Archive for the 'Buddhism' Category

What’s been going on…

Published
by
admin
on August 13, 2008
in Buddhism, Larks and Movies
. 0 Comments

A fresh post up on Deep Kyoto today for the cafe/bar Salut Ya. Top slogan they have there: Soup! Hamburger!!

Last weekend I went to see the long-awaited follow-up to Batman Begins (which I loved), The Dark Knight. I’d heard it was dark, but man, that’s a really dark movie. I think it’s less a Batman movie than a movie about three people (one of whom happens to be Batman) who decide to take a stand against the crime and corruption in their city and then are totally and utterly thwarted by a twisted psychopath called the Joker. Forget any other portrayal of the Joker you have seen, they were just cartoon characters. Heath Ledger’s Joker is a flesh and bones character you can believe in: creepy, scary, nasty, he lives for mayhem, pain and fear. And did I mention scary? He’s really scary. Oh, he also likes to corrupt people. He loves that. Moral quandaries - he likes those too. It’s a complex story and not for the kiddies. I’m wondering how they are going to follow that up.

On Sunday, I went to see the Ujigawa fireworks. Great display. I’ve always thought 花火 or fireflowers is a great name for fireworks. On Sunday, they had fireworks that looked like flowers, hearts, cats, smiley faces and Doraemon. Yet all I managed to take were these lousy pictures:
BubbleShare: Share photos - Create and Share Crafts

People weren’t kidding when they told me it would be packed though. It took ages to get home when it was over. Still I enjoy the summer festival atmosphere, the yatai stalls with their crap-but-tasty food, the girls in yukata, the street beers, the excited children…

Now, once again the Japanese festival of the dead, Obon, is upon us and it’s time for another message from Hozouji.

Obon message

Obon
kono yo to
ano yo no
tsunagari wo
kakunin suru
kikai

Obon:
a chance to reaffirm
the ties between
this world
and the next.

During Obon, the traditional belief is that the departed spirits of our loved ones return to visit their homes. Families get together during this time to honor their departed relatives and visit their family grave. In Kyoto, they light fires on the hills around the city on the 16th, to guide the spirits back to deads-ville. I’ll be there watching on Saturday in my jimbei. And then I’m going to Joao for Masuda’s birthday party. I think that’ll be my last blast for the summer. Off to South Africa next Tuesday for ten days, and it’s winter there…

自分が自分になる (you become yourself)

Published
by
admin
on August 4, 2008
in Buddhism
. 0 Comments

Here’s some thoughts from Masaya Kanzaki on my last post:

Thanks for the new poem. It’s a simple poem but I like the message in it.

And your translation and explanation are very good.

The poet tries to see positive aspects in negative things. It’s very Zen, isn’t it?

I like this attitude. It helps people cope with sufferings.

When we are having difficulties in our lives, we can tell ourselves, “This sadness is good for me because it helps me grow”, or “This suffering is good for me because it helps me become myself.”

The poem is for those who are suffering. It encourages them to be positive.

The concept of 自分が自分になる (you become yourself) is interesting.

It implies that you are not what you are now, doesn’t it?

Perhaps you are fake now. Or perhaps you have the potential to become something different.

You can realize your truer self through suffering and sadness.

Thanks Masaya!

Manure

Published
by
admin
on August 2, 2008
in Buddhism and Poetry
. 2 Comments

Here’s a couple of links before I get started. One to Deep Kyoto and the Cafe/Bar/Knick-Knack shop Smoke Room.

Then up on Pink Tentacle I love these beautiful 19th century Japanese ghost scrolls. Nice and creepy for the Obon season.

Now for today’s message from Hozouji which is a poem by the poet and calligrapher Mitsuo Aida. Mitsuo Aida was (and still is!) a popular poet, who spoke in frank warm terms of our everyday human and emotional quandries. I have a book of his work on my shelf, いまここ：The Here and Now,, that a very kind colleague gave me many birthdays ago. I frequently return to it and flip through it’s pages and find myself thinking: “Yes! Yes! That’s so true!” His work has been extensively translated, so probably this one has been too. That’s not going to stop me having my own little crack at it though. Here’s the poem:

mitsuo aida

あの苦しみ
悲しみも
自分が
自分になるための
みんな肥料

Ano kurushimi
kanashimi mo
jibun ga
jibun ni naru tame no
minna hiryou

The poet is talking about sadness and suffering and how they help us to grow and to find ourselves. The implication being, without any suffering we wouldn’t be able to prove ourselves or find out what we are really capable of. We would never really grow up into real adult human beings. For that reason, all that pain and suffering and shit, it’s all 肥料 he says. Now the kanji 肥 (hi) means to enrich, fatten, to make fertile and the kanji 料 (ryou) simply means stuff. What they mean together is manure! Here’s my translation:

That suffering
and sadness too
is all rich fertilizer
to help you grow
into you.

