Mike, My God! If I had written this everyone (including YOU) would be pounding me for being too rational! :-)
Edgar On May 18, 2013, at 12:25 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Merle, > > I copied this for you. It's regarding things having "essence": > > What is emptiness then? To understand the philosophical meaning of this term, > let's look at a simple solid object, such as a cup. How is a cup empty? We > usually say that a cup is empty if it does not contain any liquid or solid. > This is the ordinary meaning of emptiness. But, is the cup really empty? A > cup empty of liquids or solids is still full of air. To be precise, we must > therefore state what the cup is empty of. Can a cup be empty of all > substance? A cup in a vacuum does not contain any air, but it still contains > space, light, radiation, as well as its own substance. Hence, from a physical > point of view, the cup is always full of something. Yet, from the Buddhist > point of view, the cup is always empty. The Buddhist understanding of > emptiness is different from the physical meaning. The cup being empty means > that it is devoid of inherent existence. > > What is meant with non-inherent existence? Is this to say that the cup does > not ultimately exist? - Not quite. - The cup exists, but like everything in > this world, its existence depends on other phenomena. There is nothing in a > cup that is inherent to that specific cup or to cups in general. Properties > such as being hollow, spherical, cylindrical, or leak-proof are not intrinsic > to cups. Other objects which are not cups have similar properties, as for > example vases and glasses. The cup's properties and components are neither > cups themselves nor do they imply cupness on their own. The material is not > the cup. The shape is not the cup. The function is not the cup. Only all > these aspects together make up the cup. Hence, we can say that for an object > to be a cup we require a collection of specific conditions to exist. It > depends on the combination of function, use, shape, base material, and the > cup's other aspects. Only if all these conditions exist simultaneously does > the mind impute cupness to the object. If one condition ceases to exist, for > instance, if the cup's shape is altered by breaking it, the cup forfeits some > or all of its cupness, because the object's function, its shape, as well as > the imputation of cupness through perception is disrupted. The cup's > existence thus depends on external circumstances. Its physical essence > remains elusive. > > Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad > > From: Merle Lester <[email protected]>; > To: [email protected] <[email protected]>; > Subject: [Zen] the strawberry myth > Sent: Sat, May 18, 2013 3:46:59 AM > > > > group.... > the thing about a strawberry .. > a quality strawberry..it is suppose to be sweet... > that is what we expect from a strawberry... > the very essence of it is it's sweetness.. > a sour one well apart from the fact it puts us off eating it and it is a > product that will not sell well in the markets... > get real.. > would you want to eat sour strawberries for desert?.. > for christ sake.. > sour strawberries will put you off eating them for life... > > it's not all about judgement > > it's about accepting the reality that the sour strawberry does not contain > the essence of what it is to be a strawberry.. > > that's not rocket science.. > and requires no more that a nod and a shake of the head then spit it out.. > end of story.. > let's not read into this strawberry caper.. > create a myth and make it something to be set in stone for ever more ... > > amen.. > merle > > Merle > www.wix.com/merlewiitpom/1 > >
