Daruma Dolls and the Coppolas: Stanford Zen +^

[Chas.]

Toxic Zen Story #26: Stanford Zen: Daruma Dolls, 'Lost In Translation' and the Coppola Family.

... Since Eleanor took EST training in 1975, Francis' career cruise has hit a reef. He went from making such greats as Patton (1970, screenplay), The Godfather: Part I (1972) and Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), American Graffiti (1973, producer) ...

then post-EST, came Apocalypse Now (1979, things started getting real crazy then) and The Black Stallion (1979) ...

... finally to Kurosawa's over-bloated Zen-fest Kagemusha (1980), One From the Heart (1982) - which many think is the worst movie ever made by a major film maker, Rumble Fish, Cotton Club, Tucker, Dracula, Frankenstein ... he never stopped trying to recapture his good fortune, but it continued to elude him due to his very supportive role in his wife's mind of Zen, and by having permanently given the Coppola name to Werner Erhard's movement, Esalen and SRI, thanks to the eternally-recycled name-dropping by Jack Sarfatti.

Now he has come to this ... he is executive producer for his daughter's latest film effort: "Lost In Translation" with Bill Murray. In spite of Bill's incredible talent and presence, the film has the most creepy quality, of rampant non-humanity. This is spiced up in the dead middle, when a huge Daruma Doll is inserted in the most banal and pointlessly evil way, considering the "nothingness" that it symbolizes...

____ Background for Toxic Zen Stories _____________________

https://groups.google.com/group/alt.zen/msg/b4ad0ce368728934?hl=en

____ Introduction ________________________________________

In an article about the evolution of Zen in Europe:
(http://www.bushido.net/context/zen_history.htm)

| 'Prof. Eugen Herrigel, who had been in close
| contact with Ohasama in Heidelberg, approached Zen
| via kyudo during his stay in Japan (1924 - 1929)
| and wrote "Die ritterliche Kunst des
| Bogenschiessens", (The gallant Art of Archery) in
| 1936. His famous book "Zen in the Art of Archery"
| was edited in 1953. Herrigel tended towards Nazism
| (cf. his inaugural lecture at Erlangen University,
| 1935) and wasn't overly interested in setting up a
| religious practice group. '

In the article "Varieties of Moral Aestheticism" on the Friesian website:
(http://www.friesian.com/poly-2.htm)

. 'Note the coincidence of German and Japanese
. moral aestheticism in Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the
. Art of Archery, a classic of Zen and martial arts
. by a philosophy professor who would shortly return
. to Germany and become a supporter of Hitler. Thus,
. R.J. Zwi Werblowsky points out: '
.
. 'And the man who wrote one of the best-
. sellers on Zen (Zen in the Art of Archery)
. which was eagerly gobbled up all Zen-
. enthusiasts, Eugen Herrigel, was a convinced
. Nazi and follower of Hitler. Can you be a
. genuine Zen disciple, or claim to have
. experienced enlightenment, and at the same
. time follow a "leader" who murdered millions
. of human beings in gas chambers? [The Center
. Magazine, March/April 1975]'

| 'The answer to Werblowsky's question is
| definitely "yes," as D.T. Suzuki himself wrote in
| 1938: '
|.
| 'Zen has no special doctrine or
| philosophy, no set of concepts or intellectual
| formulas, except that it tries to release one
| from the bondage of birth and death, by means
| of certain intuitive modes of understanding
| peculiar to itself. It is, therefore,
| extremely flexible in adapting itself to
| almost any philosophy and moral doctrine as
| long as its intuitive teaching is not
| interfered with. It may be found wedded to
| anarchism or fascism, communism or democracy,
| atheism or idealism, or any political or
| economic dogmatism. It is, however, generally
| animated with a certain revolutionary spirit,
| and when things come to a deadlock -- as they
| do when we are overloaded with
| conventionalism, formalism, or other cognate
| isms -- Zen asserts itself and proves to be a
| destructive force. [Zen and Japanese Culture,
| Princeton, 1973, p. 63]'
|.
| 'In this description, Heidegger's moral
| aestheticism meets that of bushido, and there is
| absolutely nothing to suggest that Eugen Herrigel
| should not find an appropriate "destructive
| force" in the "revolutionary spirit" of Hitler's
| National Socialism.. '
__________________________________________________________

If you went to an EST meeting in the 1970's, you heard them constantly talking about "It". They were talking about "getting It", knowing what "It" was all about, finally making "It" a breakthrough force in their lives.

So what in the hell was that "It", that you had to pay so much to find out about?

"It" is well described in Toxic Zen Story #19, which is entitled:

. D.T. Suzuki, Nazi Eugen Herrigel and Zen in the Art
. of Arch-Fakery: "It" Misses.

"It" turns out to be the Big Lie, which in the late 1920's and early 1930's becomes the heart of the Nuremberg movement of Julius Streicher and the boys at Erlangen University that brought you the Erlangen Report, which was the foundation of the Nuremberg Laws, which were the key to the Holocaust.

