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Zenarchist Swordsmen

Started by Telarus, December 04, 2008, 06:59:08 PM

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Brotep

^No.

^^What I'm talking about is a state in which--for example--pure sound is experienced, and the realization that it is one's own breathing comes as a shock.  This is not a helpful state for combat.

the last yatto

QuoteWinnie-the-Pooh is making a come back!! AND now we have a book on the philosophy of this most adorable bear, and his little friend, Piglet. All this in the series of books The Wisdom of Pooh. Actually, The Tao of Pooh was first publish in 1982, and The Te of Piglet in 1992. The books are Benjamin Hoff's explanations of the Eastern philosophy of Taoism and Te through the actions and thoughts of Pooh I'm-a-bear-of-very-little-brain-and-long-words-bother-me and Piglet  a Very Small Animal.
If you can stand the inane comments from Christopher Robin's friends: Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Owl, Kanga and Roo, then this is a gentle book of humour with lots of cute B/W drawings of the abovementioned characters. Hoff narrates through conversations with Pooh and Co., with plenty of stories from the writings of Lao-Tse in Tao Te Ching, and from the writer Chuang-tse, intermingled with the adventures of these little cute things.
The Tao of Pooh - Contents :
Foreword, The How of Pooh, The Tao of Who?, Spelling Tuesday, Cottleston Pie, The Pooh Way, Bisy Backson, That Sort of Bear, Nowhere and Nothing, The Now of Pooh, Backword.
The Te of Piglet - Contents :
What? Another One?, Interjection, The - What Was That Again? - of Piglet, Very Small Animal, The Eeyore Effect, The Tigger Tendency, Things as They Might Be, Things As They Are, The Upright Heart, The Day of Piglet, Farewell.
Look, asshole:  Your 'incomprehensible' act, your word-salad, your pinealism...It BORES ME.  I've been incomprehensible for so long, I TEACH IT TO MBA CANDIDATES.  So if you simply MUST talk about your pineal gland or happy children dancing in the wildflowers, go talk to Roger, because he digs that kind of shit

Honey

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:  A Collection of Zen & Pre-Zen Writings, compiled by Paul Reps:

The following is adapted from the preface to the 1st English-language edition of the book The Gateless Gate:

The teaching of the Buddha was spread in India 500 years prior to the time of Jesus & a thousand years before Mohammed.  Buddhism joined the current of great faiths of the world long before Christianity & Islam.

Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese by both Indian & Chinese translators, dynasty after dynasty, from the 1st century of the Christian era.  The essence of Buddhism, however, was carried from India to China in AD 520 by Bodhidharma, known as the 1st Zen patriarch.  The wisdom of enlightenment generated from the Buddha by the silent-sitting Bodhidharma was inherited by his successor, & similarly handed down through many generations.  It was thus that Zen entered, & was nurtured in, & spread thru China & eventually Japan.

The Japanese word zen – ch'an in Chinese, dhyana in Sanskrit – means meditation.  Zen aims, through meditation, to realize what Buddha himself realized, the emancipation of one's mind.  It offers a method of self-searching, usually under the personal guidance of a master.

Zen has many classic texts, of which this work is one.  Mu-mon-kan – literally, "no gate barrier" – was recorded by the Chinese master Ekai, also called Mu-mon, who lived from 1183 to 1260.  The work consists of narrated relationships between Chinese teachers & their pupils, illustrating means employed to sublimate the dualistic, outgoing, generalizing, intellectualizing tendencies of students in order that they might realize their true nature.  The problems or inner challenges with which the masters confronted their pupils came to be called koans, & each of the following stories is a koan in itself.

The stories use slang freely to actualize the highest teaching, the seeing into one's being.  Occasional instances of apparent violence might be better interpreted as vigor & earnestness.  None of the stories make any pretense at logic.**  They are dealing with states of mind rather than words.  Unless this is understood, the point of the classic will be missed.  The whole intent was to help the pupil break the shell of his limited mind & attain a 2nd eternal birth, satori, enlightenment.

Each problem is a barrier.  Those who have the spirit of Zen pass thru it.  Those who live in Zen understand one koan after another, each in his own way, as if they were seeing the unseen & living in the illimitable.

**If you like nearly flawless logic in these kinds of things, try George Carlin.

Mu-mon wrote the following words in his introduction to the work:

"Zen has no gates.  The purpose of Buddha's words is to enlighten others.  Therefore Zen should be gateless.  Now, how does one pass thru this gateless gate?  Some say that whatever enters thru a gate is not family treasure, that whatever is produced by the help of another is likely to dissolve & perish.

Even such words are like raising waves in a windless sea or performing an operation upon a healthy body.  If one clings to what others have said & tries to understand Zen by explanation, he is like a dunce who thinks he can beat the moon with a pole or scratch an itching foot from the outside of a shoe.  It will be impossible after all.

