- As for the blog's name: -


I was @ Gustav Ericsson's sight, - Anzenkai, and I was looking at Nishijima Roshi’s calligraphies over there. Particularly there is one - "seki shin hen pen" - about which Gustav has earlier said in a blog post that it is Nishijima's favorite phrase from Master Dogen.

This seemed strange to me. It was not what I would expect Nishijima Roshi's favorite phrase to be. It seemed it could be some Rinzai master's favorite quote, - it seems to express continuous and constant sincerity, - but it did not seem to fit my view of the way Nishijima Roshi saw things.

So - consequently - I tried to think what would I expect his favorite quote to be. But all phrases I could think of did not seem to fit just what I might have had in mind.

So I tried to come up with what I would see it as, - and what I have come up with - is - "this universe out here".

- And this seems to be the right name for this blog here too.


- Definitely.                                                 ________________________

Understandings

Today (10.12.17) I have understood the issue of the psycho-physical matter. The Reality is, roughly speaking perhaps, just mind. - But not self conscious of course, not this sort of doubled mind. You might say mindless mind perhaps. There is nothing of the sort of what we call matter, but the mind is clean, without any need for assurance or certification by some sort of extra checking as in what we are familiar with as self consciousness. - The appearance of matter, of any kind, spiritual too, - is as some sort of dream. It is nothing beyond that. It is real to us, that is to say it seems real to us, but it is nothing beyond some sort of dream, an illusion, - a phenomenon of the mind itself, or this mind itself, - nothing real beyond seeming only. This is possible because all is one. Considering us all, all beings, - different and separate entities - would quite clearly make this idea unreasonable. - But given that we are all one, that all is one, - it is possible that we all share the same dream. We are like different eyes (and other organs) of the same being, and therefore, and in this way, - it is not impossible and it does not negate common sense that we so share the same dream. Fundamentally. Our view is not identical of course, but we share the dwelling in the same swamp. I have thought of this dream idea before, but today I saw its relation to the psycho-physical issue, meaning that there is simply no matter, there never was, only what we might call the mental sphere, - though as I referred not in the way we are accustomed to it.

- This is why - subsequently, - the enlightened ones, - the Buddhas, those who have come to accomplish their potential as human beings, - say that the world does not exist. I have heard it before but I did not understand what was it they wanted to say. It was not clear to me whether it was true. - I did not understand what it was about, - what they meant. It raised no imaginative picture as to clarify the intention. I heard of delusion but never came across the above explanation. Now I understand, as it seems, what it is about. - Sawaki Roshi somewhere says we all live in a dream. He says where the discrepancies between the dreams occur or take place is where the trouble begins. This is also, as it seems, about this. I don’t remember his words exactly but they are off “Homeless Kodo” (Yadonashi Kodo Hokusan) where Uchiyama Roshi collected his sayings and referred to them.

I recall at Nishijima’s lectures in 1996 there was a time he used to say we think we are sitting there hearing his talk, we think we - including him, - are sitting or standing there - wherever it was - in Tokyo or in a temple or at his Dojo, - I don’t remember exactly the way he put it, - but that this is not so. I did not know what he was talking about, and I did not have any hope to understand (There and then, - at the time and place) what he was talking about, - so I paid no importance to it though I did not think it was untrue. I think he started it after talking about the teaching of Master Nagarjuna. - I only participated in one of his seshins. There and then was the first time he related to Nagarjuna’s teaching, as far as I remember. He spoke about negation of the world. And of affirmation of the Universe. - I didn’t quite understand what was the difference between “the world” and “the universe” but it seems it didn’t cross my mind asking him that.

“The universe” related to the original reality. That which Jesus calls “the Father”. This mindless mind I related to here above. - “The world" - as it seems, - was to indicate the phenomenal world as we see it, - delusion, - objects we perceive through the senses and subsequent interpretation. - I recall him giving the example of the tatami we were sitting on and the blackboard he was writing on. In this blog’s title - “This universe out here” - I was relating to the reality too in the same manner calling it “the universe”. - I used to capitalize “reality” when relating to this one incomparable distinguished reality, as to distinguish it from just the usual concept of reality (perhaps we should say pseudo reality) as us ignorant common humans relate to it normally in everyday life. But now I don’t. Not anymore.

