REGARDING THE WAY

"Why is your way Zen? Oooh, I don't Know..."

1995

Io non sono fascista, pero sono egoideato.

TATHATA

The Mahayana does, however, have another term for reality which is perhaps more indicative than Sunya, the void. This is the word Tathata, which we may translate as "suchness", "thusness", or "thatness". Similarly, the Buddhas are called Tathagatas- they who go, or come, "thus". The Sanskrit word Tat (our "that") is probably based on a child's first effort of speech, when it points at something and says, "Ta" or "Da". ...

When we say just "That" or "Thus", we are pointing to the realm of the nonverbal experience, to reality as we perceive it directly, for we are trying to indicate what we see or feel rather than what we think or say. Tathata therefore indicates the world just as it is, unscreened and undivided by the symbols and definitions of thought. It points to the concrete and actual as distinct from the abstract and conceptual.

( Η επεξήγηση των Βουδιστικών όρων είναι του Alan Watts από το βιβλίο "The Way of Zen")

The guru

Maharaj: "Rajneesh is not a small personality or small principal. He is tremendous - he is very big. He is a great sage.

When you already have a guru [Rajneesh], why do you visit other sages? Since you already have a great sage as your guru,

you should not sit here or come here. I do not like those shiftings from gurus to gurus. I do not like wanderers. What is the difference

between Maharaj and Rajneesh? Once you remove the letters (that is, the names) what is the difference? You investigate that

wanderer's "I", before you investigate others. What is the product after you remove its name.

What are you without the name or the label?''

(από το "Consciousness and the Absolute - The final talks of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj", edited by Jean Dunn)

The main characteristics of the number Four in Jungian psychology

Symbolic Representation of the Psyche. Torn between its four functions this is the 'inward perception' of a psyche striving towards the conscious realization of its totality but held prisoner in a circle of snakes, symbols of the primordial instincts. The four functions are symbolized by the four colours-blue, yellow, red, and green-of the circle of rays, while the striving towards conscious realization is represented by the four burning torches.


The Four-armed Sun God. As symbol of the dynamic aspect of the Self, the whole revolves around the sun which is ringed by the 'river of life'. Arms and lightning are 'masculine', the moon-sickle is feminine in character. The five-pointed stars symbolize what is still imperfect and nature-bound in man.




The Eye of God, symbolizing universal awareness, penetrating the flower-like mandala in which it is embedded with its quadruple rays.



( Οι ζωγραφιές και τα κείμενα είναι της Jolande Jacobi από τo βιβλίο της "The Psychology of C. G. Jung", Yale University Press).

Deal

I will be the politician
convincing you about my
Nutrasweet Passion and the Tears.
YOU will be the Business man.
I will be your Suicidal Ego.
YOU will be my Honest Partner
believing me
crying for me
feeling truly sorry
on face value
or any value.
The Check is sweet
The Purchase sweeter.
Behind the cash register
we take our time
and KISS.

2D

Wearing my 2D GLASSES
I watch LIFE IN TOURIST LAND WHAT I SAY IS
MORE THAN WHAT I SEE in THE TSUNAMI in the
BLOATED CARCASS OF THE TOURIST I SAY I SEE the
BLOATED CARCASS OF THE TOURIST TSUNAMI
TSUNAMI IN TOURIST LAND BLOATED LIFE I SAY I SEE
IT in 2D LIFE I SAY I SEE 2D 2D 2D HOW can something
SO SMELLY CLEAN UP something SO DIRTY? TOURIST
LAND can’T STOP THE TSUNAMI I TALK MORE I SEE
LESS I KNOW how CAN SOMETHING so smelly CLEAN
UP SOMETHING so dirty? PISS 2D PISS2DOG PISS
2DOGOD PISS DOGODS PISS PISS 2D. TSUNAMI.

Is the Big One hitting Los Angeles?

Dimitri: "Is the Big Earthquake going to hit LA?"

Michael: "No it won't. Half or all of the city... Balloney!"

Dimitri: "What about the Nuclear Arms race? After all, LA could be hit by a bomb!"

Michael: "A nice young man will appear, who is going to do what is necessary."

(from an interview given in 1988)

Beyond Ego

' I want my independence! I must defend my rights! If my mother says wear yellow, I don't care what she says I am going to wear blue!" Who else can possibly be saying that except the ego? Because it's saying very clearly ' in contradistinction to that person and those persons.'

How else do we make up an ego? That's what it's made up out of. I can't say I am god unless I hasten to add, as is everybody else... I don't care how many more hours I sit in the Zen center, I am not the Ego I am the Self, I am not the ego I am the Self। The old duality, we are down here and god's in the sky, I say that's out of date. We don't call it 'God' anymore we call it 'The Self'.

