Attempting Mundane or Heroic Feats

Remember this: When you make the decision to destroy records, both good or bad, you are destroying a stranger's hopes of knowing whom their ancestors are.

A photograph dated 1896 is sold at an estate auction in South Carolina with other photos bound in copper-colored fabric covered albums with metal trimmings.

The photographs travel to their new home. Only two photographs have names written on them. One is a death note of a woman in English. The other is a postcard-style photograph bearing text written in Japanese cursive. Both sit for years until someone decides to find their ancestors or have them deciphered.

The death note is passed in copy to a living ancestor who was having problems filling in the family genealogy.

The post card style photograph traveled with her, as if he were her ancestor, until she finally found two people, who together but in parts, translated the name of the person who penned the text.

His name was realized. His attempt became awareness.

Have you ever seen something and much later the thought of it gnawed at you gently, like someone was trying to nudge you into action? You couldn’t explain it but there was something there and you were to push the thought out into the world. We always say it is just thoughts, but what if it isn’t?

I haven’t experienced a good week of night time sleep lately. I am a troubled sleeper on occasion. I wish this wasn’t so but I know the cause of it most nights.

My waking thoughts have been intruded upon by the image of this oriental man. He walks around pacing and then comes closer like he is looking into a peep hole.

It could be my own subconscious that feels a need to bring him back from his unknown grave and point out something about what little of his life that I do know.

I did read something, now lost, of a letter to the current Meiji Emperor of that time ripping the current regime’s antics. He was a little rebel and had very verbal opinions on the state of how his world should be. I guess so, he lived there and it affected him and his people. You can’t hold in one’s opinion of tyranny forever.

The photograph shows the image of a man named Professor (Reverend) Yoshisuki Samuel Sacon. Yoshi means lucky or righteous and -suki means to like. He was righteous and well like for his pluck.

Professor Sacon took the picture in 1896 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. I thought him stylish in his wooden shoes and cultural clothing. The picture was mailed from Tsuruga, which is a Fukui Prefecture of Japan. He graduated Saint Drew Theological Seminary in 1895 in Brooklyn, NY where his address was 11 Dodworth Street. He traveled to Washington, DC and landed in Fresno, California where he was doing work with local Japanese immigrants.  

I called the local university and spoke to the Professor of Japanese Studies. She was very kind and I left a copy of the text with her so at her leisure she could try and translate it. She also sent the text to someone else but never got back with me on that. She translated that the photo was sent to someone because Professor Sacon had gotten busy but didn’t want to forget. He sent the image to the receiver. Given the information Professor Sacon was a theologian of Christianity, the current professor translated the word kami-gami, which refers back to the ancestor gods of Old Japan.
Kami-meaning Supreme Being or God and -gami meaning graceful or divinity. I am not trying to be politically correct on that as literal truths. It is just a reference point. He must have followed the Shinto religion or born into it.

One source, now lost to me, noted that Professor Yoshisuki Samuel Sacon was the first Japanese man to attempt to translate or revise the Japanese Bible, in particular the New Testament. I found some researched snippets for documentation on this fact.

The Christian Work and the Evangelist, Volume 19, page 309 stated, “Since the outbreak of the present war in the Far East, the Japanese Empire is so wide for the Christian evangelism as before. Consequently, the demand for the Christian literature increasing everywhere among all classes throughout the Empire” and “The Reverend Yoshi-suke Samuel Sacon of Japan is now undertaking the much needed revision in this city of ours, where he can more easily avail himself of an access to the libraries and all other necessary helps than in his own country. During his stay in the city he is making addresses to any congregation on the religious subject in Japan.”

                   

                    Rev. Y. S. Sacon

                    1296 Webster Ave

                     New York, NY

This next snippet was taken from the Printed Report by Drew University Library, page 7.

“From Professor Y. S Sacon of Tokyo, Japan, we received a copy of his translation of the Psalms in the Japanese language. It is his first volume in his heroic attempt to revise the translation of the Japanese Bible.”

