Your life becomes what you imagine your life to be

Picasso said, "People don't realize what they have when they own a picture by me. Each picture is a phial with my blood. That is what has gone into it."  I find his painting as the manifestation of his life.   If so, I wonder if this blog may be the manifestation of my (image of) life.  Or, in a broader sense: one's life becomes the manifestation of the image of oneself...  with other areas of manifestation being work, hobby, relationship, health, finance and living truthfully (see Life Profile)  Since we are living beings, our life may be seen as a creative process of coming up with a New DNA (LIFE) by combining different elements (or seeds, ideas, images) and for that to grow.

Going through various experiences in my life brings a seed/insight for my blog.  More ideas pop up and writing this blog can become a manifestation of creative process, i.e., my life.  If one wonders how various topics are integrated as a whole, I see they are like a tree growing with various branches and leaves, all contributing to the growth, yet somehow balanced as a whole.  In other words, this blog is like a canvas to exhibit my paintings (experiences of life = creative process), manifesting my image of  LIFE!  

BTW, I met few people who are expressing their talents to create an image or vision for clients as well as for themselves.  One lady is doing a business of creating an image for clients such as actors or business man through matching clothes, appearances, values, etc.  Another lady is counseling individuals to overcome life's hurdles as therapist with the heart at the center.  One man is an instructor of Aikido to instruct the Ki (life energy) to manifest in students'daily life with compassion at the base.  Another is a man involved in making deals to transform companies, through mergers and acquisitions, which ultimately may develop better flow of life energy, providing better life experiences, if this is done right.

So, as much as I write this blog and try to live life truthfully from the heart, there are quite a few new heroes - who strive to manifest their image or dream in what they do.

If our image may become reality, let me revisit what the Dalai Lama said in his foreword to my book, Results from the Heart:

"As human beings, the one factor that differentiates us from other species is our intelligence which both expresses itself and trains itself through education.  However, the development of the brain, the intellectual side of our nature, and the development of a good heart, a warm heart, must complement each other in a more balanced way.  This is why, wherever I go, I always try to promote human values, the good qualities of the human mind, the good qualities of human beings.  They are the source of happiness, and happiness is ultimately what each of us wants.

I believe we have both the ability and the means to solve our problems and improve our world.  Perhaps the most important factors that inhibit us are short-sightedness, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness.  Yet, to look after yourself is not wrong.  Without a strong sense of self we cannot develop self-confidence, determination and will power.  But, we must be careful, for there is also a narrow -minded selfishness that can lead to self destruction.  To counter that we have to realize that in reality our own interest is closely linked to the interests of others and the benefit, happiness and interests of others are our own."

As new heroes, we are to confirm the core value, live by core principle - perhaps to create new DNA (LIFE) to express compassion and wisdom, while utilizing our talent, helping each other as well as being the master of our own desitiny.  To me, this journey is as if I am to re-invent myself as I move on and face and overcome hurdles and difficulties one step at a time.  The real test is in LIFE itself.

Reflecting back, I was a kid aspiring to be like Thomas Edison, later I wanted to become an engineer to contribute my talent to the society. Then, I found myself as an nucelar safety analyst for Fukushima plant for few years.  Later, I got an MBA to expand my skill base, and satisfy my curiosity.  Working as consultant to develop corporate strategy, and operational improvement for companies, I also honed my skill to address human psychology to find a path for organizational transformation.  Years of my Zen practice and mediation have helped a great deal for me to maintain calm and quiet mind under difficulties.  Yet, there is no complacency to be had as life brings various traps we can easily fall into.

So, there are always new challenges to be met and new images to be created as I moved on in this journey.  As I turn the corner, there are more new difficulties or opportunities waiting.  The front page of my book points the image of what this journey is about, where a man is painting a stairs as he move up the stairs he painted previously...  (Note: I did not know there was someone who came up with such a great idea and put it on the front page of my book!!!)

