Mindfulness, Perceptivity, & Balanced ANS

In the western Buddhist philosophy, there is an idealistic philosophy that "mindfulness" might be a kind of symbolical word, which suggests Buddhist samadhi.

But I think that this interpretation might be wrong. Because the word "mindful" suggests clearly something, which is related with mind, and so it does never suggests something, which is related with the middle way.

However there is tendency that the western Buddhist philosophy has been utilizing the concept "mindfulness" as if it were subjective word, which suggests the something mental, that has the same meaning of mental idea as the symbolical word of spiritual religions. But in the case of the Buddhist philosophy, it does never suggest any kind of spiritual tendency, but it suggests only the samadhi, or the balanced state of the autonomic nervous system. Therefore I think that it is very misleading for us to utilize the word "mindful" as the meaning of the balanced state of the autonomic nervous system.

Therefore I think that it is necessary for us to utilize the word "mindful" to utilize for the meaning of word, which suggests some kind of idealistic meaning, and in the case of meaning, which suggests "Samadhi", it might be better for us to utilize the word "the balanced ANS."

Information of moving the residence

I will move my residence to Mejiro in Tokyo on 13th, June, and so I have to stop my sending Dogen Sangha Blog for several days from 12th, June.
Therefore I am very sorry, but I will open the Blog several days later.

The Excited Enlightenment

In Buddhist stories we sometimes find very excited and dramatic enligtenment, but when we think about the real contents of enlightenments, they are very quiet and secret changes in ANS, and so it is impossible for enlightenment to be any kind of showy, or dramatic change, but it is very unrecognizable and serene situations.

Therefore if someone insists or proclames some kinds of very gorgeous and dramatic changes as the enlightenments, we can interprete that those kinds of dramatic examples might be some kinds of delusions, or exaggerated stories, and so we should never accept such kinds of miraculous changes as any kinds of Buddhist value.

So we should think that the real enlightenments are always very difficult to recognize it clearly, and so Master Dogen have taught us "Just to Practice Zazen!" And the meaning of Master Dogen's advice suggests that "Don't worry about for us whether we have enlightened, or not, but it is just the enlighenment to practice Zazen everyday."

Therefore the most important matter for us is just to practice Zazen everyday. In our practicing Zazen, just we are sitting in the enlightenment itself. And so it is not necessary for us to worry about enlightenment, and just to practice Zazen everyday is all.

Samadhi is the balanced state of ANS

In Buddhism, we have the fundamental concept called "Samadhi," which suggests the state of Buddhist enlightenment. But before the 20th Century it was not so clear what was the real contents of Samadhi. But in the 20th Century because of the enormous development of mental and physical sciences, the scientific knowledge has grasped that "The Buddhist Samadhi is just the balanced state of the Autonomic Nervous System."

As in my first Buddhist Book in Japanese, which is entitled "Bukkyo : Daisan no Sekaikan, or Buddhism : the Ultinate World View," I have insisted that "The Buddhist Samadhi is just the balanced state of the Autonomic Nervous System." But at that time such an insistence has been only a kind of hypothesis, therefore it was not so relyable, but since then the time has been past for 50 years, and during that time there were so many affirmative scientific researches that the state of human body and mind in Zazen practice have been governed by the balanced state of ANS. And such kind of scientific researches have been continuing even today, and so I think that when we research the fundamental basis of Samadhi, we can suppose that it might become much more clear that the balanced state of our body and mind in Zazen might be the balanced state of human Autonomic Nervous System decisively.

Therefore I think that the scientific researches of Zazen practice has arrived at its ultimate conclusion in the 20th Century. Human beings have found that the Samadhi in Buddhist practice is inevitably the balanced Autonomic Nervous System of Human body and mind absolutely. And if someone would doubt this conclusion, he can never understand the total philosophical system of Budhism at all. Therefore we can think that the Gautama Buddha's buddhist philosophy has changed from some kind of religion, which has been relying upon a religious belief, into the philosophy, which has been interpreted in the 20th Century, and the meaning of words that Buddhism has changed from religion into philosophy, because the Buddhist religious system has become philosophy, relying upon the facts that the religious charactoristic of Buddhism, which has been believed relying upon religious belief, has arrived at the theoretical conclusion, which has been solved by the theory of the Autonomic Nervous System.

Therefore we can think that Buddhism has become from religion to philosophy at last. Without the theory of ANS, the theory of Buddhism can never be the ultimate philosophy, but relying upon the theory of ANS, Buddhism can become the ultimate philosophy, because the total theory of Buddhism can become the very exact theoretical system, which can be understood by the theory of SNS, PNS, and the balance of ANS. Therefore we can think that Buddhism has become the ultimate philosophy of Realism, which can be interpreted as the present Action of human being, or the whole Universe itself, or all Buddhist theoretical system on the basis of Human Action, or the Reality itself at the present moment.