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Discourse 23: Merry Ripped-off Pagan Holiday

Started by Trollax, December 21, 2003, 08:14:54 AM

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Trollax

Discourse 23: Merry Ripped-off Pagan Holiday
OR
Discourse 21 B: Time

We've all heard the story time and again, how many of the modern Christmas traditions have been ripped off from medieval European folklore as a part of the church's effort to wipe out and water down paganism. We all know that it is a screwed up solstice, that Jesus was probably born somewhere in mid-July. That he was probably just a nice guy who got taken and made into a big-time theological celebrity courtesy of a few roman guys who wanted to keep control of a politically unstable empire, and so on and so on?ñ I'm not here to talk about that, I'm not even going to bother you about the commercialisation of Christmas, about shoddy merchandise, cheesy ads that make you want to puke, or even the endless line at the refund counter on the 27th. I'm not even going to talk about the spirit of Christmas as there are an endless parade of television messages from all sorts of religious figures you'll hear from in the next week.
While making my Christmas cards for some friends, I decided to give them a special Zen flavour, by doing brushwork pictures and even putting a quote in instead of a gooey Christmas caption. So I started flipping through my copy of the Denkoroku and opening at random pages, and I landed on one of Keizan's poems,

"The pure wind encircles the earth and shakes it time after time,
But who can pluck it up and give it to you?"


Keizan was talking about Tan-hsia's question to Fu-Jung, where he asks Fu-Jung to tell him the single phrase handed down by all the masters, Fu-Jung replies that if he is to call it words then he destroys the entire tradition. Now the card in question was going to my boss, a lady with two young children who will be eagerly awaiting the 25th. A lady who was born on December 25th, and vehemently insists on receiving separate Christmas and birthday presents.
Now we can see from the outset that this little spiel is going to travel down the well-worn road of Christmas being about giving and sharing and all the plastic lip service that is often vomited up by anyone you can shake a poke at and then forgotten. But that is beside the point.
I will spend over half of Christmas day alone in my house simply sitting and reading, and it is still Christmas. I will open presents on that day in the company of my extended family (most of whom I would prefer to beat senseless with an ugly stick) but it is still Christmas. I could have a full-scale argument with my family after finally going nuts and tiring of all the fake cheer that is only slathered on because it's that one day of the year, but it's still Christmas. I could even take every present and every offering from every house, church, and charity in the world. I could kill Santa (if he still exists), and Christmas would not stop. I will say this, have a lousy Christmas, get drunk, fight with your friends, and argue with your family, you can't kill Christmas. This is the one day of the year people have hope and they feel so guilty for acting that way because they feel like a shit going back to work a week later and nothing's changed.
But like Li Po, who drowned trying to embrace the reflection of the moon, we drown trying to make the perfect Christmas. We fill up these preceding weeks with caroling, decorations, eggnog, gingerbread houses, gift shopping, present wrapping, and Christmas parties. What happens when it all comes off the rails? Will the celebrations be somber for soldiers in Iraq? If a bomb goes off in London tomorrow, how will they celebrate? What about the family in intensive care watching their young boy waste away from cancer on life support? It is all the more reason to rejoice. Any day of the year?ñ
Is Christmas dead if we do not celebrate it? What day was Christmas before humans even existed? I'm going to go totally out of the festive vein here and quote a little Lovecraft, "That which is not dead, can eternal lie."
There's a nut in Adelaide who celebrates Christmas every day, a geek in Melbourne who spends his entire year planning and his Christmas light show and setting it to music. Buddhist monks will spend the 25th doing what they always do, the guy at 7-11 will still show up for work (even if it is at 3? salary) and the pure wind will circle the earth and shake it time after time. But nobody can pick it up. Because Christmas is one of those few days in the year where you are given Dharma wrapped up in paper, secreted away in the thing you want most. But you throw it out with the wrapping and the tinsel, and that is why you feel like a shit going back to work or going back to school. What was the date when Buddha transmitted Dharma to Mahakshapya? It does not matter, he is still doing it.
Every day is Christmas, but not in name. When the pure wind shakes the earth, it is because we are drowning in the river of Maya, just like Li Po. We try to embrace the real world with words and songs and objects and people we imbue with meaning. I will open my presents on Christmas day, I will wave goodbye to my family, and then I will celebrate Christmas by doing what I do every day. Living.
Nothing is dead, all things eternally wait...
~Merry Trollax~

Irreverend Hugh, KSC

Better to be drowning in Maya, than to have Maya drown you.
"Time for the tin-foil hats, girls and boys!"

Trollax

Quote from: St. Hugh, KSCBetter to be drowning in Maya, than to have Maya drown you.

that's a catch 22 hugh... Either way it's the same.