Any thoughts, Masaya?

Masaya’s Meditation

Published
by
admin
on July 9, 2008
in Bars and Buddhism
. 0 Comments

I want to get a couple of links out of the way first so…

There aren’t enough posts on bars on Deep Kyoto. This summer I aims to remedy that. God help my liver! Anyway, the first of many is up tonight: Bar Hawkwind. It’s a good place. I like it.

And this will make you smile if you haven’t seen it already: Where the hell is Matt?

Now on to tonight’s topic. The last meditation from Hozouji, if you remember went like this: すべてが割りけれぬところに人生の妙味がある
Which I somewhat lazily translated as: Not everything can be broken down into simple solutions, and therein lies life’s beauty.

Well, Masaya was good enough to write to me with some thoughts on it and here they are:

There are two tricky parts in the original, which are difficult to translate.

The first is 割り切れぬ（割り切れない, the opposite of 割り切れる）.

Maybe you know, but it’s originally a mathematical term.

If you divide 10 by 2, you get 5. That’s 割り切れる.

If you divide 10 by 3, you get 3.333333333333333333(and 3 continues forever). That’s 割り切れない（= 割り切れぬ）.

We use this idea metaphorically for something that you have to decide, you have to make choice, or even how you feel about.

For example, if someone ask you whether you like your job, and your answer is either ” Absolutely” or “Absolutely not”, then that’s 割り切れる.

If your answer is “Yes and no. I like it because such and such, but I don’t like it because such and such, but then …, even so …. but on the other hand … (arguments for and against continues on and on like the never ending decimal places)”, that’s 割り切れない.

It is also used to describe feelings. When you decide something or accept something, and you feel that something is not quite right about it, that feeling can be described as 割り切れない.

割り切れない indicates there is no simple solution, it’s not easy to find a simple answer.

In your translation, you use “simple solutions” to capture the idea, which is very good.

The next one is 妙味. This is an interesting word. It’s a combining 妙(strange) and 味(taste). “Strange taste” in 妙味 has a positive meaning. It’s strange, unusual, not boring, not common, so it’s interesting. Life is interesting because not every thing has a simple solution, and you have to find answers to many things. And even when you think you’ve found an answer, you have an uncomfortable feeling of unsettledness（割り切れない）.

I like this poem. Thanks.

Thank you, Masaya! Now the thing is, when I first translated this poem there was something, an uncomfortable feeling of unsettledness in fact about my translation that bugged me. That strong sense of life being “interesting” in 妙味 was completely lost in my translation because I stuck too closely to the dictionary definition of beauty. This despite the still small voice at the back of my mind telling me that something was amiss. Of course I could have gone with charm as my friend Osamu suggested, but that word didn’t seem to carry enough weight (not in it’s light and fluffy modern meaning anyway). So Masaya’s commentary got me thinking again and I think I finally hit on the right word:

Not everything
can be broken down
into simple solutions,
and therein lies
life’s fascination.

Seems kind of obvious now… Lesson learned: trust your instincts, not the dictionary!

I shall be posting a fresh meditation very soon.

Simple Solutions

Published
by
admin
on June 24, 2008
in Buddhism, Politricks and Worldsaving
. 2 Comments

Here’s this month’s message from Hozouji. I’m sorry it’s a little tardy. I’ve been a tad busy with marking.

割り切れぬ

And here it is in romaji and then my translation:

subete ga
warikerenu
tokoro ni
jinsei no
myoumi ga aru

Not everything
can be broken down
into simple solutions,
and therein lies
life’s beauty.

