Ο τελευταίος αμερικάνικος καφές

Τα μεν "εσαεί" ου κτώνται, τα δε φαιδρά κατακτώνται.

FOR THE WEST

I believe in a modern Anarchist society in Greece and that a decent per capita income for everyone (without the least taxation) should be safeguarded by the army even, the State's sole reason for existence.

I wake up everyday in the belief that the people have succeeded and everyday I stumble upon powerful Mediocracy and heavily armed Police (who laid the egg first, indeed). Every fucking day απονιά for us and for the poor, on whose behalf the babylonian arseholes of the parliament swear they are carrying a revolution. Cuba, Cubita, Cubera!

Twenty three seventy seven

1917 to 2017

1994 to today

The beginning of an emancipation

Η γιαγιά μου η Χρυσούλα, από την πλευρά του πατέρα μου, ήταν το εμπιστευτικό πρόσωπο που έμελε να γνωρίσεις, μετά τον θάνατό της, αλλά στο αρσενικό γένος και σε μια άλλη ήπειρο.

 Leningrad 1987 (αναφερόμενος στον Michel Hughes)

THE JUNGIAN

"The Jungians in Zurich, they have a such rigid hierarchy, nowadays, a real clique, even I myself would not be able to join."

Michael Hughes on Jungian hierarchy

Το παιδί και η θάλασσα

Κοίτα το κύμα! Το μικρό είναι της πλάσης, το μεγάλο η ανθρώπινη μανία.

Ποιο από τα δύο θα διαλέξεις και πώς θα τα ξεχωρίσεις;  Σκέψου!

Enjoy!

   "The Dalai Lama was the first one to speak, as he turned finally to Jinpa and spoke in Tibetan.

     'He's saying, Archbishop, that you spoke about how wonderful your father was when he was sober,' Jinpa said, translating for the Dalai Lama. 'It was only when he was drunk that these things happened. So it's alcohol that is to blame, really."

     'So,' the Dalai Lama now added, 'I think even he is a very, very kind person and when he was drunk, he is not the real person.'

     'Thank you,'  said the Archbishop."

(The Book of Joy, Lasting Happiness in a Changing World.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN

Be still and know,

stop and be,

be still and see;

Smile to to the cloud in your tea.

(The Zen Calligraphy of THICH NHAT HANH)

The Two Oceans

The one wave Pacifies, the other Dubs 

under one roof, this slimey, horny guitar...

Arriving at destination

I arrive in Hollywood and Michael Hilary Hughes is at the front lawn greeting me. At the same time, a fat doctor in Zurich is standing at the gates peeking at the scene.

Ι sense I have to keep the two separated. Instead, I will be the fat crazy bull in Athens and keep the rest, in mind and heart, as Myself.

Ο ΖΕΝΕΤΣΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΝΑΝΣΕΝ

Η πιο μικρή γάτα του Χιουζ μεγάλωσε μαζί μου και θα πέθαινε διαφορετικά μαζί μου, αν δεν ήθελε ο Θεός να την κοπανήσει μετά το θάνατο του*.

*σημ.: του Χιουζ

The Markets

"For you monsieur, the Self now owns 51 percent of the stock."

The Master on Dimitri's progress

The Data

"You have plenty of psychological data but you have to sort them out, like picking channels on your TV."

Michael H. Hughes on psychological television

No escape, no problem

We already have everything we need. There is no need for self improvement.

All these trips that we lay on ourselves - the heavy duty fearing that we're bad and hoping that we're good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy, and the addictions of all kinds - never touch our basic wealth.

They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here.

This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.

(PEMA CHODRON, "Start where you are" - Harper Collins Publishers, 1994)

A Cross (renovated 2005)

Ένας μπλε, διάτρητος Σταυρός, πλακέ σε χαλαζί εντύπωση. Ήλιος. 

Αυτός ο θάνατος ήμουν εγώ.