Upon reading these different accounts, when Professor Sacon was in Fresno, California there was a written report where a pastor talks about how the local Japanese immigrants who practiced Buddhism was blocking the Christian attempt to recruit Japanese young men into their ranks. I thought this odd but is that not the way of all religions, to find more people to indoctrinate.

Yet somewhere in Professor Sacon’s attempts to translate the New Testament there were problems. For what little I did find on this man, his efforts were not fully realized by higher ups. There was a problem with the way the translation was being rendered. It was an issue of ideographs and characters in lieu of there being a literal translation of the bible’s message. Once again, let me reiterate the lack of a wide range of information to build a good case here on the part of Professor Sacon, sage that he was.

I almost laughed when the thought occurred to me that these Moral Oras thought Professor Sacon was going to secretly change the meaning of the Bible to usurp the current Christian regime through a slash of the ink pen here and there via character and ideographs. A little late for that because of King James and his versions and exclusions.

I really got into reading The Japan Daily Mail, let me tell you.

The Japan Daily Mail dated 9 Feb. 1907 on page 148 stated, “We published another page, the first part of a translation of the Epistle to the Phillippians, made by Mr. Sakan Yoshisuke, who has studied in America for some time and who is very strong of opinion that a new version of the Japanese Bible is called for. He proposes a new translation of the whole of the New Testament.”

In one of the reports of the newspaper a reviewer of Professor Sacon’s translations of the Epistle to the Romans, noted an attempt in translating a different meaning to the Word, to know or understand by writing this particular word with ideographs sometimes and with a character. Whoever this reviewer and his party were did not like this issue and wanted the work to move to Kiragama(sp?) or the whole bible to be printed in Romanji (I am not sure if this word is the correct spelling~probably not. The document was blurry. Maybe it was my eyes…who knows).

The word in question might have been shitte iru but I am not sure. Word aside I have looked everywhere on the internet for a revised version of The Bible by Professor Yoshi-suki Samuel Sacon.

I contacted the librarian at St Drew University. He sent me documents on file. Someone else had signed for them. I tried to contact the retired female professor on the papers but she was 80 years old. No one returned my mail or calls.

In my readings it was noted the Professor Y. S. Sacon's heroic intention of translating the Japanese Bible were unfinished. It never saw it's end with him.

I wondered what message I could render from this man pacing across my third eye. Could it be my own failed attempts that were never realized conjured in an oriental man’s appearance?

I attempted many things in my life to some success but some to a failure of sorts or unfinished business.

Does it make a difference what goal we put our energies to? How do we know it is the right goal? What if it starts off as a great experience but end in tragedy? Does that make memes on the internet relevant about being a lesson? What if I don’t learn from it or realize it ever? Am I truly cosmically screwed?

I don’t think it was the subject of Christianity or the play on words.

I could say it might indicate knowing a person otherwise hidden. Yet, it was the attempt regardless of success or failure that kept reminding me, as long as you are preoccupied by a goal, that goal can become your whole life. What about all the experiences on the outskirts of the goal? What about the people you passed by on your way to the goal that fell to the wayside as unimportant? What about being so glamoured or distracted by a goal that you never experienced organic sensation because you were so engrossed in the thought process? What if you were having sex but became disconnected from your lover because you were thinking of an equation or something? What am I saying? People stare at their phones all the time entranced by the little pixels on the screen. Those are the things passed by because the goal becomes all important. There is no reality except the goal’s end or is there?

We should all attempt to have goals and do things. Situations may arise to hinder those goals.

There was a message in there somewhere about fear, mistrust, and not having confidence in someone because the person or group feels the individual is an outsider even though indoctrinated and could corrupt the message being sent, right or wrong. In that era when war was an issue, it can be seen today with questions of national loyalty or past discretions towards people based on ethnic origins pertaining to location.

Imagine being an oriental man from Japan ministering to other Asians while being under the watchful eye of a European belief system that worships a God, where in your homeland it's ancestor gods or The Way.

It’s my belief that no matter how many religious foods you taste, you retain those elements of the recipe from the final product that make sense to you whether they are in or out of order or make sense to others.