Hmm… Seems a bit top-heavy. Oh, well…

Update: There’s a slightly revised version plus Masaya Kanzaki’s commentary up here: LINK

Zimbabwe

Here’s the latest campaign from avaaz.org for Zimbabwe:

…against the odds, hope survives. Amidst growing international pressure, Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition have entered private talks. A unity government may be possible yet.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously held on Monday that free and fair elections are now impossible in Zimbabwe. The UN Secretary-General spoke out. But it is African leaders, most of all Thabo Mbeki, who hold the key. Even Mugabe cannot cling to power without their cooperation. Today, we’re launching an emergency campaign, petitioning these leaders to call an immediate summit, isolate Mugabe, and broker a legitimate government for Zimbabwe. Our call will be published in big newspaper advertisements in South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique this week — click here to see the ads and endorse their message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/5.php?cl=100616919

Zimbabwe’s neighbours supply its electricity and goods, and control the borders. Many Southern African leaders are already calling for the postponement of the election — but there’s a real danger that they will end up accepting this charade. This would be a grave miscalculation: if Mugabe succeeds in his de facto coup, Zimbabwe’s implosion will accelerate, and chaos could spread throughout the region.

So our campaign will publicly name those African leaders who hold Mugabe’s last remaining lifeline. If these leaders step up strongly now, they can convince enough of Mugabe’s officials that change is coming one way or another — and set the stage for Morgan Tsvangirai to lead a unity government to Zimbabwe back together…

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/5.php?cl=100616919

Trust

Published
by
admin
on May 5, 2008
in Buddhism
. 0 Comments

Today’s message from Hozouji:

Trust

信頼は
最上の縁者
心の安らぎは
最上の幸福

shinrai ha
saijou no enja
kokoro no yasuragi ha
saijou no shiawase

Notice how the kanji for good fortune 福 has been squeezed into the word for happiness: しあわせ. This is from the Dhammapada (法句経). The story goes there was this king who used to eat a big old meaty lunch every day and then fall into a big old snorey food coma during the Buddha’s sermons. Unphased, the Buddha advised him to cut back on the fatty foods. The king did so, promptly lost a few pounds and became super alert and attentive. “Thanks Buddha!” said he, “I feel SUPREME!”, whereupon the Buddha intoned a few verses on “the supremes”: “health being the supreme attainment, contentment being the supreme treasure, blah blah blah…” and this time, miraculously, the king didn’t fall asleep! As for translating the Japanese, the biggest problem for me was how to translate は. Does the は in “信頼は最上の縁者” tell us to trust those who are “closest to us” or to make those we trust “our best family”? Jay Rubin has a good book on は and about where exactly it throws its emphasis. I cheated and looked up the Pali verses. This one’s for John Mulry (the laughing Buddha of Birmingham):

Those you trust
are your greatest kin.
Peace of mind
is the greatest joy.

Update May 6th: Some further thoughts from old pal Masaya Kanzaki:

I looked at the poem and had to think for a while.

The two lines are parallel to each other in terms of structure.

A は B. C は D (A= 信頼, B=最上の縁者, C=心の安らぎ, D=最上の幸福) is like “A is B. C is D.”

For me the beauty of the poem is this parallel structure, so I want you keep it in your translation, which would be something like:

Trust is the greatest kin.

Peace of mind is the greatest joy.

The first line is ambiguous but 「信頼は最上の縁者」 itself is ambiguous too, so you can leave the ambiguity in the translation.
My interpretation is “Trusting other people is good; it’s like the greatest kin.”

I wasn’t quite sure what 縁者 means so I looked it up in the dictionary.

It says that people used to make a distinction between 親類 and 縁者, both of which mean “relatives”.

親類 refers to relatives who are connected by blood, whereas 縁者 refers to relatives who are connected by marriage.

Going back to the poem, trust can’t create blood relations but it can create a strong bond like the one between 縁者.

Another interpretation is that 縁者 does not mean relatives. It can be seen as the combination of 縁（connection） and 者（person） to mean a person who connects you to others.

Trust is the greatest connection creator.

That’s all I can think of at the moment.

Well, I think that’s plenty. Thanks Masaya!

Happy Easter

Published
by
admin
on March 22, 2008
in Buddhism
. 0 Comments

Tonight is party time at Joao for Nana and Eri (AKA: Janet Jackson) ’s birthdays. Then I’m off to Ishikawa for the next two days to soak in outdoor hotsprings and eat crab. Lovely.