Yes, image may manifest on its own - if we let it.  Here are my words from Results form the Heart (p.164):

"Wherever we are and whatever our past, we can paint on the canvas of our universe the total existence  of our life and see how it may unfold.  And in this journey of our life, may we hear our heart continue to whisper, "When we give up, that is when we fail.  If we do not give up, there is no failure."

In life, just like painting, I have an image, and as I paint... more ideas may flow...as if many things want to be expressed in their own unique way, expressing who they really are...

One of my paintings 

A CEO in Japan, Hikoji Suzuki said, "Jinsei ha ime-ji zoukei nari"

My translation is:

- Life is an image creation (direct literal translation)

- Life is the form created by our own imagination

- Our life becomes the manifestation of what our our image of life

May you let your life to be the manifestation of your imagination?!

Life is the manifestation of your image (My Calligraphy)

Funny, but a talk with a person on "life is image creation" brought an idea for me to write this post.  To me, such encounter (exchange of image-potential) is as if to confirm the spark in life and be able to share with someone or anyone while keep exploring the joy in our adventure in what we call this thing as LIFE.

Living truthfully..is my image re: my life!! I have been working on this since my awakening experience in 2,000.  This is the same as Tao, or following the law of nature (or, live according to God's order).... and to do that is the New Hero's Journey.

To end this post, I would like to offer few more quotes:

"Imagination is power" (Einstein)

“When the answer is simple, God is speaking.” (Einstein)

"He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law." (Picasso)

"As he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 25:7)

Best wishes on your journey,
Kio

Listening to the Masters - 2

"If you cannot dedicate all your works to the Divine, then do the work without the desire of the fruit. " (Bhagavadgita)

"Let the mind flow freely without abiding anywhere. " (Diamond Sutra)

"All living being, be peaceful, gentle and happy. Whether animals, plants, big or small, long or short .... All living being be happy." (Buddha [Suttanipata 145-147])

I think many phenomena became a reality as it was deemed desirable and right...

Is this my delusion?  Perhaps...  or perhaps not?!

"Unless the world as a whole can achieve happiness there is no happiness as an individual. ... The consciousness as a person will progress from individual to group to society to the universe." (Kenji Miyazawa)

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." (Antoine de SaintExupery)

"Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight. " (Lao-tzu)

"There is a treasure in every person." (Sufism)

" ... the truth is the subject's transformation within himself." (Kierkegaard)

"If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life." (Abraham Maslow)

"If you do not have a dream, you might as well be dead." (Dixie Rose)

"I have a dream." (Martin Luther King)

"I think I can, I think I can." (The Little Engine That Could)

"May I have the strength to change the things I can, the patience to accept the things I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference. " (Saint Francis)

==

I do not remember any more how I collected these words in 2001 for the book, Results from the Heart.  Yet, I see many living in me as I re-read them now.  Then, I noticed that the word I should have include above was the word given in 1983 by the president of a company called, "San-esu" in Japan, Mr. Hikoji Suzuki; "Life is the manifestation of our image we create."  I recently realized that this word lived with me and my life became in fact as he suggested.  Amazing!

It may be that there is this unknown connection among childlikeness, creativity and image.... as we will discuss more in the next post.

Wishing you the best,
Kio

Listening to the Masters - 1

Here are some words of wisdom I took from my book, "Results from the Heart."  They address the essence of human nature.  yet, whether or not we can make these words come alive is up to each of us.  If we do not get the message readily (perhaps disconnected from one's own experience), it may indicate that our eyes are not quite open.   May we listen to these words with open minds to discover the secret of our lives with calm and quiet mind?

"Seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." (Matt. 7:7)

"What goes out to the world market is' not the product. It is the philosophy, the brain of that company. " (Soichiro Honda)

"If you want to be a better friend, a richer person, a better parent, a better athlete, a more successful businessman, all you need to do is find models of excellence. " (Anthony Robbins)

"What is desirable and right is not impossible." (Henry Ford)

"Man is made great or small by his own will." (Schiller)

"So how can I set myself free?" "Who has bound you?" (Zen Koan)

"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. " (Thomas Edison)

"When the solution is simple, God is answering." (Albert Einstein)

"The life which is unexamined is not worth living. " (Plato)

"I did not wish to live what was not life." (Henry David Thoreau)

"Truth above all, even when it upsets and overwhelms us." (Amiel)

"Youth is youngness at heart. Youth is eternal for those who are full of faith and hope, and greet the challenges of each new day with courage and confidence." (Konosuke Matsushita)

Some words of masters are like the shining light in the dark sky 

- clearing up the unknowns or cutting through the ambiguities

"Those who mistake the unessential to be essential---and essential to be unessential, dwelling in wrong thoughts, never arrive at the essential. " (Buddha Dhammapada II)

"If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got. " (Found at the wall of a factory floor in the Midwest)

"Life clears itself to the degree that we understand how the mind works." (Vernon Howard)

"Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them." (Goethe)

"There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he does not mind who gets the credit. " (Truman)

"If we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. " (La Rochefoucauld)

"If your heart is right, your world will be right. The beginning of all reform must be in yourself. ... The power released from within yourself will change your outward life."  Found at the wall of the Library of Congress (October 16,1789)

"To be happy means to be self-sufficient." (Aristotle)

"Unless a person find a mission to devote himself, he cannot find the true happiness." (Found at a Rinzai-ji Temple in Japan)

"A happy life is joy in the truth." (Augustine)

"0 wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful! And yet again wonderful ... " (Shakespeare)

"Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when he is not calculating and thinking. 'Childlikeness' has to be restored with long years of training in the art of 'self-forgetfulness. '" (Daisetz T. Suzuki)

"Truth is too simple for us; we do not like those who unmask Our illusion." (Emerson)

"Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away." (Hakuin)

"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the songs of a bird?" (Picasso)

"Intelligence comes into being when brain discovers its fallibility. " (Krishnamurti)

"Suffering is always the effect of wrong thoughts in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being. " (James Allen)

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." (Kris Kristofferson)

"A free mind has power to achieve all things. " (Eckhart)

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." (Gal. 5:22)

- ( to be continued ) -

There is nothing I can do... Oh, Really?!

Get stuck and people use that words.  "There is nothing I can do..."
I for one felt like that so many times... "My hands are tied... nothing can be done..really..."

Yet, staying patient without losing hope, something happens and I often managed my way out.
That, I think, is one of the most exciting moment of being a human - being alive, and feeling LIFE at the core.

Once, twice, three times, we experience such moment, it may become even addictive
- to challenge the unknown and breakthrough insurmountable problems of life

The subject may be work, hobby, relationship, spiritual pursuit...or anything from small to big
I believe that my training in Zen and meditation have helped me to not jump into conclusion but to go beyond

(Note to myself here: Of course, there is no end for our journey ...
- just make sure so that I/we do not become arrogant or complacent - ever
Yes, I have gone through that hardship as well.)

Perhaps working as a consultant to help make transformations for the organizations and people,
such positive attitude might have become my habit - nature's way.

Or, perhaps everyone knows that as each of us must have gone through a hardship of some kind
somehow, we manage... to see the sunrise, sunset, feel the fresh breeze...and smell of the flowers

Yes, I/we have experienced that there is always a way....
with calm quiet mind, and with patience, we can see things clearly...and find the way forward

So.... you do not say nothing can be done... totally no use to confirm the negative thoughts...
such is like confining ourselves into a box, and limiting our potential into the future - of unknown

Glass is not half empty..
It is half full...

Our past does not control our future,
and yes, we can control our life!!!

No matter what the situation is...we are the master of destiny...
small or big..this or that, it does no matter...

And fine, we may have a moment to eat bread with tears in our eyes...
we may fall into a despair because nothing seem to work...

But as you see trees never stop trying... after the storm, rain, or shortage of water...
without complaining, they do their best...

