Everything is Mu

All that is, precisely is the process that is the universe — the happening of existence. Everything with no exceptions; The hustle and bustle that we have turned human life into; “good” things, “bad” things, the running and seeking. These all are it — the Dao (Tao), the way. For example, just as there exists edible plants, but some will cause harm if consumed, so there are aspects of this happening of existence that are not favorable for us, but it is there nonetheless. Most walk around unconscious of their connectedness, however, because it exists, this ignorance is also the process as well. Those who are conscious of their connectedness, those who are awakened, are no different from anyone else for it is still all just the universe interacting with itself. A conscious being is not separate from existence. All are merely forms originating from the same emptiness. When one reaches this level of understanding, form enters into formlessness. Dualism disappears, and all is exactly the same. At this point there is no longer a need for the finger to point at the moon; one has spotted the moon. Buddhism disappears, non-buddhism disappears. Nirvana is revealed. Everything is just as it should be. Everything is Mu.

Music For The Mind – Pansori 판소리, The Sound of Ancient Korea

Vibrations affect the mind, because the mind itself is energy. Vibrations are energy. This is why playing music for plants helps them grow, and why ancient civilizations established ways of singing and forms of music that tapped into the rhythms of existence. Even the Sun has a steady vibrational rhythm at 126.22Hz, which can be heard by use of instrumentation, and when tapped into, can soothe the mind. It is all energy, and the interactions of energy, the precise reason our brains are drawn to pleasing sounds.

It is interesting to note that in the world that we live in today — mass illness, and sickness of mind — there is a considerable lack in the ways of the ancients which kept them in tune with the way of the earth. Even ruling classes ruled in reverence to the heavens. The earth was the master.

Music and sound have an effect on the brain, and on matter itself, as evident by the extensive results found in the field of Cymatics. In Korean Pansori, the sonic registers of the of performer’s voice reach dynamics that our everyday speech patterns lack.

Please Enjoy!

No Place to Abide

Aikido

I do not preach peace, nor do I preach the opposite. Understanding of the true self creates what it creates, which we have named peacefulness, or stillness of mind. In this way, there is no objective of stripping away of greed and hate, for cultivating the true self will cause greed and hate to fall away of their own accord. What remains is thusness, and in this thusness is unity. The urge to be better than others and have more than others simply has no place to abide. It is akin to facing an opponent who is stronger than you and more powerful. He can destroy a person with one blow. But what will he do if he can not catch you? What will he do when you are not there to receive the blow? He can do nothing but give up and move on. This is where one will meet Zen, on the battlefield of existence.When there is no place or thoughts to cleave to, where is it that they will survive?

Stillness in Movement – Zen and Kung Fu

Shaolin Staff

Hard, but soft,

Soft, but hard,

From silence comes noise,

Noise returns to silence.

No attaching,

No abiding,

Thoughts come and go.

The mind is still.

All is of One Happening

What difference is there of a cell and a human being? A cell ingests and excretes, sends messages, handling affairs that a cell must handle. Likewise, a human carries out the same process, just on a larger scale. We have messengers to inform, food that we ingest and excrete. We have establishments for the purpose of taking care of emergencies that spring up, with ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, which respond to calls of distress, what ever they may be.

All that exists — be it a block of wood which grew from a tree, or a house that came from trees which humans have taken a rearranged in such a manner as to utilize the wood for an alternate purpose — is all one happening. A single, continuous process. There is no difference between this or that, a chair and you. All is of the same existence in multiple states. When it rains, there is no rain. It is the process. When the wind blows, there is no wind and no blowing.

It is one thing to have knowledge of this concept; another to live in it.

In The Words of Shunryu Suzuki – Emptiness

Writings of Zen master Shunryu Suzuki on Emptiness

What Holds “You” Together?

Needing to be “held together” in the first place is a clear sign that there is something being grasped for that doesn’t fit with one’s surroundings. “What keeps you going?” “What holds you together so you don’t go crazy?” What we don’t see in these simple questions that we tend to inquire of people when we are trying to get to know them, is that it is a verbalization of the fact that it is known that one has attachments constructing a “self.” It is a verbalization that one’s self is something that needs some form of mental glue to keep things from falling apart and being lost.