Το τσιγάρο

΄Απονος, Ιάπων, Απών;

Για έναν κάποιον Ρόσι

Όλα τα λουλούδια πάνω της, ήρθε ωστόσο η ώρα του φαγητού.

Όλα στρωμένα, με χιλιάδες γλυκά και δώρα.

Ύστερα εγώ, εξήντα και αξυριστος, ξετυλίγω, τι, μια ανθόδεσμη; 

Καμπανάκι.

Συγκεντρώνεται σόλο ένας μαθητής, για έναν λόγο μονάχα: να παίξει ένα αλλαλάζον κύμβαλο.

"Τα γυαλιά θεία και ένα μαύρο πανί!" 

Κομψά δάχτυλα, παρ' όλα αυτά, ώριμα.

Μελαχρινόξανθο σου βγήκε, πάντως λίγο τραυλό και θα σου ζήσει.

How can you lose?

" 'I am afraid I will lose my Spirit!' Who says that? How on earth can you lose your Inner Spirit?"

Michael Hughes on losing

The Flaming Vehicle

I see under the colors of the Tibetan flag a flaming horse!

Mu - psychodynamics (as I see it)

   Bull          -        Whip & Rope         -         Man

     ^                              ^                              ^

Unconscious     -     Personal will       -      Divine/Logos          

The Systems of Νature

"What is the best system we know of? That is Nature. We are not talking about a distant part of the galaxy someplace, or a dog or a cat or something of this sort. We are talking  about what is here with us, constantly, under all conditions, I have to know that, I have to know how this system operates before I know of anything else.".

  

MIchael Hughes on "the natural forces"

Dualogue

"We find now that we establish an inner dualogue. Isn't that what meditation is about?"

Michael Hughes on meditation

Life

"We talk about following God's Will, but it's a very, very high skill to know what that Will is. I would be happy to follow a set of rules but life isn't made that way; We make it up as we go along."


Michael Hilary Hughes on life and its mysteries

Ha!

Boundless wind and moon -the eye within eyes,

Inexhaustible heaven and earth -the light beyond light,

The willow dark, the flower bright -ten thousand houses:

Knock at any door -there's one who will respond.

(THE BLUE CLIFF RECORD)

The Politics of Illusion

"The third wave of democratization and contemporary anxieties about the future of liberal democracy and how both the Left and Right entertain fantasies about the abolition of government. 

 How, as well, contemporary developing countries represent the fulfillment of these fantasies but how we take institutions for granted, which in fact have no idea where they come from!"

(THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER  by Francis Fukuyama, 2011)

Lila or god's play

"I am a hidden Treasure that I yearn to be known, so I create creatures to learn to know myself."

A Sufi parable

The hero with a thousand faces

 
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder (x): fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won (y): the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man (z).

Joseph Campbell

The concept of the Collective Unconscious

"There are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in life. Endless repetition has engraved these experiences into our psychic constitution, not in the form of images filled with content, but at first, as forms without content, representing merely the possibility of a certain type of perception and action.

When a situation occurs which corresponds to a given archetype, that archetype becomes activated and compulsively appears, which, like an instinctual drive, gains its way against all reason and will, or else produces a conflict of pathological dimensions, that is to say, a neurosis."

(From Jung's book, THE ARCHETYPES AND THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS)

MAHA ATI

5. Taming the Bull

      Once caught, the taming of the bull is achieved by the precision of meditative panoramic awareness and the sharp whip of transcendental knowledge. The Bodhisattva has accomplished the transcendent acts (paramitas) - not dwelling on anything.

(Yet another view of the "taming" by Chogyam the Kusulu)

SUMMER MONDAY

A solar eclipse in America,

a small rain in Kolonaki. 

(As above, so below)

Η βρώμικη υπόθεση Ραζνίς

Άνοιξε μαμαά, είναι η Ασφάλεια!  

