intriguing, because several witnesses were looking out across the ocean from a beach area and described the thing they saw as similar to a string of popcorn. It turned out to be the launch of a special weather satellite with extra solid boosters being dropped off multiple times. The people were good observers. To say the least, it would be irrational to say that people are good observers when their input allows us to identify the object being observed, and yet poor observers if we can't identify the UFO as something conventional. — Stanton T. Friedman (Nuclear Physicist)    Source: Stanton T. Friedman (Nuclear Physicist) Flying Saucers and Science Subtitle — A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs: Interstellar Travel, Crashes, and Government Cover-Ups
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| Nine Points to Note
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or 
) ...
— please click the audio player below:
to our webpages and 'web articles'
(click on the Mysteries Blog button on the LEFT NavBar)
As stated in our Mysteries Blog, the ' Mysteries of the World' Website does NOT aim to sensationalize any particular 'Mystery', although we
will examine and explore all possible viewpoints pertaining to each
'Mystery' — including the fringe AND the mainstream. We will, of course, come to a conclusion (eventually!) about each 'Mystery' ... even if that conclusion may eventually turn out to be 'as yet unresolved' or 'unexplained to our satisfaction'. |
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This Tier 2 webpage is based on the keyword "zen".
BBA (Hons), MAppSci (CompSci)
[Bachelor of Business Administration, Honours]
[Master of Applied Science, Computing Science]
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