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I listened to a part of an interview with Wendy Egyoku Nakao yesterday and, given the Swiss cheese nature of my mind, I probably am remembering it badly -- and am too damned lazy to go back and listen all over again -- but one of the things that struck me was her comments on the shadow nature of things. She was talking about the Buddhist precepts, but I imagine the same shadows touch anything we'd care to address.
What I recall (perhaps badly) her saying about the precepts was that there were three simultaneous aspects to them. 1. There was the literal interpretation -- whose shadow world was a kind of authoritarian rigidity. 2. There was an interpretation that flowed out of immediate circumstances (sometimes it may be correct to lie or cheat or steal) and its shadow was a kind of everything-I-do-is-OK slovenliness. 3. There was an absolute truth interpretation that really cannot be approached intellectually since it flows from an actual seeing into the nature of things. The shadows here are, once again, the conviction that I live in some perfected world in which I can afford to ignore the other two approaches and ... well, I am god -- eat my dust.
It was the simultaneous nature of these aspects that interested me. Wendy described them much better than I am here, but nevertheless, I think she hit an important nail on the head. The simultaneity of what happens means that any discussion, by its very nature, leaves things out. The authoritarians leave out the limitless freedoms. The limitless freedom leaves out the fine print. The particular circumstances leave out the uncompromised freedoms.
Emotion and intellect aren't very happy with the shadows, but emotion and intellect rely on the past while in the present, there is nothing but light. There's no talking yourself into or out of it -- that's just moralizing nonsense. But there is the simultaneity.
Shadows and light. We ignore either at our peril, just as when we embrace and elevate them.
Something to keep an eye on, I'd say.
With apologies to Wendy Egyoku Nakao....
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So everything has it's shadow or opposite, eh? Duh! I guess you're entitled to find that clever.
ReplyDeleteI am more interested in some of the subtext of your article. If a well written article would have had the facts and details more certain and clearer, and if this article relies on your "Swiss Cheese Memory" and vague recollection of some recorded speech, this musing is just a shadow and we really have no idea what really makes sense here do we?
By your shadow reasoning, laziness is the obvious shadow or the paramita Viriya: energy, diligence, vigor, and effort.
A few years ago I met a yogi who explained his view of how to cultivate a desired habit or virtue: Each time you find yourself wanting to do the undesirable or "wrong" thing, visualize doing the desirable or "correct thing."
The old timers may not have been particularly sophisticated but they did what they could to try to dealing with common problems.
Ah well, as the Diamond Sutra concludes:
"All composite things (samskrita)
Are like a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, and a shadow,
Are like a dew-drop and a flash of lightening;
They are thus to be regarded."
BTW -- You should consider directly dealing with your memory loss if it is in fact failing and isn't a symptom of your "laziness."
For memory failure due to "age" see places like http://www.lumosity.com/
For memory failure due to lack to training see places like
http://www.memorytrainingtechniques.com/
Upon a quick glance, this site seems to follow in the foot steps of the ancient Greeks in their teaching of Mnemonics.
Good luck.
Mr. Hazy Luna -- Perhaps if you listen to the link that is provided in the OP, you could offer something more than a critique of what was an admittedly imprecise recollection.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to hear it.
Load of rubbish. In an earlier post of yours you mentioned about things being free yet paying for them. And i am telling you, the very reason why i reply you is because i should be billing you too for me reading your daily nonsense. God dang!
ReplyDeleteWell, I seem to disagree with both the negative comments. I understand what genkaku was saying, that words and descriptions of "happenings" are not the "happenings". The words and descriptions have are just a shadow of what IS. So the negative comments have come from hardcore literals. Even one of them quotes...
ReplyDelete"Ah well, as the Diamond Sutra concludes:
"All composite things (samskrita)
Are like a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, and a shadow,
Are like a dew-drop and a flash of lightening;
They are thus to be regarded.""
Can't be much clearer than that. So you argue that his post misses the mark and yet quote exactly what he is saying. Weird!
Reminds me of e-sangha. Fundamentalists defending their "correct" view by attacking all other views. If we fear being wrong, imagine how fearful nothingness will be.
ReplyDelete