"Ποιός είναι παιδί μου;"  Μόλις μπούκαρε ωστόσο ένας μελαχρινός νέος, με γένι, φοράει και γυαλιά. Πολύ μοδάτος.

"Γέρος είπες είναι; "  Όχι, αλλά είναι ίδιος ο μπάτσος του Κόσμου.

"Καλά άστονε να μπει ".

ΦΩΤΙΣΗ

"Η φώτιση είναι πάντοτε ξαφνική. Δεν υπάρχει σταδιακά δρόμος προς αυτήν, επειδή κάθε τι σταδιακό ανήκει στο νου και η φώτιση δεν είναι στο νου.  Όλοι οι βαθμοί ανήκουν στο νου και η φώτιση είναι πέρα από αυτόν. Γι'αυτό λοιπόν, δεν μπορείς να  αναπτυχθείς σταδιακά μέσα στη φώτιση. Απλώς πηδάς μέσα της. Δεν μπορείς να κινηθείς βήμα-βήμα.

Δεν υπάρχουν βήματα. Η φώτιση είναι σαν την άβυσσο. Είτε πηδάς μέσα της είτε δεν πηδάς".

(Από το βιβλίο του  Osho, ΟΥΤΕ ΝΕΡΟ ΟΥΤΕ ΦΕΓΓΑΡΙ - Σχόλια πάνω σε Ιστορίες από το Ζεν)

No Water, No Moon

   Η μοναχή Τσιγιόνο μελετούσε για χρόνια, μα αδυνατούσε να βρεί τη φώτιση. Μια νύχτα, μετέφερε έναν παλιό κουβά, γεμάτο με νερό. Καθώς περπατούσε, παρατηρούσε μια αντανάκλαση της πανσελήνου μέσα στο νερό του κουβά.

   Ξαφνικά, τα καλαμένια χερούλια που κρατούσαν τον κουβά ενωμένο έσπασαν κι ο κουβάς διαλύθηκε. Το νερό χύθηκε, η αντανάκλαση του φεγγαριού εξαφανίστηκε

και η Τσιγιόνο φωτίστηκε.

   

 Έγραψε αυτούς τούς στίχους:

     Από 'δω κι από 'κει

     τον κουβά να κρατήσω προσπάθησα

     ελπίζοντας πως το αδύναμο 

     καλάμι ποτέ δεν θα έσπαγε.

    

     Ξαφνικά ο πάτος έσπασε.

     Ούτε νερό ούτε φεγγάρι στο νερό.

     Η κενότητα στα χέρια μου. 

(Από το βιβλίο του OSHO)

Okey, dokey

All is revealed as it is now.

All is realised as it is now.

All is enlightened as it is now.

OK!

a poem by Soen Nakagawa

Self-doubt

"All I know is I exist. The rest is existential doubt and fears."

Michael Hughes on 'existential crisis'

SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE

''Toute la vie des sociétés dans lesquelles règnent les conditions modernes de production s’annonce comme une immense accumulation de spectacles. Tout ce qui était directement vécu s’est éloigné dans une représentation.''

Guy Debord - La société du spectacle

Wake Up !

"Then, as one who breaks the first bamboo joint finds all the rest easy to separate, having discerned the cause of death as birth, and the cause of birth as deeds, he gradually came to see the truth; death comes from birth, birth comes from deeds, deeds come from attachment, attachment comes from desire, desire comes from perception, perception comes from sensation, sensation comes from the six sense organs, the six sense organs come from individuality, individuality comes from consciousness.

In him, thus freed, arose knowledge and freedom, and he knew that rebirth was at an end, and that the goal had been reached."

(from Jack Kerouac's, 'Wake up --- A Life of the Buddha')

Δε θα γιορτάσω άλλο

Είναι ένα βρέφος με ανοιχτό το αριστερό μάτι,

που το αγκαλιάζει τρυφερά η μητέρα του.

