The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master.
"Is that so?" was all he would say.
101 Zen Stories
Is That So?
The story of Zen Master Hakuin is also a teaching of the supernatural mind. Not the "superior" mind .. but the mind of Nature. The mind in harmony with itself is in harmony with all aspects of life. By supernatural I do not mean paranormal. I always stayed away from the paranormal!
The Invisible Guides often guide me with the wisdom of 101 Zen Stories. As a child I was fortunate to have and read and re-read the book Zen Flesh Zen Bones, by Paul Reps. Even as a child I had the instinct to apply these teachings in my life.
By the supernatural mind .. I mean a mind that does not react in the same way people normally react to each other. In fact .. the supernatural mind does not react AT ALL. This is also something Jiddu Krishnamurti taught .. a state of mind where action is not REACTION.
I also learned to apply this state of mind teaching myself Karate Do [Karate-Do Kyohan - The Master Text, by Gichin Funakoshi]. I did not want to fight and I did not see Karate Do as a sport. It was .. for me .. a necessary discipline. I was out in the garden training my body .. but really I was training my mind.
There were Invisible Guides out in the garden with me .. and I called them The Masters .. but they did not call themselves the masters. The Guides taught me that people who attack have no power. It was clear that they were teaching me about POWER and not about ATTACKING.
When I talk about the supernatural mind .. I do not mean as a tool that we use or apply in any way. The supernatural mind uses us as an undivided part of Nature. This is a gentle power .. although it can be very dangerous.
When I talk about the mind I really mean ENERGY.
I always helped others .. and I saw this as my "protection". I did not know it at the time but I was gathering a lot of energy and that made me a target in the human world. I thought my gentleness and goodness of heart made me "strong". Later I had to learn to be strong.
People would make life difficult for me for no apparent reason. Applying the teachings of the supernatural mind I would not react to their provocation. That would make people even more angry when they could not get a reaction. I was gathering even more inner Chi .. but I was still not strong.
I had to learn to be strong .. and I did this by laughing. Of course .. one does not laugh into an opponents face [that freaks them out]. One day the Invisible Guides had to trick me .. they do not tell me how to live but they always trick me!
Growing up I always avoid conflict .. and the Invisible Guides say to me: You can walk away! You will only come face to face with this again until you learn to inwardly overcome this. You only have one choice .. you walk away or you become stronger. By stronger they did not mean defeating the people who try to make life hard for me.
The Invisible Guides always laugh at me .. just say that word "stronger" to an Aries and it is like giving a dog a bone. As soon as I hear that word "stronger" there is no question in my mind which direction I am going in. Even though I am gentle at the same time I have to be strong!
For me I always felt that to be gentle one has to be strong.
The Invisible Guides taught me: You don't watch your opponents psychological motives .. moves .. tactics and reactions. You observe inwardly your own behaviour .. actions and reactions. Use your opponent to learn about and understand yourself. Do not try to alter or change your opponent [the outer] .. but go with the inner flow of energy and change yourself.
The Invisible Guides taught me that the "outer world" is not my problem.
Leave the outer world to deal with itself. Transform the inner world and create space in time .. then silently observe what happens. Through learning about and understanding yourself .. one also learns about the outer world by creating space within time.
What is space within time?
This is the supernatural part .. but it happens inside.
We live in a world of contact action reaction .. that seems to affect us faster than the speed of light. Not only the brain is reacting through thought .. but every nerve in the body .. everything inside us reacts instantly to external world situations.
This was not easy to learn .. to teach myself. But no one else is going to teach you this. It has to come from within. The supernatural mind has the ability to create space in time. One could also say .. to create space in linear time. One suspends judgement and out of that inner silence the supernatural mind sees the energy strings of entanglements.
Creating space in time intelligence perceives what Krishnamurti called "right action". It is like a cat .. the cat instinctively knows the right moment to act .. when to move and when to jump.
The most important factor within the supernatural mind is true compassion. When one creates space in time one has an overview of many events and one understands all entanglements. You protect yourself through compassion: I mean this person no harm! Because it becomes clear to you that people destroy themselves. You don't want to be part of their self-destructive tendencies.