(ένα απόσπασμα από συνομιλία με τον Michael Hughes)

π.χ. ένα Κοάν

Το Κοάν είναι ένα αίνιγμα που δίνει ο δάσκαλος στο μαθητή με σκοπό την υπέρβαση τής δυιστικής του λογικής. Παραθέτουμε στα αγγλικά τα τρία πρώτα Κοάν από το "The Gateless Gate", όπως καταγράφεται στο βιβλίο "Zen Flesh Zen Bones", αλλά χωρίς τα σχόλια του Mumon.

1. JOSHU'S DOG

A monk asked Joshu, a chinese Zen master: "Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?"

Joshu answered: "Mu."

(Mu is the negative symbol in Chinese, meaning "No thing" or "Nay")

2. HYAKUJO'S FOX

Once when Hyakujo delivered some Zen lectures an old man attended them, unseen by the monks. At the end of each talk when the monks left so did he. But one day he remained after they had gone, and Hyakujo asked him: " Who are you?"

The old man replied: " I am not a human being, but I was a human being when the Kashapa Buddha preached in this world. I was a Zen master and lived on this mountain. At that time one of my students asked me whether or not the enlightened man is subject to the law of causation. I answered him: ' The enlightened man is not subject to the law of causation'. For this answer evidencing a clinging to absoluteness I became a fox for five hundred rebirths, and I am still a fox. Will you save me from this condition with your Zen words and let me get out of a fox's body? Now may I ask you: Is the enlightened man subject to the law of causation?"

Hyakujo said: " The enlightened man is one with the law of causation".

At the words of Hyakujo the old man was enlightened. "I am emancipated," he said paying homage with a deep bow. " I am no more a fox, but I have to leave my body in my dwelling place behind this mountain. Please perform my funeral as a monk." Then he disappeard.

The next day Hyakujo gave an order through the chief monk to prepare to attend the funeral of a monk. " No one was sick in the infirmary," wondered the monks. " What does our teacher mean?"

After dinner Hyakujo led the monks out and around the mountain. In a cave, with his staff he poked out the corpse of an old fox and then performed the ceremony of cremation.

That evening Hyakujo gave a talk to the monks and told them this story about the law of causation.

Obaku, upon hearing this story, asked Hyakujo: " I understand that a long time ago because a certain person gave a wrong Zen answer he became a fox for five hundred rebirths. Now I want to ask: If some modern master is asked many questions and he always gives the right answer, what will become of him?"

Hyakujo said: " You come here near me and I will tell you."

Obaku went near Hyakujo and slapped the teacher's face with his hand, for he knew this was the answer his teacher intended to give him.

Hyakujo clapped his hands and laughed at this discernment। " I thought a Persian had a red beard," he said, " and now I know a Persian who has a red beard."

3. GUTEI'S FINGER

Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When anyone asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy would raise his finger.

Gutei heard about the boy's mischief. He seized him and cut off his finger. The boy cried and ran away. Gutei called and stopped him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.

When Gutei was about to pass from this world he gathered his monks around him. " I attained my finger-Zen," he said, "from my teacher Tenryu, and in my whole life I could not exhaust it." Then he passed away.

SATORI

IT'S UP TO YOU. DO YOU WANT TO DIE?. ARE YOU JESUS?. DO YOU WANT TO BE HITLER?.

1. I know it's Zen so I'm on the right track. 2. I am afraid of death, but so what? 3. I don't know the answer. 4.The Guru's answer I forgot: "Are you a Jew?".

This happens all, in one minute.

SERENDIPITY LINEAGE

'Ενας Βουδιστής μοναχός που κλαίει,

ένας νεαρός Αφρικανός που τον κοιτάζει με δυσπιστία

και η λύση, το πεντάλφα που κερδίζει κανείς σ'ένα παιχνίδι ντόμινο.

ΧΙΟΝΙ ΣΤΗ ΒΟΣΤΩΝΗ

Πως έγινε κι αυτό! Ο μικρός γιός του Σάχη, ο πρίγκηπας της Περσίας Αλιρεζά έβαλε τέλος στη ζωή του και πέθανε κάτω από Τρία 4. Μου το είχαν πει: Είσαι σε όλα τα περί Ζεν εντάξει, αλλά ο Ιησούς αναστήθηκε.

HARA

The Japanese speak of Hara no aru (nai) hito, ' the man with (or without) belly' ; of the Hara no dekeita (dekite inai) hito, " the man who has managed (not managed) his belly'.

None of these implies a visible physiological difference but a difference in character, a psychological disposition.

What then is Hara no aru hito ? The answer comprising all meaning is: a man with 'Centre'. Hara no nai hito is accordingly a man who lacks centre. The man who lacks centre easily loses his balance. Conversely, he who has it is always balanced.

( From Karlfried Graf Von Durckheim's book " Hara, The Vital Centre of Man")