Zen happens now

[YouCantHandletheTruth]

Put your attention on the present moment.

[Tiff]

[snowblind]

Whos truth are you speaking of?

[Wei Shan Yang]

Here's a very Zen quote...



"This sentence is true.

The previous sentence is false."



Is the only truth that there is no absolute truth? Or is that also untrue?

[Nagual LoneWolf]

Truth is knowing energy. Energy is truth.

[Wei Shan Yang]

Yes, I agree...but its just that it changes, its not fixed.

[Nagual LoneWolf]

And changes are not what you bargain for?

[Wei Shan Yang]

Changes are good, truth is good, but truth changes, so truth is hard to define. But that's good too. It just means the journey always continues. Never can we rest forever upon a truth. We may keep a truth for a long while, but the time will come when its no longer true...either we will realize this ourselves, or we will be made to accept it as such (by external factors).



So truth is like sitting on a rock in a stream for a while to rest. Is the stream eternal? Are the rocks eternally waiting our arrival? perhaps...because we can never know.

[snowblind]

It can be so uncomfortable to understand that truth is like the stream; mutable yet present.

[Wei Shan Yang]

Yes, and I like how you phrased that.



Getting used to that discomfort is a skill (attention) worth mastering. All these applications in both Buddhism (the hard core kind) and Toltec are aimed at this. Other paths as well of course. I remember DJ said to Carlos in TASOI that all his efforts were aimed at the subject of the foreign installation, that it seemed he was teaching Carlos sorcery when in fact he was getting to this topic, the topic of topics he called it...the idea that we imprison ourselves (in mind) with how we perceive (it was done to us and we perpetuate it) and that we can overcome these fixed reference points that hold us captive to repetitive views.



The tricky part is there are so many traps along the way...so many rocks we want to stay resting on.



But no matter what, we learn to learn. The benefits of flexibility far outweigh the experience of safety (fixed views). Because flexibility becomes a new kind of safety, we are safe (inaccessible) because we are adaptable to any oncoming force (energetic influence) that would control us otherwise. Which is just a fancy way of saying we don't get hurt or excited into any kind of state of perceiving due to circumstances, so the flyer doesn't control us or in Buddhist terms we have no desires or attachments that cause us suffering ...why am I suddenly reminded of vacuuming?

[snowblind]

I dont know re:vaccuuming...however, I have found that true power lies with being unattached to any truth.

[Wei Shan Yang]

Yes, that's very powerful, I agree. With this perspective there is no limit to possibilities.



But its equally powerful to align with a truth and follow its course. Maybe now I will change the analogy and say truths are like wood floating down a stream (instead of rocks) and we can hop on them until we find a better one.



Ah, but what happens when the stream meets the ocean? And the ocean meets the shore, and the coastal regions meet the mountain ranges? We must find a way to navigate terrain, and also not be so attached to that "way" as to wrongly apply it to new territory. Such as, the wood that got us down the river will not get us up the mountain.



Wow, using my Chinese name really makes me write like an Asian Wiseass.

[Wiseass]

Wei Shan Yang wrote:


Wow, using my Chinese name really makes me write like an Asian Wiseass.


(grins). No need to be an ass to be wise. Some of us can't help it though.

[Wei Shan Yang]

Without asses, how else would the "perfect" people define themselves by comparison?

[Wiseass]

Wei Shan Yang wrote:Without asses, how else would the "perfect" people define themselves by comparison? Ain't that a question. As far as I know, if you regard yourself as perfect you are on your way to be butchered, for ideal men and women only exists in social contexts and society can't have perfect people; they would make everyone fully aware of their inadequacies.

[Wei Shan Yang]

"if you regard yourself as perfect"



nope, not me : )



In fact, I have never met a perfect person, nor would I want to. I like people the way they are, imperfections and all. Always there is something to learn.

[Wiseass]

Wei Shan Yang wrote:"if you regard yourself as perfect"



nope, not me : )



In fact, I have never met a perfect person, nor would I want to. I like people the way they are, imperfections and all. Always there is something to learn.Never accused you of perfection. You do *seem* a fine individual.

[Wei Shan Yang]

In a paradoxical way though, our every action is the perfect one. No matter how wise or foolish it be.

[Wei Shan Yang]

"Never accused you of perfection. You do *seem* a fine individual."



Yes, I know you didn't : ) If anyone did though they would surely be mistaken...but I don't think to date anyone has, lol. Only people like movie stars and political figures...and some "gurus" are mistaken for being perfect.
"Perfect" can be a temporary state of identification though. Such as when one ridicules another, they often times are standing in a position of seeing themselves as infallible and the one they ridicule as fallible. These are often called bullies. Looking at our modern culture, just on TV and listening to how people talk, many fall into this trap. But its never that anyone is perfect, just a perception of which is only temporary until they are dragged off that high pedestal. I think everyone has done this. Even the ones who notice it in others, in fact, to notice it in others but not simultaneously in oneself is to be in the act of doing it. Its just a temporary identification though.
"you're perfect yes its true, but without me you are only you."-Faith No More, Midlife Crisis

[Guest]