ΜΙΑ ΠΑΛΙΑ ΑΝΤΙΛΗΨΗ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΜΠΗΙΑΣ

Προβάρω το βουβάλι

σαν ένα ασκί,

και το φυσάω ανάποδα.

SHIKANTAZA

I am Shojo zen 

because of Hughes,

and on the wings

of Mahayana

because of Taizan Maezumi.

ΤΟ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟ ΦΥΛΟ

"Σήκωσε το βλέμμα από το βιβλίο της. Τι πλήξη όλα αυτά τα τσιτάτα περί έλλειψης επικοινωνίας! Αν θέλουμε πραγματικά να επικοινωνήσουμε το κατορθώνουμε, περισσότερο ή λιγότερο καλά. Εντάξει, όχι με όλο τον κόσμο, αλλά με δυο τρεις ανθρώπους."

Σιμόν ντε Μποβουάρ

Αυτοκτονικότητα

Συνήθως, ένα άτομο που πάσχει από Μανιοκατάθλιψη

δεν μπορεί να υπερβεί το επίπεδο "πέντε", των Ζέν ταύρων.

Omega Doom

"I am the bastard child of two deeply confused parents, one of whom I am ashamed of, the other of whom is ashamed of me. None of us are on speaking terms, for which we are all grateful. My parents are intimately conjoined in their displeasure with the present; both want to replace it quickly with a set of arrangements more suited to their inclinations. One wants to tear down; the other to build up. You might think they were made for each other, would go together, hand in hand, a marriage made in transformational heaven. Years after the divorce none of us is so sure."

(BOOMERITIS by Ken Wilber, A novel that will set you free)

A MESSAGE

there

 is

absolutely

 no

inevitability

as

long

as

there

is 

a

willingness

to

contemplate

what

is

happening

(Marshall Mc Luhan and Quentin Fiore)

ΣΑΜΑΝΙΣΜΟΣ!

"Κατά τη διάρκεια ενός σαμανιστικού ταξιδιού, ο σαμάνος μπαίνει μέσα σε μια μεταβαλλόμενη κατάσταση συνείδησης, με σκοπό να ταξιδέψει έξω από το χρόνο και το χώρο, μέσα σε αυτό που ο Carlos Castaneda ονόμαζε μη συνήθη πραγματικότητα ή μέσα σε αυτό που εγώ ονομάζω παράλληλο σύμπαν.

Τυπικά, ο σαμάνος ακούει κάποιο είδος ρυθμικών κρουστών, που μεταφέρουν την ψυχή του, μέσα στη μη-συνήθη πραγματικότητα. Σε αυτά τα ταξίδια, ο σαμάνος ανακτά πληροφορίες από τα πνεύματα βοηθούς, τα αγαθοεργά πνεύματα, τα οποία και είναι διαθέσιμα, στη μη συνήθη πραγματικότητα, να παράσχουν θεραπευτική βοήθεια και να εξασφαλίσουν πληροφορίες, για τους ασθενείς, την οικογένεια και την κοινότητα τους."

(Σαμανιστικό ταξίδι, Sandra Ingerman, εκδόσεις "Μουσείο Κομπολογίου-Θεραπευτικά Μπλε)

THE RIGHT SPOT

"Wherever you are, whatever you find yourself doing, follow this instruction: I am exactly in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, for the right reason''.

Michael H Hughes

THE JUDGEMENT

Return. Success.

Going out and coming in without error.

Friends come without blame.

To and fro goes the way.

On the seventh day comes return.

It furthers one to have somewhere to go.

 

 

(From the I CHING or Book of Changes)  

Ο ΜΥΘΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΜΗΤΡΙΑΡΧΙΑΣ

"There is little doubt that the public's interest in primitive matriarchies has been revived. 

Suddenly magazine articles and books appear, attesting to a former Rule by Women as well as to an archaic life-style presumed to differ radically from our own... Because no matriarchies persist anywhere at the present time."   

