JM, Thank you for interesting posts as always. We need a different points of views to avoid dullness. Yours is always refreshing, and unfortunately also controversial. The reason that in Chinese literature there is only the word 'heart', when it should mean 'mind' is that there is no Chinese equivalent of the word mind. More than a thousand years ago, when Kumarajiwa was racking his brain to translate 'citta' (Sanskrit mind), he was so smart to understand the Chinese associated thinking with the heart. That is why you always hear 'xin', 'xin', and 'xin'. That does not mean the heart has a critical function of thinking. No doubt it is a very important organ. Besides the normal function of pumping blood, it plays a critical role in every kind of 'chi' manipulation, including the Tantric 'heart chakra'. Nevertheless, the organ closest to the thinking process is the brain, not the heart. If I have a heart transplant, needless to say, I will still be called Anthony. If, on the other hand, a brain transplant? Would it be more appropriate to adopt the name Frankenstein the Second? Anthony
--- On Sun, 3/10/10, Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明 <[email protected]> wrote: From: Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明 <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] Mind To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, 3 October, 2010, 8:17 AM Hi DP, Science will tell you, there are more neuron firing to the brain from the stomach then the other way around. Similarly there are more neuron from the sub conscience, from the heart, from other organs, from the entire body... In Chan, wisdom is not from the brain, but from the heart within. Whether you called it Buddhist mind, or mind, or Christian mind, everyone of us has gotten only one mind. And to confuse you some more, Chan does not use the word of "mind", but "heart". As you see, words are very confusing. Therefore we often say... "Chan is not to be understood, studied or mastered. Chan is to be practiced and experienced. And there is only one way to enter the experience -- to meditate." Not 10 minutes, but at least 45 minutes to an hour everyday. There is nothing needs to be understood. There is a saying in the Zen community - sit down, shut up and stop thinking. Then the gate opens up. Bon Voyage, :-) -- Be Enlightened In This Life - We ALL Can http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com http://www.heartchan.org
