Hello and a Happy New Year! I read this quote a few years ago and it struck me like a thunderbolt:
"When Buddhist teachings are practiced authentically, there's no choice but to deconstruct the inherited psychic structures." Mu Soeng - Buddhist Scholar (I think he teaches at Princeton or Harvard? I could be wrong)(I haven't googled him) also - I have a zen book that says: "...first, it is necessary tht your direction becomes clear - if your direction is clear, then your life is clear." "...Moment to moment, you must perceive your correct situation, correct relationship, and correct function." It says, "...most people understand too much. This understanding cannont help your life" "...your mind has to be clear like space." deconstructing the inherited constructs (created in my psyche from family, society, environment, my own ego, etc.) is (to me) important work [this is my own understanding of what Mu Soeng was getting at in the context of the article I read] AND it involves intellectual unraveling up to a point AND meditation (not on concepts - but traditional meditative practice where you breathe, focus on a singular spot and try to press your chattering mind into the silence of that spot). You have to have self-knowledge to become clear - but over-intellectualization creates muddy water. I think the moment of realizing when we are over-intellectualizing is very, very personal. Sometimes I end up making a gray muddled mess before I see the mess and realize how to let it go so the water will clear. Sometimes I have to create 100 bad images before I can create the one that satisfies 'correct situation, correct relationship and correct function.' I hope for all to have a wonderful 2008 - I so enjoy reading these posts. Thank you all! Margaret > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Dwaipayan Lahiri > Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 5:12 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [MD] Mind-body practice > > > > On Dec 31, 2007, at 11:34 AM, Heather Perella wrote: > > > Yes, so 'just sit'. As I said, it depends on > > what your looking for. I can take a walk in the woods > > or sit by a fire after gathering the wood, and > > experience peace. I do need to continue walking in > > the woods and sit by fires and these are practices. > > Some people paint. I don't want to get into a debate > > as to who practices best and why. I'm saying ordinary > > life is in touch with reality just as any Chi exercise > > is. Who's practice is better would be a silly debate > > and I don't find value in that. If you could tell me > > the value of such a debate and something worthwhile > > would come out of it, then you could try to convince > > me otherwise. > > I know we might be referring to two separate phenomenon here > and this > is not about which/whose practice is better. > The biggest hurdle to "knowing" the Universe is in the skepticism > that is built into us from childhood via the social system. > We don't acknowledge Chi/Prana and our world exist's in the phantasm > of our intellect. We mistake this world of thought-up words and > conjured imagery as reality. > > > The Taoists, Vedantins all believe that this "reality" is not the > ultimate reality and further propose this alternate structured > framework to access the larger reality that exists. > > While I whole-heartedly agree with you about the fact that ordinary > life is just as much in touch with this greater reality as is > doing a > Chi exercise, our sensory and intellectual apparatuses aren't > usually > prepared to access this reality. That's where these > "exercises" come > into picture. The Native Americans are equipped to access this > portion of reality due to their social conditioning. A non-native > mind is not, again due to social conditioning. Please refer to this > article for more details on this matter -- > > http://medhajournal.com/content/view/70/80/ > > Also refer to the concept of Biocultures and how our > knowing/learning > is affected by what part of the brain is developed as a > result of our > bio-cultural environment (social conditioning) -- http:// > biocultural.org/biocultures.html > > > If you remember, this discussion was triggered by my initial > query to > the group about their personal practices vis-a-vis MoQ (or whatever > else one might choose to refer to it as). And what I intended to > find out from that query is whether this "Greater Reality" can be > known by merely intellectual means or does it take a combination of > energy-work, meditation and intellectual analysis. > > In response to the "just sit and know" statement, I had to bring > forth to our attention that the Buddha didn't happen to stumble upon > this "just sit and know" -- there was a lot of preparation that went > into taking him there, which involved "Not sitting". > > I hope we can discuss much further when the purva paksha is clearly > articulated. > > Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous 2008. > > Regards, > > Dwai > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1204 - Release > Date: 12/31/2007 12:20 PM > > No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1204 - Release Date: 12/31/2007 12:20 PM Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