Let us not complain....never say that there is nothing I can do
There are infinite ways to move on - doing our best...

and if you do your best....from moment to moment...
leave the rest to the divine!

And promise to me...
that when we die...

we will have smile on our face...
as we have now at this moment---- OK?!

In the next post, I would like to share the words of masters from the book, Results from the Heart.
Who knows.... somewhere, sometime, and in some special occasion, these words of wisdom may speak to you...as if from nowhere...

Do you think so????

And if you do - with the spirit of going beyond the boundaries, doing the best...
I tend to think you are one of those lucky ones! (with smile on your face)

Then, whatever the outcome is,
I think you are truly my hero!

Good luck on your journey!

Kio

Masters and Their Common Characteristics

Certainly, we can learn a lot from Masters.  Yet, I also see that there are certain common characteristics we find from all masters whether they are the masters of sports, management, art, or deep spiritual matters.  This common characteristics, I believe, reflects (or corresponds to) the Way, or Tao.  Or, I called it LIFE's basic principle as mentioned in the last post.

If we just think about it, we are all masters of something. Just as we have acquired the skills of eating, speaking, or picking things up, so are we learning something everyday even though we may not be conscious of it. Ultimately, each of us may find and or develop his or her own unique characteristics to realize the full potential - perhaps exhibited in our total existence.  The following is a list of the common characteristics of the masters as expressed in my book, Results from the Heart:

1. Be sensible to listen to our hearts while distinguishing the key issues from various background noises. The problems we encounter in life do not have to control our lives.

2. Be aware of our own feelings. Do not try to repress them or react prematurely. When we experience nega­tive feelings such as anxiety, anger, depression, greed, or envy, we should analyze our feelings to discover the cause ­as if we are the third person watching our own emotion with detachment. The solution will eventually come as an insight and our solid foundation will be regained.

3. Accept reality, fate, uncertainty, and the unknown for what they are. Do not blindly fight against them. Oth­erwise, we end up being caught up. If there is some­thing that is out of our control, just accept it. We live in an impermanent world. Understand the laws of nature and find our destiny with whatever resources we have.

4. Visualize the world through the eyes of an innocent child. Instead of seeing trees as always green, and flow­ers always red, find the subtlety in everything and every event. Instead of being preoccupied with our own thoughts, be flexible to look at things as they are. Pause, observe, and inquire about what is going on every so often to see if our minds are in harmony. Be open to change. Be inquisitive to infinitely varied peo­ple, ideas, events, and things surrounding us.

5. Find a mission that fully uses ourtalent to express our innovative and creative potential. Realize that we are happy when we are one with mission. Be self­directed rather than other­directed. Be original rather than con­forming. Be flexible rather than rigid. Live life with a solid foundation connected to our heart.

6. As we find out more about ourselves, consider whether we can identify ourselves with others, and be compas­sionate to them.

7. Although we are interdependent beings, we should try to seek our own destiny without outside support wher­ever possible.

8. Be open­minded and flexible about unavoidable diffi­culties that we all face. Convert negative feelings to constructive energy.

9. Accept unconditionally who we are ­whether we per­form well, are popular, or have handicaps. Experiences of failure provide feedback to help us realize what does not work. Realize that, ultimately, there is no failure.

10. Experiment and be playful the way achild might explore the mystery in life. Be aware of life in all its manifestations, reflect, plan, and act to move on.

11. If we do not explore, learn, appreciate and strive, why are we here? This process itself is self­ actualizing.

Matisse - Dance

In this book ("Results from the Heart"), we have discussed the need for the heart and brain to be connected to channel our energy and express our talent as it is meant to be. The search for answers will continue in our everyday life while proof of our efforts needs to be shown ­and will be shown even if nobody asks for it. Individuals may be characterized as "heart­heavy" or "brain­heavy." Since each of our lives is different, our specific journeys will vary. On occasion, we may feel lost or vulnerable and unable to find our way. Yet to live our lives, we must go through these rough patches. If someone asks "Why?" we shall say "Why not?"

