XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: tanghuyen@gmail.com   
      
   On 11/12/2016 7:13 PM, awaken21 wrote:   
      
   > Words of the masters still have the context of the   
   > circumstances of the moment in which they were   
   > uttered, something masters are one with.   
      
   As present-day aspirants, should we try to replicate   
   being one with the old masters in the circumstances   
   of the moment in which their words were uttered?   
   Or should we try to just be one with the circumstances   
   of our moment? If the former, are we trying to relive a   
   long gone moment, like a dead insect pinned on the   
   wall of some museum? If the latter, do we need the   
   context of the circumstances of the moment in which   
   the masters uttered their words?   
      
   Are we trying to fit into an ancient context, with exotic   
   overtones all around? Or are we trying to be free? If   
   the former, we would be merely antiquarians with   
   voyeuristic tendencies. If the latter, we would shed   
   everything and live in the moment, in the here and now,   
   with everything else sloughed off, floating around like a   
   butterfly in the golden breeze of Autumn.   
      
   Of course, it can be argued that we take a ride on the   
   freedom of the old masters by way of their recorded   
   words and gestures, and try to bring back their   
   freedom to life in our flesh and blood lives. But   
   precisely, their freedom freed them from whatever their   
   milieu was, so why would we need to recreate their   
   scenery, right down to the last comma?   
      
   Of course, to wish for freedom does not make it so, and   
   it still takes long and hard work, with no guarantee of   
   success, but we can just be mindful, which means being   
   mindful of ourselves in our circumstances, whatever   
   they are or are not, and be one with them, which means   
   dropping all identifications with anything and anybody,   
   ourselves included. If so, why do we need the context of   
   the circumstances of the moment in which the masters   
   uttered their words? Why load ourselves up on it, just   
   when we try to unload everything and be free? Should   
   we not travel light? (All the usual disclaimers ...)   
      
   Tang Huyen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)