B23.77


Trollax

Quote from: DoxxoReality bites.  Illusion bites too.
Reality is another illusion you have given sharp teeth...

Irreverend Hugh, KSC

Quote from: St. Trollax, ODD
Quote from: St. Hugh, KSCBetter to be drowning in Maya, than to have Maya drown you.

that's a catch 22 hugh... Either way it's the same.

Nope. It's not a catch 22. The Vajrayana view is that one plunges wholeheartedly into Maya, because it is all we are. If the saying "I'll live till I die" is a catch 22 then the above might be.

"Turn the abyss of hallucination into the elixir of spontaneity and be in blissful wrath and in wrathful bliss. A sneeze could contain the mighty orgasm you seek your gods in. Yet you disparage this. Let it be known that the person who disparages this world is a person who disparages wisdom. The dharma is found in your own body."
-Dveshavajri
"Time for the tin-foil hats, girls and boys!"

B23.77


Trollax

Quote from: St. Hugh, KSC
Quote from: St. Trollax, ODD
Quote from: St. Hugh, KSCBetter to be drowning in Maya, than to have Maya drown you.

that's a catch 22 hugh... Either way it's the same.

Nope. It's not a catch 22. The Vajrayana view is that one plunges wholeheartedly into Maya, because it is all we are. If the saying "I'll live till I die" is a catch 22 then the above might be.

"Turn the abyss of hallucination into the elixir of spontaneity and be in blissful wrath and in wrathful bliss. A sneeze could contain the mighty orgasm you seek your gods in. Yet you disparage this. Let it be known that the person who disparages this world is a person who disparages wisdom. The dharma is found in your own body."
-Dveshavajri

Ah I see...
but I do not believe that we are nothing more than smoke and mirrors...

Irreverend Hugh, KSC

Nope. We are not smoke and mirrors, but we are ephemeral just the same. And our ideas and dreams are smoke and mirrors. That is why the dakini says the dharma is found in one's body. the reality/illusion trip is simply another duality that needs to be burned up...and Maya can be the wisdom you seek. Maya can be said to consist of both nirvana and samsara, yet the opposite can be equally asserted. All assertions are just that.

The Buddhist Adept in the Vajrayana traditions is told to plunge into the chaotic ocean of reality/illusion. So long as one remains aware, one can use all of it for wisdom training.
"Time for the tin-foil hats, girls and boys!"

B23.77


Trollax

Quote from: St. Hugh, KSC
The Buddhist Adept in the Vajrayana traditions is told to plunge into the chaotic ocean of reality/illusion. So long as one remains aware, one can use all of it for wisdom training.

The fool finds wisdom anywhere he wants...

Irreverend Hugh, KSC

"Why is it said that a bodhisattva is not?"
"Because the bodhisattva is not attached to being a bodhisattva, nor to the idea of being one, nor to the idea of liberating other beings, nor to the idea of 'other beings'. Thus it can be said that a bodhisattva is not."


Zen student: Where is the buddha?
Zen master: Outside, in the hall.
Zen student: But that is only a wooden statue.
                  Where is the buddha, really?
Zen master: Outside, in the hall.

At this, the student was enlightened.


A lama went outside one day and found a devotee reading and chanting from an ancient text. "That's all fine, but wouldn't you rather be practicing the dharma?" So the devotee went away. The next time the lama went out and found that devotee circumambulating a stupa. "That's fine, but wouldn't you rather be practicing the dharma." The devotee went away, perplexed. The next time the lama saw him, he was doing ngondro (prostration exercises). "That's very good. But wouldn't you rather be practicing the dharma."
At that the devotee realized the nature of his mind and was enlightened.
"Time for the tin-foil hats, girls and boys!"

EvilPoet

Quote from: St. Trollax, ODDThe fool finds wisdom anywhere he wants...
This reminds me of these two quotes:

A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a
man of understanding delights in wisdom.
-Proverbs 10:23


A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions.
-Proverbs 18:2

Trollax

Quote from: EvilPoet
Quote from: St. Trollax, ODDThe fool finds wisdom anywhere he wants...
This reminds me of these two quotes:

A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a
man of understanding delights in wisdom.
-Proverbs 10:23


A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions.
-Proverbs 18:2

Once more a discordian turns the world on it's ear and proposes that foolishness is superior to wisdom... much like hugh embraces maya as a tool for learning ;-)


actually it is exactly the same thing...

EvilPoet

Quote from: St. Trollax, ODDOnce more a discordian turns the world on it's ear and proposes that foolishness is superior to wisdom...
Who are you referring to?