Kutai Lighthouse

03 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Suzanne Vega - Tom's DinerWe are off to see Suzanne Vega at The Lighthouse theatre in Poole tonight. She is, and has been, one of my favourite singers for decades, so I am really looking forward to the concert.

As I often do, and I’m sure you do too, I’ve been listening to her back catalogue since I bought the tickets a couple of weeks ago.

Each song is like an old friend and arrives bringing a plethora of memories with it. Those memories, in Buddhist terms are held in a state called Ku, or Kutai, where something exists and doesn’t exist all at the same time.

The human brain is an amazing thing. On the one hand we can remember people and events from forty years and more ago. On the other, I can walk from the lounge into the kitchen and forget why I went in the first place, and I know we’ve all been there.

Amazing stuff that grey matter, a hugely complex system of neurons and synapses awash in a cocktail of serotonin, dopamine and countless other magical neurotransmitters, all busy doing their own thing, but all in sync. And all it needs, to switch on some memory buried deep in time, is a handful of notes in a particular sequence.

Here are a few rather shaky images from the show …

Suzanne Vega - Live In Poole

Suzanne Vega - Live In Poole

Suzanne Vega - Live In Poole

Who The Kutai

23 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , ,

Dr WhoI saw the very first episode of Doctor Who, way back in November 1963, sitting on the sofa in my Nan and Grandad’s lounge at 50 Ryland Road, Erdington, Birmingham. Watching The Day Of The Doctor tonight was awesome, it was brilliantly written, performed and produced and brought many of the intervening years together in a very clever storyline.

The amazing thing is that the program also brought back memories and images from half a century ago. The whole family sitting around a black and white telly, watching William Hartnell, my Doctor, in a brand new series on the only BBC channel, BBC2 didn’t appear till 1967.

Such vivid memories. Only I could see them, but they were as real as were the original experiences. So they exist and they don’t exist all at the same time, and Nichiren Buddhism calls this Ku, short for Kutai. All they need are the right conditions to become manifest, in exactly the same way our own potential does.

The human brain is an amazing thing. On the one hand I can remember people and events from fifty years and more ago. On the other, I can walk from the lounge into the kitchen and forget why I went in the first place, and I know we’ve all been there.

Amazing stuff that grey matter, a hugely complex system of neurons and synapses awash in a cocktail of serotonin, dopamine and countless other magical neurotransmitters, all busy doing their own thing, but all in sync. And all it needs, to switch on some memory buried deep in time, is a handful of images or a series of electronic notes in a particular sequence.

Instant 80’s Kutai

11 Oct 2013 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

SiouxsieIn a vain attempt to block out the distractions of the office, I’ve been listening to an 80’s compilation album this morning. Some of the tracks are fillers with no special meaning for me, but some are kutai-tastic and have all the memories flooding back.

Bands like Culture Club, New Order, Bronski Beat, Thompson Twins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blondie, Billy Idol, The Stranglers, the list goes on and on and on, and so do the memories.

All sorts of memories came flooding back as the lyrics and notes unlocked them, some good, some not so good.

Only I could see them, but they were as real as were the original experiences. So they exist and they don’t exist all at the same time, and Nichiren Buddhism calls this Ku, short for Kutai. All they need are the right conditions to become manifest, in exactly the same way as our own innate potential does.

Now the morning itself has been consigned to history, as indeed has typing this sentence, but all those memories will remain forever.

The Middle Way

27 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Middle WayWe are all aware that life is made up of two components, the physical (ke or ketai) and the spiritual (ku or kutai). They are two, but not two (shikishin funi) and cannot exist one without the other. The body or physical aspect becomes useless without the mind, or spiritual aspect, and the mind is helpless without the body.

The mind however, can continue to function without the body, when we sleep for example. We have all experienced dreams where we perform feats that would be totally impossible in the physical world, like being able to fly.

So we have two rather different components, maybe working in a way that is not necessarily harmonious, until chu (or chutai) takes control. Chu is the harmonisation of ke and ku. It controls each aspect, making sure one or the other does not dominate or drag us off course.

This is known as The Middle Way (chudo).

Ke, Ku And Chu – The Middle Way

06 May 2013 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

This Way, That Way, The Middle WayWe are all aware that life is made up of two components, the physical (ke or ketai) and the spiritual (ku or kutai).

They are separate, but joined, two, but not two (shikishin funi) and cannot exist one without the other.

The body or physical aspect becomes useless without the mind, or spiritual aspect, and the mind is helpless without the body.

