~ The Essence of Zen

[Bill Wiltrack]

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When hungry - eat.



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When thirsty - drink.




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[SpheresOfBalance]

So Bill, do you find the Gif first, or the concept?

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Accident, discovery, control.




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[SpheresOfBalance]

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Accident, discovery, control.




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So cryptography then, ok! Expound; please consider us that would rather not put words in your mouth.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Here are some words that came out of my mouth.






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[SpheresOfBalance]

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Here are some words that came out of my mouth.






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Good job Bill, how you doing? Thanks for the whole package, you today, in almost real time, answering my query. Nice to meet you! I'll do the same thing one day. So every one can see this crusty old codger.

OK, so as you peruse various images, contemplating the 'artist's' intent, (their composition), you find within their truth, your truth, that you feel like exploring/sharing. Then sometimes, you post them almost alone, to test passerby's for their take. Or on other occasions you give hints, (talk 'around' the metaphor), maybe even direct ideas that they spurred, such that it would be hard for one to extrapolate your meaning, unless of like mind, vision or understanding, which is sometimes the test, as you look for fellow philosophers?

Of course as the author, I'm sure you shall be able to add much more, that I can only guess.

Thanks for sharing, and in such a candid, personal way.

It does look as though you have lost some weight, that is compared to your coffee drinking avatar, good job! I have lost a little (10 lbs) due to recent hobbies turned into necessities, to ensure income.

Keep up the physical fitness as it can only make you sharper, and live longer, especially if you cut out all the preservatives, and GMO's, only eating organic whole foods, such that you return to the earth's ways, of billions of years, becoming again closer to that which spawned your existence, to become again one with the cosmos. Or so I truly and surely believe.

PS: That's a nice palm, to help keep you close to mother natures arms.

[thedoc]

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When hungry - eat.


When thirsty - drink.

That may be a ramification of Zen enlightenment, but it is hardly the Essence.

[thedoc]

Not all who claim to study Zen, understand what they are taught.


One day, the Fifth Patriarch, Hung Jen assembled all his disciples and said,"Go and seek for Prajna in your own mind and write me a stanza (gatha) about it. The one who understands the reality of Buddhist nature will be the Sixth Patriarch."

The head disciple, Shin Shau composed his stanza and wrote it on the wall of the corridor, so that the Patriarch might know what spiritual insight he had attained. The stanza read:

"Our body is the Bodhi tree,
And our mind is like a bright mirror with stand,
Diligently we wipe them all the time,
And let no dust alight."

Later, Hui Neng who worked in the kitchen heard a young man reciting the stanza. At once, he realized that the stanza did not reveal the reality of Buddhist nature.
As he was illiterate, he asked people to scribe his stanza, which reads:

"There is no Bodhi Tree
Nor the stand of a bright mirror,
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?"

Eventually, Hui Neng received the robe and Dharma from Hung Jen, and became the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Sect in China.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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Don't believe all that you read.




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[thedoc]

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Don't believe all that you read.
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Don't worry, I don't believe everything I read, especially what I read on a forum.

[SpheresOfBalance]

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Don't believe all that you read.
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Don't worry, I don't believe everything I read, especially what I read on a forum.

The only way to take anything, is with a grain of salt; question everything!

[thedoc]

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Don't believe all that you read.
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Don't worry, I don't believe everything I read, especially what I read on a forum.

The only way to take anything, is with a grain of salt; question everything!

Yes, but you need to consider the fitness of a thing, and the story of Hui Neng fits with everything else I've studied about Zen.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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So, when you were hungry you ate and when you were thirsty, you drank.






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[thedoc]

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So, when you were hungry you ate and when you were thirsty, you drank.


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Yes, but that fish wasn't eating, it was protecting it's young by holding them in it's mouth till the predator went away.

[Bill Wiltrack]

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When happy - dance!







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