- from p.182-4, "Results from theHeart" by Kiyoshi Suzaki

True Love and New DNA - LIFE's basic Principle

What is LIFE's basic Principle?  Given the limitation of words to express the inexpressible, the sentence below is my best answer that I can think of at the moment:

Confirm True Love*, (or connection to the heart through intimacy/oneness) and find new DNA (and fully expressing the potential) with the realization that there are infinite ways to do so.

I realize that such is the basic principle of my life that I aim for.  Or, what I call here, The New Hero's Journey!!! And if so, then, how do I confirm the true love (or connection to the base/source/heart - so to speak)? Answer: Through the sense of intimacy... oneness .... Again, given that words have limitation, in the post, Deeper level of Connection and Communication,  I proposed various signs of "connection to the Heart" (shortened as follow):

-  Sense of being present, here and now

-  Vivid sense of inner body sensation, aliveness, liveliness 

-  Calm, clear and quiet mind

-  Body/muscle is totally relaxed

-  No ego/self; desirelessness, effortlessness, no boundaries

-  No doubt, questions, concerns

-  Mind and body are one; I am the universe

-  Sense of serenity, peace, feeling at home

-  Delusions/errors are nowhere to find; If there are, there is no significance.

-  Sense of living truthfully; being absolute

-  Sense of Ki (Life energy) flowing

-  Sense of oneness; non-duality; connection to unconscious/infinite potential

-  Sense of love, bliss, and intimacy to all

-  Sense of time lost its meaning/significance; everything is OK as it is

Then, finding the new DNA (and fully expressing the potential) will be assured as the following points are witnessed:

-  Brain and Heart find a connection

-  Heart to heart communication between people, and everything else is made possible
-  Kegon (interpenetration - everything is connected to everything else)

-  This deeper level communication may be manifested as wisdom and compassion

-  Paradox of human existence is resolved (in oneness)

-  Bliss in various activities, e.g., work, hobby, relationship, health, and the sense of genuine security in any situation 

-  Discover new meaning of intimacy, e.g., sexual union, non-sexual relationship, Aikido, etc.  The list is infinite.

-  All of these corresponds to "living truthfully" - the new hero's journey


To illustrate, here are but a few quotes related to such a state/process:

"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places..." -  Pissarro

"Happiness that does not depend on anything"  - Daisetz Suzuki
"You are the master of your own destiny" - The Buddha

This experience/state/process whatever you may call, to me, is a realization of the whole, where nothing is missing, while all possibilities are being manifested. Yet, us being human, we may go in and out of such experience/state as our mind moves. That is the same as going between duality and oneness. Or, it is like going between mind and no mind. Or, it is like 1) mind, 2) mind but not losing the base ("mirror mind"), and 3) oneness (intimacy/melting into one/no mind). Although such description may be seen as unresolved or incomplete, I see it is so as humans.  In other words, as we go through ups and downs in life, we also appreciate to find the bliss....and find our way in life's journey. Only humans have this privilege. A Myokonin (a group of often poor, illiterate people in Shin sect of Buddhism in Japan) says, "Thank you for not taking all of my delusion away!"  In such words, I see the humble, yet bottomless appreciation of LIFE.

It is interesting when we see our own mind moving.. 

It is like us watching us in the mirror: objects in the mirror moves but not the mirror.

