The Great Way (eternal, faith, heaven, verse, Zen)

[Scarlett Wampus]

The three passages below, they might make for interesting comparison. Here's hoping that we all achieve non-attachment and complete absorbtion. Go go gadget mind reboot.

From the Hsin Hsin Ming: -

The Great Way is not difficult;
just avoid picking and choosing!

Only when you neither love nor hate
does it clearly reveal itself.

To see its truth
be neither for, nor against.

Conflicts of longing and loathing
are a disease of the mind.

Gain and loss, right and wrong
away with them once and for all!

...

The Perfect Way, like vast space
lacks nothing, has nothing in excess.

When the mind does not discriminate
all things are as they really are.

Entering the deep mystery of this suchness
releases us from all attachments.
Viewing all things in their oneness
we return to our original nature.

This state wherein all relations have ceased
is indescribable by analogy

The mind in full accord with the Way
drops off its selfish preoccupations.

Doubts clear up
true faith prevails.

All is empty, clear,
revealed effortlessly, naturally.

From Chuang Tzu: -

...Therefore, it is said, sorrow and joy are perversions of integrity; happiness and anger are transgressions of the Way; likes and dislikes are failings of the mind. Thus, when the mind is free from anxiety and joy, that is the ultimate of integrity. When it is unified and unchanging, that is the the ultimate of stillness. When there is nothing that disturbs it, that is the ultimate of emptiness. When it has no dealings with other things, that is the ultimate of mildness. When there is nothing that runs counter to it, that is the ultimate of purity.

From Lao Tzu: -

The Tao that can be talked about is not the true Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name.

Everything in the universe comes out of Nothing.

Nothing - the nameless

is the beginning;

While Heaven, the mother

is the creatrix of all things.

Follow the nothingness of the Tao,
and you can be like it, not needing anything,
seeing the wonder and the root of everything.

[munchkin]

scarlett thank you

beccaxx

[Master Vigil]

You know, I've tried like 50 times to write a book. But everytime I do I realize that it's already been said... Many times.

[ChrisP]

Thanks S_W. I'm sad you're leaving. The readings and writings you've turned us towards are all remarkable.

[Scarlett Wampus]

ChrisP I may come back. This place and the diverse range of people in it are remarkable.

I'm making some major adjustments to my lifestyle, things that I've been playing with but have been reluctant to commit to. Years ago I had a glimpse of what Zen was about, and everything that has followed has felt like slow death. I need to withdraw, gestate and burst out of the cocoon!

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by Scarlett Wampus

ChrisP I may come back. This place and the diverse range of people in it are remarkable.

I'm making some major adjustments to my lifestyle, things that I've been playing with but have been reluctant to commit to. Years ago I had a glimpse of what Zen was about, and everything that has followed has felt like slow death. I need to withdraw, gestate and burst out of the cocoon!

Sp,



may you find what is in you

sad thought it wil be to loose you here for a while,

love becca

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by munchkin

Sp,



may you find what is in you

sad thought it wil be to loose you here for a while,

love becca

Sentiments I echo. Stay well and keep to the centre

[Scarlett Wampus]

So kind! *melts*

Incidentally I was just googling around a minute ago when I found a short but excellent personal account of the Great Way. Taoism/Zen can seem nihilistic because it can't be grasped through thinking and this leads to a lot of confusion when people try to understand writings like the Hsin Hsin Ming from a philosophical perspective. For instance, a few months ago my father got wound up when he asked what the point of Zen was and I said, "the point is there is no point". He thought I was being nihilistic and I found it impossible to explain to him why he needn't worry about me. This does a better job than I did: -

When you can actually do it, I think all meaning, other than the meaning of being with opposing thoughts simultaneously, disappears. I further think pain depends on meaning for its existence. And I think that aliveness exists where meaning and pain do not, and to perceive them all at once does not hurt.
...
The old 70s New Age guru Werner Erhardt also nailed it, in my opinion, with his mantra, "the point is there is no point." When I suddenly got this symbol, it was the last time I felt psychic pain, which probably makes me some kind on New Age nut (in a nutshell). I have all the compassion in the world, and empathy, but absolutely no pain; and before I got the big one, I was almost suicidal on a daily basis, I was in so much pain. Once you get it, you can have screwed your life up for 70 years, and it doesn't matter a bit, because you are alive today.

This is what I need to go back to and live from, to accept Chuang Tzu's invitation; "Let's go wandering in the Never-never Palace where we'll join in mutual discussion that will be endless. Let's participate in non-action - how placid and quiet we'd be! how still and pure! how in tune and at ease! How vacuous our wills would be! We'd go without knowing where we'd reach; we'd come without knowing where we'd stop. Then after we had gone and come, we wouldn't know where we'd end up. We'll go roaming in vacancy. Great knowledge would enter in without our knowing when it would be exhausted."

[Master Vigil]

I so long to move into the woods and just live in a tent and with The Great Way. But alas, I have a girlfriend and 4 cats that won't let me do it! But if there is anything I have figured out, it is that the great way is constantly changing, and for some... a cubicle in a dead building can be just as close to the great way as a stream can. I wish you much luck in your journey, may peace and joy fill your every being. And I hope to hear from you again.