--- James Haines <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Alex Bunard wrote:
> > There is no arrow and no poison, and no one to
> suck
> > the 'poison' out.
>
> You are obviously trying to be helpful here, but
> isn't it a rather
> dangerous strategy to use the "this problem doesn't
> really exist"
> argument on an Internet list without also
> acknowledging that looked at
> from another angle the problem is indeed there? We
> don't know much
> about the people who write in here and we know don't
> know anything at
> all about the people who just lurk. Tell one person
> who's feeling down
> "You have nothing to be depressed about" and they'll
> cheer up. Tell
> another the same thing and they'll jump off a
> bridge.
>
> Even though it is true that there is no arrow and no
> poison when
> things are looked at from one angle (according to
> Nagarjuna, who you
> have said you take as one of your teachers), we are
> warned (by him)
> not to get stuck looking from this angle only; it is
> also *always* the
> case (according to Nagarjuna) that there *is* an
> arrow and poison. We
> need to learn to balance these two views
> simultaneously.
You are referring to the teaching of Two Truths. This
teaching is extremely important, and I'm very glad you
brought it up.
Let me show you what I was doing, so that you can
understand the teaching method --
Earlier today, someone posted this observation:
> There is nothing within. No original cause. You
> can chase them forever,
> or just take out the arrow and suck out the
> poison.
Apparently, this person was close enough to seeing how
things truly are. All he needed was a slight nudge.
Since being aware that there is nothing within, no
original cause and so on, what was stopping him from
seeing that there isn't really an arrow there nor the
person mortally wounded and so on?
When teaching, the question (and the challenge) always
is -- if a student can obviously draw certain valid
conclusions for himself (like the person above who
managed to correctly see that there is nothing within
etc.), what's all of a sudden compelling that person
to stop where he/she abruptly stopped? Why not go all
the way?
Indeed, why not? Well, that's the very crux of the
Buddhist practice. We're all capable and grownup
persons here on this list, yet we all behave in a very
infantile manner. We all tend to push things up to a
certain point, and then magically stop. Nobody knows
why did they really stop. Why abstain from the pursuit
for no apparent reason? Some call it the
'programming'.
Be that as it may, I sometimes think it's worth the
trouble to nudge someone. So, I did nudge the 'no
original cause' practitioner. I erroneously thought
that, since he's already made progress to the point of
being able to see the lack of the concept of birth
(i.e. the birthlessness), it shouldn't be a big
stretch for him to see/realize that all the remaining
things are equally illusory.
Of course, experience teaches us that in 9,999,999 out
of 10,000,000 cases, the student freaks out upon
hearing about shunyata. Which is exactly what happened
here with this practitioner. Now, I've ended up on his
black list, I have deeply offended him, and he
despises me beyond words.
That, of course, is a regular occurrence in the
workaday Buddhist teaching practice -- people resent
you when you burst their bubble.
But, it's always worth a try, because once in every
ten million cases, genuine breakthrough occurs, and
then the student astonishes the heaven and shakes the
hundred worlds and makes them tremble!
As for the others (the innocent bystanders), don't
worry about them -- they haven't got even the
slightest clue what had just transpired here.
Alex
No karma was produced during the composition of this letter
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