What is the Buddhahood, the ultimate goal for Buddhists? It is the stage on which you can do two things; first, you love others like you love yourself, and second, your every act, voluntarily or involuntarily, gives much joy to any other living and non-living things in this universe.
Some of you would wonder on what doctrine or from what view buddhists would think it possible. It's because of the Buddhistic view that each of any living and non-living things should look different in this world, but actually they are parts of the single whole entity. In Buddhism, any living and non-living things you can see through any medium in this world are regarded as amalgams of materials in which older materials decay and are replaced with new ones continually. It follows that some pieces of your body will be useful in other living or non-living things in the future, while the other fragments may have been parts of the body of a Lion in Africa. It means we, including of all of you, belong to the one. This realization enables you to love others, living or non-living, deeply and involuntarily as you love yourself. The second advantage will come to you when you see the realization a fact, not a realization. Buddhism, in a sense, you can say, shows the ways how you see the realization a bald fact.
3/22/2005
3/20/2005
How to avoid the four unavoidable pains in Buddhism
To avoid the four unavoidable pains in Buddhism, you have to change your view of the world as found in the movie of The Matrix. What makes you afraid of the pains are mind, words, and a body. Your body enables you to see, feel, hear, touch what is going on around you. Those information should be processed through your mind into words, a cetain extant things in the world. You know you are going to perish. You have seen or heard about the death. The word of death makes you afraid of the death. Consequently, you only have to control the working of your body, mind, and words. So the first step toward the Buddhahood is practice controling them.
3/18/2005
The Unavoidable Four Pains in Buddhism
Why am I here? Why was I born? Nobody asked me if I would want to be born in this world. I'm here, I'm living. I have to try to survive, but I know I shall die. Why do I have to live knowing I would die? The same feelings come to me when I had a flu or disease. I haven't allowed any virus to assault me. How did they do that in my body? These, life, aging, disease, and death, are called the unavoidable four pains in Buddhism. Every person cannot elude any of them.
3/16/2005
MacArthur and Takeshima
Takeshima is a tiny island 150 kilometeres away from the mainland of Japan, and 117 kilometres away from Korea. This is one of the issues between Japan and Korea. Takeshima had belonged to Shimane Prefecture in Japan since 1659 and been recognized so internationally since 1905.
In 1941 the war happened and in 1945 Douglas MacArthur came to Japan as the President of the GHQ. He, when leaving Japan, took the rights of surpervising Takeshima temporarily as well as Okinawa and Ogasawara islands, and gave them to the American Army in Korea. Okinawa and Ogasawara islands were returned to Japan soon but Takeshima was neglected. Probably, the Americans must have forgotten about that island because it was so small an island that it was not found in the maps used before in Korea(but Korea alleges that Takeshima was discovered by a Korean in the 6th century). In 1953 Korea began to say "it is ours." Japan has made claims about this and the US agreed, but Korea ignored that protest and put the army over the island because Japan was not allowed to use the army.
This case should be judged depending on the international law, which says an unidentified island should belong to a country which has owned it for longer time without any trouble. Japan has the fact, but Korea didn't, so Korea needed to create the fact that Korea supervised the island peacefully. One of the ways for Japan to prevent Korea from continuing the illegal occupation of the island is arousing a trouble. Simane Prefecture passed the article by which the day is set of the 100 anniversary of the island's being owened by Shimane Prefecture. Some Koreans called this decision evil. I cannot understand them, but we also know the reason. In Korea, like in China, they learned the limited history, because the governments choose what should be taught to them to arouse nationality and loyalty in the nations(you can see in the textbooks in Korean school the description that Takeshima was one of the areas invaded by Japan in the WWII) . Anyway, when watching a Korean cutting his or her finger, I didn't find what Japanese should do.
But now I know. I should let many of them know the fact that they have been taught distorted facts. So i wrote this.
In 1941 the war happened and in 1945 Douglas MacArthur came to Japan as the President of the GHQ. He, when leaving Japan, took the rights of surpervising Takeshima temporarily as well as Okinawa and Ogasawara islands, and gave them to the American Army in Korea. Okinawa and Ogasawara islands were returned to Japan soon but Takeshima was neglected. Probably, the Americans must have forgotten about that island because it was so small an island that it was not found in the maps used before in Korea(but Korea alleges that Takeshima was discovered by a Korean in the 6th century). In 1953 Korea began to say "it is ours." Japan has made claims about this and the US agreed, but Korea ignored that protest and put the army over the island because Japan was not allowed to use the army.