Before I go, there’s a fresh post up on Deep Kyoto of an old favorite Hiraganakan. Good value for your yen there, and tasty too. And here’s the latest meditation from Hozouji.

Nature sustains me

Here it is in kanji and then romaji:

大自然や
多くの人に
支えられて
生きる私

daishizen ya
ooku no hito ni
sasaerarete
ikiru watashi

And here’s a rough translation:

The world of nature
And a host of people
Sustain me
And I live

Isn’t that a nice message now for Easter: the ancient spring festival of Eostre, goddess of the dawn? Let us give thanks and praise, now that winter is over, for the continuing bounty of Mother Earth, and for those people near and dear, who help us to celebrate the continuing renewal of life. Happy Easter to you! Now somebody pass me an egg!

Related Article: Cadbury’s Cream Egg Day (Easter 2006)

The Root of Salvation

Published
by
admin
on February 9, 2008
in Buddhism
. 1 Comment

My goodness! The snow was coming down in sheets today! I don’t think I’ve seen such a snowfall in Kyoto before. After finishing my stint at the clinic today, I slopped through the slushy streets to check out the latest meditation at Hozouji. It’s a simple one this month. Simple kanji, simple words, simple message. But it’s no less important for all its simplicity.

Here it is again in Japanese script, romaji and then my translation:

人間は不完全
良くなろうと
思う心が
救いの根

ningen ha fukanzen
yoku narou to
omou kokoro ga
sukui no ne

People aren’t perfect
But the heart that wills itself
To be better
That’s the root of salvation.

Like so many of these meditations, the message is one of simple common sense. As my friend Masaya Kanzaki writes: “My interpretation of the poem is that we are imperfect and never achieve perfection, so we should value the attempt to be better itself; the intention and process, not the final results.” But still knowing this is true and keeping it in mind are two separate things. This will to betterment is the “root” (根) of salvation; something we must foster and tend, to let it grow, first in our own hearts as we learn to grow beyond our simple human frailties, and then perhaps in our relations with those around us as we strive to live for a better world.


無礙光院

Published
by
admin
on January 15, 2008
in Buddhism
. 0 Comments

The picture on the left is of 無礙光院 (mugekouin) which translates as “the temple of unimpeded light” I think. Sounds all mystical and esoteric, don’t it? I went there last Saturday to begin zazen meditation. There is something very intense about sitting in a large, very dimly lit room with about 12 other people in complete silence for an hour. Naturally, the zazen had only just begun when my stomach began to rumble and the chronic pins-and-needles I was getting from sitting in a half lotus position were pretty distracting too. However, it feels good just to sit silently for a while and try to focus on the here and now. One thing that became very clear to me very quickly was just how busy, and noisy my mind is. It will take a fair bit of practice before I manage to quieten it down. Afterwards, the priest of the temple was kind enough to give me a calendar which has a Buddhist message on each page. Here’s the first one:

無礙光院

It reads 竹有上下節　（竹に上下の節あり - “take ni jouge no fushi ari”）which literally means that bamboo is jointed up and down it’s length, a fairly obvious observation I suppose, but it does of course have a more metaphorical meaning. Bamboo is strong and fast growing but not smooth. Without those knobbly jointy bits it would not be so strong or fast growing. So it is a message of acceptance of the vicissitudes of life; on taking the rough with the smooth because you simply cannot have one without the other. Another meaning is perhaps that of accepting the different (and sometimes very knobbly) characters you meet in life, or as Robert Palmer put it, “It takes every kinda people… Many thanks to Kou-sensei for explaining this one to me.

迎春

Published
by
admin
on January 11, 2008
in Buddhism
. 2 Comments

Here’s a New Year meditation from Hozouji. It’s a very positive one I think.

geishun

Here it is in kanji and then romaji:

迎春
私たちの人生
あらかじめ
決められた
道はない

geishun
watashitachi no jinsei
arakajime
kimerareta
michi ha nai

Quite an easy one this one, (for a change). Here’s my translation:

Welcome in the New Year
The path of our life
Has not been pre-determined.

I read this as a positive message: our lives are full of potential, nothing is decided in advance and it’s all up for grabs. In other words, as my friend Paul Sparks keeps telling me: “Go for it!” (which I fully intend to do!)