The story of a makyo

[Slurrealist]

Once upon a time, somewhere in the humid and mountain area of Yunnan, lived one monk with the name Fa Shu Shi.

He was very gifted in spiritual matters, and very soon achieved one of the mystical states described in the sutras filling the large, dusty, and gloomy room of the monastery library.

"Master, I have understood the emptiness of Truth," Fa Shu Shi said to the old master Ao Te Rai. "There's no Truth anywhere. All we deal with are just maps, illusions, works of our mind."

With these thoughts, Fa Shu Shi went to the village.

During the walk down the hill from the secluded monastery, Fa Shu Shi decided to start playing with people. So, he started challenging the view on reality of every person around him. Fa Shu Shi would argue nonchalantly until the interlocutor descended into expressing open antagonism toward him. With every day, he sharpened his skill, changing the act from the battle of arguments into an elaborate mind play, which always left his victim in a state of mental turmoil. All of this had, as the monk thought, a cause - liberation of people's mind from the illusion, be it a Buddhist one, Hinduist one, Tantrist one, Atheist one and so on.

One day, Master Ao Teh Rai called the monk.

The monk found the master in the village enjoying a meal with simple peasants, and felt a little shocked by this. When Fa Shu Shi's and the Master's their eyes met, the young monk understood why he was called.

"What you're doing is wrong," Master Ao Te Rai said simply, without any additional notes.

This triggered something in Fa Shu Shi, because he started arguing with the old master, proving that right and wrong are relative concepts.

When the monologue ended, Master Ao Te Rai said:

"Maybe you should stop your monastic life. We work there, and don't spend time polishing our tongues."

"But I must tell the Truth. This is the work of the Boddhisattva," The monk defended his stance.

"There's no Truth born from the work of the mind. The real wisdom is in the heart. Have you forgot the lesson about the emptiness? The path that tells about the emptiness of other paths is also empty," Ao Te Rai said, then turned back and continues speaking with the family of peasants.

Fa Shu Shi walked back to the monastery in a state of meditation upon the words of the old sage. On the road there, he saw a spider moving slowly to the top of a blade of grass. From anger, brought by Ao Te Rai's scolding, the monk wanted to step on the spider, take the life away from the little creature and release the part of his anger.

When the shadow of his sandal fell on the spider, something changed inside Fa Shu Shi.

Fa Shu Shi's foot retreated; the spider continued it's walk to the tip; and the monk resumed his walk with a clear mind.

[Kai]

So, this monk had a good idea, so he decided that trolling people was the way to get that idea to them. But he didn't just troll people, he became the troll. But really it was the universe that ended up trolling him, because someone pointed out his sociological experiments and he was angry.

But then he realized how stupid it all was.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I like that synopsis as an addendum to the story.

[Cramulus]

I like that story! I particularly liked how the monk uses this elaborate rhetoric to prove that what he's doing is okay, and the master shuts him down. It's like the monk has mastered the teachings with his rational mind, he's learned the words of the teachings and how to wield them, but he hasn't actually discovered the inner peace and emptiness that should inform his actions.

The key phrase is here, I think:

This triggered something in Fa Shu Shi, because he started arguing with the old master, proving that right and wrong are relative concepts.

This "triggered something" - the Monk is just reacting, he's still in the attack/defense posture, he's responding like a robot.


What's a Mayko? What do the other names mean?

I wouldn't add a synopsis at the end.

[Cramulus]

related: http://www.skilluminati.com/research/entry/charles_tart_on_the_principles_of_aikido/

I certainly don't like to be attacked for any reason, even if it's only verbal. I can become afraid, angry, self-righteous, and lose contact with reality as I get absorbed in this pattern. It's not only unpleasant, there is a further frustration: my goal was to communicate useful knowledge. I might seem to "win" an argument, but if I'm angry and self-righteous, I probably have not communicated effectively to my audience, and certainly not to my "opponent".

Before I had studied Aikido, my reaction to an attack in a lecture question was to counterattack. I would expose logical flaws in my attacker's thinking, and/or show he was ignorant of the facts, and/or shower him with high-status scientific facts to demonstrate to him the error of his ways. I would usually "win" the argument, for I was an expert in the subject matter compared to almost all questioners, and a skilled debater. This also made me popular with most of the audience, who were typically "believers" in psychic and spiritual matters, for I had won a victory over the kind of person who attacked them, too. I fought force with greater force.

In retrospect, I doubt that I actually communicated much of anything useful to my "opponent."

[Slurrealist]

What's a Mayko? What do the other names mean?

Makyo is the name for the illusion that arise during the meditation state, like heavenly or hellish visions,  perceptual  distortions,  hearing voices,  feeling the flow of energy and so on. According to Zen Buddhism, they stop you from achieving the goal - the total "emptiness" beyond any classified  form of experience and semantic maps. Even states of emptiness can be considered as makyo, because they are also part of the emptiness/ non-emptiness duality, and nirvana goes beyond any possible limits.
Also, the wikipedia says that makyo is also "a figurative reference to the kind of self-delusion that results from clinging to an experience and making a conceptual "nest" out of it for oneself.""
Here's the article:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makyo
Furthermore, it's a name of ethno dub project based  in Japan and producing downtempo music with tinges of psychedelia.

Fa Shu Shi are the three principles of Chinese legalism.
Fa means "law and principle", and it means that everyone should obey the law of the ruler without any doubt.
Shu is the tactics that preserve the position of the ruler in the state.
Shi is the position of the ruler, in other words he's on top, therefore his power is legitimate.
Here it is explained better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(Chinese_philosophy)

Ao Te Rai is a play on Autechre, the name a British intelligent dance music duo, which showed that even in total sonic chaos of abrasive sounds melodies and rhythms can exist (Gantz Graf is one of the most cited examples of their style)

[Triple Zero]

Furthermore, it's a name of ethno dub project based  in Japan and producing downtempo music with tinges of psychedelia.

Thank you, noted, and will check it out Are they similar to anything I might know?

Ao Te Rai is a play on Autechre, the name a British intelligent dance music duo, which showed that even in total sonic chaos of abrasive sounds melodies and rhythms can exist (Gantz Graf is one of the most cited examples of their style)

Ooohh boy, you're going to love this thread:

ATTN: LMNO PEE: I IZ TOO STOOPID TO "GET" AUTECHRE

(try not to get too much blood on the walls if you feel like you must reply)

[Slurrealist]

Code Select Expand

Thank you, noted, and will check it out  Are they similar to anything I might know?
It's kinda like Banco de Gaia but more bassy and chilled. There also hints to the early Orb sound, around the Adventures To The Ultraworld era.

[Triple Zero]

Forgot what Banco de Gaia sounded like (it's on a disconnected HD that may or may not work when/if I get a machine that has an IDE connector, possibly). Haven't tried to find makyo yet, but I'll keep this tab open to remind me