Bill, There is no intrinsic 'purpose' of the middle tree, the other trees or anything else. There is no 'purpose' except what you assign to it. You, your discriminating mind, creates the illusion of purpose.
Just as your discriminating mind creates the illusion of a fluttering flag. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], William Rintala <brintala@...> wrote: > > You all have a lot of words for a group of zen practitioners.  How many > different ways can we all say the same thing about this moment? From the > volume > of posts it would seem that the sole concern of Zen is defining time. > > Here's another avenue of approach to just this. > >  Recently I read a story that contained this fragment (paraphrased) - > "My > introduction to Zen was when a Marine Corps Captain pointed to a group of 3 > trees standing side by side on a hill. The Captain looked at me and asked > 'what > is the purpose of the middle tree?'". > > > Personally I am weary of this discussion of defining the Now. You are a > clever > bunch. Delete, delete, delete....... > B > > > > > Find what makes your heart singâ¦and do it! > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