Initially I started writing this in Hebrew. But then I (very quickly) came to write it in English. Perhaps it is significant that I am completing this post on Christmas. December 25 2017. Perhaps not. I’ll put it on on the 1st, of January that is. Perhaps I’ll get it off later and post it at a later date. The main issue is at the first paragraph. All the rest is just btw. So far.

Kalo’s Observation

Kalo says in one of his books (somewhere around 1988-1990) that bent teeth, teeth that are not strait, are an outcome of a faulted emotional-mental state or situation. - He somewhere mocks at the “bravery” of dentists aiming to redeem the situation by physical means. The reason I am writing this is that many, if not everyone, - can observe things and examine the question by themselves.

I have noticed examples of this more than once, and I generally might guess there might be some sort of correlation between the particular faults in one’s emotional structure (Kalo uses the word “array”, - in Hebrew of course) and the particular way in which the teeth grow not in the way or direction they should. - I never tried to particularly fit anything regarding and it doesn’t seem easy. - Still, the main thing is the main point: - The very existence of the principle. I cannot see any chance contemporary (so called) “science” would be able to come up with the way or mechanism by which this occurs. - For anyone sufficiently serious in the field of spirit it is - as it seems - inevitably clear that these “sciences” aiming at investigating the human soul, - while denying its existence, - are practically a joke. It is amazing the trust they receive from many, from a lot of people, from the majority of humanity I guess. - Anyway we could hope for nothing there, - regarding our issue. - Again, - I am not concerned - here in this post, - with the issue of which particular bent in which direction and in what point or area would be the result of which particular irregularity or wrongness in a person’s emotional array or system. - I am concerned with the hope that by personal observation readers of these-words-here will come to verify personally the phenomenon I am relating to really exists.

- First you might see one person where the link might seem reasonable or evident. - Then another person. And then another. - You can not calculate this or try to create some organized system by which the phenomenon could be examined free of the particular abilities of the observer. - You need to see. Wisdom, today, is being neglected to a great deal. Many can not tell the difference between wisdom and intelligence. Amazing perhaps. - Certain elements or factors within contemporary society implement the demand for “objective” testing. - This means as to be accepted things need to be able to be checked by some sort of mechanical system where wisdom will not be in need. If one person is able to see it and another is not it is not objective. Fuck the fools, but this is the way the world is going. - Anyway, - again, - back to our issue: - I’m saying you might first notice the phenomenon, still very questionable, - somewhere, and then notice it again, and then again. With time, gradually, (in most cases, as it seems to me) you can come to notice the general link as a continuous and ever present thing proving its own existence - though not in a very loud voice, - through people you see everywhere in general. Of course the phenomenon would not lack apparent exceptions, and would not be equally evident everywhere. - Where the things would be lighter, less impressive, less considerable, - where the matter would be of distortions that are closer to the common way, - the principle would not be as evident or noticeable as when dealing with worse irregularities. - But there is no hurry. There is no rush. - In Japan, as I recall, - the weight of the higher classes weighs on poor guys in the lower classes, due to the hierarchy of society, - and you can see that sometimes in the way peoples teeth are bent. I recall that, but it has been over 20 years since I have last been to Japan. I don’t know if anything might have changed.

So far for that. The main thing is for you to see. There is no need to go anywhere. - It is just about what you see anyway. You don’t need to conduct an experiment. And not every particular person will inevitably be able to prove to himself (or herself) what I am saying. Though I guess most will, it seems quite easy. As I said, - this is what brought me to write this here, - had it not been convincing (in that way) I would not see a point in writing it. Once the phenomenon is noticed it would point somewhere further, - but that is beyond me here. Let things be. The truth has a quality or a nature of being revealed, as it seems, - though in these strange days we seem to manage to get thing wrong in ways apparently unpredictable. Let this be all.

+

Regarding the time, -
(I wrote this on December 28th, I thought of the idea the day before, - I’ll schedule the post)
Let this be a New Year post.