Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, is described as a practice of form. Zen is often thought of as formless. When looked at closely, both can be seen to have aspects of form and formlessness expressed in the meditation and monastic style.

The meditation practiced in Shingon is highly ritualized, with every movement described in detail in a manual that rests on the altar in front of the practitioner. The thoughts are also carefully controlled to visualize complex mandalas, while the breath is regulated by chanting mantras, dharanis and other forms of prayer throughout the ritual.

The monks in a Shingon monastery, however, only come together in the morning and evening services to perform the goma and chant the Rishu Kyo. The rest of the day is spent by each monk alone in silence doing the practices at a personal altar at one's own pace. Meals are also taken at different times of the day by monks on different schedules, though in bigger schools monks do often eat together.

Zazen is a much more personalized practiced with everyone expressing it somewhat differently to suit their needs and level of practice. The monks are usually quite synchronized though, as zazen sessions are measured by time units, with everyone starting and ending their meditation at the same time.

A Shingon monastery gives the student the form and allows him to find his own flow. A Zen monastery puts the student in the flow and allows him to find his own form. The result of both of these practices is good form and good flow of enery, ki, or whatever, in the practitioner.

Doing both types of practice in intervals would likely increase the benefits as it addressed the situation from both fronts. In the past, there was said to be a formless path in Shingon, though there seems to be no evidence of it in practice today. One theory is that it wasn't practiced after Zen made its way to Japan, replacing it. Maybe it still is secretly practiced...

Form and Flow are directly related. The better your form, the better your flow. Working on form can improve flow. Working on flow can improve form.

Shingon uses the forms in the meditations to improve the form of the practitioner.

Take mudras as an example. Mudras are symbolic hand gestures that represent the body/action of a specific Buddha or aspect. The hands are also the ending points of 6 of the 12 meridians and so manipulating them can affect energy flow.

When you put your hands in a mudra they reflect your posture. If your spine usually leans to the right, the mudra will lean to the right also. If you put your effort into straightening your mudra, your posture will slowly straighten also. If you concentrate on correcting your posture, the mudra will reflect this as well. If you focus on your posture AND on correcting the mudra, the results will be even better.

So what's this got to do with Buddhism? Well...when your posture and your energy flow become aligned, your consciousness is also raised, allowing you to see things as they are...

On the flip side of that, one who raises their consciousness through philosophical study would also see form and flow improve as the stresses and tensions held in the body release and relax, allowing the body to stand up straight, and energy to flow freely.

Practicing Buddhism from the mind(study) and the body(practice) at the same time, doing meditations with form as well as without form is a beneficial, balanced approach.

The Hoodie Monks just recorded the hook and a verse for the new song '帰り道', 'On The Road Home', by Hanabis on High Life Records.

I'll have more info about that and the release party in May on here soon.

i got woke up at 8 in the morning last friday by the cops with a warrant to search my house for morphine
which is weird cuz ive never had morphine

it seems a graffiti writer i interviewed like 18 months ago for the book on japanese graffiti im writing told them a morphine pill he had on him when he got busted doing graffiti was from me
based only on him saying that, they got a judge to sign a search warrant
sketchy laws here
especially if you are a foreigner and they think they can lie to you

but when they tried to take me in for questioning i pulled a piece of paper out of my wallet that had the laws in japanese and english regarding the right to refuse going to the police station unless one is under arrest, which i wasnt

needless to say i didnt accompany them

it pays to know the law

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The six paramitas, or six perfections, are the basis of the offerings on a Shingon altar. A total of 11 different objects on the altar are used to make offerings at the beginning and end of every Shingon practice. There are five sets of offerings to the right and five to the left of the incense burner, which is used twice, making two sets of six offerings. The altar is set up like the picture below, which is from Bishop Taisen Miyata's book "A Study of the Ritual Mudras in the Shingon Tradition and their Symbolism".



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Kobayashi Issa(1763-1827) is one of the BIG THREE in the history of the haiku. The other two most well known and oft quoted being Basho ( 1644-1694) and Buson(1715-1783). The kanji for Issa is一茶 and can be read literally as 'one tea' and "denotes a single bubble in a teacup which exists only for a moment."

The book "Autumn Wind Haiku" is a collection of Issa's haiku, selected, translated, and with an introduction and notes by Lewis Mackenzie.

The introduction talks about the state of Haiku at the time, with references to Basho and Buson, who were roughly contemporaries of Issa, as well as a summary of the life and career of Issa, including the quote about the single bubble above.

The book is a good introduction to and wide selection of the haiku of Issa. The sections of the book are: MOSTLY OF PLACE, MOSTLY OF MID-CAREER, MOSTLY IN RETIREMENT, and MOSTLY OF AGE. The original Japanese text of the haiku are included, much to my delight, as well as a selected bibliography.

Here's a taste...


Winds of autumn-
And a beggar eyes me
Appraisingly!

Aki no kaze
Kojiki wa ware wo
mi-kuraburu

秋の風乞食は我を見くらぶる

Mackenzie adds the note"'Appraisingly' by comparison with himself rather than as a calculation of probable alms."

This gives us a taste of Issa's less than stately appearance and presence on the streets, much like any good hoodie monk would be found these days. Mackenzie says of him 'He enjoyed his untidy bachelor existence...and held aloof from anything like patronage or the fashions of the day...There are also many anecdotes to tell of his offhand way and lack of ceremony with the high-born and wealthy...'

I have recently seen other translations of Issa's work as well, though I haven't read any of them. Issa is worth a look so check him out if you haven't yet.

As a fan of both children's literature and haiku, I thought this poem was brilliant:

I sat down to write a Haiku
It seemed like the right thing to do
I wouldn't need very much time
No need to bother with making it rhyme
I reached in my pocket and pulled out a dime
This is my ten cent Haiku

shiny silver friend
i will never let you go
look! and ice cream truck


That is from the book ""Flamingos on the Roof - Poems and Paintings" by Calef Brown. It is illustrated, and based on the cover, which is all I have seen, they are brilliant.

At first glance, I would have categorized that as a senryu, but then I found an awesome season word that you have to remember being a kid to get.

More about the book here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4506027&ft=2&f=4506027

the kettle whistles
the old monk snores and scratches
the young monk takes notes

A Santoka sticker right above a goma tag

The hip hop show in Okayama at Club 9 had a huge turn out and a good vibe. The stickers I mentioned last time were popular and more than 80 were handed out. After the show many could be seen on poles and utility boxes for blocks around the club. Was nice to see the Heart sutra and pictures of Santoka as well as ensos all around the city.
Here are a couple pictures I took


Thanks again to Not2 for making them. More pictures to come.