XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: wudao@wuji.net   
      
   Ummmmmmm wrote:   
   > brian mitchell wrote:   
   >> Tang Huyen wrote:   
   >>> Kitty P wrote:   
   >>>> Wilson   
   >>>>> Tang Huyen:   
   >>>   
   >>>>> salvifically.   
   >>>   
   >>>>>> You can't fool me, that's not a real word.   
   >>>   
   >>>> Obsolete   
   >>>   
   >>> Whether it is a word  though ... ... ...   
   >>> it is often sold as helping you return to your   
   >>> nature, but if it is to help you return to your   
   >>> nature, why should you go through inane   
   >>> motions, like meditation, prayer, fasting,   
   >>> bowing and scraping?   
      
   One should, if one enjoys that type of activity.   
      
   One word is sufficient, Amitabha. Bingo.   
      
   One might ask, why play Bingo?   
   So much trouble. All the trouble.   
   So much bother. All the bother.   
      
   >>> Why shouldn't you be   
   >>> able to get to it instantly, boom, just like that,   
   >>> if it is your inalienable right?   
      
   You can. Many do.   
      
   There used to be a bumper-sticker: We never lost it.   
      
   I once found myself lost in a small room.   
   It was the middle of the night and I got turned around,   
   somehow, and didn't know right from left or north   
   from southeast or where the doors were.   
      
   There were actually two doors in that room.   
   I knew that. I knew up from down as well.   
      
   So I told myself, I can figure this one out.   
   And so, I was able to get out of the room I was in.   
      
   >>> Why should it   
   >>> not be delivered to you as on a platter, all   
   >>> ready for consumption?   
      
   It is delivered. Ever present.   
   I like to gobble up lots of time in each present.   
   It tastes better when it doesn't go stale on me.   
      
   >>> The whole show   
   >>> must be prestidigitation of the vilest kind.   
      
   People go to magic shows to be entertained.   
   People go to a scary movie to be scared.   
   Some folks enjoy as much vile as they can get.   
      
   >>> It can be argued that awakening is   
   >>> self-evident, but if it is self-evident, why   
   >>> does it need so much hard work to get to it?   
      
   If the price is not set high, some don't appreciate it.   
      
   >>> And right through all that hard work, it is   
   >>> said that it is nothing that can be gotten.   
   >>> Holy mackerel, what kind of vicious circle is   
   >>> this?   
      
   Ouroboros.   
      
   >>> Ah, but if you awaken, all is forgiven and all   
   >>> is grace. Now that's really rich! Is there any   
   >>> way to break though all that mindfuck?   
      
   There are as many ways as there are traditions.   
      
   >>> What is the redeeming feature of the whole   
   >>> show? You tell me!   
      
   It's been said to be worth the candle.   
      
   >> As a fan of Henry James ... ... ...  I salute you!.   
   >>   
   >   
   >:-) :-) Well said!   
   >   
   >Tang has a lot of words - ...   
   >   
   >Usually, however, although he has a lot of thoughts, he seems to have   
   >only one feeling - rather forlorn & woebegone - "I haven't got it"   
      
   He explained that the other day as being a defense mechanism.   
      
   >This sometimes generates a secondary feeling "I must squash anyone who   
   >thinks they have it! That'll make me feel better"   
      
   With lots of games, there is a winner and a loser.   
   He seems to see what he calls mental culture as a game at times.   
   Maybe it's a Zen one-up kind of arena wrestlers enter in two.   
      
   >"squash", of course, is a bit blunt. Ninja stars are shiny and pointed.   
   >But, alas, he doesn't have those either, they're all make-believe. Paper   
   >darts.   
   >   
   >Why? Because what he's looking for can't be found in the pages of a   
   >book. It doesn't exist in the past. The sparkling ninja stars, faster   
   >than thought - have nothing to do with 'mental culture'. That's just   
   >digging over tired old vegetable plots in case a dry seed or a mummified   
   >root might've got left behind. The stars have a lot to do with right   
   >now. Living wisdom.   
      
   Right now, here we all are.   
   He knows his make-believe is make-believe.   
      
   What anything has to do with, 'mental culture' is something   
   I continue to try to make sense of as it's an unusual phrase.   
   The gestalt continues to elude me a bit.   
      
   >Or, to put it another way - anyone, even the most serene and pontifical   
   >polymath, hoping to find (or pretending to have found)'enlightenment' in   
   >a library, is like a starving man sitting in a room surrounded by recipe   
   >books. It doesn't matter how old the recipes are, or how venerable they   
   >may be, or what sumptuous repasts they might record. Any sensible person   
   >would trade them all for a can of baked beans.   
      
   Yes. I think that's what he and many another realizes.   
   The quotes and books are stage-props. Parts of the show.   
      
   >* we all come into this world with a can of baked beans. Standard issue.   
   >Living light. Luminous clarity. Inbuilt wisdom and serenity.   
   >Enlightenment isn't something that's added to us if we read the right   
   >books, or do the requisite number of ritual prostrations. It's our   
   >birthright.   
      
   Little children know how to play, naturally.   
   Puppies, kittens, and perhaps other animals do as well.   
      
   When an adult gets lost in a room in one's own house   
   and can't find how to get out of it, it might be funny, or not.   
      
   A valid argument is not necessarily sound.   
   Such a statement means the premises are not always valid.   
      
   Some people never seek enlightenment nor salvation   
   because they have no need for it. They aren't hungry.   
      
   Some are born malnourished. Some with neuron-damage.   
   Some seek help, and find health. Others wonder about that.   
      
   >But of course, baked beans don't have a Michelin rating, don't cost a   
   >lot, don't come with a "FOR QUALIFIED SPIRITUAL MASTERS ONLY" tag - you   
   >don't get a whole lot of strut & bling out of a can of beans, especially   
   >if everyone has one. Even those of low mental culture.   
   >And there's a problem. You have to be smart enough to find the guy with   
   >the can-opener, & humble enough to ask him how to use it.   
      
   If one has been given a pantry full of cans without labels,   
   one might be in a world of unknowns. Some cans have worms.   
   Don't open those, one is told. Find the magic one and win a prize!   
      
   The pantry is in one's mind. And those with time to spare   
   may enter at will. Those who are too busy have other things to do.   
      
   >Too hard for   
   >most scholars. Easier just to say, stoically, "That's life! I don't need   
   >real food - I'll settle for feeling important and respected"   
      
   Scholars tend to have a lot of time to spend thinking.   
   For various reasons, blue-collar work does not fill up their daze.   
      
   >How do you protect this stance? 2 ways.   
   >   
   >* announce loudly "of course, I don't know what I'm talking about - I'm   
   >not enlightened!" - serenely confident that everyone will understand   
   >that only a massively enlightened spiritual master would be capable of   
   >making such a claim.   
      
   I always wondered about why he was saying what he'd say.   
   It seemed to me to be odd. But I didn't know he was broadcasting   
   from some match-book inside a drawer in a boxing decoder ring.   
      
   >* "it's just words on a screen - so if it pricks a little bit, it   
   >doesn't matter" . This is the equivalent of saying that since human   
   >beings are just molecules of carbon & oxygen & hydrogen & calcium   
   >whirling around, we don't need to pay any attention to what they feel,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)