(Joan Bamberger, "The Myth of Matiarchy: Why men rule in primitive society')

ΤΟ ΗΘΟΣ

Ο

άθραυστος

νέος

που

πήγε

ένα 

βήμα

πίσω

στο

ήθος

είναι

ίσως

ο

ήσυχος

κύριος

αυτός

που

φεύγει

ένα

βήμα 

εμπρός

πάνω

στους

κύκλους

του

μίσους.

Z

The blue indigo is not a Greek conspiracy.

Maitreya

"Maitreya's coming was delayed therefore until July 1977, when He said He would wait no longer. On 8 July 1977, He descended from His retreat 6,000 metres high in the Himalaya.

He spent several days on the plains of Pakistan, acclimatizing Himself. On 19 July 1977, He entered London, England, where He still lives as an apparently ordinary member of the Asian community. There He awaits an invitation from humanity to come forward as the World Teacher."

(MAITREYA'S MISSION by Benjamin Creme)

The guru

"If you want Michael as your guru, go sit in his chair".

On the guru and the disciple by Michael Hughes

COMING HOME

"Your coming home means one thing: That the time has come to give something back to the country, of what you've learned here!" 

Michael on the Return

THE ΑΝΙΜΑ

"The spirit as the woman (usually the right side of the brain) can be our poetic and religious side. On the other hand, she can be a bitch!"

Hughes on the female side of the psyche

Making do

"Sometimes it may be difficult. but we don't lose courage. We have to cope:  no matter how hard it gets, make do!"

Michael H. Hughes

A ZEN COSTUME

" I don't have to be peculiarly Zen, wear a costume and sing hymns, if I don't want to. Zen is the spirit of it."

Michael Hilary on Zen as a "fashion" show

Fireflies

From the solemn gloom of the temple

children run out to sit in the dust.

God watches them play

and forgets the priest.

Rabindranath Tagore

THE CONVOCATION OF THE ASSEMBLY

One day, at the time for breaking fast, the World-Honored One enrobed and, carrying his bowl, made his way into the great city of Shravasti to beg for his food. In the midst of the city he begged from door to door according to rule. This done, he returned to his retreat and took his meal. When he had finished he put away his robe and begging bowl, washed his feet, arranged his seat and sat down.

(from The Diamond Sutra)

NIPPON

Some come to Japan expecting to find a country filled with polite and reserved people and are shocked to see the loud and boisterous behavior coming out of bars in the evening. Others may be disappointed to find small plastic bathtubs in their apartments after hearing so much about the spacious Japanese baths. For some, it is a shock to see the run-down quality of public institutions, such as schools, hospitals and government offices, when Japan is supposed to be one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

Japan is, in fact, full of such contradictions. People seem polite and yet at times are outright rude or even cruel. They seem to be obsessed with cleanliness, and yet many places are filled with garbage and clutter.

The serenity and peacefulness found in temple gardens are quickly erased by the loudspeakers of the yakiimo man (selling hot sweet potatoes), the right wingers' jeeps, and the election campaign trucks. People seem to be indirect and yet direct.

(LIVING IN JAPAN  by Joy Norton and Tazuko Shibusawa)

THE STORY OF THE LIGHT THAT DISAPPEARED

  I intend to discuss an eastern European folktale, the gist of which is the capture of the Sun, Moon and Stars by three dragons and restoration of the lost light by the hero.

  In a country, far-away, there lived a king and queen. The queen, however, was barren and therefore the Czar sent a message to all the people of his realm: Who can make the queen conceive!

A peasant's son undertakes the difficult task but has no idea how he will achieve his aim.

He meets an old woman; she tells him that in the sea under the castle there is a golden fish.

They must catch the fish and if the queen eats of its flesh she will be pregnant.

A cow licks up a drop of broth, a maid tastes a bit of fish and on the same day, queen, maid and cow are delivered of three boys...