This is what I call the experience of "mirror mind"

Picasso said, "I've reached the moment.. when the movement of my thoughts
 interests me more than the thought itself"  

Taking this occasion, let me also talk about, what I call, the "Mirror mind." With mirror mind, the picture of the world we live in may look like this. We see the contents of the mind moving... as if it is a play on the mirror or movie screen.  Yet, screen or mirror itself does not move.  Interestingly, I found that mind (citta) has a meaning of container or envelope - which is like the image of screen or mirror where play of events takes place.  So, although we can relate to the play in the screen or mirror, it does not have an immediate impact to the watcher (as if he is just watching the movie - calmly and quietly).  There is no significance. This however points to transcending the paradox, where we see not just content, not just  mirror, but as a whole.  (Here, Kitaro Nishida, close friend of Daisetz Suzuki says, "self-identification of absolute paradox." or ”絶対矛盾の自己同一”)


Some call such state as "delusion is enlightenment." Why? Because the watcher see the delusion (mind movement) not as real. It is like a dream, unreal. This is because HE is connected to the source/heart/ground - the very secure ground. There is silence, eternal stillness, and serenity.  (again, the words are just a pointer and not to be scrutinized with mind/logic but to be felt as direct experience).  Again, although it appears that there may be two states, or observer and observed, this paradoxical situation is to be seen as one.  Instead of caught up in the mind, if one can watch his own mind, he is detached, and find the calm quiet mind - mirror mind.    Mr. Levenson said, "You won't be disturbed even if you are killed." This statement points to the functioning of the mirror mind. It is that base, the ground, the heart, true love - or "I am that I am" where "ultimate happiness" is found.

If such statement is not resonating with us now, we may realize that sometime as if from no where... if we keep our inquisitiveness and awareness sharp as if with the mind of new born child with calm and quiet mind....we may find us total openness/release to all of happenings without fear, defensiveness, ego, power, but true love.  (The message of Daisetz Suzuki on Love and Power is, as I believe, nothing but that!)

Perhaps as if adding legs to a snake, here are examples of those moments that may trigger or correspond with such state of being:

In Taichi - inner body sensation...sense the Ki/Chi (life energy) - Ki in Japanese; Chi in Chinese

In Meditation - same as above, mind and body as one, Awareness and equanimity

in Everyday events - sound of guitar, fresh breeze through the window, spider net in the sun - refer to my Poem, symphony of light, joy of life

In Nature - Feel one with nature, sense life energy, or Ki (Ki is Japanese; Chi in Chinese)

In Sex - In pure spiritual experience of intimacy - oneness with the partner, not just in orgasm in the conventional sense but spiritual ecstasy, is the pure moment of creation covered by bliss.

In Aikido - The master uses Ki, the life energy, based on compassion/true love. As if opponents are the extension of his mind and body, the master may read the mind of opponent as if he has a third eye, to resolve the situation harmoniously.  

In Sports, Art, and Business - Some common traits of masters are, effortless, desireless, witnessing, and faith (conscious of unconscious)

Note:

* I plan to write in the next post Re: Characteristics of the Masters (revisiting the Appendix form my book "Results from the Heart")

- True Love*:  I use this expression often, yet I have not defined quite clearly as IT is indescribable, yet to be experienced.  Other terms that may be used as synonym are: God, Law of universe, nature's way, Tao, emptiness, stillness, here/now, presence, ground, absolute, imperturbability, true self, original self before your father and mother were born, I am that (I am), etc.  Or, it may be felt at the moment as one notices one's mistake/delusion.  Or, to see things as they really are and not as they appears in our mind.

Money... Power.. and LOVE!

Everything is connected to everything else.  So what do we do?  Trying to say something about money and related to that, about power, I struggled a while to what message may be most pertinent to convey.  After a while, I came up with the short list which also points to how to live our life. They are:

-  Be aware of Impermanence.. nothing lasts forever
-  Have small desire and learn to be satisfied (as mentioned in the last post)
-  Find things you really like to do, and if that help the society, that will give a good reason that you will be happy in what you do in life (connection to ten-mei: or order form heaven)
-  Use money/brain but not to be used by it.  Also know that, asking what is important is more important than just doing the task. So, re-visit this every now and then.  Never lose the longing for the endless sea

Each item in this list may require more explanation but, instead of doing that, I would like to share the following essay by Daisetz Suzuki, on "Love and Power."  Why?  Because this essay points the essence of our life as I see it, and will give a full explanation of all the items in the list above tied to money, power, life and love.