____ Toxic Zen Story ______________________________

So, what are those funny looking dolls that you see at the gift shops in the airports now, that seem to be invading the world? The ones with the HUGE open eyes and with no arms and legs?

See the following pictures:

http://images.google.com/images?q=daruma&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search

http://membres.lycos.fr/kyosaku/eiheiji/images/daruma.gif

http://www.isop.ucla.edu/japan/images/daruma.jpg

http://www.torontoshorinji.org/gifs/daruma.gif

http://www.tanuki.org.uk/jet12/daruma.jpg

Daruma is the Japanese short name for Bodhidharma, the father of Zen, and so very much more in the way of distortions of Buddhism. Daruma dolls are "cute" and "cuddly" little images of him. Tee hee.

You see, he spent so much time (nine years in a cave at one point) meditating at the wall, that his arms and legs atrophied, so the doll has no arms and legs. The truth of this is that since he tossed away the Buddha's teachings, the sutras, and made his own fake Buddhism (even though he wasn't Shakyamuni, who was called the "Buddha", thereby committing identity theft), his body didn't need the arms and legs necessary to follow the path. So his arms and legs took the enlightened action of atrophy.

Also, he had trouble staying awake for as long as he wished, so he cut off his eyelids to make sure they would not close. The truth of this is that since he threw away the sutras, he closed his eyes to the Buddha's highest teaching which is the Lotus Sutra. For this act, and for closing the eyes of many others, his eyelids were removed, by his own hand. Which was, in that moment, taking the enlightened action.

Creating these daruma dolls and foisting them upon the unconscious public mind is an abominable act, which is a slander of the Law. So, if it's unconscious, why do we care? Well, our conscious mind won't be bothered by the daruma dolls, but we may be bothered with the result. The result comes from our true nature which abhors the very ideas they represent ... in those "cute" and "cuddly" little horrors.

We may wonder why people act strangely in an unpleasant way, in the room where those dolls reside. Sadly, we may not connect the dots for years, and lead fairly unhappy lives due to this unwitting slander of our own true happiness.
__________________________________________________________

(2004) Daruma dolls are catching on in the movies.

Remember Sofia Coppola, who is the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, and who played Mary, the daughter of Michael Corleone who gets shot in the heart at the end of the Godfather: Part III?

Casting his daughter in that role pretty much ended Coppola's big film making career. It was considered by many as the worst case of blatant nepotism in the history of the movie business. It would have been forgiven, but for the lack of commercial success of that movie.

The story behind that is that his wife, and Sofia's mother, Eleanor was the cause behind the effect of that selection. She was an EST follower in the late seventies (now called the Landmark Forum or Landmark Education), with a personal connection to Werner Erhard.

In the words of Gary Randall of San Jose, a long time follower of both EST and LF/LE, "EST was really just Zen, and Landmark is just EST." We should take them at their word.

Since Eleanor took EST training in 1975, Francis' career cruise has hit a reef. He went from making such greats as Patton (1970, screenplay), The Godfather: Part I (1972) and Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), American Graffiti (1973, producer) ...

then post-EST, came Apocalypse Now (1979, things started getting real crazy then) and The Black Stallion (1979) ...

... finally to Kurosawa's over-bloated Zen-fest Kagemusha (1980), One From the Heart (1982) - which many think is the worst movie ever made by a major film maker, Rumble Fish, Cotton Club, Tucker, Dracula, Frankenstein ... he never stopped trying to recapture his good fortune, but it continued to elude him due to his very supportive role in his wife's mind of Zen, and by having permanently given the Coppola name to Werner Erhard's movement, Esalen and SRI, thanks to the eternally-recycled name-dropping by Jack Sarfatti.

Now he has come to this ... he is executive producer for his daughter's latest film effort: "Lost In Translation" with Bill Murray. In spite of Bill's incredible talent and presence, the film has the most creepy quality, of rampant non-humanity. This is spiced up in the dead middle, when a huge Daruma Doll is inserted in the most banal and pointlessly evil way, considering the "nothingness" that it symbolizes.

That "nothingness" is what Francis Ford Coppola and 'Cody" Jarrett, played by Cagney in White Heat, have in common.

"Look at me, Ma !!! Top of the world !!!" BOOM.
___________________________________________________

(December 2011) Now we have Coppola's latest one from the heart is the movie version of "On the Road", by Jack Kerouac, a rambling walk through the mind of Zen.

Searching for "It" in the heartland of America.

And we thought the Coppola fortunes could sink no lower: but the Daruma references do not plumb the depths so far as the reality of Zen practice.

This is truly regrettable.

____ Epilog _______________________________________

The Buddha's highest teachings were the purpose of the Buddha's advent on this earth.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to drain people's compassion with discussions of the emptiness and meaninglessness of life which is just a void.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people to live in such a narrow and momentary way, that there would be no context for self-examination and conscience.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to possess people's minds with such illogic as to befuddle their ability to choose correctly between what is good and what is evil.

