Merle, How can you remove your thinking cap? Zazen - or chanting, bowing, koans, kinhin, samu, etc...
...Bill! --- In [email protected], Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > > > Â > Â right..and here i was thinking it was BILL!..and not BILL... thanks BILL!. > .my thinking cap is still firmly attached to my head Bill!. > .i think it might be part of my brain. > .so how can i remove it without major surgery?. > .merle > > Â > 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/