On some occasions I have created space in time and the solution has taken a year to reveal itself. I cannot explain what a solution is because it is energy and not matter. People think it is strong to attack .. and in reality it is strong to create space in time .. like a cat.
If someone can pull you into their entanglements they get you to drain all your Chi energy. Any type of external conflict is an endless depletion of Chi .. essential life-force energy. You live your life through that inner force and so you really do not want to deplete it!
Do I use that force? No! That force uses me...
During one supernatural mind teaching it took two years for me to realise and perfect this understanding of inner space within action altering linear time. It is space within the event that alters the future .. not the reactions of entanglements. Creating space requires inner discipline.
When you become stronger through antagonistic events you actually create good karma for everyone involved. You can say: Thank you .. your behaviour made me stronger. One never defeats an opponent outwardly .. but one defeats an opponent inwardly by staying true to oneself. This is contrary to everything the Western world teaches.
Now .. compassion is actually more dangerous than making an offensive or defensive action. Compassion does not mean that a person is in a state of non-action. Creating space in time may appear to be a passive skill .. but it actually is a powerful active skill.
Why can the cat stay still for hours waiting for one mouse?
It is this ability for the cat to remain so still that makes them so dangerous. I have also watched herons in fields and rivers or at the edge of the sea. Just taking time to stop and watch a heron is very difficult for a human .. they don't move. If you are sitting on a rock you are lucky .. but even then time seems to move slower and it is not easy to sit as still as a heron. Cats and herons taught me how to create space in time.
When people create chaos through attack motion they think they have power and that this makes them strong. Nothing could be further from the truth. The silent mind is true power. When silent mind moves .. it is faster than thought.
Right at this moment now as I type those words I see out of the corner of my eye .. out of the window .. a heron flying overhead directly in my field of view. If I had not looked to the side in that moment I would not have seen the heron pass over the house.
There is some mysterious connection between the human mind and Nature. The supernatural mind has an ongoing silent dialogue with Nature. This is how Nature teaches sentient life forms over millions of years. Not just humans .. but all living creatures inhabiting Planets.
In today's world people think that the Samurai who does not draw his sword is weak and the Samurai who uses his sword is strong and powerful. The reality is the Samurai who does not have to use his sword is powerful .. and that is why he does not have to take out his "enemies".
In our daily lives .. equally true for women as for men .. non-aggressive humans are seen as an "easy target" for aggressive humans. Does one really get pleasure from squashing a bug? If non-aggressive humans are really weaker .. then why do they bother to attack someone who is weaker than them?
This goes back to the old philosophy of the one who draws their sword first is the one who is most afraid. What is less well known is that these people are actually afraid of one thing: they are afraid of themselves. The fear and the reactions are inside. Nothing to do with the outer world.
One night when I was maybe ?? twelve / thirteen years old .. I had gone to bed early and I was falling asleep when a loud thump came out of the wooden wardrobe. I totally froze. Then it happened again .. a thump against the wood from inside the wardrobe. I clearly heard this noise with my physical ears.
My heart was racing with fear .. almost beating outside my body .. and I would have to cross the dark room and pass the wardrobe to switch on the light. I was thinking it was a ghost in the wardrobe or some paranormal intrusion .. I was sweating .. physically frozen with fear.
Even as a child I was watching myself. I was watching this inner reaction of fear affecting me and I was thinking .. how totally stupid! I said to my frightened self: What is the worst that can happen? Get up and go face this fear. I was not thinking .. go and find out what is in the wardrobe .. I was thinking .. face the fear inside you.
I suddenly forgot the fear and I got up and I opened the wardrobe door and there was nothing in there other than clothes. I did not open the door to do anything other than face the fear active inside me. The fear was not outside .. the fear was inside.
It is actually ourselves we are afraid of .. and fighting against!
When one creates space in time .. one is interacting with the inner force. That is what the cat does or the heron. If you sit or stand there with them and can silently observe them .. it is not an easy thing to do. Because .. the cat is not chasing the mouse .. the cat is master of the inner force.