I ingest all of it like a beast because of the end goal. You can call it Salvation, Nirvana, kicking the can, or the Happy Hunting Grounds. That Goal being: the Soul or Cell finding the end of its physical form and moving on as energy to the next life, whether celestial, finality or the Unknown. The information of your life is passed through your ancestors with every event of the DNA.

It could be the concept of awareness.

I don’t really know what Professor Sacon’s leisure time was like but for a man who could question the revisional needs of the Japanese Bible, he must have noticed something not quite right. He was aware at some point.

Could he have internally argued a foreign religious concept or merely wanted to find the bridge between two different religious concepts to marry them into one without sacrificing one or the other.

I reflect back on awareness. Be aware that you do have the ability to decide and attempt, for in the attempt you overcome fear and find courage to do something no matter the outcome; that outcome need not be the defining moment of your life to determine your value or worth. It is merely a preoccupation that society pushes to differentiate between worthiness and mediocrity. Yes, there will be people questioning you in suspicious or less than confident ways. Screw it and jump out the plane unless they try to stop you, then jump anyway.

As humans, we do not elevate the deserving element of humanity. We elevate big buttocks, shallow reality television families, and the world spins on gossip. Gossip could be its own religion.

The sad truth is for every crop of children bred and raised to adulthood, as a society the profane knowledge thought up a long time ago is hidden in books or not even passed on to the child. Children stop playing outside and now have become these societal clones moving and being controlled by inorganic screens that give them useless, destructive knowledge that rarely makes the world a better place.

I could also argue the individual that finally is aware of a problem then acts on finding a solution instead of always complaining about the error. There again the futility of speaking up and being ignored or over-ridden by Authority.

I can state now that I don’t feel completely satisfied with my interpretation of this because I feel some things weren’t revealed to me in meditation but that is okay because I attempted to resolve this mental issue in my head by writing about it. I have satisfied the issue to some degree.

You were worthy when you were born as you are just as worthy now.

Just attempt whatever it is and don’t overthink it. Don’t think at all just follow through. That is all it takes sometimes.

Grace has success.

In small matters

It is favorable to undertake something.

He may keep pacing until I am aware. 

Update: September 3, 2015. Received intelligence from Michiko Ito, Japanese Studies Librarian at the University of Kansas. After several tries at translation there is a break through. Ito reports some of the calligraphy text is from the Gospel of John 3-16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Isn't this fabulous. We must give Michiko Ito much thanks for efforts to translate this piece of personal calligraphy.

Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Buddhist Belief of No Harm and Spiritual Ruminant Pelts.

Mrigadava means "deer-park".

Remember this: Austerities only confuse the mind. In the exhaustion and mental stupor to which they lead, one can no longer understand the ordinary things of life, still less the truth that lies beyond the senses. I have given up extremes of either luxury or asceticism. I have discovered the Middle Way. ~Buddha~

Disclaimer: This diatribe is not meant to attack Buddhism in any of its forms. Think of it as a train of thought.

I was pondering the spiritual aspects of animal symbology as it pertained to a female hunter and the creatures she hunts in my readings. I wondered if I could find a contrasting scenario that I could parallel some portion of the act of hunting with to show a sort of irony to the symbology of an animal, the regard that is held for a particular animal, its particular use and my Sherlockian deduction of what the information meant, or appeared to be. I thought of one my favorite animals, the deer.

Enter the Buddha and his discourse entitled,  "Dhammackkappavattana Sutta".  

“The Buddhist emblem of a golden eight-spoked wheel flanked by two deer represents in Buddha’s first discourse, which he gave in the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Varanasi. This discourse is known as the ‘first turning of the wheel of dharma’, when the Buddha taught the doctrines of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path to five Indian mendicants. As a symbol of the Buddha’s teachings a gilded three-dimensional wheel and deer emblem is traditionally placed at the front of the monastery and temple roofs, from where it shines as a crowning symbol of the Buddhadharma.” (Beer 59)

As I quoted the Buddha above, it would seem that the Buddha was noted to give a discourse at the Deer Park of Sarnath in India (a long time ago).  I thought this novel for the time that there existed a deer park and what its particular use was. While there the Buddha gave his commentary on his Enlightenment and its applications to his Sangha, who were dispersed out into the world to spread the meaning and interpretation of Dharma. What are the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold path?

