Dropping the Atom Bomb
Now I would like to drop the atom bomb, as follows:
What Master Dogen expressed in the 13th century as KOAN (in the line of Fukan-zazengi that Gudo translates as “the rule of the universe has been realized already”) is called in our time the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
What Master Dogen expressed as SHOBO in the line “the true universal rules manifest themselves first,” is called in our time the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Now I have dropped the atom bomb already. I await the announcement of surrender from Japan.
What Master Dogen expressed in the 13th century as KOAN (in the line of Fukan-zazengi that Gudo translates as “the rule of the universe has been realized already”) is called in our time the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
What Master Dogen expressed as SHOBO in the line “the true universal rules manifest themselves first,” is called in our time the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Now I have dropped the atom bomb already. I await the announcement of surrender from Japan.
posted by Mike Cross at 9:55 AM
3 Comments:
how are you going to get japan to surrender when you couldn't even beat portugal..
According to my dictionary, “racism is defined thus: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”
I think that Hitler and Hirohito held that belief. But, on the slaughterbench of human history -- to use Master Nishijima’s own words -- “nationalism was defeated in the semi-final.”
Even though Japanese racism/nationalism was defeated in the semi-final, General Macarthur left Hirohito on the throne and the zaibatsu only strengthened their power. Consequently, Japanese society has been very slow to come to terms with its own defeat. I refer anyone who is interested to Karel von Wolferen’s book The Enigma of Japanese Power.
During my 13 years living in Japan, I encountered Japanese racism very frequently, and suffered from my strong reaction to it.
The aggressive comments of 123twist are very characteristic of a habitual Japanese attitude of unreasoned self-sacrifice for the leader of a group. I have observed this to be a strong Japanese trait. But my observation is not racist. Anyone who believes that such a trait is determined by racial differences is entirely out of touch with their human reason. The roots of Japanese irrationality lie not in race, but in politics. People who are not accustomed to act on the basis of reason are much easier for the System to control.
As a member of Japan’s ruling post-war elite, a graduate of Tokyo University who worked in the Ministry of Finance, Nishijima Roshi understands the above very well. And there is a certain irony in his attitude. He clearly understands that Master Dogen’s teaching affirms human reason (see, for example, Shobogenzo chap. 14, Sansuigyo [184]). At the same time, when Brad expressed an unreasoned and unfounded view on the Shobogenzo translation, Nishijima Roshi gratefully affirmed Brad’s view. Brad subsequently apologized for and retracted his opinion on the basis of feedback received from people who knew more about it than Brad himself. What I noticed is that Nishijima Roshi was happy to see Brad’s unreasoned devotion to his Master.
The way I see it, reasoned devotion is admirable and good. Unreasoned devotion is dangerous and bad. From my students, I neither expect it nor want it.
As Japanese people (and Brad) begin to understand the true meaning of Fukan-zazengi, their actions are bound to become much more reasonable.
Why? Because, in the final analysis, any holding, even the holding of an unreasonable prejudice, requires energy. Metaphorically speaking, it requires the energy to keep the eyes screwed shut and the ears covered with the hands. Therefore, it is totally impossible for a man who has truly realized the true Dharma, i.e. the 2nd law of thermodynamics, to maintain an unreasonable prejudice.
I am pointing you, 123twist, to wake up to the true Law of the Universe. In return, you are reacting to me on the basis of an unreasoned devotion to your teacher. To hold such unreasoned devotion also requires a kind of artificial effort, or energy. But this needless energy has an inherent tendency to dissipate, if you stop preventing it from doing so. Therefore, if you understand the true meaning of Fukan-zazengi, as I have explained it to you already, you will not suffer from this problem any longer. Your world will become not illusory problems, but fences, wall, tiles, and pebbles.
I am not racist, and not non-racist.
I am never antagonistic to Japanese people as a race, but I am very antagonistic to certain tendencies within Japanese culture -- as also was Master Dogen in the 13th century.
My wife is not Japanese, and she is not non-Japanese. She is a human being who sits in the full lotus posture as dropping off body and mind.
I don't know what culture it is that punctuation such as "????" comes from, or phrases like "whaddya know" but whatever culture it is, I am antagonistic to that.
Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer standard English vocabulary and punctuation. For example, study this:
A teacher who teaches others how to hold the neck has never glimpsed the Buddha-Dharma. A teacher who has gimpsed the Buddha-Dharma teaches others NEVER TO HOLD the neck.
If the neck is not held, the chin may drop, spontaneously. But if this dropping of the chin is even the slightest bit arranged, even if the arrangement is as slight as a hundredth or a thousandth bit, then heaven and earth are far apart.
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