Dear Rog and All Fellow Buddhas:
I thought these quotes on Zen might be fun. They are from "The Zen
Teaching of Huang Po - On the transmission of Mind", Translated by John
Blofeld. Huang Po (a.k.a. Obaku) is regarded as an important successor of
the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng. The Wordless Doctrine was further transmitted
from Huang Po to I Hsuan, the founder of the Lin Chi (Rinzai) - "sudden
enlightenment" - sect.
I am hoping to illustrate the position that Pirsig falls into the
subject/object trap himself. This happens when he states that there is no
"self", no "I" that does any perceiving at the moment of Dynamic Quality,
which he equates with undifferentiated aesthetic experience.
I think the problem arises from P's equation of "subjective" with "mind",
meaning thoughts and ideas - the intellect. I consider the unique though
patterned social and intellectual values which occur in a definite
spacetime/cultural context, and within a definite set of neural structures,
family, etc... to be "objective". By "objective" I mean they exist as
empirically demonstrable entities. Thoughts and relationships are as "seen"
in an analogously real way as things as motion, time, etx... Again, I am
taking the view that "YOU", that "I", Experience "your" thoughts and
actions, which occur in graded environments of Dynamic Quality events. You
experience these Dynamic Quality Events, and also experience the i,b,s,i
patterns which this undefinable, ineffable cutting edge of value leaves in
it's wake. The patterns are discerned through the Vision/Recognition of the
past in relation to the present, and the present in Possible/Preferential
relation to the future.
Hence, for me, "radical empiricism" means that we perceive/experience/are
conscious of all four levels of value. It is, however, Dyamic Quality which
causes the things and thoughts to arise. Or is it...?
The track of value brings me the point(s)...
Concerning enlightenment:
"I am the Absolute, except that I am no longer "I". What I behold then is my
real Self, which is the true nature of all things; see-er and seen are one
and the same,. yet there is no seeing, just as the eye cannot behold
itself." (17)
"If All is One, then knowledge of a being's true self-nature - his original
Self - is equally a knowledge of all-nature, the nature of everything in the
universe." (17)
"Zen followers hold that the Absolute, or union with the Absolute, is not
something to be attained; one does not ENTER Nirvan, for entrance to a place
one has never left is impossible. The experience commonly called 'entering
Nirvana' is, in fact, an intuitive realization of that Self-nature which is
the true Nature of all things." (16)
"Thus 'hsin' may mean 'Mind' or 'thought', of which the last is, according
to Huang Po, a major obstacle in the way of our understanding the first."
(25)
"All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind,
beside which nothing exists." (29)
"Thus, those who seek the goal through cognition are like the many, while
those who obtain intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the few." (32)
"Suppose a warrior, forgetting that he was already wearing his pearl on his
forehead, were to seek for it elsewhere, he could travel the whole world
without finding it. But if someone who knew what was wrong were to point it
out to him, the warrior would immediately realize that the pearl had been
there all the time." (37)
"Therefore the Buddha said: 'I have truly obtained nothing from
enlightenment." (45)
"Sages, who have abandoned learning, have come to rest in spontaneity." (DQ)
(56)
Cosmology:
"A Buddha has three bodies. By the Dharmakaya is meant the Dharma of the
omnipresent voidness of the real self-existent Nature of everythin. By the
Sambhogakaya is meant the Dharma of the udnerlying universal purity of
things. By the Nirmanakaya is meant the Dharmas of the six practices leading
to Nirvana and all other such devices." (50)
Q: "If I could reach this Dharma, would it be like the void?"
A: "Morning and night I have explained to you that the Void is both One and
Manifold. I said this as a temporary expedient, but you are building up
concepts from it." (53)
"You must get away from the doctrines of existence and non-existence, for
Mind is like the sun, forever in the void, shining spontaneously,
(Dynamically), shining without intending to shine." (62)
Quality:
"The Elder Wei Ming climbed to the summit of the Ta Yu Mountain to visit the
Sixth Patriarch. The latter asked him why he had come. Was it for the robe
or for the Dharma? The Elder Wei Ming answered that he had not come for the
robe, but only for the Dharma; whereupon the Sixth Patriarch said: 'Perhaps
you will concentrate your thoughts for a moment and avoid thinking in terms
of good and evil....While you are not thinking of good and not thinking of
evil, just at this very moment, return to what you were before your father
and mother were born." (65)
Q: "What is the Buddha?" (re: Quality)
A: "Mind is the Buddha, while the cessation of conceptual thought is the
Way...The Sambhagakaya is not a real Buddha, nor a real teacher of the
Dharma. Only come to know the nature of your own Mind, in which there is no
self and no other, and you will in fact be a Buddha!" (68)
Substance:
"The very nature of the Great Way is voidness of opposition. Bodhidharma
firmly believed in being ONE WITH THE REAL 'SUBSTANCE' OF THE UNIVERSE IN
THIS LIFE!...The moment of realizing this unity of Mind and the 'substance'
which constitutes reality may truly be said to baffle description!" (70)
IT (by Hui-Neng):
"There's never been a single thing;
Then where's defiling dust to cling?
If you can reach the heart of this,
Why talk of transcendental bliss?" (78)
My point about SOM and Pirsig:
Q: "At this moment, while erroneous thoughts are arising in my mind, where
is the Buddha?"
A: "At this moment, you are conscious of those erroneous thoughts. Well, you
consciousness is the Buddha!" (80)
Consciousness = Buddha
Experience = Quality
Quality = Buddha
Caring = Enlightenment
Take Care, and Share the Light!
rich
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