Joe, I've always liked a little sage in my meatballs.
I've written my name 'Bill!' for over 30 years now. It wasn't to distinguish me from another 'Bill', it was to identify me as accurately as possible. It started when I was going to a seminar at the company I worked for and we were asked to write our first name on a folded piece of white cardboard and place it on the front of our desk so the presenter/instructor could call us by our names. There was a box of 5 felt-tipped pens with 5 different colors to do so. I was feeling VERY GOOD that morning so decided to write my name so that each letter was a different color. I had one color left over and since I was feeling SO GOOD I just added an exclamation point to communicate that. That's how I first started using the signature 'Bill!'. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Group, ...for All (for personal, non-commercial use) -- Joe > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Koan -- Night Fog in the Highlands -- > > INTRODUCTION > > The whole world is Medicine. The 10000 Things return to the One; the > One returns to the 10000 Things. Helmeted Sage meets helmeted Sage on > Monday Night Football: Who is the true Sage, and who is the Meatball? > > THE CASE > > A modern dealer of antiquities in the State of New Jersey once wondered if > only an awakened person realizes that the 10000 things are Oneself. So he > put the question to Bill! (a name so-adopted in order to distinguish himself > from someone else of the same name). > > Bill! replied that, for an awakened person, there IS no self, and that for > the awakened person, there is nothing that is not his (true) Self. > > The antiquities dealer was non-plussed by this, so he looked for the horns > of the moon thru dense clouds -- a model for the horns of his dilemma and > his fog -- seeing them not at all, he went to Bed. > > COMMENTARY > > The ancients, in confronting situations and encountering beings, brought to > light the Great Matter within the emptiness of the Universe. Those who > explain it say that white is the basis of all colors, yet they don't explain > that there is still something beyond white. I say that since it is called > "color", it relates to the eye, but the color that goes beyond white is only > the colorless, and does not relate to the eye. At this point, I would prod > the antiquities dealer, and ask, "What do you see?" We would then know if > he had gone beyond the Universe, or not, something which is, of course, as > meaningless as it is impossible. > Have you not seen Guo Xiang Tennen's verse: > > Stubbornness does not Compassion show; > Nor Self-Protectiveness quicken the Slow. > One-up-man-ship > Makes not a worthwhile Show. > > Generosity and consideration > Are a far more wholesome ration. > But Clarity, Honesty, and help, > Come not from a whelp. > > To raise a point and then depart > Is the misplaced throwing of a dart. > To live to lie another day, > is the cellulose Philosophy > ...of a bale of Hay. > > I say that, when the sun comes out the situation is embarrassing. > > One knocks it down, the other props it up again. Fortunately for a > cook-pot, a tripod has three legs. > > THE VERSE > > One knocks down, the other props up. Raising a point, departing. The > hidden moon, no arms in the night, fog in the Highlands, to bed, not > to wake. Danger!: If your mouth opens even a bit, water rushes in. > > TEISHO ON THE CASE > > Waking is not a sleeping matter. Artifice is the great expedient means. > The empty-fist binds attention, and holds promise for Children. Nature holds > no expedient means; expedient means reveal Nature. We sleep the dreamless > sleep only after we awake. Attention! > ------------------------------------ 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/