(FIRE IN THE DRAGON by Géza Róheim)

The Cost of Spirit in day to day life

Spirit entering politics, or is it the other way around?

Φως στη Διαφώτιση

Μια μικρή δόση ψέματος

είναι επαρκής,

μια μεγάλη δόση είναι οπωσδήποτε επικίνδυνη.

(Παραφράζοντας τον 'Οσκαρ Ουάιλντ)

Περί Βίας και Κακίας

Είχε μια επουράνια κακία που δεν μπορούσε να εκφραστεί παρά με αφύσικη βία.

Τώρα που ξώμεινες με τη νοθεία, τι;

HAND OVER THAT WEEGEE PICTURE!

A dingy S/M basement bar on Ninth Avenue. No sign; just the number: 28.

Spider is giving this costume party benefit to legalize tattooing in New York City.

Everyone will be here. Center stage is a huge blowup of out latest collaboration: TATTOOED FETUS.

  "Whadda ya think Chaz? Shall we pass out blindfolds and play Pin the Tail On the Fetus?"

Marco dressed in a lavender jockstrap, cringes at the thought. "That's disgusting. I'm not going to have anything to do with this. I'm going to stay in the back rooms and eat shit all night. Perverts!"

   "OK," says Spider. "I thought that game might be a wee bit heavy. So I brought along this basket of tomatoes. We'll have a little theater along with the art show."

   Annie squats on the bar, pissing all over some guy. Three others ravish some girl in the corner. A pregnant witch named Original Sin throws the first tomato at the fetus photograph. SPLAT! Someone offers me a hit of LSD: I hear the Devil talking. SPLAT! I refuse, remembering the last time I mixed street acid with hard booze and made a comlplete fool of myself. No thanks.

     I have been sober for weeks, but whiskey flows in my veins tonight. I wonder through the crowd, flashing pictures. A hooded leatherman silently pantomimes smashing my camera if I take his picture. I move on. In a hallway near the back rooms and glory holes, a paunchy middle-aged man sniffs popper and jerks off, lost in his own private reverie. My flash explodes: the image is blinding.

Photographer GATEWOOD's party reminisces.

Self-sacrifice

"I am not trying to prove my specialness, I am trying to get rid of it. You are telling me, "I am goal oriented", what exactly is the goal, then?"

Michael Hughes on "the goal"

Ο ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ

 'Ενας Βούδας,                                       'Ενας 'Ανθρωπος,

  ἐγεννήθη,                                           ἐθανατώθη,

  ἐφωτίσθη,                                           ἐσταυρώθη,

  πέθανε.                                               πέθανε;         

Eloquent Silence

BODHISATTVAS: 

Most koans are put in the form of one or more questions. When the koan is in the form of a statement, you must ask yourself why the master made such a statement. You cannot squeeze out the answer by thinking about the koan. Simply concentrate your whole being upon it. This is the proper way to work on the koan.

This koan is expressed here only partially; the entire dialogue is as follows: A monk asked Kyogen, " Without using either relative or absolute terms, please tell me why Bodhiddharma came to China from India." Kyogen answered, "You are hanging from a tree by your teeth over a precipice and your hands grasp no branch and your feet rest on no limb, and you must answer the question. If you do not answer, you are a dismal student of Zen, but if you answer, you fall from the tree and lose your life."

Mumon ties to make a long story short, and makes the matter confusing. Kyogen here is not giving his opinion about Zen. If he were, he would have to use a relative term. He is not pointing at Zen through postulation, because if he were, he would have to use an absolute term. He addresses through his question the very being of the monk, the questioner himself.

Why does the monk have to worry about Bodhidarma? The blue-eyed Indian passed from the world a long time ago. It does not matter whether Bodhidharma came from the West to the East, or from the East to the West.

The concern of the moment for this monk is to realize Zen, nay, even to forget the term Zen, but to see his own true self the moment he acts.

("Case Five, Kyogen's Man in a Tree",  by Nyogen Senzaki)