The Buddha preached the Four Noble Truths which are as follows:

• There is suffering


• Suffering has a cause


• Cause is removable

• There are ways to remove the cause

To address these Four Noble Truths, the Buddha extended the Eight-fold Path which is as follows:

• Right Speech


• Right Action


• Right Livelihood


• Right Effort


• Right Mindfulness

• Right Concentration


• Right Attitude


• Right View

Seems pretty straightforward; avoid inflicting suffering on self and others by positive mores.

The Buddha is sitting in this deer park in Sarnath, India with noted five men and a crowd of golden Ruru deer where he says that he is turning the wheel of Dharma. This wheel represents samsara (the world) and the eternal existence which goes forward through cycles of reincarnation because of worldly cravings and the inability to tell one’s self no to things that cause suffering. 

If the basic precept of Buddhism is non-harm, because you don’t want to incur suffering in the self or other sentient beings, then there is no way to survive life. 

I was reading one snippet on a white rabbit sacrificing itself out of compassion to other animals as nourishment; of its own accord. One would have to do as the white rabbit and selflessly give up life to avoid inflicting suffering on self, or others by ingestation, or death at other living sentient beings monkey hands, mouths, claws, etc. These same sentient beings, who do not feel the same as you, are going to devour you. Otherwise, it would be Jim Jones Kool-Aid 24-7.  Even if you decided eating fruits and vegetables was the way to go, you are still stopping life in order to eat as plants are life. To eat them you have to pull them up from their happy home and cook them or eat them raw. 

If a plant could decide if it wanted to sacrifice itself for human consumption I would dare say it would reply, “No”. This sacrificial rabbit reminded me of indigent tribes of North America interpreting a lone animal giving itself over to a hunter as a sacrifice as a show of compassion to the people for food because the animal’s kind could spare them.  

With this being said let us visit the deer in this little drama of to kill or not to kill; which is really the question. Why the deer? Why a female and male deer?

The deer being male and female could signify the human element of sexual desire in people. This desire is at the heart of suffering for it is brought about by lust, longing, loving, and attachment through emotion onto some article, animal, place, or person.

I also wondered on the interpretation of the male being on the right and the female being on the left. It would seem direction wise this was in reference to how each sex is percieved. To be male and on the right meant acrion and solar existance. Right sided maleness in the deer emblem harkened to being the conscious side, nobility, and wisdom. 

The left female side interpreted means to be weak, unconsious , lunar, and sinister. Why am I surprised at that?

If we reflect on Jung's idea of the female form in left direction he thought this was flowing from the heart and might I add......all the evil thoughts connected with it.

Buddha’s observation of deer in the wild, or at the park, may have brought him to the conclusion that we should strive not to be as humans but as animals. I would think the Buddha distanced himself from predators as they were instigators of suffering. The Buddha did not have a lot of people as his friends, it would seem.  As one reading the story of his approaching the mendicants to give the discourse, they had planned to shun him altogether but changed their mind based on his glow. 

One can see why he may have been against suffering for it was also social suffering and not physical suffering. Suffering of the mind can be just as great to the soul as an actual bullet to the heart.   

In regards to deer, there is the idea of domination through ownership or power. Marpa the Translator cited, “The Dharma is owner-less, like deer in a meadow.”  

When I pondered this, I thought it could be a sign of not wanting to strap oneself to the responsibilities of the world that humans have generated such as capitalism, jobs we hate, or governments that rule out laws that bind us daily for insensible reasons. Either way, we are caged canaries singing right along to our sad, sad songs. Buddha always ran from the expectations that were placed upon him. He ran from his wife, his son, his court duty as Prince. He ran from the prisons other people had made that were waiting on him to enter dutifully. Strange way about saying no but everyone has their quirks.  

