XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: julianlzb87@gmail.com   
      
   On 10/11/2016 21:11, brian mitchell wrote:   
   >  "{:-])))" wrote:   
   >   
   >> brian wrote:   
   >>> {:-]))) wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Yesterday, brian presents a story and asks about its meaning.   
   >>>> I say, it's your story, you can have it mean as you prefer it to.   
   >>>> Maybe the point is too subtle. His present was not his present.   
   >>>   
   >>> The point was not too subtle; too useless. To have anything mean   
   >>> anything makes discourse pointless.   
   >>   
   >> I am going to generalize a statement now, and sew.   
   >> To say all people bring their own meanings to a story...   
   >   
   > They do, we do, and to the extent that it remains that way, they and   
   > we remain as inhabitants of a hall of mirrors, never free of our own   
   > reflection.   
   >   
   > The zen anecdote I quoted (and may have misquoted: the term at the end   
   > may have been "the Way", or "the Path of the Buddhas", or something   
   > else) was recorded and preserved because it illustrates a specific   
   > aspect of zen teaching. It is hoped that *that* meaning falls out of   
   > it. To put one's own meaning into it is, in zen terms, to go the wrong   
   > way.   
   >   
   > That said, I did use the anecdote to piggy-back a question of my own   
   > regarding the form and substance of action performed by one that   
   > realizes their true nature. It doesn't seem to be a question that has   
   > caught the interest of anyone else, though.   
      
   It must have been unconducive to edification... or some such.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)