XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: invalid@invalid.invalid   
      
   Ummmmmmm  wrote:   
   > On 11/10/2016 9:23 AM, noname wrote:   
   >> Ummmmmmm  wrote:   
   >>> On 9/10/2016 1:22 AM, {:-]))) wrote:   
   >>>> Ummmmmmm wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> We all know that Tang is a Realized Master of Mental Culture, as we all   
   >>>>> know you are a Taoist Sage.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I don't know much of what Tang is.   
   >>>> He disclaims being a lot of things.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I am not a Taoist Sage.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I often write about what I see in terms of Taoism.   
   >>>> Seeing as how this is a Taoist newsgroup.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I know Tang likes to crosspost messages.   
   >>>> And this one is no exception. I don't know if you are here,   
   >>>> where I am at, in a Taoist newsgroup, or in absfg.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> If you would like to talk about Taoism, that might be on-topic.   
   >>>> If you want to talk about joy and happiness, that's fine.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> At the feast, if you recall any of the six TTCs you read,   
   >>>> how would you describe Lao Tzu?   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> I would describe him as dead.   
   >>>   
   >>> Unfortunately, living Knowledge (i.e. how to sync with the Tao of right   
   >>> now) can only be transmitted by a living Master to a living student.   
   >>   
   >> If by "a living Master" you mean a human individual, you are absolutely   
   >> wrong.   
   >>   
   > Why?   
      
   The first "living Master" figured it out just like anybody else can.   
   There's a reason people don't figure it out, they're taught how not to   
   think.  The enculturation we grow up with, starting at the moment of   
   conception.  The fear that we're taught prevents us from finding the   
   answer.  And fear is just the flip-side of desire.  Nobody's afraid to lose   
   something they don't desire, if somebody steals it they don't have to drag   
   it to the dump during spring-cleaning.  That's why Gautama stressed desire   
   so heavily, why the TTC (which i personally think should be translated as   
   "the book of the consistent integrity of change" also stresses desire   
   heavily, right in the very first chapter, "ever desiring" this, "ever   
   desireless" that.  It's a key passage to a key book imo.  Unless of course   
   you already "got" the importance of "liberation from desire" which is more   
   rightly called "mastery of desire".  But no, you don't have to kiss some   
   Living Master's holy ring and get a $50 blessing, you can figure it out   
   yourself, for free, just from the clues every day of life continues to   
   shove in your face until you do get it.  Usually those who bill themselves   
   as being a "Living Master" are con artists imo, based on the number of   
   stupid-assed contradictions they spew.  The master wheelright couldn't   
   teach his son the chisel, the kid didn't want to grow up to be a chisler.   
   Sometimes you get lucky enough to run into somebody you can actually talk   
   to and understand, who happens to have some more clues, and might even have   
   the last one you need.  But if there were any real Scotsmen around, the   
   cycle wouldn't swing so wide.   
      
   > What else do we have, except 'human individuals'?   
      
   We have the world itself.  Just the way it is.  It whispers to us when we   
   err.  If we can't figure it out from that, no number of $50 blessings is   
   going to help.  Granted, there have been a few who seemed to be living   
   Masters, like Buddha and Jesus, maybe others that don't come to mind, but   
   look around you, the Pope dresses like a wedding-cake and Buddhists are   
   probably still setting themselves on fire in "protest" to some bullshit   
   that is not the bailiwick of "mental culture" imo, so how good were Buddha   
   and Jesus at getting the job done?  Experiencing is believing.   
      
   > Unless, as the Egyptians seem to have believed, you think monkeys and   
   > hawks are higher?   
      
   What is "higher", what does that mean?  Faster central processor?  Better   
   use of assets?  More pure, having stronger integrity, a bigger IQ, more   
   real assets and higher bank balances?  Is "higher" an indication of   
   quantity or quality?   
      
   > Sometimes I wonder about cats.   
   >   
      
   I don't.  Cats are prideful and arrogant, but they are not subject to pack   
   behavior.  Dogs and humans are subject to pack behavior.  Clinton wants to   
   be the big pack-leader, probably has a pooch.  Trump just wants those in   
   power to stop fucking up, recent news makes it clear that he favors pussy.   
   Nothing wrong with sex, all of our parents did it, but I'm the only cat   
   that's going to live in my house, and I don't need to have my toes licked   
   quite enough to put up with dogshit.   
      
   I don't know how many species live on planet Earth.  Every category of them   
   is an alien to humans.  I watch "first contact" movies where humans meet   
   space-aliens, but nobody looks at squirrels or bunnies like alien species.   
   Go figure, eh?   
      
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