Zen advice

Here is some good advice for myself. It comes from Zen master Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki. Dogen is the founder of the Soto Zen sect of Buddhism in Japan.

Once, after a discussion of the doctrine, Dogen instructed: It is not good to overwhelm another person with argument even when he is wrong and you are right. Yet it is also not right to give up too easily, saying, "I am wrong," when you have every reason to believe that you yourself are right. The best way is to drop the argument naturally, without pressing the other person or falsely admitting that you yourself are wrong. If you don't listen to his arguments and don't let them bother you, he will do the same and not become angry. This is something to watch carefully.

I am pretty sure that Dogen is not saying that if you think you are right, then you should ignore what the other person is saying and not listen to them. My belief is that when you feel strongly about something, you should not continue to argue with another person who may also feel strongly. But Dogen says you should not lie to yourself or to them by simply giving in and saying, "I was wrong". Rather, you should just let those types of arguments go away naturally.

The Japanese War Fan

I am not talking about a Japanese person who is a fan of war. I am talking about the classic Japanese Fan that is designed for war. You may be wondering "that simple folding, delicate Japanese fan?" Yes.

During the feudal times of Japan, a lethal version of the Japanese folding fan, a tessen, was carried by the samurai in armor. Rather then made with wood ribs and frame, these folding fans were made with iron and usually had eight to ten ribs and were a handy weapon of attack or defense. Under the direction of many clans, in fact, schools were established where various styles of combat using the tessen were devised, tested and continually improved similar to the study and training of swordsmanship.


Delicate folding fan made of wood



Experts in the use of the tessen were able to parry the blows of spear thrusts using their iron fan according to many Japanese sagas. Also famous for their use of the iron fan were the swordsman who were instructors to the Tokugawa Shoguns. In the literature of the martial arts of that time, there are many instances of victories won with a war fan against a sword, and many examples of men killed by a blow from it. Tessen were also popular with many non-samurai who were forbidden to carry a sword.


Tessen with iron ribs.





Folded tessen



The adaptability of these fans is underscored by the famous story involving Araki Murashige, an important figure of the late Warring States period. Summoned to appear before Oda Nobunaga, the first of the three great unifiers of Japan, Murashige knew that his life hung in the balance and that only his tessen stood between him and a most unpleasant demise (all swords being confiscated before entrance to every private mansion). It was known that a method of Nobunaga's retainers for disposing of enemies was to snap their neck between the heavy wooden door panels that separated the antechamber from the reception hall when the visitor performed the ritual bow greeting across the threshold.

When he bowed, however, Murashige instinctively placed his tessen in the groove which the door panels slid, and there was a loud bang as the doors suddenly bounced against the steel rods of the fan, but no blood flowed. It is said that Murashige acted as if nothing had happened, and that his composure was immediately acknowledged by the hasty-tempered Nobunaga with reconciliation and further favors.

Although this legend may or may not be true, it does demonstrate the respect that the war fan had among the feudal samurai of Japan.

Source:
Secrets of the Samurai

Japan: A Debtor's Nation

The current economic crisis in America has raised the issue of American's personal debt and the drive to consume. American's have a massive amount of debt in the form of credit cards, car loans, and home mortgages. The recent economic collapse is basically the economic nature's way of correcting itself, a "deleveraging".

Japanese have long been known as relatively miserly savers. Although Japan is the second largest economy behind the United States and Japanese people love their fancy cell phones and Gucci bags, they cannot really be compared to American's when it comes to consumerism. The average Japanese citizen saves a much larger percentage of their income. American's love to buy big fancy cars merely to "show off". How else do you explain the legions of single people with a dog driving around in huge SUVs?

However, I recently thought of something regarding Japanese debt. The idea that the Japanese are great savers is really somewhat of a myth. The reason. The Japanese people have merely transferred their spending and consumerism to the Japanese Government. The Japanese Government currently has one of the largest per capita national debts of any nation on Earth, including the United States.

Japan's national debt is a mind boggling 170% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Only Zimbabwe has a higher percentage. The percentage of national debt to GDP for the United States is 60%, number 22 on the list. Japan's economic future and the standard of living for its citizens will be severely constrained if the national debt is not drastically reduced.

National debt information source: CIA Factbook

The Warrior Code of the Samurai

The samurai throughout Japanese history was trained to follow the will of their lord without thought. This was clearly demonstrated from a written commentary in the Hagakure, a written record of a military retainer from the 18th century. It warned the warrior to carry out every thought immediately, lest reasoning about it should make a coward of him.

