Siska, Bill!,
I found that I could not "Reply" to Siska's message nor to Bill!'s message,
either.
I got the following error when I tried to reply to Bill!'s mssg. via the
Website:
>Cannot retrieve message 33654 for Zen_Forum<
and for Siska's mssg. I got the same error, referring to his mssg. no.:
>Cannot retrieve message 33653 for Zen_Forum<
I *HAVE* had this difficulty before, at times, when trying to reply to messages
at the Website. It's puzzling!
Siska, I'd say that "Mu" can be a practice. It's usually given as the full
koan case, Case 1 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate); or, just as a hua-t'ou, just
the "Mu" itself.
A Chinese teacher would give "Wu".
Sometimes Vipassana teachers will recommend the practice of mindfulness. And
it is precisely that: a practice. It is an artifice which is meant to help a
practitioner to awaken.
When a practitioner awakens, there is no Mu, nor mindfulness. These artifices
are gone, and cannot be grasped, nor is there any reason even to pick them up.
Anyway, it's impossible. ;-)
When one awakens, or experiences kai-wu, or emptiness, no-mind, the awakening
may last for a while, perhaps a few months. Then, one may want to pick up Mu
again, or mindfulness again, as a practice.
This is as I see it, from the point of view of the Zen tradition and Zen
practice.
There may be other terminology used in Vipassana circles that I am not familiar
with. Or there may be an entirely different interpretation of "mindfulness" in
the Vipassana work. What do you think?
Bill!, I think it's a great cartoon, succinct, "graphic", and "drawing" a nice
distinction. I don't know where you get these things. Do you make them
yourself on the computer? Kudos!
--Joe
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