This case should be judged depending on the international law, which says an unidentified island should belong to a country which has owned it for longer time without any trouble. Japan has the fact, but Korea didn't, so Korea needed to create the fact that Korea supervised the island peacefully. One of the ways for Japan to prevent Korea from continuing the illegal occupation of the island is arousing a trouble. Simane Prefecture passed the article by which the day is set of the 100 anniversary of the island's being owened by Shimane Prefecture. Some Koreans called this decision evil. I cannot understand them, but we also know the reason. In Korea, like in China, they learned the limited history, because the governments choose what should be taught to them to arouse nationality and loyalty in the nations(you can see in the textbooks in Korean school the description that Takeshima was one of the areas invaded by Japan in the WWII) . Anyway, when watching a Korean cutting his or her finger, I didn't find what Japanese should do.
But now I know. I should let many of them know the fact that they have been taught distorted facts. So i wrote this.
3/04/2005
Mystery or Miracle
Some pieces of the first movement of a good Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 floated to me while I was still sleeping. My body remained resting but my mind worked well enough to wonder how this music was being played, because the CD should have been buried in a corner of one of the bookshelves in my room for so many days that I couldn't locate it. The only information I inferred was my wife picked it up in the CDs piled up and put it into the place. The questions that had been filling me up with were sorted through my scrutiny and reduced into the one: how could she choose the one?
On that day, in the evening, I was going to a fifteen-years-old city theatre to listen to Symphony No. 7 of Bruckner, played by GewandhausOrchestra Leipzig and conducted by Herbrt Blomstedt. But I chose this neither because the orchestra and the conductor were great nor because I love Bruckner. Those could not be enough for me to decide to buy an expensive ticket for that concert on the day, the deathday of Mr. K, a teacher who taught me Faulkner and classical music. He was said to be queer in aesthetics, but I shared it with him. And he also loved Bruckner, as I do. When I found a poster to let us know the concert would be held, it was as if his motto reiterated in my mind, "something moving can be the motif for you to live, work, and survive in the world, so you have to keep your sensibility working; therefore, you have to give yourself so many opportunities to move you." And I also remembered how happy he looked when he was preparing to leave his office for the concert theatre to listen to Bruckner, who was his cup of tea.
My wife, I guess, is an esoteric buddhism worshipper in some cases. You know, Esoteric Buddhism would be a little bit different from other sects of Buddhism in that, according to the doctrine, you could be allowed to get a magical power or a clearest insight to enable you cause miracles. Probably, on that day, she got the power, so she picked up a Schricht's Bruckner No. 7. without knowing anything about the concert and classical music. She is not interested in classical music as art but as a cradle song. Nevertheless, she chose the one the teacher mentioned as the best conductor for Bruckner's No. 7.
Blomstedt performed terribly cool and great. I clapped so much, murmuring "thanks, Mr. K."
On that day, in the evening, I was going to a fifteen-years-old city theatre to listen to Symphony No. 7 of Bruckner, played by GewandhausOrchestra Leipzig and conducted by Herbrt Blomstedt. But I chose this neither because the orchestra and the conductor were great nor because I love Bruckner. Those could not be enough for me to decide to buy an expensive ticket for that concert on the day, the deathday of Mr. K, a teacher who taught me Faulkner and classical music. He was said to be queer in aesthetics, but I shared it with him. And he also loved Bruckner, as I do. When I found a poster to let us know the concert would be held, it was as if his motto reiterated in my mind, "something moving can be the motif for you to live, work, and survive in the world, so you have to keep your sensibility working; therefore, you have to give yourself so many opportunities to move you." And I also remembered how happy he looked when he was preparing to leave his office for the concert theatre to listen to Bruckner, who was his cup of tea.
My wife, I guess, is an esoteric buddhism worshipper in some cases. You know, Esoteric Buddhism would be a little bit different from other sects of Buddhism in that, according to the doctrine, you could be allowed to get a magical power or a clearest insight to enable you cause miracles. Probably, on that day, she got the power, so she picked up a Schricht's Bruckner No. 7. without knowing anything about the concert and classical music. She is not interested in classical music as art but as a cradle song. Nevertheless, she chose the one the teacher mentioned as the best conductor for Bruckner's No. 7.
Blomstedt performed terribly cool and great. I clapped so much, murmuring "thanks, Mr. K."
I'm a Faulknerian
It's difficult to understand others correctly. Understanding, in my opinion, is classifing into categories you have established in your mind through your experiences. Described in Faulkner's works, however, it seems to me, are the actions or accidents caused by the persons whose experiences, you're adamant, cannot be sorted into any categories that you have never seen, heard, or read in books. I know this remark may be too much. I enjoy Faulkner because I love to try to understand that kind of experience through every sentence or word Faulkner chose delibelately and carefully to convey it to us.
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