this blog is the continuation of a genuine mystical tradition, unless you get in daily contemplative time and abstain to a significant degree from "entertainment" then you are just wasting your time and mine !
I have two questions Andrew, 1) why do you think Dogen was so fixated on the specific lotus sitting posture? sometimes he says stuff like "Zen is just zazen, 'zen' is just a shorter term" - and claims the sitting posture is the whole of Zen... and then in another place he says, "how could Zen be limited to sitting or standing"? - don't you find this strange discrepancy in his writing? sometimes it's brilliant, visionary, other times it seems just insistence on rigid monastic forms and rituals?
2) did you ever read this: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Space-Knowledge-Reality-Psychology/dp/0913546089 ? I don't have the book but seems interesting and its idea that spirituality is a "a visionary path" reminded me of your work!
i have only understood this very recently, but contemplative or meditative work is basically the endless turnover of the prosaic and rather nutty content of ruminations on our lives
however occasionally this breaks and something vastly greater comes through
i think dogen was fixated on zazen providing this sort of ruminative base and not everybody has the luxury of living like a hermit as i do !
from hermitage and solitary experience you have a better sense of the broadness of this rumination when its undisguised . .
you can pick this is the difference between roykan and dogen both poetic writers
reading the tsurezuregusa which written ninety years after dogen's death gives a sense of the cultural milieu he was in which was superstition and religion crazy, he had to fit that context . . .
i don't do zazen, but i live by myself and basically do this sort of rumination all day, anything that comes through the "breaks" i write up . .
I was thinking about Andrew's term "cognitive style" the other day. It's an interesting one. Perhaps it's what most defines the character of a person? My cognitive style is a mess! But somehow it is so weird that it was able to make me successful with the other gender and recently also financially... I was (un?)lucky enough that the weirdness of my cognitive style somehow resulted in social success. But that social success prevents me from ever getting what Zen is about. Maybe some day something will break me and I'll go hermit, only chance, otherwise I'm condemned to normalcy.
It's hard to escape normalcy though, cause it's pretty good! Why would someone even want to escape it?
I know so very little about art http://i.imgur.com/UNKhV2Z.jpg
ReplyDeletehey that's one crazy painting if you know a bit of the history behind it ! good choice !
DeleteCalumny Apelles
https://alexanderstorey.wordpress.com/category/arts-and-humanities/page/27/
The story is fascinating! Thank you
Deletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=madge+gill&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiK66LD28nTAhXJ4yYKHZGxDlIQ_AUICigB&biw=1021&bih=431
ReplyDeleteI have two questions Andrew, 1) why do you think Dogen was so fixated on the specific lotus sitting posture? sometimes he says stuff like "Zen is just zazen, 'zen' is just a shorter term" - and claims the sitting posture is the whole of Zen... and then in another place he says, "how could Zen be limited to sitting or standing"? - don't you find this strange discrepancy in his writing? sometimes it's brilliant, visionary, other times it seems just insistence on rigid monastic forms and rituals?
ReplyDelete2) did you ever read this: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Space-Knowledge-Reality-Psychology/dp/0913546089 ? I don't have the book but seems interesting and its idea that spirituality is a "a visionary path" reminded me of your work!
i have only understood this very recently, but contemplative or meditative work is basically the endless turnover of the prosaic and rather nutty content of ruminations on our lives
ReplyDeletehowever occasionally this breaks and something vastly greater comes through
i think dogen was fixated on zazen providing this sort of ruminative base and not everybody has the luxury of living like a hermit as i do !
from hermitage and solitary experience you have a better sense of the broadness of this rumination when its undisguised . .
you can pick this is the difference between roykan and dogen both poetic writers
reading the tsurezuregusa which written ninety years after dogen's death gives a sense of the cultural milieu he was in which was superstition and religion crazy, he had to fit that context . . .
i don't do zazen, but i live by myself and basically do this sort of rumination all day, anything that comes through the "breaks" i write up . .
that's a really good reply and shows genius
DeleteGreat &
DeleteVery useful reply
Thank you
Who is your favorite Ukiyo-e artist of flora, fauna, and landscapes? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteits generally a high quality genre
DeleteI will just stick to Hiroshige and Hokusai. I like Hiroshige's pictures of birds and flowers a lot.
DeleteBoth Hiroshige and Hokusai drew a lot of landscapes and other natural beauties.
DeleteI was thinking about Andrew's term "cognitive style" the other day.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting one.
Perhaps it's what most defines the character of a person?
My cognitive style is a mess!
But somehow it is so weird that it was able to make me successful with the other gender and recently also financially...
I was (un?)lucky enough that the weirdness of my cognitive style somehow resulted in social success.
But that social success prevents me from ever getting what Zen is about.
Maybe some day something will break me and I'll go hermit, only chance, otherwise I'm condemned to normalcy.
It's hard to escape normalcy though, cause it's pretty good!
Why would someone even want to escape it?
It makes no biological/evolutionary sense!
One question still lingers though:
Deletewhat am I doing HERE then ?
trying to ride two horses at once?
isn't that what 99% of the "Zen community" including /r/zen is about ? people trying (and failing miserably) at riding two horses at once?
the only thing that sets me apart, that makes me better than them, is my awareness of my failure to do so
*the awareness of my failure
Deleter|zen is a pseudo pyrrhonism vs "belief"
Deletebe careful to keep up with the financial side of things since that is going better !
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ReplyDeleteThere's no need to push people to it :) --- sooner or later the superior technology will prevail without the need of propaganda
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DeleteAndrew what is your take on intermittent fasting, or fasting in general?
ReplyDeleteThere's lots of science supporting the health benefits of the practice!
if i have migraine i will skip several meals, you wanting to lose weight ?
DeleteYes, I want to lose weight.
Deletewell i have heaps of wallaby thyroids at the moment i am eating !
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete(deleted as the reddit thread I referenced no longer exists)
Deletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MobR-C0657c/UukrlVv-1mI/AAAAAAAALDM/-6YTVAhTaKQ/s1600/William_Shakespeare_Burton___Wounded_Cavalier___1856_Wallpaper_JxHy.jpg
ReplyDeletehttp://threeman.org/?p=1272
Deletean3drew very informative, thank you!
DeleteIt's amazing how much is "compressed" in a single painting
Layers upon layers upon layers!
Interestingly the painter is only known for that one painting... that is all he is remembered for.
DeleteI actually think Zarathustra may have not existed either and was a composite of individuals around Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC).
ReplyDelete