Let us look to the emblem (ridag choekor) because this is significant to show the location of where the discourse took place. Humans have long referenced the character of deer as human. These deer symbolized a significant place, conscious state, and also sensual desire.

“However, the wheel and deer emblem eventually became the enduring symbol of an establishment where the Buddha’s teachings are transmitted, and where the endless wheel of the dharma continues to turn.

The two deer peacefully rest in attentive obedience on either side of the golden wheel, with the male deer to the right and the female to the left. The male deer is sometimes depicted with the single horn of the seru deer (unicorn) or rhinoceros, and on gilded bronze sculptures the sexual organs of the two deer may be shown. The gentleness and grace of the deer represent the qualities of the true Buddhist mendicant.” (Beer 59)

“The deer is the vehicle of Shou-lao, and he is traditionally represented riding upon a stag with mature antlers. Deer were believed to live to a great age, and were credited with being the only creatures capable of locating the ‘fungus of immortality’ (Ch. Ling-chih). The deer of longevity may be depicted with a piece of this fungus in its mouth. Chinese legends describe the Islands of the Immortals’ as being located in the eastern ocean. Here the immortals consumed the divine food of the ling-chih, and drank from the eternal waves of the jade fountain. In Buddhism the deer is an auspicious symbol of tranquility, harmony, non-violence, and particularly of renunciation, because like a homeless mendicant the deer is believed to rest in a different place each night.” (Beer 55)

Enter Irony.

Irony consists in stating the contrary of what is meant; the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same. Irony is a form of utterance that postulates a double audience, consisting of one party that hearing shall hear and shall not understand, and another party that, when more is meant than meets the ear, is aware both of that more and of the outsiders' incomprehension.

Enter Disparity.

Disparity is most often used when the author causes a character to speak or act erroneously, out of ignorance of some portion of the truth of which the audience is aware.

After this I guess you are wondering what does this have to do with hunting.  I was researching how followers of the Buddha’s discourse where using animal by-products in the form of relics for spiritual, symbolic attire and functional uses. How many times have you seen a hunter take a part of an animal carcass and use it for a trophy head, belt, seat cover, or in a spiritual rite? No matter what even if you kill the animal humanely, it dies abruptly or slowly of natural causes, or some other animal kills it; there is going to be some length of suffering. 

Yet Buddhist followers were acquiring pelts either directly or indirectly. Let us face reality. Once you kill an animal if there is an essence of soul or life inside that body it is gone once the animal is killed. It’s no more than an empty sausage casing once you remove the meat, bones, and organs. That is a rude way to put it with indifference to its suffering. Only if you are generating a pseudo emotion of calm in your mind by believing you are absorbing energy from a sausage casing should be scrutinized but still you have its symbolic meaning. In rituals, the symbolic meaning is what helps the person transgress over into a spiritual realm even though humans can’t see spiritual realms. Otherwise, we could have that profane question, “Is there a God?” answered.

This reminds me of a question posed by a philosophy professor of mine. We drew a circle. Inside the circle was the Natural World and outside the circle was the Supernatural World. Professor Black asked, “How to you transpose from one place to another?” I replied, “Why do we think there is a barrier? I believe it is a semipermeable membrane of sorts that can interchange things from side to side in equal measure. We just can’t see it.” 

Here I found documentation:

“Deer or antelope skins serve as meditation seats (Skt. Asana) for Buddhist yogins or siddhas, such as Milarepa, rechungpa, or Thangtong Gyalpo. As an asana the deer-skin is believed to enhance the solitary tranquility and awareness required by as ascetic, with the pure or sattvic energy of the deer being absorbed by the practitioner. In wrathful deity practices a tiger-skin asana is more commonly used, denoting rajas or dynamic energy.

Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, wears the turquoise skin of a magical deer or antelope draped over his left shoulder and heart. This skin is known as a krishmasara or krishnajina, meaning ‘black antelope skin’, and is a symbol of the deity’s love, compassion, and tenderness. The black antelope skin was originally an emblem of Shiva in his forms as Lokanath or Lokeshvara, the ‘Lord of the Worlds’. “(Beer 63)

Maybe this is the difference minus the fact someone skinned that ruminant and tanned the hide for the magical deer drape? The skin was a symbol of the deity's (Buddha was not a God) love, compassion and tenderness versus the present day huntress's animal hide throw being an object of horrific cruel death, ego enhancing relic to top predator status, and objectified taxidermy of animal suffering. Why can this present day hide not mean the same thing? If you humanely kill an animal with minimal suffering, and preserve its hide because you want to remember the hunt, and show tenderness at its numbers while caring for it in the off season, why not? Then again I thought its not just enough for some to kill one when it means food and there is no spiritual value granted to the prey. It's all in the mentality and the perception of each individual huntress and hunter. Those buddhist probably just showed up with it one day swung over their shoulder and no one bothered to be obsessive over where the pelt was acquired, in what way, and how the animal died to get the pelt. Maybe the new hunting reply should be, "It's not against my religions?"

Here it has been documented in stories how renunciates who give up worldly life wander around with a deer or antelope pelt over their upper body (usually the left) or as a garment. One reasonsing for hanging a pelt over the left side is this is the location of the heart which is the abode of the mind. This is the symbolic skin of the Sil-snyen deer of legend who feels heart felt compassion towards all sentient beings.  This Sil-snyen deer lives between snow and rock on a mountain, with strength and compassion for nature. Hunters trying to gain access to the Sil-snyen deer’s land pretend to fight amongst themselves.  The Sil-snyen deer becomes impatient with compassion and goes out to mediate, where its life is assaulted. Touching the skin of the Sil-snyen calms the mind and endows bliss. Here is another story where Hunters are crafty evil-doers. Even though this pelt is a by-product of a dead animal it still is removed from the judgments of society as being a bad thing, not an object of past suffering if you regard that moment before death or death itself as suffering.

I thought in Western culture if you had such a pelt or animal article mounted, worn as clothing, petrified or taxidermy there could be backlash as it is seen as an object of suffering inflicted by cruelty. Then again, it’s the interpretation it has or its significant use. The monks pelts were used as symbols of spiritual Enlightenment towards compassion.  These pelts symbolized sacrifice on the part of the deer through stories.

Thinking about this pelt over the heart gives the heart a dual reality of being the actual heart beating in your chest pumping blood and in another non-physical reality where the heart is a decision maker and a memory keeper.  I refer to this second matter when you hear someone tell you to listen to your heart for decisions as they put their hand over your actual heart. This could also be when you have a dead relative you cared about and someone refers to you carrying that relative’s memory in your heart. At all times the actual brain is ignored.

Given all this the truth here is that in order to address suffering one can only alleviate the degree of suffering and not eradicate it. As far as Buddha’s Middle Way of dealing with suffering, it was directly aimed at people not animals even though he thought animals could attain Dharma. Even though deer can represent all those terms contrary to suffering they are always seen living in a realm absent of fear. 

The irony of the use of an animal pelt on behalf of Buddhism is very interesting to regard when faced with the onslaught of people against hunting when you consider the history of animal by-products used in tenets that were defined to cause no harm, or suffering. I guess the act of wearing the pelt was showing reverence for the symbolic meaning of the deer but today groups are repulsed by wearing animal by-products unless you are a shaman or the article has a spiritual meaning. When in regards to hunting and the animal suffering there is a belief that you do it as humanely as possible, otherwise suffering itself can hardly be avoided even on the minute levels. That animal had to die for that Buddhist pelt........

"Om mani padme hum'.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Literature Cited:

Beer, Roberts. Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols. Chicago, Ill: Serindia Publications, Inc. 2003. Print, pgs: 53-59.

Other links to enjoy:

http://www.sakya.com.au/clearmind/95/dharmawheelbuckdoe/

http://world.time.com/2012/11/10/as-tibetans-burn-themselves-to-protest-chinese-rule-communists-in-beijing-stress-happiness-in-tibet/

http://buddhism.about.com/od/sacredbuddhisttexts/a/The-Golden-Deer.htm