As my Spiritual Adviser has required (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,31488.90/msg,1142136.html), i read through some Zen Koans from a specific collection (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.html), and have written up my thoughts on the matter.
2. Finding a Diamond on a Muddy Road (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/2findingadiamond.html)
Wait. This is a Koan? I'm not confused at all! I want my money back.
So, this fellow was a drunkard and wife beater. Gudo says he can help the guy, and does nothing but allow his presence to shame him, and the guy decides to follow Gudo forever. (forsaking his family, presumably) We are then told that Modern Zen is derived from this guy's work. Well, that's just as bad as that damned Indian prince that tried to convince everyone to commit spiritual suicide, abandoning his own family in the process!
Conclusion: crap story. Not a Koan.
3. Is That So? (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/3isthatso.html)
The lesson at first appears to be that by accepting the guilt of despoiling the young girl that was not his to bear, Hakuin spared her and the actual father, for the time being, from facing the mess that they had created, and he thereby acted rightly. However, upon reflection, the lesson would seem to be an indictment of the girl's parents for accepting her testimony without question showing that things are not always what they seem. Of course, this is a clichéd aphorism that I first remember hearing from an episode of He-Man, so I suspect that I am missing something from this revered text.
5. If You Love, Love Openly (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/5ifyoulove.html)
An admonition of secret love? The abandon that Eshun required doesn't seem prudent. Perhaps the lesson is that Love should not
be prudent...
7. Announcement (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/7announcement.html)
I got nothing. However, I now see that these 'koans' are not 13th century texts. Fraud! Deceit! Enlightenment!
23. Eshun's Departure (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/23eshunsdeparture.html)
She's pretty cold for being on fire... I mean, she spent her final breath to call one of her followers stupid? what am i to learn of this, apart from 'keep your mouth shut when someone is immolating themselves, lest something stupid fall out'?
40. In Dreamland (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/40indreamland.html)
I like this one. It shows the beauty of an obvious lie that shines a spotlight on an obvious truth. A medal to the clever disciple!
19. The First Principle (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/19thefirstprinciple.html)
The First Principle being without cause, without context, immediate, and with no supervision or approval. I like the way the notion of First Principle is brought into the midst of cause, context, and timeliness, indicating what is necessary for the impulse of action.
56. The True Path (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/56thetruepath.html)
QuoteJust before Ninakawa passed away the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. "Shall I lead you on?" Ikkyu asked.
Ninakawa replied: "I came here alone and I go alone. What help could you be to me?"
Ikkyu answered: "If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and no going."
With his words, Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smilled and passed away.
There is iron in this one. It brings to mind the notion that I have used to assuage the tension I felt when I abandoned my faith regarding what happens 'after death'. Upon reflecting on 'the coming' before we are born, and the lack of anxiety at that end of our existence, why should there be anxiety regarding 'the going'? From a detached, big picture perspective, why should temporal limitation in the weave of the cosmos be upsetting whereas spatial limitation is not? Or, perhaps more closely related, scale of mind?
The obvious answer is that we are wired to be anxious of our life ending, so as to increase the probability of our reproduction. Or more accurately, if we were not wired that way, we wouldn't be here.
Recognizing this fact, and accepting it, can we not detach ourselves from this anxiety on the more existential level? Recognizing that we
will die, can we not act to delay the event without consternation that we cannot ultimately avoid it?
From the largest perspective, the cosmos is not the momentary slice of time that we are experiencing
right now, with the past no longer existing, and the future more (or less) important. It is a unified whole. The segment of our life, in this context has no going, and no coming. Given this, there should be no reason to lament that the continuity of our experience is a segment, rather than a ray.
I don't know if this thought will comfort me in my final moment, allowing
me to 'smill and pass away'. I hope so, however. Because it's all that I've been able to get behind so far, and it comforts me enough that I no longer search for further comfort with any significant urgency.
uhhhh. hehe
i just googled Ashida Kim.
:lol:
He's also a dynamo in bed.
He wrote about it in his book The Amorous Adventures of Ashida Kim.
No shit.
I wonder if he could help me with this Mage's Guild quest that i'm stuck on....
ahyeah.....
forgot about that.
Quote from: Iptuous on January 31, 2012, 06:23:14 PM
5. If You Love, Love Openly (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/5ifyoulove.html)
An admonition of secret love? The abandon that Eshun required doesn't seem prudent. Perhaps the lesson is that Love should not be prudent...
Another way of telling this one is, "Don't let second thoughts about cholesterol hold you back. Eat the LIVING FUCK out of that hamburger."
Quote23. Eshun's Departure (http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/23eshunsdeparture.html)
She's pretty cold for being on fire... I mean, she spent her final breath to call one of her followers stupid? what am i to learn of this, apart from 'keep your mouth shut when someone is immolating themselves, lest something stupid fall out'?
Asking somebody who is on fire "Hot enough for ya?" is so obnoxious it should be in a discordian holy book somewhere.