Tuesday, March 20, 2012

"this" and "it"

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I'm not much of a fan of verbal hi-jinx in Buddhism, but every now and then ....

I prefer the word "this" to "it" when it comes to referring to something like enlightenment or satori or kensho or peace or whatever moniker is chosen for the dream-come-true hopefulness.

"It" lies at a distance, between covers, up ahead, out there. "It" is safely tucked in the next room, glowing through the doorway, but not close enough to burn. "It" is poets writing about love yet never being consumed. "It" speaks of a past that is safely past. "It" may inform the present but the information can be indexed for some future use. "It" is not too scary or demanding.

"This" offers no escape. More intimate than an inhalation, "this" fills a stage that has no wings. "This" is not past ... "this" is the past and future and snickers at the description. "This" boils the blood with an intimacy that leaves you out of breath. "This" is alive and permits no death.

Yes, sometimes I think "this" is better than "it."

Not "what is it?" but more directly and inescapably, "what is this?"

Or, without the silly frills, "this."

So to speak.
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2 comments:

  1. Jump in directly after taking a moment's respite to read about Vimalakirti at wikipedia add there and then there was the commentary about silences of two types one by shairuptra who abandones speech too readily when questioned by the mahayanist goddess and the otehr by vimalakirti when questioned by mansjuri on the meaning of non-dueality.

    when i suckled at my mother's breast as a baby THIS was a period when all i knew was the inexpressible nature of what compassion and wisdom can be found ina simple terminology called (or labelled?) as "milk". and when i had my first encounter cuddling the flat and non-existent A-cup b00bs of a girl whom was willing to assist me in samanthabhadra-ish yab-yum esoteric practice (what a mouthful) again too the compassion and wisdom of "milk".. "IT" is once again inexpressible

    .. THIS is IT!

    I recall how my grandmother and mother will be worried sick about my altruistic and acetic practices -- they came from a period of have-nots and they did not develop a state and a family to an extent so that their grandson/son have to practise sleeping on a mat and eating veggies for breakfast, lunch and dinner and yet MILK! Talk about milk and recall the Hindus and Avalokitesvara-ians that do not consume beef because the cows gave them milk and ploughed their fields!

    So the Buddha taught to look at the allures and the drawbacks of sensuality and to meditate about impermenance and aging and the dilemma again has to be IT.. is IT the A cup b00bs of a girl younger 40 years than my mother better than THIS the old sagg-ish and fuzyy... MEMORY of the breasts I once suckled as a toddler

    The truth IS THIS -- *____________* -- i hope you heard the truth .. old man ;)

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    1. In 2004 when I broke up with my ex-girlfriend of 3 years I recall at e-sangha (which was when I first read of u) trying to counsell me (then ricebowl) together with a few forumers jcprice or whoelse.

      the thread i started about how i was longing for loving kindness and perhaps salvation ended up as an unpunctuated note as I had no clue why was the discussion ended up as a experience sharing of why it is backbreaking work and about the headache that arises after the effort

      .. now as i recall my first girlfriend and thik about what is in store in a samsaric existence with women on this planet..

      i feel like a dog when i am naked in front of a b*tch and there and then i realise that man and woman have hands and a vertebrae and not forgetting a pair of thighs so that she can sit on top and .. *silence beckons again* .. i told her to keep my undergarments on so that nothing would happen!

      and there and then the zen student learned about unhooking a lingerie .. liberative technique.. and bondage when it went back on without attaining any ultimate calm(?) or orgasmic nirvana because the law of the time said that please get her parental consent.

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