Back in 1993, I was invited to a YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) University held in London, where I presented the idea of mini-company, waste elimination and unleashing the human potential in three lectures. This paper of Daisetz T. Suzuki, Love and Power, was attached to my presentation with a hope that presidents gathered from around the world might gain what I believed to be an inspirational message.  What is shown below is an abbreviated version of this paper.  (Note also that this paper has a direct link with my book, Results from the Heart with foreword from the Dalai Lama - Kegon* or interepenetration is at the foundation)

===

Never in the history of mankind has there been a more urgent need for spiritual leaders and for the enhancement of spiritual values than there is in our contemporary world. We have achieved many wonderful things.. in the past century toward the advancement of human welfare. But, strangely, we seem to have forgotten that our welfare depends principally upon our spiritual wisdom and discipline. ... Of all the spiritual values we can conceive and wish to be brought out before us today, none is more commandingly needed than love.  It is love which creates life. Life cannot sustain itself without love. My firm conviction is that the present filthy, suffocating atmosphere of hatred and fear is generated through the suppression of the spirit of loving-kindness and universal brotherhood, and it goes without saying that this suffocation comes from the non-realization of the truth that the human community is the most complicated and far-reaching net work of mutual dependence.

The moral teaching of individualism with all its significant corollaries is very fine indeed, but we must remember that the individual is nonexistent when he is isolated from other individuals and cut off from the group to which he belongs, whether the group be biological or political or cosmological. Mathematically stated, the number one can never be one, never be itself, unless it is related to other numbers which are infinite. The existence of a single number by itself is unthinkable. “Morally or spiritually, this means that the existence of each individual, whether or not he is conscious of the fact, owes something to an infinitely expanding and all-enwrapping net of loving relationship, which takes up not only every one of us but everything that exists. The world is a great family and we, each one of us, are its members.

I do not know how much geography has to do with the moulding of human thought, but the fact is that it was in the Far East that a system of thought developed in the seventh century which is known as the Kegon* school of philosophy. The Kegon is based on the ideas of interfusion, or interpenetration, or interrelatedness, or mutual unobstructedness.  When this philosophy of the interrelatedness of things is rightly understood, love begins to be realized, because love is to recognize others and to rake them into consideration in every way of life.  To do to others what you would like them to you is the keystone of love and this is what naturally grows out of the realization of mutual relatedness.

The idea of mutual relationship and consideration excludes the notion of power for power is something brought from outside into a structure of inner relationship. The use of power is always apt to be arbitrary and despotic and alienating....  Love is not a command given us by an outside agent, for this implies a sense of power. Excessive individualism is the hot-bed in which power-feeling is bred and nourished, because it is egocentric in the sense that it asserts itself arrogantly, and often violently, when it moves out of itself and tries to overrule others. Love, on the contrary, grows out of mutuality and interrelationship and is far from egocentric and self-exalting. While power superficially strong and irresistible, is in reality self-exhausting, love, through self-negation is ever creative for it is the root of existence.  Love needs no external, all-powerful agent to exercise itself.  Love is life and life is love.

Being an infinitely complicated network of interrelationship, life cannot be itself unless supported by love,  Wishing to give life a form, love expresses itself in all modes of being....Love is affirmation, a creative affirmation; it is never destructive and annihilating, because unlike power it is all –embracing and all-forgiving. Love enters into its object and becomes one with it, while power, being characteristically dualistic and discriminative, crushes any object standing against it, or otherwise it conquers it and turns it into a slavish dependent.  Power makes use of science and everything that belongs to it. As long as science remains analytical and cannot go beyond the study of infinitely varied forms of differentiation and their quantitative measurements it is never creative.  What is creative in its spirit of inquiry, which is inspired by love and not by power.  Where there is any co-operation between power and the sciences, it always ends in contriving various methods of disaster and destruction.

