MIRROR IMAGE-REFLECTIONS - Read more from A TALE OF PARALLELS

MIRROR IMAGE-REFLECTIONS What is an illusion? When we perceive an object through our eyes, it is projected on to our retina, inverted. Our brain interprets this input to deliver an upright image. Is what our naked eye perceives the truth? Is what our brain perceives the authentic truth? Mayhap, these are perceptions which germinate in our mind and the truth lies somewhere in between. ***************** This was the conundrum on which Fujishiro Gozen ruminated all her life. She was on a mission to grapple with this strange, essential truth. What is an illusion? Is an illusion an instance of incorrect or misinterpreted perception? Or is something beyond normal human perception? Fujishiro Gozen always speculated on this question. Her singular transfixation was on one thought, “Is what I see through my eyes reality or merely an illusion? Is it the unalloyed truth or something spectacular which I am unable to comprehend in its entirety?” The wry smile on her face concealed the innumerable vicissitudes in her life. Fujishiro Gozen was often found at a lake near the Temple of Knowledge at Eikan-do. Scantily dressed, she dipped her legs in the frothy, cold water and played with gay abandon. On numerous occasions she would become stark naked and swim in the lake and let go of all her emotions. She found this to be an incredibly therapeutic exercise. There was a waterfall in the vicinity which pumped water into the lake and Fujishiro Gozen luxuriated under the cascading water. She pondered, “Are the objects we perceive through our sensory organs a reality or merely a reflection of our thinking pattern? We are mere captives of our sensory organs.” “If we probe deeper into our consciousness, we discover that perception of the outer world has a limiting effect on our capability to understand the actual experience of our actions,” Fujishiro Gozen thought aloud. Seventeenth Century Japan The stage was set in the Edo period or what is known as the Tokugawa period in Japan, between 1603 AD and 1868AD. It was a period of economic growth and a strict social order. It was a period of ceasefire and an end to wars and strife with the royalty patronizing arts and culture. Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate and the country’s 300 regional daimyos, the warlords or vassals under the protectorate of the powerful potentate, The Shogun. Fujishiro Gozen was a prepossessing woman, an onna-bugeisha in the Mutsu province. Tragically, her husband met his end in a battle against the Tsugaru clan. The young warrior robustly defended her small castle called Fujishiro-kan and raised her young son. Fujishiro Gozen’s thoughts again meandered and she mused wistfully, “Are we masters of our self or merely a miniscule part of a larger system? Are we not blessed with any free will? Does this imply that all our actions are merely an illusion of choice? “If my Lord had not been killed in the battlefield, I would not have been anointed in his place and taken up this onerous responsibility. I would have been playing and swimming in the lake at near the lake.” “However, today I am submerged in the whirlpool of tears. I often bewail the misadventures of my life. I am stupefied to think why I had to undergo these cataclysmic events in life,” she mused. “At the Temple of Knowledge, I wonder whether I am a fragment of this Universe or is the Universe embedded within my being as I bear the cross,” she pondered with misty eyes. “I can understand that I am answerable for all my actions and non-actions but are they also a part of some predestined design,” she pondered. The tale of Fujishiro Gozen was spellbinding and often discussed in the classes but in hushed tones. None was willing to stake their claim regarding the veracity of the story for two reasons. One, as a mark of respect for the daunting woman Fujishiro Gozen. Second every head of the Temple of Knowledge did not wish the students to be distracted as they practiced Zazen. The Master of the Temple of Knowledge often posed the question whether Fujishiro Gozen was an apparition, reality or an illusion. Aeons ago in Japan, Zen Master Bankei Yōtaku was sitting outside the steps of the Temple of Knowledge at Eikan-do and keenly observing his preeminent pupil Yunmen Wenyen. The student was observing inhalation and exhalation of his breath and performing Zazen meditation, while he himself was seated in the courtyard and quietly luxuriating as he smoked his pipe. Bankei Yōtaku was to say, “Zazen refers to sitting meditation. It’s a meditative practice which provides insight into the true nature of being. Zazen originates from the teachings of Buddha, who lived in India 2,500 years ago and founded the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.” “The aim of this practice is to let go of all preconceived notions, rhetoric and ideologies. The meditator becomes aware of all sensations and thoughts that arise and pass by,” he added further. He concluded by uttering, “Zazen Meditation is the practice of seeing things as they really are and the tutees become aware that everything is transitory and temporary. It transfigures the mind to remain focused in the present moment. Meditation improves the intrinsic quality life and self in profound ways, and it allows a person to increase concentration of mind. It becomes crystalline pure.” Suddenly his favorite pupil opened his eyes and exclaimed, “Master, Master, I have grasped the quintessential truth. I can feel it and visualize it. Today I find answers to all the queries of the Universe.” “You do?” questioned the polymath Zen Master. “I have