tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post525264730943790968..comments2024-02-06T22:19:13.028-08:00Comments on Mining Aśvaghoṣa's Gold: SAUNDARANANDA 15.63: Towards Less ImbalanceMike Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-38839763413279220422009-12-27T04:30:24.092-08:002009-12-27T04:30:24.092-08:00Thanks Jordan.
Speaking of affected nonchalance, ...Thanks Jordan.<br /><br />Speaking of affected nonchalance, and remembering 1985, I remember being at a club in London talking to an old flame. Being three years into regular daily sitting-dhyana practice, and feeling that I had thereby attained some measure of cool, I said: "I used to be so jealous, but I'm no longer bothered about So and So." <br /><br /><br />"That's good," she said, "Because I made him dinner the other week and we ended up in bed." <br /><br />She put her hand on my white-knuckled hand as it gripped the metal rail. "I love it when you're bothered!" <br /><br />That sentence made a deep impression on me. "I love it when you're bothered." Just like a woman! <br /><br />Anyway, it was a good lesson in the affected nonchalance of a Buddhist punk not being it! <br /><br />Take care, Jordan!<br /><br />Yours in the spirit of self-acceptance,<br /><br />MikeMike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-29439792211246801402009-12-27T02:55:47.463-08:002009-12-27T02:55:47.463-08:00I like affected nonchalanceIt fits perfectly. I g...I like <i>affected nonchalance</i>It fits perfectly. I guess lately I find myself too busy to worry about some one else's hang ups, instead I find the imperative to deal with my own, and the stress of the recent move has been revealing as to how many of those I still have.<br /><br />Thanks as ever for providing a mirror.SlowZenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589294912054724123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-69620847441102060342009-12-27T02:47:26.531-08:002009-12-27T02:47:26.531-08:00Hi Jordan,
For me, the Buddha gave us the practic...Hi Jordan,<br /><br />For me, the Buddha gave us the practice of sitting-dhyana as a means of counter-acting that tendency, and it is the one great matter. <br /><br />I don't like the words "No big deal." They have the sniff about them of affected nonchalance, probably arising from some kind of -ism that should be dropped off. <br /><br />A lingering whiff of Buddhist punk-ism, for example? <br /><br />I write this mindful of the fact that I first described myself as a Buddhist punk as long ago as 1985 or 1986 -- so the mirror principle is undoubtedly at work.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-11653239538896748032009-12-27T02:31:02.354-08:002009-12-27T02:31:02.354-08:00Mike, It is a familiar stench, quite like my own a...Mike, It is a familiar stench, quite like my own actually. I think just about every human being has that tendency to want to think that their thing is "The thing." No big deal.SlowZenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589294912054724123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-42252123810614170962009-12-26T08:01:46.967-08:002009-12-26T08:01:46.967-08:00Thanks, Jordan.
Any -ism has a whiff of somethin...Thanks, Jordan. <br /><br />Any -ism has a whiff of something about it, to my nose. I haven't come across any word, in Japanese, Chinese, or Sanskrit that I would choose these days to translate as "true Buddhism" or "Buddhism." <br /><br />My teacher used to speak of true Buddhism, but pursuit of it led me to give up the idea that there is any such thing as the true Buddhism of which my teacher spoke -- except as an idea in his brain. <br /><br />In Alexander work, some teachers speak of a bit of nothing. And a bit of nothing might not smell like anything. <br /><br />My teacher once said in a "Buddhist" lecture, "I think Master Dogen is the best Buddhist master in Japan. Therefore I think Master Dogen is the best Buddhist master in the world." Do you detect of whiff of something in that? <br /><br />Maybe the lifeblood doesn't smell of anything when it is flowing, but if it stops flowing, then after a while it begins to stink of something.Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-67095138172661061222009-12-26T07:13:31.479-08:002009-12-26T07:13:31.479-08:00Hi Mike, This talk of smells reminds me of my firs...Hi Mike, This talk of smells reminds me of my first time on Kuwaiti Naval Base. My first encounter with the Kuwaitis I noticed a rather pungent stench, I thought it smelled like the individual had not showered in about a week or so. Every one of them I ran into smelled the same way and I figured hygiene did not play into their culture very well. Turns out I was quite wrong and they were actually very clean people, they just favored a certain perfume that smelled, to my nose, like sweaty week old physical training gear.<br /><br />As to class snobbery, I realize I felt it more strongly as a Staff Sergeant than I do as a Gunny. Now I have a bunch of privileges that might make someone who doesn't know me think I feel special.<br /><br />As to true Buddhism, who has ever smelled it?SlowZenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589294912054724123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-23226445379000547662009-12-26T05:57:29.367-08:002009-12-26T05:57:29.367-08:00Thanks, Warren.
I fear there is a lot of getting...Thanks, Warren. <br /><br />I fear there is a lot of getting over to be done. <br /><br />Even American Zen teachers who are striving manfully to make the Japanese Zen tradition their own, seem unable to avoid spurious Japanese terms like "sesshin", much less traditional terms like "zazen."<br /><br />But thanks for the encouragement!<br /><br />MikeMike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-43172126731698216402009-12-26T05:53:43.285-08:002009-12-26T05:53:43.285-08:00Thanks, Jordan.
And if it carries a whiff of old...Thanks, Jordan. <br /><br />And if it carries a whiff of old-world cultural snobbery, or the pong of "true Buddhism," then what....?Mike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-61689741318254395462009-12-26T05:18:51.904-08:002009-12-26T05:18:51.904-08:00Hi Mike,
From this side of the lake, I sense we ar...Hi Mike,<br />From this side of the lake, I sense we are getting over the "Japanese mystique" brought here by Yasutani,<br />Maezumi and others. Their baseline students are dying off and leaving in their wake fresh compost for growing the western dharma . My own dear teacher recently departed and left his good fields in tact. So I heartily agree the sounds of Ashvagosha are ringing here in anglo-latin starved ears.<br />Warrenwarbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06703908127813047817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-34516635819459321122009-12-26T05:04:51.712-08:002009-12-26T05:04:51.712-08:00The Japanese say Kusai mono ni futa, "Put a l...<i>The Japanese say Kusai mono ni futa, "Put a lid on what stinks." It could also be a British or Irish proverb. But an American proverb? Less likely, I think. </i><br /><br />The american expression might be more like "Whoa, this stinks! Smell it!"SlowZenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589294912054724123noreply@blogger.com