Love and creativity are two separate aspect of one reality, but creativity is often separated from love. When this illegitimate separation takes place, creativity comes to be associated with power. Power really belongs to a lower order than love and creativity. When power usurps creativity, it becomes a most dangerous agent of all kinds of mischief.  The notion of power as aforesaid grows inevitably out of a dualistic interpretation of reality. When dualism neglects to recognize the presence of an integrating principle behind it, its native penchant for destruction exhibits itself rampantly and wantonly....

Power is always arrogant, self-assertive, and exclusive, whereas love is self-humiliating and all-comprehensive. Power represents destruction, even self-destruction, quite contrary to love’s creativeness.  Love dies and live again, while power kills and killed.  It was Simone Weil, I understand, who defined power as a force which transforms a person into a thing. I would like to define love as a force that transforms a thing into a person.  Love may thus appear to be something radically opposed to power, and love and power may be regarded as mutually exclusive, so that where there is power there cannot be any shadow of love, and where love is no power can ever intrude upon it.

This is true to a certain extent, but the real truth is that love is not opposed to power; love belongs to an order higher than power, and it is only power that imagines itself to be opposed to love. In truth, love is all-enveloping and all-forgiving; it is a universal solvent, an infinitely creative and resourceful agent. As power is always dualistic and therefore rigid, self-assertive, destructive, and annihilating, it turns against itself and destroys itself when it has nothing to conquer... What is blind is not love but power, for power utterly fails to see that its existence is dependent upon something else. It refuses to realize that it can be itself only allying itself to something infinitely greater than itself. Not knowing this fact, power plunges itself straight into the pit of self-destruction. The cataract that blinds the eye must be removed in order that power may experience enlightenment. Without this experience everything becomes unreal to the myopically veiled eye of power.

When the eye fails to see reality as it is, that is, in its suchness, a cloud of fear and suspicion spreads over all things that come before it. Not being able to see reality in its suchness, the eye deceives itself; it becomes suspicious of anything that confronts it and desires to destroy it. Mutual suspicion is thus let loose, and when this takes place no amount of explanation will reduce the tension... Those who are power-intoxicated fail to see that power is blinding and keeps them within an ever-narrowing horizon. Power is thus associated with intellection, and makes use of it in every possible way. Love, however, transcends power because, in its penetration into the core of reality, far beyond the finiteness of the intellect, it is infinity itself. Without love one cannot see the infinitely expanding network of relationships which is reality. Or, we may reverse this and say that without the infinite network of reality we can never experience love in its true light. Love trust, is always affirmative and all-embracing. Love is life and therefore creative. Everything it touches is enlivened and energized for new growth. When you love an animal, it grows more intelligent; when you love a plant you see into its every need. Love is never blind; it is the reservoir of infinite light....

To conclude: Let us first realize the fact that we thrive only when we are co-operative by being alive to the truth of interrelationship of all things in existence. Let us then die to the notion of power and conquest and be resurrected to the eternal creativity of love which is all-embracing and all-forgiving. As love flows out of rightly seeing reality as it is, it is also love that makes us feel that we—each of us individually and all of us collectively—are responsible for whatever things, good or evil, go on in our human community, and we must therefore strive to ameliorate or remove whatever conditions are inimical to the universal advancement of human welfare and wisdom.

 ( by Dr. D. T. Suzuki in the Hall of the International Exhibition at Brussels on 28th May, 1958, at the Conference “In Defense of Spiritual Values in the Contemporary World."  The Awakening of Zen, Shambhala, p.66-70)

* Kegon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatamsaka_Sutra
Also at my Japanese home page on Ten Stages Sutra, or Jyu-ji-kyo (sorry in Japanese)

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Hope you found this an inspirational peace of work as I felt with tears in my eyes years ago.  In short, and connecting what we shared so far in this blog, the fundamental principle in LIFE (as I see it) is, Confirm True Love (through intimacy/oneness) while creating new DNA with the idea that there are infinite ways to express who we are. I would like to address this in the next post.


Good day,
Kio