In the year 1228 I was lecturing monks in the Ryusho temple in Eastern China, & at their request I retold old koans, endeavoring to inspire their Zen spirit.  I meant to use the koans as a man who picks up a piece of brick to knock at a gate, & after the gate is opened, the brick is useless & is thrown away.  My notes, however, were collected unexpectedly, & there were 48 koans, together with my comment in prose & verse concerning each, although their arrangement was not in the order of the telling.  I have called the book The Gateless Gate, wishing students to read it as a guide.

If the reader is brave enough & goes straight forward in his meditation, no delusions can disturb him.  He will become enlightened just as did the patriarchs in India & in China, probably even better.  But if he hesitates one moment, he is as a person watching from a small window for a horseman to pass by, & in a wink he has missed seeing."

"The great path has no gates,
Thousands of roads enter it,
When one passes thru this gateless gate
He walks freely between heaven & earth."

...

18.  Tozan's Three Pounds

A monk asked Tozan when he was weighing some flax:  "What is Buddha?"
Tozan said:  "This flax weighs three pounds."

Mummon's comment:  Old Tozan's Zen is like a clam.  The minute the shell opens you see the whole inside.  However, I want to ask you:  Do you see the real Tozan?

Three pounds of flax in front of your nose,
Close enough, & mind is still closer.
Whoever talks about affirmation & negation
Lives in the right & wrong region


19.  Everyday Life is the Path

Joshu asked Nansen:  "What is the path?"
Nansen said:  "Everyday life is the path."
Joshu asked:  "Can it be studied?"
Nansen said:  "If you try to study, you will be far away from it."
Joshu asked:  "If I do not study, how can I know it is the path?"
Nansen said:  "The path does not belong to the perception world, neither does it belong to the nonperception world.  Cognition is a delusion & noncognition is senseless.  If you want to reach the true path beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as sky.  You name it neither good nor not-good."
At these words, Joshu was enlightened.
...

39.  Ummon's Sidetrack: 

A Zen student told Ummon:  "Brilliancy of Buddha illuminates the whole universe."
Before he finished the phrase Ummon asked:  "You are reciting another's poem, are you not?
"Yes," answered the student.
"You are sidetracked," said Ummon.
Afterwards another teacher, Shishin, asked his pupils:  "At what point did that student go off the track?"
Fuck the status quo!

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure & the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell

Telarus

#33
Thanks for continuing the thread, Honey.

Mu-Mon-Kan # 14
QuoteNansen Cuts the Cat in Two

    Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: `If any of you say a word of Zen, you can save the cat.'

    No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.

    That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.

    Nansen said: `If you had been there, you could have saved the cat.'

Mumon's Comment: Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If anyone answers this question, he will understand exactly how Nansen enforced the edict. If not, he should watch his own head.

    Had Joshu been there,
    He would have enforced the edict oppositely.
    Joshu snatches the sword
    And Nansen begs for his life.


Does anyone need further commentary on this?

Also  :lulz: Put Shoe on Head!
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

Honey

Hey & that's 1 of my favorites too!  Walked out of a *bullshit* meeting at work with a notebook on my head after someone threw out a bullshit *challenge*.  Nobody said a word, don't even think they noticed.

& this stuff is like music to me.  Sometimes I'm in the mood for this or that.  I pretty much always like the zen stories tho.  & it's a waaay welcome relief from the Judaic/Islamic/Xtian bullshit.  Equally tiresome (& predictable) is the fundamental or evangelical Atheists.  Both sides ended up sounding (to me) like apologists, so much sophistry, both obsessed with that same friggin' book.  I guess it's more of a reactive thing.  Works for some.

The zen stories remind me it's all bullshit!  (I like that part)   :)   Gets me to thinking 'bout what a color might taste like?  Or surfing a wave of sound or anyway something of that sort.  Or thinking about time (again).

QuoteFrom THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) :

SOPHISTRY, n.  The controversial method of an opponent, distinguished from one's own by superior insincerity and fooling.  This method is that of the later Sophists, a Grecian sect of philosophers who began by teaching wisdom, prudence, science, art and, in brief, whatever men ought to know, but lost themselves in a maze of quibbles and a fog of words.
 
      His bad opponent's "facts" he sweeps away,
      And drags his sophistry to light of day;
      Then swears they're pushed to madness who resort
      To falsehood of so desperate a sort.
      Not so; like sods upon a dead man's breast,
      He lies most lightly who the least is pressed.

- Polydore Smith

http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict
Fuck the status quo!

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure & the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell

drjon

*sniffsniff*

Why does it stink of Zen in here? Who's been fapping?

/leaves
--><--
Eris Broke my Hot Rod
The Appendix Discordia:
- The Semi-Official Quasi-Clandestine Bavarian Illuminati/Discordian Archives
- How The West Was Lost (Principia Discordia - The 1st Edition)
- The Apocrypha Discordia

Honey

*arriving*

Quote from: drjon on January 08, 2009, 07:44:47 AM
*sniffsniff*

Why does it stink of Zen in here? Who's been fapping?

/leaves

:lulz:

I just love the smell of napalm in the morning.

goin' surfing now & byeee!

*leaving*
Fuck the status quo!

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure & the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell

Kai

WHY WAS I NOT MADE AWARE OF THIS THREAD AND ITS CONTENTS?

