XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: wudao@wuji.net   
      
   noname asked and wrote:   
      
   >What makes us think that any tree ever falls alone in a forest, or that the   
   >world must have had a beginning?   
      
   Those of us who think about such things may begin,   
   at some point, by pondering a large tree, a ponderosa pine.   
      
   We, us, who think, may stand alone, by virtue   
   of there being no others to speak of, standing in a stand of trees.   
      
   When all the others are sitting, or have fallen, one standing   
   is able to remain as long as one is able to stand, alone.   
      
   When that last one falls, it falls, all by itself.   
   Unless it was pushed, by the wind. Or an axe got to it.   
      
   When the woodsman begins to chop a tree, he stands.   
   He plants his feet on the ground, to begin with.   
      
   He need to start somewhere, so he picks up his axe.   
   And that can be called, the beginning.   
      
   Now the Zhuangzi also has a story about the beginning.   
   It was told long ago, yet it remains, now, as it ever was.   
      
   Standing in a book, Zhuangzi begins to speak his thoughts.   
   Whether there was a beginning of the beginning or not,   
   he reached a conclusion, so he said, in his writing.   
      
   Those interested in Zz's Daoism may see it in Chapter 2.   
      
   >This is not a cute quip, it's a serious question, something that deserves   
   >to be thought to the floor and pinned down.   
      
   Trying to pin down the Eternal Now, Existence, Being, Forever   
   might take less than a day, or even a moment.   
      
   First, catch the butterfly by its wings. Being careful   
   not to damage the butterfly in the process. Then, with care,   
   stick the pin through its body. And there one has it.   
      
   Stuck in a book, forever. Seriously.   
      
   Looking back in time, assuming time exists, people see.   
   Those who look in a special Way, see stars. Moving.   
   They see galaxies, all moving. Most all are moving away.   
      
   An expanding cosmos is observed. That is what gives, us,   
   a distinct impression that there was a time when time began,   
   when, we, those of, us, who look thru telescopes and see,   
   the cosmos in this certain, special, fashion of seeing.   
      
   When one opens one's eyes and sees, Now, how   
   eternal Now is, Now appears to have always been.   
      
   Two views may vary.   
   The top of the foot is not the bottom.   
   Side-views are also able to exist in Ways.   
      
   To carve an Uncarved Block and go round   
   and round in terms of either/or can be easily done and fun.   
      
   Beginning or no-beginning. Both.   
   As wells of neither well as well.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)