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people how to commit atrocities and genocide, in the exploration of their "infinite possibilities", or "new states of being".

The Buddha did not appear on this earth to teach people how to maim and kill with their hands efficiently, quietly, loudly, with increased terror inflicted, or to maximize their subjugation to control the public sentiments for political ends.

These are all profoundly evil distortions of the Buddha's true teachings, which introduce infinities in the variables holding good and evil, removing all shades of gray in the propositional calculus of value.

Simply stated, the Buddha made his advent on this earth with the purpose of teaching the compassionate way of the bodhisattva, which is at the heart of the true entity of all phenomena, which is the eternal Buddha at one with the eternal Law. Which is how to navigate the sea of sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death. He originally set out on his path, because of his observation of the sufferings of common people and wanting to understand the source of those sufferings (enlightened wisdom) and how to transform those sufferings into unshakable happiness (enlightened action).

When you embrace the void and acausality (even as a big, fluffy Daruma Doll), your initial intention to explore Being and essence doesn't matter ... the result is always the same: chaos and misery, and utter ruination and emptiness to you, your family, and your country.

But things don't have to be that way ...
___________________________________________________

Nichiren Daishonin writes (Encouragement to a Sick Person, WND p. 78):

. "During the Former and Middle Days of the Law, the
. five impurities began to appear, and in the Latter
. Day, they are rampant. They give rise to the great
. waves of a gale, which not only beat against the
. shore, but strike each other. The impurity of
. thought has been such that, as the Former and
. Middle Days of the Law gradually passed, people
. transmitted insignificant erroneous teachings
. while destroying the unfathomable correct
. teaching. It therefore appears that more people
. have fallen into the evil paths because of errors
. with respect to Buddhism than because of secular
. misdeeds."

Because Bodhidharma discarded the Buddha's highest teaching (the Lotus Sutra), and due to his lazy nature turned to shortcuts to enlightenment, he came to the distorted view that life is acausal and empty, that the true entity is the void.

This erroneous view really comes from a misunderstanding of the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, where the True Entity is described by negation (the only way it can be): "... neither square, nor round, neither short, nor long, ..."

The description of the True Entity is logically voidal, but the True Entity itself is not. Bodhidharma was simply confused, due to the slander of negligence (laziness), and false confidence. The truth of life is that at the heart of the True Entity is the compassion of a bodhisattva for others.

Non-substantiality does not mean empty. Life has value. Humans are respectworthy. There is a purpose to everything. And every cause has an effect, so we are responsible for our thoughts, words and deeds. Zen is acausal. Zen is the greatest poison, which compares to the even greater medicine of the Lotus Sutra.

Suffice it to say: the purpose of Zen in the world is to corrupt and undermine everything that is not based upon the truth and the true teaching. All religions, disciplines, institutions and organizations which are undermined by Zen will eventually fall after glaring revelation of their worst defects, sooner rather than later.

If there is some good in your family, locality, society and culture, or country that you would like to retain, then cease the Zen, and begin to apply the medicine of the Lotus Sutra to heal the Zen wound in your life.

"Zen is the work of devilish minds." - Nichiren

-Chas.

. a prescription for the poisoned ones:
.
. The only antidote for the toxic effects of Zen in your life ...
.
. be that from Zen meditation, or the variant forms: physical
. Zen in the martial arts, Qigong, Acupuncture, Falun Gong,
. Copenhagen Convention of Quantum Mechanics, EST,
. Landmark Education, Nazism, Bushido, the Jesuits,
. Al Qaeda, or merely from having the distorted view that life
. is acausal, and that the true entity of all phenomena
. is the void ...
.
. with the effects of the loss of loved ones, detachment,
. isolation or various forms of emptiness in your life ...
.
. is the Lotus Sutra: chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
. at least 3 times, twice a day, for the rest of your life,
. in at least a whisper ...
.
. and if you can, chant abundantly in a resonant voice !!!
.
. The full 28 Chapters of the Lotus Sutra,
. Nichiren Daishonin's Gosho volumes I and II,
. the Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings
. (Gosho Zenshu, including the Ongi Kuden) and the
. SGI Dictionary of Buddhism are located at:
.
http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/
.
. To find an SGI Community Center:
.
http://www.sgi-usa.org/sgilocations/
__________________________________

LS Chap. 16 .....

All harbor thoughts of yearning
and in their minds thirst to gaze at me.
When living beings have become truly faithful,
honest and upright, gentle in intent,
single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha
not hesitating even if it costs them their lives,
then I and the assembly of monks
appear together on Holy Eagle Peak.
At that time I tell the living beings
that I am always here, never entering extinction,
but that because of the power of an expedient means
at times I appear to be extinct, at other times not,
and that if there are living beings in other lands
who are reverent and sincere in their wish to believe,
then among them too
I will preach the unsurpassed Law.