As Bodhidharma said:
"If you envision a buddha, a dharma, or a bodhisattva and conceive respect
for them, you relegate yourself to the realm of mortals. If you seek direct
understanding, don't hold on to any appearance whatsoever, and you'll
succeed. I have no other advice. The sutras say, 'That which is free of form
is the buddha.' . The buddha is your own mind. Don't misdirect your
worship."
We should remember that Zen was carried into Japan by and large by the
samurai and as such is mixed up with a considerable amount of bushido and
the militaristic mindset (Trungpa Rimpoche, the Tibetan meditation master,
commented on this). I have also noted that as people progress in meditation
they get crazier and crazier (fully developing their own peculiar neurosis,
this is normal)... while this is a necessary part of one's development
through meditation, I'm not sure that it makes for the best teacher of zen
or anything else. The sophomoric type who took such great delight in beating
people hard with the kyosaku grew up to be a gun wielding Roshi in a San
Francisco park. Same neurosis, more fully developed... I have seen this
pattern over and over again over the last three decades...
Be careful... personally I advocate going back to the original practice of
sitting on a bed of straw under a tree... starting all over again... just
sitting in remote places.
Brett Breitwieser ( zen@arizuma.us <mailto:zen@arizuma.us> )
Arizuma Zen
http://arizuma.us
"The clouds evaporate in the cold sky.
The autumn has departed and the mountain is barren.
This is where we originally dwell." -Hongzhi
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Millonas [mailto:millonas@email.arc.nasa.gov]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 4:49 PM
To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
Subject: RE: urushi
.At 03:51 PM 11/20/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Well, it sure would be consistent with some of the "zen traditions" I've
>encountered over the years... sado-masochism at its best... ;*}
>
Yeah, especially after a week-long sesshin I would tend to agree, but
usually its
masochism-in-the-spirit-of-not-doing-something-intrinsically-unnecessary,
like "we don't need no stinking heat in the zendo", or "we don't need no
stinking shoes while we chop vegetable outside while is is sleeting and
below
freezing". I don't believe that
masochism-in-the-spirt-of-copying-something-for-the-sake-
of-copying-it falls under the same heading. But I could be wrong.
>Brett Breitwieser ( zen@arizuma.us <mailto:zen@arizuma.us> )
>Arizuma Zen
>http://arizuma.us
>
>"The clouds evaporate in the cold sky.
>The autumn has departed and the mountain is barren.
>This is where we originally dwell." -Hongzhi
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mejia, Carlos [mailto:carlos.mejia@intel.com]
>Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 3:43 PM
>To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
>Subject: RE: urushi
>
>
>
>Mark,
>Not to rub it in Gene's face...but, what is the imitation urushi you
>refer to here?
>
>
>
>Hummm Gene. As I recall I mentioned to you a very nice urushi
>imitation
>with great sound qualities, and complelely non-toxic chemistry can be
>made with
>several layers of red or black tinted shellac. Now I'm wondering if I
>should say "told you so".
>
>This is the punishment you get for being purist on this issue - all you
>zen
>student take note :-)
>
>
>
>At 01:07 PM 11/20/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> >Man - lemme' give you dumb new shakuhachi makers (like me) a tip: BE
> >CAREFUL WITH URUSHI!
> >
> >This is the third day of my "attack", and I'm in the running sores
>stage
> >(ugh!), up all night, every night, scratching and sloshing alcohol on
>the
> >affected areas to kill the nerve ends. Although I could not have
>touched
> >urushi to these areas, I have patches of rash on the back of my left
>knee,
> >my left shin, my right side, my right ear, my left hand, my nose, my
>right
> >eye and lips are all puffy, and - ugh! - the most sensitive of all
> >unspeakable areas.
> >
> >It has gotten worse every day for three days.
> >
> >And my wife now has it on her right forearm, and she never touched
>urushi!
> >
> >And I used only TWO DROPS of urushi. Literally.
> >
> >Now admittedly I did thin the urushi with lacquer thinner, creating
> >perhaps two or three ounces, but I have no recollection of ANY of it
>ever
> >touching my skin. And, if any of it did, it was certainly only a
> >microscopic amount.
> >
> >Actually, I was tinting the outside of the root section of the
>shakuhachi
> >I'm making, like many of the Japanese shakuhachi makers do. Just to
> >darken up the naturally dark area there a bit more. I was not using it
>in
> >the bore. I'm using an Epoxy compound there.
> >
> >And this urushi poisoning also has a physiologically debilitating
>effect,
> >a sort of nauseous yucky feeling. . . .
> >
> >Learn from my ignorance, you newbies: take care!
> >
> >Gene
>
>
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