We can grasp for things all we want. Like a polar bear clinging to a piece of melting ice in the ocean, he is surrounded by a sea of water. The ice will melt eventually, and there will be nothing else that the polar bear can do but to let go. Survival will be trivial, for death is almost certain. However, if he happens to catch a fish before he dies, it will be the greatest meal he ever had. No past, no future, only right now, and right now all that exists is the eating of the fish.

Day in, day out, clinging clinging clinging. Run run run. Running around to satisfy the clinging. A need for more clinging. More running around; always chasing. An entire life of running and clinging is only good for creating more of the same in the future.

Too much trying. Too much effort.

Put it down.

A Moment of Awakening

Awakening can happen in a single moment. Zen masters have been known to use loud noises and shouting to awaken their disciples. In that moment, there is no thinking, no judgements, duality, good, bad. All becomes quiet; still.

The same can happen when we are startled, in a moment that calls for quick response by the body. When we are startled, there are no thoughts, just being startled. Even for the tiniest instant, everything had been put down. The interconnected systems of the body are simply reacting to a stimulus — going through a process. There is no room for extraneous thoughts and trivial worries. To reach this point in daily life is the ultimate stillness; the happiness of no happiness. No extremes. No place for thoughts to abide. Thoughts pass like clouds over still water, reflecting in the pond when they are there, and having no reflection when they are not.

All Is The Same, But ‘Sameless’

When asked of a Zen master, “what is the nature of reality?”, he replies, “the monkey jumps from the high branch… the branch shakes,” and may leave one confused about his answer. Maybe he is avoiding the question, you reason with yourself. Maybe he does not know. But the answer that one seeks may not always be the answer that one gets. “What is the nature of reality?” inquires about something that is everything, including that very question itself. It isn’t an avoidance of the question, but at the same time it is. The question which you seek to have answered can only truly be answered in this way, because it is just more white noise on the ‘Existence Channel’. It is the universe interacting with itself. No logic-based thoughts, and analysis. That won’t answer the question. Any words that a master could use to describe it would be meaningless, and just more chatter on the channel. It is like one sonic pixel asking another sonic pixel about sonic pixels. His is an answer of thusness. There are no words. Only 無 Wu (Mu in Japanese); nothing, but at the same time everything, like the color white.

Freak of Nature – Too Much Effort

(Excerpt from a work in progress)

A plant uses no effort to grow, yet can produce the sweetest and most colorful berries that one can imagine. This is because the plant is just growing, cells dividing, with no attempt to be better than the other plants so it can raise its seeds to be productive and powerful plants when they grow up. It is just a plant, and it just grows. No effort, no straining. Nothing in nature strains to be what it is; it just is and excels at being what it is. A squirrel excels at being a squirrel. A bird excels at being a bird. Only humans seem to be trying too hard to be what ever it is that we are trying to be. In this respect, when placed against the rest of nature, it’s easy to think that one is separate from everything else, because one’s highly capable brain with its extremely enhanced ability to think and reason, wants to acquire and posses anything it can. However, once one falls into this delusion of being separate, it is then easy for disease and undue stresses to come about, because you are not living in accordance with your surroundings. This is the main reason as to why people who do not adhere to the rules of nature, and live in desires unabated get sick regularly. Those that realize that they must have balance, get sick rarely, if ever. Those that can let things go, and live in the now, live in a state resultant of a still mind. There is no excess trying. No effort to bend existence to one’s will. No grasping for something that does not exist — illusions.

Trying to grasp for something that doesn’t really exist in the first place is a recipe bound for failure. Illusions tend not to coincide with the way things actually are, and what results are issues with personalities and identity, explaining the immense need for psychotherapy amongst the human race. We need help to save us from ourselves. It is a true sign that there is something that is out of sync between one’s mind and their surroundings. It is a sign that living only to chase external sources of gratification is an ever fleeting and futile endeavor.