When the third Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu consulted military retainers in charge of the warriors' formation in the Kii clan concerning the essence of successful strategy, their answer was one of pragmattic simplicity: "One should never ponder!" The decision, after all, had already been made elsewhere by others. Their task was to obey.

In order to enable the warrior to overcome any mental impasse due to man's natural fear of death, he had to be trained to think of himself as a man whose life was not his own. The samurai were often protrayed as a tragic figure caught in the web of a blind cult of death to which he adhered to faithfully. The Bushido, the famous code of the warrior, was indeed a code of death. Hence, the warrior was always prepared for a sudden and violent end. His whole life as a warrior in the service of a military leader was a constant reminder of this. A European visitor in the 16th century wrote "There is no nation in the world which fears death less."

This conditioning towards death began in childhood for the young samurai. They were exposed to harsh extremes and sent on difficult and dangerous errands. His fear of death and the supernatural was reduced by sending him to cemetaries and places of execution at night, even while very young. Physical pain had to be endured without betraying any emotion, and the young warrior's conditioning even included careful training to prepare him for the ceremony of suicide known as hara-kiri (abdomen cutting) or seppuku (a more refined term).

Source - Secrets of the Samurai: The Martial Arts of Feudal Japan

River of Fire, River of Water - An Introduction to Shin Buddhism

I recently finished reading the book "River of Fire, River of Water" by Taitesu Unno. This book provides an introduction to the Pure Land tradition of Shin Buddhism. In Japan, more people are followers of Shin Buddhism then of any other branch of Buddhism such as Zen or Shingon.

If you are interested in learning about the Shin tradition, then this is a pretty good book. The Buddhist terminology and philosophy can get a bit confusing and tedious at times, especially near the end of the book, but overall I learned a lot from it.

Pure Land Shin Buddhism is based on the belief in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. Those who have faith in Amida Buddha will be born in Amida Buddha's Pure Land.

Pure Land Buddhism has been around along time and came to Japan from China. But a distinct school of Shin Buddhism was originally established in Japan by the monk Honen. Honen was a Tendai monk from Mt. Hiei, a center of Buddhist monastic study northeast of Kyoto. In 1175, he broke from this established center of monastic learning and proclaimed the establishment of an independent Jodo or Pure Land school.

Pure Land practice had long been a part of the established schools including those of Mt. Hiei. But Honen made the contemplation of Amida and the Pure Land a separate and distinct path that could be followed by all people including the common people and not just for those who followed the monastic path.

One of Honen's followers, Shinran (1173-1263) continued propagating the Pure Land belief after Honen's death. It was Shinran's decedents and followers that created the dominant Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism that is the largest school in Japan today.

In real simple terms, Honen and his Jodo Shu school believed in the Nembutsu, the invocation of Amida Buddha's name, Namu Amida Butsu, as the way for those to travel to Amida's Pure Land. Shinran's school of Jodo Shinshu emphasized strong faith in Amida and that it was not even necessary to chant Amida's name but the mere the thought of the Nembutsu with strong faith was sufficient.

Japanese cars

A post over at sixmats about car shopping in Japan got me thinking about the fact that the vast majority of the cars on the roads in Japan are not sold in America. Most are way too small, especially the tiny 600cc cars. But it is too bad many other are not sold in America since there are some pretty cool small cars in Japan that I think would be good sellers now that there is a trend towards smaller cars.

However, over the last few years, there have been several cars introduced to America that I had previously seen on the streets of Japan.

A few years ago, the Honda Fit was introduced to the States. I remember seeing it during my visits to Japan in 2004 and shortly after that Honda began selling it in America. I see a lot of Fits on the road here in Los Angeles.

Fit

In Japan, Toyota sells the Vitz. In America, they call it the Yaris. Since gas prices started going through the roof a couple of years ago, the Yaris has been selling really good as well.

Yaris

Toyota also has been selling a brand of cars in the States for several years called Scion. The first models were the Scion xA and the Scion xB. In Japan, you know it as the Toyota bB. It is very popular and Toyota has been introducing more models for the Scion line.

Toyota bB.

Scion xB

For all those who are living in or visited Japan often, you probably know the Nissan Cube. Nissan recently announced that they will be selling it in the States. What took them so long?

The Cube

In Japan, one of my relatives who lives in Nikko drives the Nissan X-Trail. The first time I saw it in Japan was around 2003 or 2004.

X-Trail

The X-trail is not sold in America but one day in 2006 I was surprised to see an X-trail on the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles. When I got close to it, I looked at the license plate. It was from Mexico. The X-trail is sold in Mexico but not the United States.