*couples with CHI thread for great justice*
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

Telarus

Whether you are an innocent beginner or seasoned adept, you must show some spirit! Don't vainly memorize other people's sayings: a little bit of reality is better than a lot of illusion. Otherwise you'll just go on deceiving yourself.

- Yunmen (864-949)
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

Honey

A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's Storehouse of Human Knowledge

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/43/what-is-the-sound-of-one-hand-clapping
Fuck the status quo!

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure & the intelligent are full of doubt.
-Bertrand Russell

Telarus

The worthies of old all had
means of emancipating people.
What I teach people just requires
you not to take on the confusion of others.
If you need to act, then act,
without any further hesitation or doubt.

- Lin Chi (d 867?)
Telarus, KSC,
.__.  Keeper of the Contradictory Cephalopod, Zenarchist Swordsman,
(0o)  Tender to the Edible Zen Garden, Ratcheting Metallic Sex Doll of The End Times,
/||\   Episkopos of the Amorphous Dreams Cabal

Join the Doll Underground! Experience the Phantasmagorical Safari!

Tempest Virago

Quote from: Telarus on December 21, 2008, 03:21:37 AM
Thanks for continuing the thread, Honey.

Mu-Mon-Kan # 14
QuoteNansen Cuts the Cat in Two

    Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: `If any of you say a word of Zen, you can save the cat.'

    No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.

    That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.

    Nansen said: `If you had been there, you could have saved the cat.'

Mumon's Comment: Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If anyone answers this question, he will understand exactly how Nansen enforced the edict. If not, he should watch his own head.

    Had Joshu been there,
    He would have enforced the edict oppositely.
    Joshu snatches the sword
    And Nansen begs for his life.


Does anyone need further commentary on this?

Also  :lulz: Put Shoe on Head!

I don't get it. At all. I think I'm too stupid for Zen. :(

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Tempest Virago on March 08, 2009, 11:19:20 PM
Quote from: Telarus on December 21, 2008, 03:21:37 AM
Thanks for continuing the thread, Honey.

Mu-Mon-Kan # 14
QuoteNansen Cuts the Cat in Two

    Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: `If any of you say a word of Zen, you can save the cat.'

    No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.

    That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.

    Nansen said: `If you had been there, you could have saved the cat.'

Mumon's Comment: Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If anyone answers this question, he will understand exactly how Nansen enforced the edict. If not, he should watch his own head.

    Had Joshu been there,
    He would have enforced the edict oppositely.
    Joshu snatches the sword
    And Nansen begs for his life.


Does anyone need further commentary on this?

Also  :lulz: Put Shoe on Head!

I don't get it. At all. I think I'm too stupid for Zen. :(

Zen is bullshit.  Pseudo-mystical pinealist garbage.

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 09, 2009, 12:39:27 AM
Quote from: Tempest Virago on March 08, 2009, 11:19:20 PM
Quote from: Telarus on December 21, 2008, 03:21:37 AM
Thanks for continuing the thread, Honey.

Mu-Mon-Kan # 14
QuoteNansen Cuts the Cat in Two

    Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: `If any of you say a word of Zen, you can save the cat.'

    No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.

    That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.

    Nansen said: `If you had been there, you could have saved the cat.'

Mumon's Comment: Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If anyone answers this question, he will understand exactly how Nansen enforced the edict. If not, he should watch his own head.

    Had Joshu been there,
    He would have enforced the edict oppositely.
    Joshu snatches the sword
    And Nansen begs for his life.


Does anyone need further commentary on this?

Also  :lulz: Put Shoe on Head!

I don't get it. At all. I think I'm too stupid for Zen. :(

Zen is bullshit.  Pseudo-mystical pinealist garbage.



You're quite adept at it.
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Anomalous on March 09, 2009, 01:06:13 AM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 09, 2009, 12:39:27 AM
Quote from: Tempest Virago on March 08, 2009, 11:19:20 PM
Quote from: Telarus on December 21, 2008, 03:21:37 AM
Thanks for continuing the thread, Honey.

Mu-Mon-Kan # 14
QuoteNansen Cuts the Cat in Two

    Nansen saw the monks of the eastern and western halls fighting over a cat. He seized the cat and told the monks: `If any of you say a word of Zen, you can save the cat.'

    No one answered. So Nansen boldly cut the cat in two pieces.

    That evening Joshu returned and Nansen told him about this. Joshu removed his sandals and, placing them on his head, walked out.

    Nansen said: `If you had been there, you could have saved the cat.'

Mumon's Comment: Why did Joshu put his sandals on his head? If anyone answers this question, he will understand exactly how Nansen enforced the edict. If not, he should watch his own head.

    Had Joshu been there,
    He would have enforced the edict oppositely.
    Joshu snatches the sword
    And Nansen begs for his life.


Does anyone need further commentary on this?

Also  :lulz: Put Shoe on Head!

I don't get it. At all. I think I'm too stupid for Zen. :(

Zen is bullshit.  Pseudo-mystical pinealist garbage.



You're quite adept at it.

Thank you for your opinion.

Now eat a dick.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.