The mind however, can continue to function without the body, when we sleep for example. We have all experienced dreams where we perform feats that would be totally impossible in the physical world, like being able to fly.

So we have two rather different components, maybe working in a way that is not necessarily harmonious, until chu (or chutai) takes control.

Chu is the harmonisation of ke and ku. It controls each aspect, making sure one or the other doesn’t drag us off course. This is known as The Middle Way (chudo).

Straight Down The Middle

04 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , , ,

Straight Down The MiddleWe are aware that life is made up of two very distinct components, the physical (ke or ketai) and the mental or spiritual (ku or kutai). They are two, but not two (shikishin funi) as one cannot exist without the other.

The body or physical aspect becomes useless without the mind, or spiritual aspect, and the mind might be thought helpless without the body. The mind however, can continue to function without the body, when we sleep for example. We have all experienced dreams where we perform superhuman feats that would be totally impossible in the physical world, like being able to fly.

So we have two rather different components, sometimes working in a way that is not necessarily harmonious, until chu (or chutai) takes control. Chu is the harmonisation of ke and ku. It controls each aspect, making sure one or the other doesn’t drag us off course.

This is known as The Middle Way (chudo).

Music As It Should Be

22 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

Starry NightHaving spent the day being forced to listen to Radio 1, it was a wonderful relief to listen to some proper music, music the way it should be played, watching the Don MacLean Songbook on Sky Arts. I had forgotten just how much I loved the lyrics to his song Vincent.

In my teens, I used to play Vincent on my old Echo six string, and the words are wonderful:

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colours on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflecting Vincent’s eyes of China blue
Colours changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hands

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do
But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as
beautiful as you

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget
Like the strangers that you’ve met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
A silver thorn on a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Kutai Squared

25 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Oh YesWatching Yes Speak on Sky Arts 1 tonight was brilliant. I’ve loved Yes since I was back in sixth form, just after the Romans left Britain, so watching the program caused the expected outpouring of memories. But it also brought back memories of watching Jon and Rick in Poole last October, so kutai of kutai, a rather strange, but magical feeling.

The human brain is an amazing thing. On the one hand we can remember people and events from forty years and more ago. On the other, I can walk from the lounge into the kitchen and forget why I went in the first place, and I know we’ve all been there.

Amazing stuff that grey matter, a hugely complex system of neurons and synapses awash in a cocktail of serotonin, dopamine and countless other magical neurotransmitters, all busy doing their own thing, but all in sync. And all it needs, to switch on some memory buried deep in time, is a handful of notes in a particular sequence.

Kutai Restaurant

13 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags:

MemoriesWhen you spend some time with someone you haven’t seen for a while, after you have caught up on the happenings since you last met, you get to talking about the past.

This is when the magic of Kutai kicks in.

Kutai is the state between existence and non-existence, where something exists but is non-substantive, that is, it has no physical substance and hence cannot be proven.

Memories are a very good example of Kutai. They are very real to the person, or persons doing the remembering, but there is nothing physical to back them up. Another thing that struck me, was that in the same way as substantive things are often connected, so are non-substantive ones. You know the situation where someone tells a joke, and in hearing it, that triggers the memory in the listener, so they often come back with a joke of their own. So it is with memories.

Well so it was today with our shared memories. Lots of happy, and a few sad recollections became very real as we relived them together. Some memories are so deeply buried, that they almost need to be dragged, kicking and screaming, from our subconscious. But they are there all the same. Regression therapy is based on the fact that we never actually forget anything. We may not be able, or may choose not to remember certain events or facts, but that is a failure to remember, not that we have actually forgotten.

Anyway, the process of remembering can be rather cathartic, a good way of clearing away the clutter and cobwebs that accumulate over time. So it was today, a spring clean of the memory banks, you might say.

Oh Yes, it’s Kutai Alright

29 Oct 2010 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

After a day working on the new Yoga Essence website, we spent the evening in the company of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman. Their concert at the Lighthouse in Poole was a brilliant mix of new songs from The Living Tree and golden oldies.

All sorts of memories came flooding back as the lyrics and notes unlocked them.

Only I could see them, but they were as real as were the original experiences. So they exist and they don’t exist all at the same time, and Nichiren Buddhism calls this Ku, short for Kutai. All they need are the right conditions to become manifest, in exactly the same way our own potential does.

Now the concert itself has been consigned to history, as has typing this sentence, memories that will remain forever.

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