grappled all these years and am yet to have a glimpse of the exemplary truth!” “Holy sire, everything in this world is a mere phantom. In my considered opinion everything is ignis fatuus.” The blue stocking Zen Master got up and approached the student while pulling hard on his pipe. As he was passing-by he turned out the piping hot contents of his pipe on top of the neat bald head of the novitiate and banged the pipe down hard. The contents were showered on the tutee’s bald head. The youngster sprang upand caterwauled, “Master, what are you trying to do? My body is burning like hot charcoal. Why are you trying to kill me? Are you covetous that I have discovered the quintessential and pristine truth?” “Ahhhh,” mused the Master, “so the sensory perception of illusion does make you angry?” Fujishiro Gozenin the lake near Temple of Knowledge at Eikan-do Fujishiro Gozen of late in order to rejuvenate her body, mind and soul followed a diligent practice unflinchingly. She began her routine bysplashing her feet in the lake, then slowly disrobing herself and swimming with the current and then against the current and finally bathingunder the cascading waterfall. She ruminated on various incidents of her life. The winsome and alluring lady, was aware there was a Temple of Knowledge on the banks of the water body. But she never bothered to enter the complex to learn Zazen and meditation. Instead, her Zazen and meditation was to remain in solitude and savor being deluged in water. Today she shed copious tears and emerged rehabilitated. One day it so happened that the Zen Master Bankei Yōtaku was sitting outside steps of Temple of Knowledge at Eikan-do and watched Fujishiro Gozen in the lake. He was taken aback at the sight. “Is it an apparition, an illusion? Who was that woman virtually sculpted out of marble,” gushed the Zen Master. When he sat down to practice his meditation the images of the beguiling woman cannonaded his mind. His mind continued to be brimful with innumerable thoughts about the damsel as he configured and constructed an imaginary intense affair with the woman which became passionate as days passed by. The images lingered in his mind. Swirling ruminations of the statuette of the woman swimming au naturel in the lake and bathing undraped undercascading waterfall had a noxious impact on his mind. The Zen Master grew restless as his passion and craving for the enchantress assumed magnified proportions despite practicing Zazen, breathing and rigorous meditation techniques. The Zen Master was unable to live in the present moment and was living with the nymphet all the time. “Was it the unalloyed truth or something which I am unable to comprehend in entirety? It is playing havoc with my mind,” he thought aloud.“What do I do? I am absolutely at my wits end.” He summoned Yunmen Wenyen, his closest student and asked him to release the contents of his pipe out on top of his bald head. Yunmen Wenyen was stupefied and refused to obey his Master. “Yunmen Wenyen, I have become a mental wreck and want to relearn the nuances of Zazen Meditation to realize the quintessential truth,” Bankei Yōtaku was to tell his chosen disciple. The Zen Master then narrated the entire incident of being enveloped by lustful thoughts after watching the nymphet in the lake. “But Master, that was merely an illusion. I too have seen images of a beautiful woman emerging scantily dressed from the lake, swimming in the lake and taking a bath in the cascading waterfall. Many a times she paddles her feet in splashing water,” he added. Bankei Yōtaku looked stupefied as he listened intently to Yunmen Wenyen, now a seasoned practitioner of Zazen Meditation. “Master there was never such a woman who entered the lake. These images were mere illusions. I discarded them the moment I saw them, but sire those images unfortunately got embedded in your mind.” “The reality is that the governess of this palace, Fujishiro Gozen, was a rare personality who had taken up weapons from her arsenal and attacked with her family and perished at the end of the bloody battle. For her courageous actions, she received the rubric Gozen, a title given to young ladies who are generally anointed young women warriors. She was killed in the battlefield several years ago,” added the student. “We were informed about this riveting and spellbinding piece of history by the Master himself,” the young student reminded. “First there will appear to you, swifter than lightning, the luminous splendour of the colorless light of Emptiness, and that will surround you on all sides ...Try to submerge yourself in that light, giving up all belief in a separate self, all attachment to your illusory ego,” were the sagacious words of Buddha. Zen Master Bankei Yōtaku realized that he was blinded by ego with his exalted power and handed over the keys of theTemple of Knowledge at Eikan-do to Yunmen Wenyen and moved to another Temple of Knowledge to learn the nuances of Zazen Meditation. That evening the new Zen Master, took a walk near the lake. He was befuddled to see a naked woman, virtually a mirror image of Fujishiro Gozen emerging from the lake who paddled her feet in the lake, swam in the lake and bathed in the water falls. She gave an enigmatic and a wry smile to Yunmen as she left. The chimera of the winsome lady repeatedly appeared in the Zen Master Yunmen Wenyen’s dream. His sleep was disturbed. Was it an illusion? Was it reality? **************** Postscript: Is all the world nothing but an illusion? What is the truth? What did Buddha discover in reality? Are we all figments of imagination or is it that the seat of the Master is enveloped by ego?