And now, the meaning of life

 I woke up, with my monk-tastic buzz cut, at about 9:30. I'd gotten in a good session with the Voldyne and the shakuhachi before bedtime. Those little 4-note figures on page 23 used to defeat me, but now I am showing some real interest. Ro, Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri. From trumpet I know that in some things, brute force is required. How do we learn the alphabet? Sheer repetition. 

I turned on YouTube right away to listen to the service at the temple. It's always excellent. One part of it was a run-down done by the Buddhist Churches of America for a Japanese audience, to show what we've got here in the States. It's been observed that Zen Buddhism is more alive in the US than in Japan, for instance. But this is Shin Buddhism, and I guess the feeling is that in Japan they may not know how alive it is here. 

It was very interesting to watch. Apparently there are programs to become ordained, but I doubt I could do that, as I don't know Japanese. I can't conceive of being a minister and not being able to read Shinran Shonen's writings in the original. It'd be like being a Catholic priest and not knowing Latin. 

I headed out for downtown at about 2. The first stop was to drop off trash (I like to dispose of household trash far from here) and then check the little free libraries where I found a really neat book on the "Age of warring states" in Japan. It culminated in Ieyasu becoming shogun, and he was a great friend to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism so it ended well. I also dropped off my $30 for March at the temple.

I rode over to Dakao, not sure what I'd get, but I got a pork on rice with vegetables and fish sauce lunch thing for $5. Perfect. I figured I'd go over to the Japanese Friendship Garden and hang out with the koi fish. 

I got over there and it's open, and the koi fish were all in the one, Northmost, pond, but it was not to be a quiet time communing with the fish. First, if  it was a good idea to, on a lovely Sunday afternoon, go to the Japanese Friendship Garden and hang out with the fish, it was not an original one. There were lots of people there. And the pond the fish are in is really cloudy with algae. There was a blue heron standing on a rock in the pond, so that was really cool. I ate my lunch while different groups walked by. 

 I wonder if it could be a good place to play the shakuhachi? It would certainly add to the "mood". I could take my folding red cloth box for tips because people *will* toss me money. If a ranger questions me I can calmly explain that people insist on tossing money and what I make there will get donated to the fund for the park (which I would do). 

I've learned in the past that it's not about the sheer number of people, but the place and mood of the people. It's why I've done so much better at Whole Foods, with much less of a crowd, than at The Old Spaghetti Factory, with more people. And really lousy with the herd passing under the bridge after a Sharks game. I now  know that I might do "meh" on the main strip in Waikiki, better if a Japanese store like Don Quixote if they let me, and might do really well up at the top of the Diamond Head trail that's super popular.

After eating I walked around the rest of the park and then rode back to downtown, along 7th street which I'd not been on that far south. Or had I? Because I seemed to pass through "Little Portugal" where I'd taken a bunch of measurement standards to sell to a guy, years ago. 

I went by the Amazon place for bubble mailers and picked up 8 of them, not too bad. Then I went to Nijiya for sake and the usual groceries and things. I picked up a package of gobo because I kept seeing people buying it, it's hard to miss because instead of cutting it down to size it comes in these long packages that stick out because it's the whole root. I like gobo, so I thought, why not cook it myself? Maybe there's some taboo about cutting it up, or maybe it's just a good way to sell gobo. You see that long package sticking out of someone's bag and think, "They're buying gobo. I wonder if I should get some too?" 

It was a beautiful day, with warm sun and a cool wind. It's hard to believe it's still February. I've had to wear a hat this winter maybe a couple of times, not had to wear gloves once, and not had to be obsessed with warm clothing this winter like I had to in the past. 

I found some chiropractor videos on YouTube that gave me some ideas on my shoulder blade pain, some of which seem to be working. So I'm going to try some of the stretches and things minus the shoulder brace. 

So on to the meaning of life. Obviously on the biological level, it's all about having tons of children and passing on those genes. And in Buddhism we are taught it's fortunate to be born into human life, because as humans we have the intelligence to understand the teachings of the Buddha. So although I have not done so, having children is good because it brings more beings into human life. So the biological part is sound. Eating, drinking, shitting, pissing, having kids. It's all good. So now we're up to the level of the adorable Triops, a creature I am delighted to learn is present even in Hawaii. 

The difference is, humans can think. Humans can understand what a prime number is. When I think about possible other levels of existence or a reality that is "kalpas" long, a kalpa, I believe, being the age of one Universe, I think about prime numbers. Even if we are gone, prime numbers still exist. Nature knows about prime numbers and uses them. So a Buddha who exists through many kalpas, maybe he is on the level of prime numbers. So the benefit of being human is being able to, if in an infantile way, understand things like this. 

So what is the meaning, or purpose, of our lives? It can't be to make money, because even those who make a lot of it don't seem to be any happier. It can't even be good deeds, because you could have someone who does good deeds all day, perhaps out of fear of the Christian hell, but who resents having to do them and is not happy. I used to really believe that one's meaning can be to invent something new. But ultimately it doesn't matter whether Edison or someone else (and a few others were close) invented the light bulb. No one remembers who invented gunpowder or chipped the first Folsom spear point and even I can't name right now who discovered a living coelacanth, a living fossil, off the coast of Africa although it was a big deal at the time. 

Perhaps the career of Edwin Armstrong is an example of how even science doesn't provide the ultimate meaning of life. He invented just about everything in radio. But he was extremely resentful and spent millions - in 1910's  - 1920's dollars - in patent wars and died early, broke, because of this. And we all know the story of Nikola Tesla. So being a Great Scientist or Great Inventor is not it, in of itself. And I really believed in this, up until pretty recently. 

So what is the damned meaning of life then? I believe it is becoming enlightened. Just like the Buddha advises. Ridding oneself of resentments, and anger, and jealousy, and such things. Giving to those in need not out of some fear, or pride, but because it's what you do. Making yourself a good person. Not someone who appears to be a good person but an actual good person. There's a life's work, all cut out. 

Here's an example. When I tried moving back to Hawaii in 2003, I bought this big blue Volvo station wagon. The registration took MONTHS to process. Since then I thought it was because I have a very "haole" name. And I held onto that resentment all this time. But on r/hawaii on Reddit, someone was talking about such things and someone pointed out that the Hawaii DMV has a quota for how many registrations get processed per day and dealers have lowest priority. It wasn't anything personal, it was just that I'd bought the thing from a dealer. 

I'd already decided to not worry about it because when I go back I won't have a car, but there was still that resentment. I'm glad I read r/hawaii because I find out about things like this. If I'd known to look for "things that slow down car registrations in Hawaii" I might have found out sooner. So if something bugs me, I need to wise up and do the research instead of letting resentments fester. 

So the goal of life is The Great Housecleaning. Clean out the anger and resentment, the pettiness and regret. Make your person a perfect Kyomachiya, a perfect Kyoto Japanese house, with clean tatami mats, beautiful and functional. Then good deeds will occur naturally.